Much speculation appeared today in the media following Google’s decision to move about one hundred of its engineers from its Russia office to other locations.
A major US site thus suggested that Google’s move could be related to the “changing climate in Russia [which] may lead more Internet companies to move their operations to other countries in the region.”
Virtually all the recent Russian Internet legislation is the culprit – from a recent law aimed at keeping personal data stored by Internet companies on Russian citizens inside the country to “increased government requests to remove links from Google, a ploy usually used to get rid of unflattering stories or comments,” according to these media reports.
The search engine’s decision, say these journalists following an obviously thorough investigation, also has something to do with “pressure on home-grown tech companies” – including a recent police inspection in the offices of Lamoda.ru, a Russian e-commerce player backed by Western investors.
“It was not clear whether [Google’s] retreat was a response to an erosion of the country’s Internet freedoms or any direct pressure on the company,” an established financial newspaper is seriously asking.
The reality is more trivial, a source at Google Russia told East-West Digital News. “This is internal reorganization, not politics. We did the same in several other countries in the past without provoking any such hysteria in the media.”
Google Russia is busy increasing its share on the search market (around 25%), competing with the local search giant Yandex. Surely some of the recent laws have made some operations uneasy – such as the new law on personal data, which will be applied starting from 2016. Moreover, it cannot be ruled out that the aim of Google’s last move, in the current unpredictable political climate, might be to secure stable conditions for their Russia team’s work. But it is premature to compare Russia with China – where Youtube is simply banned, – and nothing indicates at this point that the US company is considering stopping or even reducing its activities in Russia.
While reaffirming its “deep commitment to our Russian users and customers” and reminding the existence of their “dedicated team in Russia working to support them,” Google declined to comment further on the matter.
