In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine last week and the country's continued aggression against its neighbor, Microsoft and Google have decided to stop selling their products in Russia.
We know that the pause began last night and has been rolling out over the next few hours. The news was reported earlier.
It is not the first to do this. ad sales were suspended in Russia. The ad business of Google is much larger.
All ads in Russia, including Search, YouTube and Display ads, will be paused immediately, meaning people in Russia won't see ads from the internet giant.
We know that it doesn't prevent Russian advertisers from using ads from outside of Russia if they so choose.
At a time when independent journalists in the country are facing an unprecedented crackdown, this suggests Russian publications could still monetize their content by serving ads to people outside the country. The Russian parliament passed a law that could land reporters in jail for up to 15 years for spreading false information about the military.
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In a post on its website today, Microsoft said it will suspend all new sales of its products and services in Russia.
Bing ads, as well as other Microsoft services, are presumably covered by this. We have asked for confirmation.
In addition, we are working closely with the governments of the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom, and we are stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.
The measures it announced Tuesday are an expansion of the ones it announced several days after Russia.
Russia Today and Sputnik were blocked from the YouTube channels in Europe. Ahead of a pan-EU sanction on the channels coming into force on Wednesday, it followed by blocking the pair's apps from its Play Store in Europe.
The pause in monetization of Russian state-funded media across our platforms was announced by Google prior to that.
The tech giant has taken things further by freezing its ad sales in Russia.
A spokesman for the company told us that the ad sales suspension was a decision made by the company.
In light of the extraordinary circumstances, we’re pausing Google ads in Russia. The situation is evolving quickly, and we will continue to share updates when appropriate.
There are other types of services that are still being sold at this time. It is giving Russians access to information services.
The piecemeal nature of the tech giant's announcements suggests they have been scrambling to come up with a coherent response to the crisis.
At the start of this week, Microsoft announced a more rounded package of measures targeted at Russia, and today they added a blanket sales ban.
Apple stopped product sales in Russia and restricted some of its services, such as Apple Pay, earlier this week. It pulled Sputnik from the App Store globally this week, with the exception of the Russia market.
The picture from Meta is fuzzier. Since the invasion began, the social media giant has announced a number of restrictions, but at the time of writing, the adtech giant does not appear to have suspended ad sales in Russia itself. We have reached out with questions.
Bans by private companies are not the only disruption Russians are facing to accessing digital services, of course: sanctions on Russian banks also appear to have been hitting locals.
Apple halts product sales in Russia following Ukraine invasion
Google pulls Russia Today, Sputnik from Play Store as EU ban looms
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