Pro-Russian officials in occupied eastern Ukraine have banned the Google Alphabet search engine, accusing the US tech giant of “terrorism and violence against all Russians”.
The move, announced by Denis Pushlin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in eastern Ukraine, comes days after Russia fined Google $377 million for regulating banned content.
In a statement to social messaging service Telegram, Pushlin accused Google of being one of the main sources of anti-Russian propaganda.
“The inhuman propaganda of Ukraine and the West has long crossed all borders. There is real persecution of Russians, imposition of lies and disinformation,” he wrote, stating that Google “openly, at the request of US government trustees, promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians and especially the people of Donbass. [in eastern Ukraine].”
The DPR and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), another Russian-occupied region in eastern Ukraine, previously banned Facebook and Instagram following similar restrictions in Russia, which cracked down on independent media following the February 24 invasion of Ukraine. .
After the invasion, Russia banned any criticism of the war. Even naming the war – Moscow favors the euphemism “special military operation” – is a criminal offense.
Russia on Monday fined Google 21.1 billion rubles, about $377 million, for removing content about the war in Ukraine that the country considers “fake news”. The ruling by Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor concerns offensive material posted on YouTube, the video platform owned by Google.
Google itself is not banned in Russia, although Facebook was blocked by the Kremlin in March after the war in Ukraine.
Source: Hollywood Reporter
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