Despite a complete ban on advertising of medical services for abortion implemented in Russia on January 1, 2014, there are proven instances of such advertisements in the Google search engine on the territory of the Russian Federation. The Federal Antimonopoly Office received a complaint, as a result of which advertising of abortion on «Google» in Russia was found to be illegal, with subsequent consequences for the company.
For the violation, Google Inc. (USA) and the Russian company «Google» were issued binding instructions to stop the violations.
In respect to the distributor of advertising — Google Inc. (USA) and advertisers — medical centers «Grace» and «Clinic of male and female health» materials for initiating an administrative case are being prepared, which may result in the imposition of fines. Note the name of the abortion clinic: «Grace»!
Searching «Google» for «same day abortion» in Russian, on the right side of the search results Google provides a block marked «advertisements» which hosts several advertisements for abortions, containing hyperlinks to respective sites. It should be noted that same day abortions are also banned in Russia. By law, women are given a period of two days to two weeks to think about their decision, but this rule is almost never followed.
“No one is allowed to violate the prohibitions established by the legislation on a particular advertisement. And large companies such as Google should take all possible measures to prevent the spread of unauthorized advertisements“ — noted the deputy head of the control of advertising and unfair competition by the Federal Antimonopoly Office of Russia, Irina Vasilenkova, on the official website.