Vladimir Putin again made headlines
in August 2024 when it was reported that he had seized a hefty sum of
money from Google. Here's everything we know about the Russian leader's
battle with the global tech giant. Google has long had a difficult relationship
with the theory and practice of dictatorship. They've been credibly accused of
being such within the tech world; its sheer size and its business practices make
it hard to argue otherwise. The company was branded an illegal monopoly in August 2024 in
a watershed case before a U.S. federal court. However, Google has also struggled to navigate
its relationship with dictatorial governments. It received — and honored — thousands of requests
for censorship by regimes from around the world, and its compliance with dictates by
the Chinese government in the early 2000s brought it condemnation
by international rights groups. In the 2020s, Google has run into difficulties
with the dictatorship in Russia. When hostilities in the Russo-Ukrainian War resumed in 2022,
Russia demanded that Google censor any ads that it branded as misleading or false about its
invasion within its territory on its subsidiary, YouTube. In response, Google temporarily
suspended all its advertising in Russia. "And Putin is paying a big
price for his aggression." Google's response to Russia following the 2022
Ukrainian invasion was complicated by their 100 employees working in Russia. According to The New
York Times, Vladimir Putin's regime has gone after workers when their companies don't comply with
government requests. In the immediate aftermath of its clash with Russian censorship demands,
Google did not see its employees prosecuted. But it did see a series of financial hits after
it expanded its response to the Ukraine invasion. Following its temporary advertising freeze, Google
opted to ban several high-profile, state-sponsored Russian channels from YouTube, first in Europe and
then globally. It also suspended app purchases, and software updates, though basic
free services remained. In retaliation, the Russian government imposed a series of fines,
some related to Google's blocking of their media, some related to pro-Ukrainian content left on
Google or YouTube in the country. They then seized the $100 million from Google's accounts, though
the amount wouldn't be reported for two years, in August 2024. Unlike the fines, no reason
was given for the asset seizure at the time. Such a heavy financial blow was too much for
Google Russia to sustain. It was forced to declare bankruptcy in May 2022. The motion
and the seizure left Google Russia unable to pay its employees. Most of them were moved
out of the country or else left the company while remaining in Russia, before bankruptcy had
even been declared, per The Wall Street Journal. The same court documents that revealed the amount of money Russia seized from Google in
2022 also provided the grounds given: the company owed damages to state-sponsored
and regime-friendly TV stations. One of the fines imposed on Google prior to their account
seizure was because Google blocked a channel controlled by Konstantin Malofeev , a notorious
oligarch under U.S. sanctions since 2014 for his rhetoric against Ukraine. Malofeev's Tsargrad
TV, an Orthodox Christian channel, was named in the Moscow court order allowing the account
to be seized on top of the $12.5 million fine. Malofeev wasn't the only media figure
to benefit from the money taken from Google. Several channels received payouts,
including RT. But Tsargrad's management vowed to specifically use the money they received
from Google for propaganda purposes — it was put toward content supportive of Russia's
invasion and its ongoing war with Ukraine. Former employees and creditors of Google
had to wait in line behind broadcasters. According to The Telegraph, Russia maintains that
Tsargrad is owed still more. They put Google's penalty at $360 million. It has followed up its
seizure of Russian assets with efforts to get at Google's accounts in other countries. In response,
Google filed its own lawsuits in August 2024 in British and American courts against Tarsgrad, RT,
and NFPT in an effort to thwart further seizures.