FAS REPORTED INVOLVEMENT OF NEW PARTICIPANT IN GOOGLE CASE ON YOUTUBE BLOCKING RULES

On June 23, the first meeting of the Commission of the FAS Russia in the case of violation of antimonopoly law for abusing dominant market position in YouTube video hosting services took place

During the meeting, the Regional Public Organization "Center for Internet Technologies" (ROCIT) confirmed the arguments set out in the petition. Representatives of the organization emphasized that some of provisions of the Google agreement on blocking users create significant risks for the activities of content distributors.

After the case was initiated, the football club Akhmat filed a petition with the antimonopoly service. The circumstances of the petition are similar to those considered in the case: the video hosting blocked the FC's YouTube channel. The Commission decided to involve the Autonomous Noncommercial Organization Republican Football Club Akhmat in the case as an interested person. The next hearing on the case will be held on July 14

It is worth noting, that in November 2020 the FAS Russia started research of the video hosting market and an analysis of the practices of blocking user accounts. The results showed that the rules for the creation, suspension, blocking of accounts and the rules for the circulation of user content on YouTube are opaque, biased and unpredictable. This leads to sudden blocking and deletion of user accounts without warning and justification of actions.

The FAS Russia concluded that such behavior may lead to infringement of user’s interests, as well as to restriction of competition in related markets.