Google’s Russian division is filing for bankruptcy

Google’s Russian division submitted a discover of intention to declare bankruptcy after officers seized its checking account. That “has made it untenable for our Russia office to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, paying suppliers and vendors, and meeting other financial obligations,” a Google spokesperson instructed Reuters.

Like many different firms, Google suspended most of its business actions in Russia following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine in February. Despite that and the bankruptcy filing, it’ll proceed to offer Russians with entry to free providers equivalent to Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and Android for the time being.

In May final year, Russia fined Google round $82,000 for failing to delete hundreds of items of content material it deemed to be unlawful. Authorities then fined the company roughly $98 million in December for related causes. That was estimated to be round 5.7 % of Google’s 2021 turnover in Russia.

In current months, telecoms regulator Roskomnadzor has been pressuring YouTube to elevate restrictions on entry to Russian media. A Russian TV channel reported final month that bailiffs seized round 1 billion rubles (roughly $15 million) from Google after it declined to revive the station’s entry to its YouTube account.

While Russia has blocked many different platforms and providers, together with Google News, it does not at the moment have plans to stop customers within the nation from accessing YouTube. It stated this week that residents would probably undergo on account of such a transfer. Reuters reported that the streaming platform has round 90 million Russian customers. 

Russia’s minister for digital growth additionally stated that, regardless of testing its personal, closed-off model of the web, the nation plans to remain linked to the worldwide community.