Russia's Antitrust Watchdog Opens Case Against Google Over YouTube's Abuse of Market Domination

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Monday it had opened a case against Google due to abuse of its dominant position in the YouTube video hosting services market.

"The FAS filed a case against Google LLC ... According to the department, the company is abusing YouTube's dominant position in the market for video hosting services. Google's actions lead to sudden blocking and deletion of user accounts", the statement says.

It is noted that the reason for the investigation was the statement of the Regional Public Organisation "Centre for Internet Technologies" (ROCIT), which complained about sudden blocks and deletion of user accounts and content on YouTube video hosting.

"Russia's FAS established that the rules related to the formation, suspension, blocking of accounts and circulation of user content on YouTube are opaque, biased and unpredictable", the agency said in a statement, adding that such behaviour may lead to infringement of the interests of users, as well as to limit competition in related markets.

As part of the consideration of the case, the FAS will assess the actions of Google LLC and their consequences for users and content creators.