Russian antitrust fines Google, Mail.Ru for illegal deposit ads

MOSCOW, Feb 19 (PRIME) -- The Federal Antimonopoly Service has fined Internet companies Google and Mail.Ru Group 150,000 rubles and 100,000 rubles respectively for illegal advertisements of banking deposits at Ruskredit, the authority said Friday in a statement.

“Google and Mail.Ru Group, being distributors of the advertisements in question and having a real opportunity to control content of the notices, failed to take measures to prevent violations of the advertising law,” the Moscow branch’s Deputy Director Irina Gudkova said.

The companies’ systems Google AdWords and myTarget contained advertisements of Ruskredit, which did not have a license to carry out banking operations at the moment of placing messages.

The law forbids advertisements of goods whose provider has no license for this kind of activity.

(75.4575 rubles – U.S. $1)

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