Russia Tops a Google Search
You don’t want to get on Russia’s wrong side. So, with Putin known for his keen defense of the status quo, investors fear that one of their tech companies has lit a short fuse! Google has got the Russians going after it!
The view from the Kremlin this weekend was unusual. Looking out at scores of protestors, the first port of call for Russian officials was to obviously Google a solution. In so doing, the country’s communication watchdog stumbled on a playlist of YouTube videos promoting the gathering.
Quick on the phone to Google, Putin’s wingmen had some stern words for the American tech company, ordering it to stop promoting “illegal” events such as the weekend’s protests. If Google can’t hold its own here, the market worries that it could lose what makes it so valuable to the rest of the world; freedom!
Full to the brim with debate, clickbait, the weird, and the wonderful, social media is a mosh-pit. However, the transparency it offers is everything. As such an influential and free form of communication, some unseated regimes want to reign it in. Due to network effects, size is power online. Not only could investors not see user bases expand in some countries, but alternative, controlled platforms will face no contest in gobbling up share. If Russia applies a hard-line against Google, the market would feel it.
Twitter has already stood its ground against a world leader! Last month, the US President was denied special treatment on the platform. Investors now call on Google to take a similar position, and guess what, we can follow it all online!