Roskomnadzor demands Google stop publishing ads containing fake info about Ukraine situation

MOSCOW. Feb 28 (Interfax) - The Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has demanded that Google stop publishing ads containing fake information about the Ukraine situation and has said it will block such content.

"Roskomnadzor has detected the publishing of unreliable socially significant information within the framework of Google Ads contextual advertising on certain Russian web resources. Publications of the sort contain unreliable information about heavy casualties among Russian troops and the Ukrainian civilian population during the special military operation conducted by the Russian Armed Forces in the Ukrainian territory," the agency said.

"Roskomnadzor sent a letter to Google LLC demanding that access to such unreliable materials released within the framework of Google Ads contextual advertising be immediately restricted," it said.

Roskomnadzor warned owners of Russian web resources and ad networks about the responsibility they bear for publishing contextual ads with unreliable socially significant information. "Violations of the kind are penalized with an administrative fine of up to 5 million rubles (Article 13.15 of the Russian Code of Administrative Offenses)," it said.

"Based on the demands of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, Roskomnadzor will be blocking web resources that publish such information. Materials regarding such cases will be directed to the Russian Investigative Committee, which will bring the owners of such resources to justice on criminal counts," Roskomnadzor said.