The British Sunday newspaper The Observer reports that Google has facilitated censorship by removing certain content at the request of autocratic regimes such as Russia and China.
These included, for example, YouTube videos of anti-government demonstrations or content criticising politicians and accusing them of corruption.
The Observer writes that Google has been in contact with governments in around 150 countries since 2011. These governments include democratic governments, dictatorships, or governments accused of human rights violations. For example, they want certain information removed to protect national security.
According to The Observer, more than 60 percent of removal requests in the four years to June 2024 were made by Russia. At that country’s request, footage of Ukrainian protesters burning a Russian flag was removed from YouTube, among other things. Content critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin was also reportedly temporarily blocked.
Counter gas
At the request of China’s Ministry of Public Security, Google has removed more than 200 videos, down from the 412 it had requested. According to the Chinese government, 346 of these videos “contain allegations of corruption within the political system of the People’s Republic of China or stories involving high-ranking government officials.”
A Google spokesperson says that the company does push back against governments. ‘We oppose requests from governments to remove content when we believe that the content does not violate the law or our policies. We defend these cases tooth and nail and have even been fined for our refusal, for example, by the Russian government.’
