Google pulls the curtain over AdSense in Russia

Emmanuel Oyedeji -

Following Google’s decision to pull the plug on its operations in Russia in 2022 amidst escalating tensions with the Kremlin—a battle that has intensified since the start of Russia’s war with Ukraine, the tech giant has now taken another decisive step. 

The tech giant has announced the complete shutdown of all AdSense accounts within the country in a move that will significantly impact Russian content creators.

This latest development is the culmination of a series of measures taken by Google in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including pausing monetization of state-funded media, halting all ads from the country, and blocking the creation of new AdSense accounts. This came after the government seized its local bank accounts and made continuing operations in the country impossible. 

Since then, Google has blocked more than 1,000 YouTube channels, including state-sponsored news, and over 5.5 million videos, according to Reuters.

With this final blow, AdSense, AdMob, and Ad Manager platforms are now off-limits, leaving Russian content creators with limited options to monetize their content. Google's decision has been tied to the increasingly restrictive regulatory environment imposed by Western governments on Russia.

In a final act of financial closure, the tech giant has announced that the last payout for affected accounts will be processed between August 21 and 26. This means that by the end of the month, a crucial income stream for countless Russian YouTubers, bloggers, and website owners will cease to exist leaving them with an uncertain future.

The platform’s popularity in Russia, with the country ranking only second to the United States in terms of web traffic, according to SimilarWeb data, further underscores the severity of the impact. 

Meanwhile, the broader implications of this decision extend beyond the immediate impact on Russian creators. The ripple effects of this decision will be far-reaching, impacting not only individual creators but also the overall digital ecosystem within Russia.