How tech giants are embracing safety steps to fight Russia-Ukraine crisis

Amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis, a clutch of tech giants is adopting precautionary measures to ensure the safety of the citizens.

Google has temporarily pulled down a few Google Maps tools in Ukraine over safety concerns. The company said it is globally disabling the Google Maps traffic situation and live information on the country to ensure the safety of local communities. 

Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, will not allow Russian state media to monetise or run ads on the social media platform amidst the ongoing crisis. 

“We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetising on our platform anywhere in the world. We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media. These changes have already begun rolling out and will continue into the weekend,” said Nathaniel Gleicher, Security policy head, Facebook. 

Russian telecom regulator Rozkomnadzor asked for certain restrictions of Facebook apparently over its independent fact-checking of four state-owned outlets.

“Facebook restricted the official accounts of four Russian media outlets,” said Rozkomnador, in a statement. “Such actions in relation to Russian Internet resources and the media are prohibited by Federal Law No. 272-FZ “On Measures to Influence Persons Involved in Violations of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, Rights and Freedoms of Citizens of the Russian Federation”. 

“On February 24, Roskomnadzor sent requests to the administration of Meta Platforms, Inc. to remove the restrictions imposed by the social network Facebook on Russian media and explain the reason for their introduction. The owners of the social network ignored the requirements of Roskomnadzor,” the statement added. 

Hours later, in response to the above statement by Russia, Meta’s head of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said in a statement on Twitter, “Yesterday, Russian authorities ordered us to stop the independent fact-checking and labeling of content posted on FB by 4 Russian state-owned media organizations. We refused. As a result, they have announced they will be restricting the use of our services.”  

Russia blocked Twitter on February 26. According to a report from the internet monitoring group NetBlocks, it witnessed failed or extremely controlled connections across every major Russian telecom provider. Twitter too halted its advertising and recommendation features in Russia and Ukraine. 

Elon Musk said his company SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband service had been activated in Ukraine. This comes after Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov requested the tech giant to provide his country with stations. 

“Starlink service is now active in Ukraine, “Musk tweeted, adding “more terminals en route.” 

The US, Canada, Britain and the EU have moved to block Russia’s access to the Swift international banking payment system. 

In a statement by the White House, the countries said, “We, the leaders of the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the United States condemn (Vladimir) Putin’s war of choice and attacks on the sovereign nation and people of Ukraine”.