Alphabet's Google ( GOOGL.O ) was fined 21.1 billion rubles ($373 million) on Monday by a Moscow court for "repeated failure to remove content that Russia considers illegal" as "fake news". on the conflict in Ukraine, the Russian communications regulator said.

According to foreign media, Telegrafi reports, Moscow has long opposed the distribution of content from foreign technology platforms that contradicts its restrictions.

But the dispute has erupted into an all-out battle since Moscow assembled its armed forces before sending them into Ukraine in February.

And Alphabet's YouTube has been a "particular target of state ire" but, unlike Twitter ( TWTR.N ) and Meta Platforms' ( META.O ) Facebook and Instagram, it has not been blocked.

The regulator, Roskomnadzor, said that "the Tagansky District Court had fined Google 21.1 billion rubles for repeated failure to promptly limit access to prohibited material and singled out YouTube for particular criticism."

He said YouTube had not deleted "falsifications about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine, discrediting the armed forces of the Russian Federation."

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Telegraph

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