SAN FRANCISCO: Google confirmed that it had removed Russian state-funded publishers such as RT from its news-related features, including the Google News search tool, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and various sanctions against Russia.
Kent Walker, Google’s president of global affairs, said in a blog post that “in this extraordinary crisis we are taking extraordinary measures to stop the spread of misinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns online.” Google already had restricted news companies funded by the Russian government from advertising tools and some features on YouTube.
RT Deputy Editor-in-Chief Anna Belkina said in a statement that technology companies that have cut her outlet’s distribution have not pointed to “a single grain of evidence that what RT has reported over these days, and continues to report, is not true.”
“This collective ‘establishment’ seems to be terrified of a mere presence of any outside voice for the fear of losing their historically captive audience, if that audience encounters a different perspective,” the statement said.
Earlier this week, Google temporarily disabled for Ukraine some Google Maps tools which provide live information about traffic conditions and how busy different places are.
The company said it had taken the action of globally disabling the Google Maps traffic layer and live information on how busy places like stores and restaurants are in Ukraine for the safety of local communities in the country.
Big tech companies including Google have said they are taking new measures to protect users’ security in the region. Online services and social media sites have also been tapped by researchers piecing together activity around the war. Google said live traffic information remained available to drivers using its turn-by-turn navigation features in the area.
