The company has been under pressure in Russia for several years, particularly for not taking down content Moscow deems illegal and for blocking YouTube channels of Russian media and public figures early in the Ukraine war.
"The ministry confirms that Google has restricted the creation of new accounts. Telecom operators have also registered a significant reduction in the number of SMS messages sent by the company to Russian users," the Russian Digital Ministry said.
The department said it was not certain that SMS confirmations for two-factor authentication would continue to work.
"The ministry recommends that users of Google services back up their data and switch to using alternative methods of two-factor authentication or to local platforms," the message added.
In August, Google said it was deactivating its AdSense accounts in Russia.
The U.S. company stopped serving ads to users in Russia in March 2022 and paused monetization of content that exploits, dismisses or endorses Russia's war in Ukraine. The tech giant has blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels, including state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos.
In recent months, slower speeds have been recorded on Google's YouTube video hosting platform in Russia. Russian lawmakers blame the slowdown on Google's failure to upgrade its equipment, which the company and technology experts dispute. | BGNES
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