Russian competition watchdog opens case against Google over YouTube curbs

FILE PHOTO: After the company announced it would extend its coronavirus work-from-home order until summer 2021, a Google sign is shown at one of the company's office complexes in Irvine, California, U.S., July 27, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) said on Monday it had initiated proceedings against U.S. tech giant Alphabet Inc's Google for allegedly abusing its dominant market position in video hosting services.

Google has already come under pressure from the authorities this year for failing to delete what Russia calls banned content. Other western internet companies have also been targeted by Moscow, including Twitter Inc , which has been punitively slowed down.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The FAS said the case concerned Google's YouTube unit and that the company's actions had resulted in the sudden blocking and deletion of some users' accounts, which it said could lead to restricted competition.

The state agency last week initiated proceedings against Yandex, sometimes referred to as 'Russia's Google', over competition law violations on the company's search engine, allegations that Yandex has denied.

(Reporting by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Richard Chang)