“Akhmat” FC sues Google

Today, the administration of the Grozny’s “Akhmat” football club (FC) has announced that it has filed a complaint against Google to the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) and to the United Nations for blocking the “Akhmat” FC YouTube channel due to US sanctions.

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on December 10, 2020, the US Department of the Treasury expanded the Magnitsky List to include the “Akhmat” FC.

The “Akhmat” FC has announced that it is defending its interests in Russian courts and that it has also appealed to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation and to the UN. The “Akhmat” FC regarded the US sanctions as a violation of the principle of sports neutrality and as its politicization.

“Due to the sanctions, Google blocked the YouTube channel of the ‘Akhmat’ FC, which posted videos about the everyday life of the football club and football in Russia. <...> The demonstrative deprivation of the ‘Akhmat’ FC of the right to disseminate information, undertaken by Google, an IT corporation, impedes the promotion of football culture. The ‘Akhmat’ FC has filed to an arbitration court a lawsuit against Google with a request to remove the blocking from the YouTube channel of the ‘Akhmat’ FC. The FC has also filed a complaint to the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia in connection with the presence in the Google’s actions of signs of abuse of its dominant position in the social network video hosting market,” announces the “Akhmat” FC in its complaint.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on June 24, 2021 at 03:36 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.