The Russian-language online news channel was best known for its priestly presenters and conspiratorial musings about the global financial system plott

YouTube feels heat as Russia ramps up “digital sovereignty” drive

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2021-05-25 06:30:06

The Russian-language online news channel was best known for its priestly presenters and conspiratorial musings about the global financial system plotting against Moscow—suspicions it viewed as confirmed last July when the Google-owned streaming service took the channel down over what it claimed was a US sanctions breach.

Now Tsargrad is poised to strike back after a landmark court ruling that could put Google’s entire Russian business in jeopardy as Moscow steps up attempts to force western technology companies to comply with its laws.

A Moscow court last month ordered Google to reinstate Tsargrad’s YouTube channel globally on the grounds the ban had unfairly discriminated against its owner, Konstantin Malofeev.

Malofeev has been under US and EU sanctions since 2014 over his ties to Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine. But he told the FT that YouTube had continued to pay Tsargrad some $10,000 a month in advertising revenue for years until the ban.

Google filed an appeal against the ruling on May 19. If it loses, it will face a court-imposed rolling daily fine that could rise to as much as ₽94 trillion ($1.28 trillion) by the end of the year—close to the $1.53 trillion market capitalization of its parent company, Alphabet.