The European Commission has sent Google a request to remove Russian state media results for searches made in EU countries. Equal washington articles report, Google has uploaded Letters from EU officials to a database of government requests. In it, officials explain how the commission’s official order banning the broadcasting of RT and Sputnik in the European Union also applies to search engines and internet companies in general.
If you recall, the rose issue a ban in the state media a few days after Russia began its invasion of Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said at the time that by doing so, the media “will no longer be able to spread their lies to justify Putin’s war.” Although it is not clear how the order applies to internet companies, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok immediately restricted access to RT and Sputnik throughout Europe. Google has also announced its own restrictions, but only for stores’ YouTube channels.
In the letter that Google posted, officials explained that search engines play an important role in disseminating content and that if the company does not remove these stores, it will facilitate public access to them. Part of the letter reads:
“The activity of search engines plays a decisive role in the overall dissemination of content, where it makes content later accessible to any internet user who performs a search on the Internet. the basis of the content index or related terms, including that internet users did not have found the site on which the content was published… Therefore, if search engines like Google do not remove it, RT and Sputnik, which will facilitate public access to RT and Sputnik content, or contribute to such access.
From the fore RT and Sputnik, including short text descriptions, visual elements, and links to respective websites that do not appear in search results are made available to users in the European Union. “
Google didn’t come back Post by asked for comment, but the publication said a search carried out within the EU did not turn up a link for “Russia Today.” However, the RT links were still visible to us when we did a search using Google Austria and France.
The letter also says that the order applies to “posts by individuals copying RT and Sputnik content” – for example, screenshots of articles from those sites – and that social networks must delete those posts if they are published. That can create a huge amount of additional work for social media sites. Fight to moderate content posted by their users. Based on ItemHowever, the actual sanctions law does not specify the order in the way it is written in the letter, so the officials’ interpretation could be challenged in court.
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