Why Google Stopped Advertising in Russia

The reason Why Google Stopped Advertising in Russia is stated below. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine still on, a lot of tech companies have withdrawn their services from Russia. And one of those companies is the tech giant Google.

Why Google Stopped Advertising in Russia

Now following Russia’s demand to put an end to “false” advertising about the conflict, Google has announced that they would be suspending all their advertising in Russia. This goes without saying that this is one major move for Google, as It earns most of its money from advertising across its various brands.

This is a rare move for Google, too, but we would be seeing more of these Global tech companies make these types of decisions between appeals from Ukraine and, in a lot of scenarios, outright demands from Russia. Now Google stated that they will continue to watch the situation unravel, but this decision of pulling advertising from Russia is just the latest in a string of content decisions that they have made as it navigates the conflict.

Advertising in Russia Suspended by Google

As stated by The New York Times, Google has chosen to bring an end to advertising across search, display, and YouTube in Russia. Seemingly, this is an early response to earlier demands that came from the Russian media regulator Roskomnadzor. Just as reported by the wall street journal, Roskomnadzor laid an accusation on google for advertisements “aimed at creating the distorted perception of current events,” meaning Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Roskomnadzor demanded that those advertisements should be removed, and now Google has chosen to pull out all advertising, apparently. “In light of the extraordinary circumstances, we are pausing Google ads in Russia.

The situation would be evolving much faster and we would continue to share updates when appropriate,” this was stated by Google in a statement to the New York Times. No other indication of when they would resume advertising was in the country was given, or even if they plan to resume advertising at all during this period.

Google Must Be Careful in its Dealings with Russia

Just as noted by the New York Times, Google has to be cautious when it comes to dealing with and responding to the demands of Russia, because the tech giant is worried that retaliation might actually be aimed at 100+ employees that are working and living in the country. Still, Google has taken serious actions in response to Russia’s invasion, first banning Russian Media from YouTube in Europe, Google News as a whole, and then Russian-sponsored YouTube channels in Ukraine.

Whether or not Russia will be appeased by the Decision Google took to halt advertising altogether is not something that we would know. But it’s clear by this point that Russia is trying to start a war of information and it is trying to get major tech companies to play ball.

Just a short While ago, Russia decided to ban Facebook, citing instances of “discrimination” against Russian media dating back to October 2020 and more recent restrictions of Russian Media on the Platform. As similar steps were taken by Google, it might not be long before we see the country impose similar restrictions on other platforms like YouTube.

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