Russian media outlet attaches SA Google shares

A Russian media outlet that uses religious messaging to spread propaganda about the Ukrainian invasion has attached the shares and trademarks of Google SA ahead of its attempt to use local courts to act against the tech giant. A Fin24 report notes SA has almost nothing to do with the matter, but through a strange turn of events, No Fond Pravoslavnogo Televideniya (NFPT) – which translates from Russian to The Foundation for Orthodox Television – is trying to reclaim a debt from Google’s international business through local courts. The Gauteng High Court (Johannesburg) awarded a court order to the media group that approved the attachment of Google shares and trademarks in SA until litigation over the main dispute with the tech giant has been finalised. The attachment motion was brought ex parte. NFPT challenged the YouTube ban in an arbitration court in Moscow, which ruled in March last year that Google’s ban on the outlet was illegal and had to be overturned. Google LLC –the company’s international business – appealed the matter but was unsuccessful. The court slapped Google with a fine provided for in Russian law called astreinte. The Russian court was quoted in SA court papers as saying that this fee structure was designed to encourage respondents like Google to execute the orders of the court ‘as soon as possible’. NFPT filed a motion to enforce the Russian civil case against Google in SA on 6 June, to which Google is yet to submit a response.

Full Fin24 report