Update: 02.03.2022 14:08
Released: 02.03.2022, 14:08
Mountain View (USA) / Prague – American Internet company Google has stopped showing Russian-funded media sites on its Google News service. This applies, inter alia, to RT television, the Sputnik news server or the TASS news agency. However, it will take some time for the changes to be fully reflected in all countries and systems, the Czech branch of Google told TK today.
The removal of Russian sources of information also applies globally to other news platforms. On Tuesday, Google also blocked channels linked to RT TV or the Sputnik website, which it described as disinformation, on YouTube’s European video servers. It also blocks RT and Sputnik-related mobile apps from the Google Play store across Europe.
According to President of World Affairs Kent Walker, Google is also working to curb referrals, suspend monetization and limit the reach of content produced by Russian-funded media.
“In this extraordinary crisis, we are taking extraordinary steps to stop the spread of disinformation and disrupt disinformation campaigns on the web,” Google said in a statement. blog. Google has also temporarily disabled some of its map features, such as traffic layers or busy data.
A total of six disinformation websites in the Czech Republic were blocked on Tuesday by domestic mobile operators, and on Friday the domain association CZ.NIC blocked eight disinformation sites ending in .cz. According to the Czech Fairy Association, which fights disinformation on the Internet, mystical activity and pro-Russian trolls have turned to social networks and chain emails after several disinformation sites were blocked.
According to Bohumil Kartous of Czech Elf, the contributions of last week’s disinformation in chain emails and social networks can be divided into three groups. On the one hand, he tries to justify attacks by the Russian army, such as the photos of the alleged genocide of the Russian population in Donbas and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. In the second group are contributions that try to prove that Ukraine is not a full-fledged state and are identified with Banderas’ heritage. The third group is videos glorifying Russian soldiers, who this post says are well prepared for war.
The activity of Internet trolls intervening in social media discussions in favor of Russia focused on Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, Defense Minister Jana ernochová, and the North Atlantic Alliance, the United States and the West in general. They actively participate in discussions on the iRozhlas, Aktuálně or T24 websites.
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