Google denies unblurring satellite Maps imagery in Russia

The Russo-Ukraine War is an ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. Russia invaded Ukraine on 24^th February 2022. Since then the situation is quite sensitive in Ukraine and government and military personal are trying to cope with the situation. In the heat of the fire, Ukraine has reported that Google has unblurred satellite Maps imagery in Russia. The images shared by the Tweet account @ ArmedForcesUkr, which is the official Ukrainian Ministry of Defense account, show the clear military base of Russia with planes and military equipment which shows that Google has opened access to Russia’s military and strategic facilities. This action if done by Google is quite treacherous and will add more to agitation and hatred emotions. Google on the contrary denies the allegation and explains that it has not changed any settings to how it sensors satellite imagery of Russia.

Google denies unblurring satellite Maps imagery in Russia

The tweet from ArmedForcesUkr says “Now everyone can see a variety of Russian launchers, intercontinental ballistic missile mines, command posts and secret landfills with a resolution of about 0.5 meters per pixel.”

The images shared show the active Russian military site with all the military equipment present in great abundance but Google explains that it always blur the images of sensitive areas and Russian base is seen by Google as a sensitive base. These images are legitimate but quite old and had been taken away before the Russian invasion in Ukraine.

Google has worked a lot in opposing Russian actions. It has paused ad sales in the country, banned Russian state media accounts to run ads on their YouTube accounts, and stopped access to Google Pay for some Russian users due to sanctions. The company is not in favor of war and hence, doesn’t allow anyone to violate the company’s terms and conditions. Google seems not to be changing its sensor policy for satellite imagery of Russia.

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