By: Gustavo Mauricio Bastién Olvera
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had several fronts and actors involved, beyond the military troops on the ground. One of these fronts is the digital one, in which, in addition to the various cyberattacks between both sides, various companies have implemented sanctions against Russia or have carried out actions to help the Ukrainian population. In these cases, a figure from the Ukrainian government stands out who has become central, I am referring to Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, who has used his social networks to become a vocal figure regarding the war.
Apple suspended digital services such as Apple Pay and removed from the App Store the availability of RT and Sputnik news apps outside of Russia. Among other things, this caused major problems in the Russian metro, which has the Apple Pay payment option enabled, and thousands of users were unable to use the application and large queues were generated for traditional ticket purchases. Also, in order to support Ukraine and at the request of Minister Fedorov, he suspended the functions of “live traffic and incidents” so that humanitarian evacuations would not be identified by Russian troops.
For its part, Facebook disabled Russian propaganda content and began a series of actions in support of Ukraine, such as the creation of a page with resources, both for people who are in Ukraine and require some kind of help or people who want to support Ukraine. from outside the country. The page includes information on accommodation, safety tips, while traveling to leave Ukraine, first aid and direct contact with emergency services through WhatsApp, or even what to do in situations of armed attacks. At the same time, Instagram enabled special search functions that highlight those organizations that are supporting Ukraine.
These measures by Meta, a company to which Facebook and Instagram belong, have generated threats from the Russian government, which seeks that users of these networks do not have access to Western news. For this reason, and after the blocking of Instagram by Russia, Instagram relaxed its data use policies and allows users to delete publications that they believe are sensitive.
In the same way, it highlights what Airbnb has done, which allows reservations to be made in Ukrainian lodgings for the simple fact of helping. Spotify has also removed shows affiliated with the Russian government from its content, while Netflix said it will not comply with Russian regulation requiring it to list 20 Russian channels for free.
Likewise, it is important to highlight the technology companies, not only around the war, but also those that are taking part in the war, such as the DJI company, which is the most important producer of drones worldwide, or the SpaceX company, by Elon Musk.
DJI has been mired in controversy because it developed a technology that was originally intended for security agencies to detect drones flying over off-limits areas, which is now being used by the Russian military to detect the location of both drones and Ukrainian pilots. Despite requests by Minister Fedorov for DJI to suspend these services, the company argues that the action is not in their hands because they distribute their products through third parties.
For its part, Tesla has sent Starlink terminals, which offer satellite internet, so that they can be used by the Ukrainian government and population. This is a watershed in satellite internet technology, which is combined with the ambition of the Starlink project to have the largest number of satellites in orbit around the Earth.
As can be seen, the actors in wars have evolved. Wars have ceased to be the traditional contest between two nations, giving way to new actors, such as technology companies, which in one way or another join the battlefield and enlist their troops, while they stop manifest the power they have to disrupt daily life.
Mauricio Bastian He is a specialist in security and technology issues. He is currently a Senior Technical Researcher for Digital Rights and Governance issues with Development Alternatives Inc. (DAI) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He collaborates on the Prospective Risk Analysis project at the Applied Research Laboratory for Intelligence and Security at the University of Maryland. Previously he worked with the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. In the Government of Mexico, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior. In addition, he has served as a consultant on security issues at the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington DC. He has been a professor at the Center for Economic Research and Teaching, the Mora Institute and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He has a degree in International Relations from UNAM and a master’s degree in Public International Law from the University of Leiden. He is an associate of the Mexican Council of International Affairs.
Twitter:
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