In 2024, the amount of content on Google platforms that Russian authorities demanded to be removed increased by 20% to 784,000 pieces, according to the transparency report by Google, analyzed by «Verstka»*. This figure was the highest since statistics began in 2009.
Overall, the amount of content that Russian authorities demand to be removed has been increasing annually for fourteen consecutive years. In just three years after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the volume of such content almost doubled: in 2021 alone, Google received requests to remove 393,700 pieces of content.
Almost 95% of the content (741,700 pieces) that authorities wanted removed last year were links in Google search results, 5% (39,200 pieces) were videos on YouTube.
Russian authorities demanded the removal of 24,600 pieces of content because it «affects national security», 1,400 pieces for «suicide propaganda», 17,500 pieces due to copyright infringement, and another 2,500 for «drug use».
To demonstrate the «variety of demands», Google disclosed several requests received in 2024. In particular, the company received 71 requests from RKN to remove a video about the action «Noon against Putin» from YouTube and another request to remove a video with quadcopters. In both cases, Google refused to remove the videos: in the first case because «the materials are of public interest», in the second because the video «does not violate community guidelines».
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».