Ukraine: How tech giants are reacting to Russian invasion

As the global outrage continues to mount over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, tech companies are also taking serious measures against President Vladimir Putin’s government. From Facebook and Google to Apple and Microsoft, platforms have moved to limit the reach of Kremlin-controlled media outlets.

On Friday, Ukrainian leaders pleaded with Apple, Meta and Google to restrict their services inside Russia. Then Google and Meta, which owns Facebook, barred Russian state-run media from selling ads on their platforms, and it could be following by casino online sites performing the same sanction. Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, also spoke with top European Union officials over how to counter Russian disinformation.

At the same time, Telegram, a widely used messaging app in Russia and Ukraine, threatened to shut down channels related to the war because of rampant misinformation. And this week, Twitter said it would label all posts containing links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets, and Meta and YouTube said they would restrict access to some of those outlets across the European Union to ward off war propaganda.

While Google and Meta blocked Russian state media from selling ads on their sites last week, the companies did not bar the outlets, as many Western policymakers had urged.

Tech companies are doing “a delicate dance” as their services have become a key battleground in the war in Ukraine, said Katie Harbath, a former public policy director at Facebook now at the International Republican Institute.

On one hand, the companies don’t want to let Russia use their platforms to amplify propaganda and disinformation.

But on the other, “they want to make sure their tools remain available in both Russia and Ukraine, because they are some of the few ones that activists have in order to organize and to get their messages out that are not controlled by the Russian government,” Harbath said.

As the conflict has ratcheted up, the companies have taken additional steps. On Sunday, Google’s Maps division stopped displaying traffic information inside Ukraine out of concerns that it could create safety risks by showing where people were gathering. Facebook announced that it had taken down a pro-Kremlin influence campaign and a separate hacking campaign targeting its users in Ukraine.

On Monday, Twitter began labeling all tweets containing links to Russian state-affiliated media outlets so users would be aware of the information sources. Since the conflict in Ukraine began, users have tweeted links to state-affiliated media about 45,000 times a day, the company said.

On Sunday, Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder, posted to his more than 600,000 followers on the platform that he was considering blocking some war-related channels inside Ukraine and Russia because they could aggravate the conflict and incite ethnic hatred. Users responded with alarm, saying they relied on Telegram for independent information. Less than an hour later, Mr. Durov reversed course.

Rather sluggishly joining the fray on Tuesday, Apple announced that it will halt sales of its products in Russia. “We are deeply concerned about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and stand with all of the people who are suffering as a result of the violence,” Apple said in a statement.

The company outlined a number of actions in response to the invasion, including stopping all exports into its sales channels in the country. It added that Apple Pay and other services had been limited, and that Russian state media, RT News and Sputnik News, were no longer available for download from the Apple Store outside Russia, and www.casinosonline-canada.ca can’t be accessed from the country.

Ukrainian officials call on tech companies to take further action against Russia is apparently yielding dividends. “In 2022, modern technology is perhaps the best answer to the tanks, multiple rocket launchers and missiles,” said the Ukraine vice-prime minister and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, in a letter to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook.

Following the announcement on Tuesday he urged Cook to “finish the job” and block access to the App Store in Russia. “They kill our children, now kill their access!” he tweeted.

The decision comes as tech companies face increased scrutiny over their response to the ongoing conflict. With billions flocking to social media for news on the war and Russian state media using tech to disseminate its own messaging, concerns about mis- and disinformation are on the rise.

Neighboring countries have made similar requests, with the prime ministers of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia sending a joint letter to the chief executives of Google, Facebook and Twitter last week.

“Although the online platforms have undertaken significant efforts to address the Russian government’s unprecedented assault on truth, they have not done enough,” they said in the letter.

Reddit announced on Tuesday that it had quarantined its r/Russia channel to address a rise in misinformation – making it more difficult for users to find by suspending it from searches, recommendations and feeds.