The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war has compelled the Western world to take a decisive stance against Russia. Presently, it is not just the governments that are trying to help Ukraine as Big Tech has stepped up in its bid to not only offer assistance to Ukraine but also actively take a stance against Russian aggression. Besides the Western nations, Big Tech is playing a significant role in easing the ongoing tension between Russia and Ukraine.
SpaceX and Apple
Elon Musk responded to a request on Twitter, helping Ukrainian residents access the internet once again. SpaceX aligned the Starlink satellite constellation to beam internet over Ukraine, helping the country recover from the Russian forces’ onslaught on Ukraine’s communications infrastructure.
Apple stopped all sales in Russia after appeals from Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. Apart from this, it also stopped traffic and live incident updates in Apple Maps, and blocked access to the App Store in Russia. Outside of Russia, Apple removed RT and Sputnik apps from the App Store in a bid to help curtail Russian propaganda.
Microsoft, Meta, Twitter and YouTube
Microsoft is trying to detect and alert the Ukrainian government about cyber attacks against the country, targeting Ukraine’s digital assets, finance, agriculture and other critical sectors. Apart from this, it also removed the RT app from the Windows App Store and deranked RT and Sputnik on Bing.
Meta, Twitter and YouTube help mitigate Russian disinformation campaigns. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all placed restrictions on Russian state-media from running ads on their platforms, with YouTube going a step further and demonetizing these media publications. Apart from this, these platforms are also working to fact-check Russian disinformation campaigns.
Seach Giant, OTT Giant and Video Game Giant
Google updated its Search and Maps services to help refugees get the latest information from United Nations resources. It also disabled live traffic and busy-ness layers from Google Maps in a bid to keep the local population safe. Additionally, it is trying to help Ukrainian websites stay up by staving off Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks from Russia. It also blocked RT and Sputnik channels on YouTube.
Netflix defied Russian laws to add 20 Russian state channels on its platform. It was required to do so because of a law that came into force on March 1. Media reports also suggest that Netflix has also paused all Russian program productions and new acquisitions.
CD Projekt Red stops sale of its video game Cyberpunk 2077 in Russia and Belarus
Popular video game developer CD Projekt Red, based out of neighboring Poland, announced that it has stopped sales of its video game, Cyberpunk 2077, in Russia and Belarus. This includes sales via its digital as well as physical distribution networks.
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