Google has denied allegations that they leaked Russian military bases for Ukraine. According to Google they do not make changes or censorship of satellite imagery in certain locations in Russia.
Previously, there was an assumption through a number of tweets on Twitter that Google had intentionally opened up the censorship they had previously carried out on satellite imagery at certain locations in Russia, which were suspected to be Russian military headquarters.
️GOOGLE MAPS 'ЄКТІВ .
Тепер кожен може побачити різноманітні російські пускові установки, шахти міжконтинентальних балістичних ракет, командні пункти та секретні полігони з роздільною здатністю близько до метра на піксель 0.5. pic.twitter.com/i75wR8Efwo
— Armed Forces (@ArmedForcesUkr) April 18, 2022
One of them was via the @ArmedForceUkr tweet, which posted a number of pictures showing military equipment. The tweet more or less states that now everyone can see various Russian rocket launchers, intercontinental ballistic missile locations, command posts, and other secret locations at a resolution of approximately 0.5 meters per pixel.
The tweet was repeatedly quoted by various mass media and a translation of the tweet, which was originally in Ukrainian, has been shared thousands of times.
One of the images that was tweeted proved to be on Google Maps, and looks very much like the location of an active Russian military base. But according to Google, this is nothing new.
"We've never made a change in blurring satellite imagery in Russia," said Genevieve Park, a Google spokesperson. In other words, while the image circulating on Twitter may be genuine, it was already available on Google Maps, even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, Google has deliberately blurred out certain locations in its digital epta service, including the location of military headquarters. For example, Google Maps censored images of the French Air Force's 705 Air Base.
But there are still many other military installations and bases that are not censored on Google Maps. Including the USAF's Nellis Air Base and even the infamous Area 51.
In addition, many militaries in major countries have access to satellite imagery that is still 'clean', aka untouched by Google.