State communications regulators in Russia sent a letter to Google Sunday warning that election “interference” would not be tolerated. The missive seeks to discourage the ubiquitous search engine from disseminating information about “mass events, including those aimed at disrupting elections of federal and regional significance.”
Among the government’s concerns are “push notices” that might help protesters and opposition parties organize rallies and political events.
The country’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media warned there would be consequences for “interference” on Google’s behalf.
“In the event Google does not take a response, the Russian Federation will regard this as interference in the sovereign affairs of the state, as well as a hostile influence and obstructing the holding of democratic elections in Russia, leaving the right to an adequate reaction,” the letter reads.
Hundreds of people were arrested in Moscow over the weekend after tens of thousands of protesters gathered to demand fair elections.
Russian regulators reportedly fined Google $20,000 in 2018 for making links available to websites that were not state approved.
Vladimir Putin’s regime is familiar with election interference, though they’re usually the ones committing it.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s extensive two-year investigation into Russian involvement in the United States’ 2016 presidential election concluded Putin’s government interfered "in sweeping and systematic fashion,” but did not find evidence that Donald Trump’s campaign team conspired with the Russian government to steal information that would aid the former game show host’s candidacy.
Mueller also discovered the Russians wanted to see Trump running the U.S., which Putin later confirmed. The report added that the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”
Google reported in 2016 that Russian-linked entities spent $4,700 in ads leading up to the November election. Facebook found that Internet farms with ties to the Russian government reached up to 126 million Americans during that period.
Russian interference has also been blamed in part for Great Britain’s vote to “Brexit” the European Union in 2016, the Guardian reports. Nearly 4,000 Twitter accounts linked to Russian trolls blasted #ReasonToLeaveEU messages to British voters, who narrowly passed a resolution to leave the European Union.
Facebook has contended its platform was not used to influence Great Britain’s Brexit vote, according to the BBC.
The Brexit decision has led to chaos in the British parliament, which is still struggling to execute a split from the rest of the continent. More than 6 million Brits signed a petition asking their legislatures to reverse that referendum. Prime Minister Boris Johnson hopes to implement Brexit by the end of October.
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