Google late Thursday suspended all advertising in Russia, a move that came shortly after the country’s communication censor accused the company’s YouTube video service of spreading misinformation and stoking protests, The Wall Street Journal reported.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Google said the new mandate covers YouTube, search and display marketing in Russia. Earlier this week, Google blocked access to Russian state-owned media outlets RT and Sputnik across Europe in compliance with a European Union sanctions order. In addition, Google said it recently began blocking ads related to the conflict that seek to take advantage of the situation and that it paused monetization of Russian state-funded media across its platforms.
These changes come after Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Federov, tweeted (on February 26, 2021): “I’ve addressed the @Google to stop supplying Google services and products to Russian Federation. Including blocking access to Google market and Google Pay. We are sure this will motivate proactive youth to stop this war!”
Between that tweet, and the tweets posted by Mykhailo Federov in which he asked gaming companies to leave the Russian market, it appears that he is among the most influential voices from Ukraine right now. Some gaming companies have suspended sales of their games in Russia and Belarus. Others have blocked payments in rubles.
The New York Times reported: Google has taken a cautious approach with the Russian government throughout the crisis, because it has more than 100 employees on the ground in the country. In the past, Russian government had threatened to prosecute individual employees of companies that run afoul of the country’s rules.
According to The New York Times, Google said it would no longer permit content from Russian state media to appear on Google News. In addition, the Ukrainian Government asked Google to restrict RT and other Russian YouTube channels in Ukraine – and Google complied.
A paragraph from The New York Times article stuck with me. “The Russian demands to Google are the latest example of how the internet platforms of the world’s largest technology companies are becoming battle grounds for how information is shared during the conflict.”
I don’t think I’ve seen anything like this before. I’m hoping that social media companies will become faster at removing misinformation campaigns from their platforms. Eventually, those who want to spread propaganda will have fewer and fewer platforms they can post it on.