Google News joins long list of blocked sources in Russia along with sites like CNN

Acting as an aggregator for news on multiple news sites, Google News is on Russia’s long list of blocked news sources.

As simple as it may be, the reason is that Roskomnadzor, the body created by the Kremlin to control and possibly censor sources of information accessible to Russian citizens, has no power over Google’s algorithms. According to the Interfax news agency’s website, the Google News platform “provided access to numerous publications and materials that present untrue and publicly relevant information about the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine.”

While Russia can and does block most foreign news sites individually, Google News is a special case, being a fairly well-known platform among the general population, where all sorts of centralized news can be found in independent sources.

Russia has already blocked Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Suspiciously, the power of the Kremlin still allows WhatsApp to function, although Meta, the parent company that also owns Facebook and Instagram, has been classified by a local court as an extremist entity.

According to the judge’s decision, Meta is effectively banned from opening offices or doing business in Russia, according to the Russian state agency TASS. But Russian citizens will not be accused of extremism just because they use any of the Meta platforms or services (ie if they can access them).