Technology giant Google’s Russian branch is preparing to file for bankruptcy, unable to withstand the war. The company stated that they can no longer hold the Russian branch in their hands. If it goes bankrupt, Google will be the first major tech company to go bankrupt because of the war. Let’s take a look at the details of the news together.
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A Google spokesperson announced that after the news of the bankruptcy, they will continue to offer free services such as Search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps and Google Play for people in Russia to access information.
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The company made the following statements in the letter sent to Russia stating that they intend to file for bankruptcy:
“Since March 22, 2022, it envisages its own bankruptcy and inability to fulfill its monetary obligations, payment of severance pay and (or) remuneration of employees working or previously employed under an employment contract and (or) obligation to make mandatory payments within the stipulated period.”
Russia fined Google 7.2 billion rubles (approximately $100 million) for illegal content in December. This amount of fines accounts for 8 percent of Google Russia revenue. In addition, Russia allegedly confiscated 1 billion rubles (about $15 million) from Google revenue for YouTube access.
After the allegations, Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor threatened to fine Google a smaller amount of 8 million rubles (about $95,000) after YouTube removed the illegal videos. It is unknown how much money Russia gets from Google as a result.
Due to the Russia-Ukraine war, almost all of the big companies such as Apple, Meta and Microsoft suspended their activities in the country. Russia, on the other hand, went to ban Instagram and Facebook platforms in the country. Some app developers then produced their country-specific platform.
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