Google details its security response to the war in Ukraine [Update: YouTube demonetizations]

With the war in Ukraine ongoing, Google today detailed its company-wide response to the conflict with a focus on the “safety and security of our employees, users, and customers.”

Update 2/26: Citing sanctions, YouTube this morning “paus[ed] a number of channels’ ability to monetize” videos with ads, while also “significantly limiting recommendations to these channels.” This covers the state-owned RT and other Russian channels (via Reuters). Additionally:

And in response to a government request, we’ve restricted access to RT and a number of other channels in Ukraine. We will continue to monitor new developments and may take further actions.

Original 2/25: In a Twitter thread by Google Europe this afternoon, the company announced that it “automatically increased account security protections for people in the region and will continue to do so as cyber threats evolve.” This could include enabling 2-Step Verification (2FA) for more users like it has already been doing independently in recent months. 

Google reminds people that they can manually enable measures to make account takeovers harder and that the Advanced Protection Program is available for “individuals and orgs in high risk environments.” YouTube also encouraged creators last night to enable 2FA.

The company shared that a “number of websites in Ukraine have opted into” Project Shield’s protections against DDoS attacks related to the conflict. The service is free for those eligible and primarily meant for defending news and human rights sites that are critical for spreading essential information.

On that front, the company reiterated that Search has “crisis” measures in place to “surface reliable, timely information.” YouTube is said to be “prominently surfacing videos from trusted news sources and working hard to remove content that violates our policies.” This includes removing hundreds of channels and thousands of videos that violate misinformation policies “over the last few days.”

Google said it is “blocking ads related to this crisis that seek to take advantage of the situation” as there are calls to block or demonetize RT’s channel. 

Google.org has launched a matching program so that employees can donate to UNHCR, Polish Center for International Aid, International Red Cross Societies, and other humanitarian organizations. Google does not have any offices in Ukraine, but it has two locations in neighboring Poland.

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