Kremlin threatens to ban Google and YouTube in Russia
“Everyone is tired of the activities of the American internet giants, and what they did during the election campaign to the State Duma is a complete disgrace," said deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, in an interview with Russia Today.
According to Medvedev, American internet platforms "interfered in the political life of the Russian Federation", showing videos of the team of Alexei Navalny - "a person who is serving a criminal sentence."
"Yes, at some point they complied with the decision of Roskomnadzor and stopped this. But at what point? It was exactly on the day when the voting began, " Medvedev was indignant.
Commenting on the behavior of Google and YouTube, he noted that their activities were aimed at "carrying out their political line in a foreign country."
"It's a complete mess. Therefore, we must, of course, respond to this," Medvedev said.
He recalled that in Russia there is a corresponding law to influence foreign digital giants. It was adopted by the State Duma of the seventh convocation in the last days of its work, and President Vladimir Putin signed it on July 1.
The document obliges owners of resources with a daily audience of more than 500 thousand users to create branches, open representative offices or establish Russian legal entities, "which must fully represent the interests of parent companies." The law provides for strict measures for violators, from a ban on the distribution of advertising to partial or complete blocking of the resource.
“The so-called landing law allows the Kremlin, block, slow down, fine, for example, the activities of social networks and large internet companies,” Medvedev said.
"So, it's not just that we threaten with a finger. But it can be a more serious decision, in general, a ban on activities," he added.
According to Medvedev, the new norm will allow influencing the policies of foreign Internet companies in the Russian Federation and force them to obey the decisions of the Russian authorities.
According to Medvedev, he witnessed elections meddling himself.
"I, for example, have quite a lot of followers on the same Twitter, about 4.5 million. And when I looked at the recommendations on Twitter, whom I should follow, of course, the first person, who was recommended, was Navalny who is serving a criminal sentence. Well, isn't that interference in the affairs of another country? Pure interference," Medvedev said.
As for the statements about the illegitimacy of the Russian elections, according to Medvedev, it is necessary to ignore them.
"We are an independent country, a large country with state sovereignty over its entire territory. We have our own legislation. Therefore, no matter what they say, it does not matter to us," he explained.