Russia's competition watchdog, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has penalized Alphabet's Google 2 billion roubles ($34.2 million) on Tuesday. According to the regulator, Google was fined for abusing its dominant position within the video hosting market.

HIGHLIGHTS
Russia's competition watchdog, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) fined Google
FAS has made it clear that Google should pay the fine within two months of time
YouTube blocked Russian state-funded media globally and uses RuTube as alternative

The decision includes multi-million dollar fine, which is a part of Moscow's increasingly assertive campaign which would be against the foreign tech companies.

According to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) the company was found to 'abuse its dominant position within the YouTube video hosting services market,' without giving any sort of extra details.

Google in an interview had replied to the very statement that 'We would study the text of the official decision in order to define our next steps.'

FAS has been very clear with its words that Google should pay the fine and make it clear within two months of it entering into force.

In recent months, Russia was found to impose Google's Russian subsidiary with various fines. Well, last week a court had ordered it to pay around 21.1 billion roubles ($358.7 million) over what prosecutors had mentioned were actually some repeated refusals to get rid of content Russia which seemed illegal, like 'fake news' about the Russia's invasion of Ukraine during the peak of the war.

Since the time Moscow had launched what it calls its 'special military operation' in Ukraine, it has been involved in accelerating attacks on Western tech companies at home so that it can exert additional control over the online space, like by supporting domestic players to oust their Western rivals.

Gazprom Media, a media conglomerate which is connected to state-controlled gas giant Gazprom. Well, it has been heavily promoting RuTube, it’s an alternative to YouTube in Russia, that has seen a sharp uptick in traffic since February.

YouTube has eventually blocked Russian state-funded media globally and is under extreme pressure from Russia's communications regulator and politicians.

During the early days of March, Google has stopped selling online advertising in Russia but it has kept some of the free services available for the people to enjoy. Well, its Russian subsidiary which has formally filed for bankruptcy once authorities had seized its bank account, it is therefore, made it impossible for them to pay the staffs and vendors.

Also Read: Google was fined $360 Million by Russia over YouTube videos that included ‘prohibited’ content