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Russia Opens Case Against Google Over YouTube Curbs

By  |  April 19, 2021

Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced on Monday, April 19, that it had initiated proceedings against US tech giant Alphabet’s Google for allegedly abusing its dominant market position in video hosting services.

Google has already come under pressure from the authorities this year for failing to delete what Russia calls banned content. Other western internet companies have also been targeted by Moscow, including Twitter, which has been punitively slowed down.

The FAS stated the case concerned Google’s YouTube unit and that the company’s actions had resulted in the sudden blocking and deletion of some users’ accounts, which it stated could lead to restricted competition.

The state agency last week initiated proceedings against Yandex, sometimes referred to as “Russia’s Google,” over competition law violations on the company’s search engine, allegations that Yandex has denied.

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