Russian watchdog opens civil case against Google

Russia's communications watchdog has formally opened a civil case against Google for failure to comply with state requirements to remove search results for banned websites.

The watchdog Roskomnadzor said Google had not yet joined the state registry that lists all banned websites which the Kremlin believes could contain illegal information.

As this leaves Google in contravention of Russian law, the watchdog said the Californian tech firm could face fines of up to 700,000 roubles (£8,120).

A decision is expected to be handed down in the case in December.

A spokesperson for Roskomnadzor told news agency Interfax that it may consider fining Google ahead of the hearing, in order to "avoid burdening the court".

The Russian laws requiring search engines to remove results leading to banned websites came into force at the beginning of November. Though Google has removed some of the websites included on the list, others remain active.

The search engine's main competition in the region is domestic giant Yandex, which has been catching up with its Californian colleagues such as Google and Amazon.

Yandex recently celebrated 1bn rides on its on-demand ride-hailing service that rivals Uber in Russia, as well as its own range of smart speakers with a voice assistant named Alice earlier this year.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.