Court in Russia fines Google 7.2 bln rubles based on annual revenue

MOSCOW. Dec 24 (Interfax) - A magistrates' court in Moscow has found Google guilty of a repeat violation of Russian law and imposed a turnover-based fine of over 7.2 billion rubles.

"A justice of the peace from Judicial District No. 422 in Moscow's Tagansky District has found LLC Google guilty of an administrative offense and has imposed an administrative fine in the amount of 7,221,916,235 rubles and zero kopecks," the court told Interfax.

An informed source told Interfax that the judge calculated the fine sum on the basis of information about Google's annual revenue provided by the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor).

Google will decide whether to appeal a court ruling fining it 7.2 billion rubles over a repeat failure to remove content prohibited in Russia after the ruling is studied, the corporate press service told Interfax.

"We will study the ruling and will decide what to do next," the Google press service said.