The Arbitration Court in Moscow has rejected the cassation appeal by Google requiring it to unblock the YouTube channels of Moscow Media.
ComNews reports that the channels were blocked following the start of the “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine and imposition of Western sanctions. It also says that a Google lawyer called the court’s decision a violation of the company’s right to justice.
The cassation appeal was attended by lawyers representing Google, Moscow Media and the Russian regulator Roskomnadzor. Google argued that “The Court of Cassation has vast experience in judicial activities and cannot but know that in this case Google’s rights to fair judicial protection are simply trampled, because not a single argument of Google with reference to the position of the Supreme Court has been considered. Accordingly, we declare withdrawal”.
ComNews notes that on May 11, 2022, Moscow Media filed a lawsuit with the Moscow Arbitration Court with a request to oblige the American company Google LLC and its Russian subsidiary Google LLC to unblock user access to the Moscow Trust YouTube channel, otherwise collect R100,000. per day for each day of non-execution of the court decision, with the amount of the penalty should doubling each week. On October 24, 2022, the court satisfied the claim and on March 28, 2023, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld this decision. After accepting lawsuits from several Russian television companies, whose channels were also blocked, Google LLC declared bankruptcy. However, according to the court decision, this did not affect the essence of claims from Moscow Media.
