Information Warfare: Occupation ‘Authorities’ in Donbas Block Google

Representatives of the “authorities” of the so-called “Donetsk People’s Republic” and “Luhansk People’s Republic” decided to block access to Google’s search service.

As reported by the Russian propaganda media, the relevant decision was made today by Denis Pushylin, the leader of the so-called “DPR.” According to him, Google is banned because Russians are allegedly being harassed online, lies and misinformation are being imposed. He used traditional Russian narratives, saying that the Google search engine allegedly promotes terrorism and violence against all Russians and especially the population of Donbas “by order of its curators from the American government.”

The day before, the leader of the pseudo-republic “LPR” Leonid Pasechnik also accused Google of promoting terrorism and extremism. He is convinced that the occupied territories “will do without Google.”

According to Russian mass media, residents of certain areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions no longer have access to the popular search engine. In fact, the same processes are taking place in the territories controlled by the Russian Federation as in Russia itself, where freedom of speech is under attack and access to various sources of information is highly restricted to promote propaganda as much as possible.

As a reminder, in May, the occupation “authorities” in Donbas blocked Facebook and Instagram, saying that these platforms supposedly allow “calls for violence against Russian-speaking users.”

Bohdan Marusyak