Mapping Politics

Google, the everything-and-anything internet company that makes earning money look like a cakewalk, was accused this week of removing Georgia and Armenia from its searchable “Google Maps” site after an armed conflict broke out in the region.

Google has issued a statement saying that it never posted map information on Georgia and Armenia in the first place, because they “weren’t satisfied with the map data [they] had available.” Apparently, no one had noticed Google’s lack of information on Georgia and Armenia before the conflict because, well, not very many people look up those countries to begin with.

In any case, it seems it’s nearly impossible for even information-messengers like Google to avoid politicization these days.