Tsargrad TV Channel

2022: Receiving 1 billion rubles penalty from Google in the case of blocking the YouTube channel

On April 1, 2022, the Tsargrad television channel announced that it had received 1 billion rubles in penalties from Google in the case of blocking the YouTube channel. The funds listed will be used to support Russia in a special operation in Ukraine.

Tsargrad also said that if Google "continues to ignore Russian law, then in a year the fine will be measured in billions of dollars." The channel promised that in the future it will also find this amount.

Tsargrad TV channel received 1 billion rubles in penalties from Google in the case of blocking the YouTube channel

And if Google tries to hide abroad in Russia, then we will overtake it with executive sheets in other countries and on other continents. And we will methodically and steadily continue to collect fines from Google until he learns to respect the laws of Russia, the press service of the channel quotes the words of the founder of Tsargrad Konstantin Malofeev.

On March 17, 2022, Tsargrad announced that Google had arrested the amount needed to execute court decisions in a dispute with a TV channel in Russia. The size of the fine was established by the Moscow Arbitration Court: it amounted to 100,000 rubles a day (from December 27, 2021) and doubled weekly. The maximum amount of astronauts (penalties) in the first 9 months could not exceed 1 billion rubles - to this amount it increased by March 17, 2022. After 9 months, astrent is not limited to any amount, the court decision said.

By closing the accounts of domestic media, as was the case with Tsargrad, Youtube risks falling under the sanctions of the Russian authorities. By March 2022, law 482-FZ is in force in Russia, providing for the blocking of foreign sites for censoring Russian media.

In March 2022, Roskomnadzor blocked access to the Google News aggregator. The reason was the distribution through this service of "numerous materials containing inaccurate information about the situation in Ukraine."^[1]

2021

The court ordered Google to unblock the YouTube channel "Tsargrad"

On December 16, 2021, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal confirmed the conclusions of the Moscow City Arbitration Court about the illegality of the actions of the Google group to disable the Tsargrad account and YouTube channel. The judges demanded to unblock the channel and return the monetization of advertising.

In case of non-fulfillment of this requirement, the company will recover a penalty of 100 thousand rubles per day. Moreover, every week the fine will double. By March 2022, the penalty can reach a maximum amount of 1 billion rubles. And if Google continues not to execute the court decision after September 2022, a penalty will be levied without limiting the limit, said Dmitry Magonya, managing partner of ART DE LEX, who represented the interests of the Tsargrad television channel.

The court ordered Google to unblock the YouTube channel "Tsargrad"

According to the press secretary of the founder of the TV channel Valery Rukobratsky, for Russian judicial practice this amount has become unprecedented.

This case is of the utmost importance for the owners of Russian accounts and channels, which can no longer be disconnected in an arbitrary manner, "he said.

Thus, the appeal confirmed that the Google account and YouTube channels of Tsargrad were disabled in July 2020 illegally and should be unblocked in the same way as the contract for the monetization of content.

Google explained after blocking the channel that he did it under the law on sanctions, since the owner MEDIA Konstantin Malafeev has been on the sanctions lists since 2014 EU. USA

As of 15:00 Moscow time on December 16, 2021, the file cabinet of arbitration cases indicates that the Court of Appeal overturned the court's decision in full and adopted a new judicial act in the case. Google at this point did not comment on the plaintiff's statement.^[2]

Google's loss in court to Tsargrad may threaten the Russian Federation with negative consequences

In August 2021, Google reported risks for Russia in the event of a loss in court to Tsargrad. The technogiant intends to stop removing content prohibited in Russia from the results of search queries if the court satisfies the lawsuit of the Tsargrad YouTube channel against the American company. Losing in court threatens the company with a large fine or violation of the sanctions regime^[3].

Earlier, Google invited Tsargrad to peacefully resolve the dispute, but the negotiations of the two companies were "completed without starting on the merits," Tsargrad said.

According to Forbes, Google's failure to comply with the requirements of the Russian court and refusal to restore the Tsargrad YouTube channel may disrupt the work of the technogiant in the Russian Federation. The negative consequences for Google also entail "clear public legal risks for the Russian Federation as a whole" and the inability to comply with the requirements of 149-FZ "On information, information technologies and on the protection of information" (distribution of child pornography, information on how to make drugs, suicide or calls for riots).

