Russia says Google down-ranking Sputnik, RT would be censorship

Google said it was working to give less prominence to “those kinds of websites”.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that moves by Alphabet Inc’s Google to place articles from Russian news outlets Sputnik and Russia Today lower in search results would amount to censorship.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, Russia, November 23, 2017. (REUTERS)

Alphabet Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, speaking on stage at an international forum last Saturday, responded to a question about Sputnik articles appearing on Google by saying the company was working to give less prominence to “those kinds of websites” as opposed to delisting them.

Speaking at a news briefing, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday Google was acting under strong political pressure from the US authorities.