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The Roskomnadzor watchdog said earlier this month it would seek
clarification from Alphabet Inc's Google over whether it
intentionally placed articles from Russian news websites Sputnik
and Russia Today lower in search results.
Responding to a question about Sputnik articles at a conference
earlier in November, Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt
said Google was working to give less prominence to "those kinds
of websites" as opposed to delisting them.
That prompted complaints from Russian authorities, with
Roskomnadzor saying last week it would take action against
Google if it discriminated against Russian media.
"We'd like to inform you that by speaking about ranking of
web-sources, including the websites of Russia Today and Sputnik,
Dr. Eric Schmidt was referring to Google's ongoing efforts to
improve search quality," Google said in a letter posted on
Roskomnadzor's website.
"We don't change our algorithm to re-rank," it added.
A Google spokeswoman confirmed the letter had been sent by the
company but provided no further comment.
The Russian government funds Sputnik and Russia Today.
U.S. intelligence agencies have said both websites spread
misinformation and published stories that were negative towards
Hillary Clinton during the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
(Reporting by Maria Kiselyova; Writing by Maria Tsvetkova and
Jack Stubbs; Editing by Mark Potter)
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