Thus, Google will stop removing from the results of search queries content blocked by Russian authorities in the prescribed manner.

Google invited Tsargrad to peacefully resolve the dispute over blocking the channel on July 12 at a court hearing. The American company asked to postpone the trial, and the court postponed it to August 16, 2021. On Sunday, August 15, Tsargrad sent a letter to Google stating that negotiations on a peaceful settlement of the dispute "have been completed without essentially beginning."

"Tsargrad" proposed to discuss to Google the technical side of restoring the blocked Google account and YouTube channel "Tsargrad" and possible compensation as a result of a one-year blocking of the resource. As the law firm Baker McKenzie, representing the interests of Google, responded, Google can restore resources with some restrictions.

Recall that YouTube (controlled by Google) blocked the Tsargrad television channel in the summer of 2020, obeying sanctions restrictions in American jurisdiction imposed in 2014 by the United States, the EU and Canada on the owner of the channel Konstantin Malofeev. The lawsuit against Google was the first case of the application of the "Lugovoi Law," which allows individuals and companies under sanctions to transfer their litigation to Russia.

On April 13, a court in Moscow declared the blocking of the Tsargrad TV channel account on the YouTube illegal. The company was obliged to return to the owner of the channel the money that he could earn on monetization. At the time of blocking, "Tsargrada"‎ had a million subscribers.

Google LLC faces a fine in an amount close to the size of Russia's GDP

Due to the decision to block the Tsargrad YouTube channel, Statutina Malofeev, Google LLC faces a fine in an amount close to the size of Russia's GDP. About 94 trillion rubles, or $1.3 trillion to the Russian "daughter" of the American Internet giant, will have to pay for seven months of delay in the execution of the decision of the Moscow Arbitration Court, according to the calculations of Baker & McKenzie, which was a partner of Google in the proceedings (@ banksta).

At the end of April, Moscow arbitration granted the claim of Tsargrad Media to Google LLC, Google Ireland Limited and Google LLC to declare the blocking of the YouTube channel illegal. Tsargrad also demanded to restore the channel and reimburse the money lost in connection with its removal from the monetization of content.

The court agreed with these requirements and imposed a penalty of 100 thousand rubles for each day of non-fulfillment of the judicial act, starting from the fifth day after the decision came into force. At the same time, the amount of the fine is doubled weekly if the company refuses to restore access to the Tsargrad TV account. So far, fines are not recovered: Google has the opportunity to appeal. If this is not done before May 20, the court decision will enter into legal force.

In seven months (about so much has passed since blocking the channel before the court decision), the amount of the penalty will increase to a size comparable to the capitalization of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, lawyers calculated. It costs $1.57 trillion, or 117 trillion rubles. Russia's GDP is 110 trillion rubles, or $1.48 trillion.

The lawsuit against Google is the first case of the application of the "Lugovoi Law," which allows individuals and companies under sanctions to transfer their litigation to Russia.

2020: YouTube blocks the channel's account due to US sanctions against Malofeev

In July 2020, the account of the Tsargrad TV channel, owned by businessman Konstantin Malofeev, was blocked in YouTube due to violation of the law. This was reported by Google representatives to RBC^[4].

"Google complies with all applicable laws on sanctions and compliance with trade rules. If we find that the account violates these laws, then we take appropriate actions, "the company said.

The representative of the channel explained to RBC that the YouTube blocked the channel not only "Tsargrad," but also the site of the historical society "Two-headed Eagle." Access to the first was limited with the wording "for violating the conditions" of the platform, to the second for "violating export legislation." "We conclude that both of these locks are a political action against Malofeev," the representative said, noting that the channel's lawyers are preparing an appeal to the court. According to him, lawyers explained the wording of the locks by the fact that Malofeev is on the US sanctions lists.

The Tsargrad website says that the channel was blocked without warning or explanation. "What happened is an absolute surprise for us: the editors did not receive any warnings, notifications and strikes from the YouTube," the message said.

On the channel's page on the social network Vkontakte"" is a screenshot of the blocking notification on Google. It says that the Tsargrad account is disabled and cannot be restored, as it violated export legislation.

In 2014, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine opened criminal proceedings against Malofeev on suspicion of "aiding and abetting illegal armed groups in Ukraine." In the same year, the businessman was included in the sanctions lists of the United States and the EU.

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