Russia: FAS issues USD 34.2 million fine against Google for breaching competition rules

On 26 July 2022, the Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) issued a fine of RUB 2 billion (USD 34.2 million) against Google, YouTube’s owner, for abusing its dominant position in the video hosting market. The FAS concluded its investigation in February 2022 and found Google in violation of antitrust law, due to its non-transparent application of YouTube’s terms of service. In particular, FAS noted that the rules regarding account suspension and content blocking were biased and that YouTube failed to issue warnings to users and justify its decisions to block or suspend accounts. The penalty was established based on Part 2 of Article 14.31 of the Administrative Offences Code of the Russian Federation.