Russia fines Google $98 million over banned content: What you need to know

A Moscow court has fined Google 7.2bn roubles ($98m; £73m) for repeated failure to delete content deemed illegal in Russia.

Details of the offending content were not specified in the announcement by the court's press service.

Russia has recently heaped fines on the world's biggest tech companies, accusing them of not moderating their content properly and interfering in the country's affairs.

However, the fines that Meta (Facebook), Twitter, Google and other foreign tech giants received stretched into the tens of millions of rubles, not billions.

Interfax news agency reported that the fine was calculated as a percentage of Google's annual earnings.

Google told the AFP news agency that it would study the court ruling before deciding on further steps.

Google and Apple were also forced to remove an app dedicated to Navalny's "Smart Voting" campaign, which gave users advice on tactical voting to unseat Kremlin-aligned politicians.

Earlier this year, Russia also introduced a new law requiring all new smartphones, computers and smart devices sold in the country to be pre-installed with Russian-made software and apps.