Russian Courts have fined Google $100 million and Meta approximately $27 million for “systemic failure to remove banned content”. Tech giants are regularly fined in Russia for failing to remove content that the Russian Government bans, particularly content related to the Russian opposition and its leaders, but those penalties have rarely exceeded $1 million.

The unprecedented fines represent an escalation in Russia’s efforts to “discipline” foreign tech companies and pressure them into compliance with its strict rules regarding online content. Earlier this year, Russia also ramped up the pressure on Twitter, by slowing down the platform’s bandwidth in retaliation for content violations.