Russian court fines Google nearly $100M over content

MOSCOW (AP) — A Moscow court has fined Google nearly $100 million over its failure to delete content banned by local law. The Tagansky District Court ruled on Friday that Google repeatedly neglected to remove the banned content, and ordered the company to pay an administrative fine of about 7.2 billion rubles. Google said it would study the court documents and then decide on its next steps. Russian authorities have steadily ramped up pressure on social media platforms, accusing them of failing to purge content related to drug abuse, weapons and explosives. Earlier this year, the authorities criticized tech companies for not deleting announcements about unsanctioned protests in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.