Meta, Twitter, Google Impose Restrictions on Russian Businesses

Tech giants like Meta, Twitter and Google has imposed sanctions on Russia by denying ads, recommendations and limiting Google Maps features on their respective platforms.

Social media giants like Meta and Twitter and global tech giants like Google, have taken drastic steps to avoid the outburst of misinformation and disinformation in the wake of recent military developments between Russia and Ukraine.

Meta Platform Inc. owned social media giant Facebook accounted on Friday that they would ban the Russian state media to run ads or monetize on its platform anywhere in the world. Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of Cybersecurity, Facebook said on twitter, “We also continue to apply labels to additional Russian state media.” Gleicher added.

“We are now prohibiting Russian state media from running ads or monetizing on our platform anywhere in the world,” the company announced on its platform. Twitter further launched a fundraising campaign with donations going toward verified organizations directly supporting Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter and safety. Meta also announced that in the last 48 hours they have already removed a network of about 40 fake account, groups, and pages on grounds of its rules against coordinated inauthentic behaviors.

Twitter announced to halt ads and recommendations in Russia and Ukraine on Saturday. The microblogging site said it has been continuously reviewing tweets to filter out manipulated and falsified information.

“We’re temporarily pausing advertisements in Ukraine and Russia to ensure critical public safety information is elevated and ads don’t detract from it,” the company posted in a tweet. A Twitter spokesperson also said that they have also removed more than a dozen accounts and blocked many links on grounds of its rules against platform manipulation and spam.

Alphabet Inc owned Google also banned downloads of RT (Russia Today) mobile apps in Ukrainian territory on request of Kyiv. “In response to a legal request from the Ukrainian government, the RT News app is no longer available for download on Google Play in Ukraine,” said a Google spokesperson on Sunday. This development blocks new users to download the app and limits the existing users to get news updates published by RT.

Google also temporarily banned some features of Google Maps in Ukraine on Sunday. Tools like live traffic conditions and how busy places are, would be inaccessible for the users. It is done in an effort to protect the security of the users in the region.