Following Twitter and Snap’s example of banning ad revenue in Russia following its invasion of Ukraine, Google has now also banned all ad sales in Russia, including search, Youtube and outside publishing partners.
The company had previously invoked its sensitive events policy, suspending any marketing that takes advantage of the ongoing war with the exception of protests and anti-war ads. Russian state-funded media was already banned from buying or selling ads on Google.
Google, Twitter and Snap aren’t the only companies taking action against Russia at the moment. Apple has stopped selling all of its products in the country. Apple Pay and Google Pay have stopped working with major Russian banks and their state-run television channels, RT News and Sputnik news were already banned from major social media channels including Youtube, Apple TV, Google, TikTok Roku and DirectTV.
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More bad news for Russian news
Google had already announced that it’ll be removing newly added user content from Maps in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine amidst claims of Maps being used by the Russian military to coordinate attacks.
Roskomnadzor, Russia’s communications regulator had ordered Google on Monday to stop showing ads that had inaccurate information about casualties in the Russian armed forces and Ukrainian civilians. Additionally, as per the Wall Street Journal, the regulator told Google on Thursday to stop showing Youtube ads with false political information about Ukraine aimed at misinforming the Russian audience and creating a “distorted perception of current events”.
Russian authorities are known to fine or restrict access to services ignoring its demands. Additionally, they’ve also threatened to prosecute individuals if their employers don’t play by the rules, a problem for Google with over 100 employees in the country according to The New York Times.
Heavy embargos from big tech corporations are just a small part of the overall picture aimed at stopping misinformation and disarming propaganda. A significant number of economic sanctions have also been placed on Russia as it continues threatening Ukraine.
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