The hearing of Google's cassation appeal took place on August 25 in courtroom No. 2 of the Moscow District Arbitration Court. In addition to the panel of judges, three lawyers participated in it - Google, Moscow Media JSC and the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor), which was brought in as a third party during the trial of the first instance.
"The Arbitration Court of the Moscow greece whatsapp resource District ruled: to leave the decision of the Arbitration Court of Moscow dated October 24, 2022 and the ruling of the 9th Arbitration Court of Appeal dated April 13, 2023 in case No. A40-97631/22 unchanged. The cassation appeal of Google LLC and Google LLC is dismissed. To collect from Google LLC, to the federal budget, 3,000 rubles of state duty on the cassation appeal," the judge read out the final part of the decision.
During the hearing, Roskomnadzor's lawyer stated that she considered the decision of the court of first instance to be lawful. "All arguments were given due consideration. We ask that the cassation appeal be denied and the judicial act be upheld," the lawyer said. A representative of Moscow Media JSC also called on the court to dismiss the cassation appeal.
Google's lawyer insisted on challenging the court on the grounds of disregard for the company's rights to a fair trial. "The cassation court has enormous experience in judicial activity and cannot help but know that in this case Google's rights to a fair judicial defense have simply been trampled, because not a single argument of Google with reference to the Supreme Court's position has been considered. Accordingly, we are declaring a challenge," said a Google representative.
On May 11, 2022, Moscow Media JSC filed a lawsuit in the Moscow Arbitration Court with a request to oblige the American company Google LLC and its Russian division Google LLC to unblock users' access to the Moscow Trust YouTube channel, otherwise to collect 100 thousand rubles per day for each day of non-compliance with the court decision, and the amount of the collection should double every week.
On October 24, 2022, the court granted the claim, and on March 28, 2023, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld this decision. After accepting claims from several Russian television companies whose channels were also blocked, Google LLC declared bankruptcy, but this did not affect the essence of the claims from Moscow Media, according to the court's decision.
The court ruling notes that the blocking of YouTube channels of Moscow media was carried out for political reasons due to the SVO in Ukraine.
"It follows from the evidence presented in the case materials that the defendants' actions are based solely on a political premise. The court agrees with the plaintiff's arguments that in the case under consideration, the basis for restricting users' access to the YouTube channels of JSC Moscow Media (Moscow 24, Moscow Trust) were the restrictive measures (sanctions) imposed after February 24, 2022 by foreign states (including Great Britain) against the Russian Federation and state-owned companies controlled by it, including state-owned media, in order to prevent coverage of events taking place in Ukraine in connection with the special military operation," the court's decision says.
The document notes that, despite YouTube's user agreement, according to which all disputes with Google must be resolved in the courts of England, Wales or the United States, due to Western sanctions, representing the company's interests in these courts is impossible.