Google, Apple, and internet restriction – how Big Tech is making censorship “much worse” according to experts

Big Tech firms have long attracted criticism for cooperating with authoritarian governments to censor the internet. Now, a recent investigation by The Observer sheds new light on how Google has increasingly co-operated with the likes of Russia, China, Iran, and Afghanistan to facilitate censors’ requests. According to data collected by Surfshark, worldwide content removal orders to Google have more than doubled over the last decade, and the Kremlin accounted for over 60% of requests between 2020 and 2024. Yet, according to the co-founder of Russian digital rights group Roskomsvoboda and RKS Global Expert, Sarkis Darbinyan, Google’s approach to authoritarian censors…