‘Lithuania is a stable, energy-independent, high cyber security state, which is also a member of NATO. These factors allow us to create safe and favorable environment for the establishment of international companies and the development of investments in our country. In view of this and the current geopolitical situation, we proposed Google to choose Lithuania and move to Vilnius,’ says Minister of the Economy and Innovation Aušrinė Armonaitė.
Cyber security and the fight against Russian-Belarus online disinformation were also discussed during the meeting with Google’s Vice President. With ongoing cyber war affecting both warring states and internet information services users Google has been proposed to contribute to the fight against propaganda and disinformation.
The Minister thanked Google’s Vice President for the company’s actions in fight against false information spread by Russia and Belarus. According to Google representatives, in this information war, Google professionals have been working around the clock to help people in Ukraine and take special measures to stop the spread of disinformation online as well as to guard against cybersecurity threats and provide high-quality and reliable information. Google also cooperates with organisations supporting Ukrainian refugees.
Another way to prevent disinformation includes the implementation of the Digital Services Act, which is aimed to ensure that illegal content, goods and services are kept to a minimum online. The Digital Services Act along with the Digital Markets Act are key to the Digital Strategy for Europe.
The Digital Markets Act seeks to ensure that various information, goods and services platforms operate online fairly. Countries, including Lithuania, and IT companies, like Google, should contribute to achieving this goal.
The Digital Markets Act will help offer a more transparent business environment to online business users and competition opportunities in online platform environments to innovators and technology start-ups as well as better services to consumers.
A Google office covering the company’s activities in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is already operating in Vilnius.
