Moscow court fines Google $164K for breaking data storage rules

Moscow court fined Google 15 million rubles ($164,200) on Tuesday for not keeping the personal data of its Russian users locally. 

Indeed, it’s the latest in a series of several fines that Google has faced as the relations between the West and the Kremlin deteriorate over the conflict in Ukraine. 

 In August 2021 and June 2022, Google was penalised for the same reasons, yet the firm refused to comment. 

Meanwhile, Google’s Russian branch went bankrupt last year, which makes it hard or Russia to collect the fine it imposed on Google. The bankruptcy came after its bank account was frozen by the Russian government.

Russia also has fined Apple and Wikimedia Foundation, as it has taken actions to prevent criticism of its military campaign in Ukraine since February 2022.