Russia fines Google for not complying with search results law: TASS

[December 11, 2018]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia fined Google 500,000 roubles ($7,530) on Tuesday for failing to comply with a legal requirement to remove certain entries from its search results, Russia's communications watchdog was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

Russia said last month that it had opened a civil case against Google as it had not joined a state registry that lists banned websites that Moscow believes contain illegal information and was therefore not compliant with the law.

Alexander Zharov, head of watchdog Roscomnadzor, said Russia could open a new case against Google if it did not fall in line with the law, TASS reported.

Google did not reply to a request for immediate comment.

Over the past five years, Russia has introduced tougher internet laws that require search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services, and social networks to store Russian users' personal data on servers within the country.

(Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, Tom Balmforth and Maria Kolomychenko; editing by Jason Neely)

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