Google Announces Deactivation of AdSense Accounts in Russia

Google announced that it would no longer continue the payment of customers for its advertising service in Russia, due to the deactivation of AdSense accounts there. With AdSense, owners of websites and other content—including on YouTube—can monetize the placement of Google-managed ads. A Google spokesperson stated, “Due to ongoing developments in Russia, we will no longer be able to make payments to Russia-based AdSense accounts that have been able to continue monetising traffic outside of Russia. As a result, we will be deactivating these accounts effective August 2024.”

“Your July earnings will be disbursed around August 21–26, assuming you have no active payment holds and meet the minimum payment thresholds,” reads a notification sent to account holders informing them of the change. Although slower speeds have been reported on Google’s YouTube video hosting network in Russia in recent weeks, the company did not say which factors had prompted the decision.

Russian lawmakers attribute the lag to Google’s inability to modernize its hardware in the nation since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022—a claim that Google and Russian tech experts have long challenged.

For several years, Google has faced criticism in Russia, mostly for failing to remove content that Moscow deems unlawful. Due to Russia’s suppression of independent media in the Russian language, YouTube has up until now remained an anchor of online freedom of expression.

The US company halted monetizing content that took advantage of, discounted, or supported Russia’s conflict in Ukraine in March 2022 and ceased providing advertisements to users in Russia. More than 5.5 million videos and more than 1,000 YouTube channels—including state-sponsored news—have been censored by it. Google has been accused by lawmaker Anton Gorelkin, deputy head of Russia’s parliamentary committee on information policy, of encouraging the split of the internet into “them” and “us.”.

“Google has continued to segregate citizens according to nationality, completely closing off the possibility of monetization for Russians,” Gorelkin stated on Telegram.

Russian lawmakers, activists, and media outlets that are considered “foreign agents” by the government are prohibited from running advertisements on websites, including YouTube channels, as of March 24.