Russian court fines Google $20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

"A Russian court has ruled that Google owes Russian media stations around $20 decillion in fines for blocking their content, and the fines could get bigger.…

To put that into perspective, the World Bank estimates global GDP as around $100 trillion, which is peanuts compared to the prospective fine. Google would therefore have to find more money than exists on Earth to pay Moscow - but on Tuesday fell a little short of that mark when it posted $88 billion quarterly revenue.
"Google was called by a Russian court to administrative liability under Art. 13.41 of the Administrative Offenses Code for removing channels on the YouTube platform. The court ordered the company to restore these channels," lawyer Ivan Morozov told state media." MS

Meta Removes Iran Supreme Leader Khamenei's Instagram, Facebook Accounts

"In the wake of last month's drone strike on a Jordanian base which killed three Marines, likely from a pro-Iran militia in Syria or Iraq, this drive to remove Iranian state social media accounts has returned. Meta removed the Instagram and Facebook accounts of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Meta cited its policy of not allowing "organizations or individuals that proclaim a violent mission or are engaged in violence" on its." ZH

Mass Removal of China-linked Facebook Accounts Targeting U.S.

"Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, said it had removed thousands of fake accounts that were part of China-based covert operations to influence social media users from the U.S. and elsewhere." MS

"Facebook censoring Seymour Hersh story

"Facebook is censoring a Seymour Hersh story which accuses the Ukrainian president of
embezzling funds by citing a pro-Ukraine ‘fact-checker’ which is partly funded by NATO. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist’s article, which is headlined ‘Trading With the Enemy’, alleges that Volodymyr Zelensky’s government has been “skimming untold millions from the American dollars earmarked for diesel fuel payments.” NW

US Spies Pushed Twitter to Censor ‘Anti-Ukraine Narratives’

"The Pentagon, CIA and other US intelligence and law-enforcement agencies became

increasingly “more aggressive” with takedown requests, the latest trove of Twitter files has revealed. The documents suggest the agencies were effectively pushing the platform to censor foreign-policy stories that ran against the Washington-approved narrative.

“The files show the FBI acting as doorman to a vast program of social media surveillance and censorship, encompassing agencies across the federal government – from the State Department to the Pentagon to the CIA,” journalist Matt Taibbi wrote in the Christmas Eve edition of the Twitter Files, released with the blessing of the social media platform’s owner, Elon Musk.

Thousands of censorship requests flowed to Twitter from what were termed OGA” in the documents, or “Other Government Organizations,” through the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force. 

Twitter executives often struggled to validate government claims, but were under constant pressure to find evidence to blame any foreign actor, Russia in particular.

“Found no links to Russia,” an unnamed analyst said in one of the emails, later suggesting he could “brainstorm” to “find a stronger connection.” Former Trust and Safety chief Yoel Roth admitted in another instance that he’d found “no real matches using the info.” IW

Facebook blocks greeting of Ukraine’s Air Force commander to radio-technical troops

"Facebook has blocked a greeting message from Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk, the Commander of Ukraine’s Air Force to the soldiers of the radio engineering troops; 30 November marks their official holiday.

Oleshchuk's congratulations were published on the official page of the command, but a few hours later, they were blocked ostensibly because they "violated community standards." Pravada

Russia responds to Zuckerberg’s FBI revelations

"The FBI and other US security agencies secretly control American social media giants,
Russia’s foreign ministry press director has alleged. The high-level official cited a recent interview by Mark Zuckerberg, in which the Facebook CEO supposedly acknowledged such influence. 

On Friday, spokesperson Maria Zakharova published a post on her Telegram channel devoted to Zuckerberg’s recent appearance on The Joe Rogan podcast. According to the Russian diplomat, Facebook’s first-in-command recounted how FBI operatives had visited him ahead of the 2020 US presidential elections, which ended in victory for Joe Biden, asking him to suppress stories revolving around the “unseemly contents” of Hunter Biden’s laptop on his platforms." RT

Russian-backed separatists in Ukraine block Google search engine

"Russian-backed separatists in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine have blocked access to the search engine Google (GOOGL.O), their leader said on Friday, citing what he calls "disinformation"." Reuters

Facebook Okays Calls for Violence Against Russians

"Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, sent an email to employees of both
social media platforms informing them that calls for violence against Russians and Russian soldiers will temporarily be allowed, according to a report by Reuters." Breitbart

Twitter Says It Will Consider Censoring "Emerging Narratives" About Ukraine War

"Twitter announced that it was monitoring “emerging narratives” about the Ukraine war that
will be censored if they represent a violation of the company’s policies....a statement by a Twitter spokesperson is likely to cause alarm amongst free speech advocates.

“We took enforcement action on a number of accounts in error,” the statement said, adding, “We’ve been proactively monitoring for emerging narratives that are violative of our policies.”

The use of the term “emerging narratives” suggests that Twitter will begin censoring certain perspectives on the conflict in the context of their policy on “misinformation.” ZeroHedge