The European Union has reportedly pushed Google to remove two Russian state media websites, RT and Sputnik, from its search results to limit the reach of their misinformation.
The Washington Post reports that the EU’s notice requires Google to remove “any link to the Internet sites of RT and Sputnik,” as well as “any content of RT and Sputnik, including short textual descriptions, visual elements, and links to the corresponding websites.”
The latter requirement could prove contentious, because it not only limits the reach of RT and Sputnik themselves, but also of anyone who happens to link to their websites. This could suppress legitimate criticism or fact-checking efforts from appearing in Google’s search results.
RT, Sputnik, and other Russian state media outlets have already been restricted on several other platforms. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all said in recent weeks that they would limit the reach of these outlets; TikTok also started labeling content posted by the outlets.
Netflix refused to broadcast Russian state-funded channels, too, before it decided to stop operating in the country entirely. And even the usually non-biased DuckDuckGo search engine has said that it will “down-rank sites associated with Russian disinformation.”
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
