MOSCOW: Russia ruled Thursday that US tech giant Google, which has come under mounting pressure from Moscow, broke the law by blocking and "non-transparently" deleting accounts on its YouTube video service.
The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said Google's "rules related to the formation, suspension and blocking of accounts and circulation of content on YouTube are non-transparently biased and unpredictable."
"This leads to the sudden blocking and deletion of user accounts without warning or justification," it said in a statement on the Telegram messaging service.
It found that "such behaviour infringes on the interests of users, and also limits competition in adjacent markets."
It ordered Google to pay a fine, the amount of which it said is still being decided.
A Google representative told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency that the US company is "waiting for the text of the decision in order to study it."
In December, Moscow slapped Google with an unprecedented fine of nearly $100 million. It also fined Meta (formerly Facebook) $27 million.
Russia has in recent years piled pressure on Western social media giants, with President Vladimir Putin saying those companies were becoming as influential as elected governments.
Kremlin critics have accused authorities of muzzling independent media, saying that the government is cracking down on the internet, considered the last bastion of free speech in Russia.
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