John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 05.19.2022 07:May AM EDT

Google Barely Breathing in Russia, Files for Bankruptcy After Having Bank Account Seized

Photo : Photo by KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP via Getty Images

Google has filed for bankruptcy in Russia.

The search giant's Russian subsidiary was recently forced to file for bankruptcy after the Russian government took over its assets, especially its bank account, according to a Reuters.

The company has been the target of censorship and political pressure in Russia due to the Russian government's declaration that it's spreading false information about Russia's military operations in Ukraine through its news aggregator, Google News.

Google Bankruptcy

According to Reuters' report, the Russian government recently sized Google's bank account, which made running Google's Russian subsidiary untenable to function, including employing and paying Russia-based employees, suppliers, vendors, and meeting other financial obligations, per a Google spokesperson.

The reason behind the Russian government's takeover of Google's local bank account was not made clear, and Google has yet to make a statement addressing this turn of events, with Mashable not receiving such a statement from the company since the takeover happened.

A TV channel owned by a sanctioned Russian business said in April that Russian government agents seized around $15 million worth of Russian roubles for its refusal or failure to restore access to its YouTube account. However, this is the first time that Google's bank account was forcibly taken as a whole.

Google's "failure" or denial of service was due to the company blocking YouTube channels connected to official Russian media across Europe at the European Union's request.

The company previously announced it would pause most of its operations in Russia after the country invaded the neighboring country of Ukraine while also ceasing the selling of ads and cloud computing services in Russia, per ZDNet. The previously mentioned denial of service is a part of said pause despite protests from Russian state media.

"Our policies prohibit content denying, minimizing or trivializing well-documented violent events, including Russia's invasion in Ukraine," Google said, per The Moscow Times.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal mentioned in its report that Google is moving its Russia-based employees elsewhere, while Bloomberg reports that the company is doing so due to the Russian government's crackdown on free speech.

These employees, who are 244 strong, expressed their interest in relocating from Russia.

What's Next for Google in Russia?

As a result of the takeover, people in Russia will only be able to use Google's free services such as Google search, YouTube, Gmail, Maps, Android, and Play, Google's spokesperson added.

Russian State media RIA Novosti mentioned that YouTube, which is one of the last few services Google has retained after the takedown, could follow Google News on the country's list of banned websites.

However, the popularity of Google's video-sharing platform is making Russian officials hesitant to add it to the country's digital black list.

The same could also be said about Google's search function, which is the most used search engine in Russia, with local search engine provider Yandex NV being second in the country.