Security News > 2022 > March > Russia bans Google News for "unreliable" info on war in Ukraine
Roskomnadzor, Russia's telecommunications regulator, has banned Alphabet's news aggregator service Google News and blocked access to the news.
Google.com domain for providing access to "Unreliable information" on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
"The mentioned U.S. Internet news resource provided access to numerous publications and materials containing unreliable, publicly significant information about the course of the special military operation in Ukraine."
On February 26, the telecoms regulator notified independent Russian media outlets not to spread false info about the shelling of Ukrainian cities, and to stop calling the "Ongoing military operation" in Ukraine an attack or invasion.
While the decision to ban Facebook was motivated by Meta booting pro-Kremlin media outlets and news agencies of the platform, the Instagram block was triggered by Meta deciding to allow calls for violence in some countries on Facebook and Instagram against the Russian invaders.
Roskomnadzor also blocked access to multiple foreign news outlets, some designated as foreign agents, including Voice of America, BBC, DW, and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, accusing them of spreading fake news regarding the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.