They are seeking to persuade firms such as Internet security company Cloudflare Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Amazon.com Inc. to do more to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through email campaigns and online petitions.
“Companies should try to isolate Russia as soon as possible,” said Oleksiy Oreshko, a Google employee software engineer and a Ukrainian American. “Sanctions are not enough.”
He was one of nine tech workers interviewed by Reuters who are of Ukrainian heritage or are Ukrainian immigrants and answering a call by Kyiv to create a volunteer “IT army”.
Several companies have severed Russian ties because of new government trade sanctions, but activists are demanding more.
They are especially appealing to cybersecurity companies, asking them to spare Russian subscribers, especially publishers, of what they say is propaganda. If this happens, publishers will be more vulnerable to online attacks.
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Igor Seletsky, chief executive officer of Palo Alto-based software maker CloudLinux, has requested Cloudflare to drop several Russian news websites.
“Given that Switzerland also took sides, I think it will be an important statement if Cloudflare will do the same,” he wrote in an email to top executives, which he shared with Reuters.
Cloudflare said it has terminated some customers due to the restrictions and began reviewing the accounts flagged in Celetsky’s email, saying it was proceeding with caution because cutting ties could jeopardize customer security. There will be danger.
Inspired by the bombings outside his parents’ home last week and concerned for the safety of some of his Ukrainian colleagues who hadn’t checked in recently, Vlad Goloshuk asked a group of companies to help put pressure on Russia. appealed to.
More than a dozen of those security and web hosting providers said they would do what they could. Some have given up on Russian customers or were considering doing so, according to answers shown to Reuters by Goloshuk, CEO of BrightestMinds, a company that helps businesses generate sales leads.
Philip Lipnyakov, who works for Spanish delivery app Glovo and has backed efforts to take down Russian websites, said he hopes the “IT war” will protect Ukraine.
The disruptions will “send a message, from average citizens to higher officials, that, ‘Hey, this is unacceptable,'” he said.
Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation told Reuters on Wednesday that the online forces now number more than 250,000 people who put forward their ideas. Officer Alexander Bornyakov said this “IT army” has reached more than 50 million in Russia, partly through 100,000 phone calls using an automated recording seeking Moscow’s retreat.
requested for suspension of services
At Google, hundreds of workers, including Ukrainian heritage, have signed an internal letter addressed to CEO Sundar Pichai, which, according to a company software engineer, called Search to provide more support to Ukraine and modify services such as Maps and advertising tools. Calling the Giants. Condition of anonymity.
Google declined to comment. In recent days, it has banned Russian state media from advertising and distribution tools and increased security measures for users in Ukraine.
Activists are also looking at ways to disrupt the lives of Russian citizens, with the aim of undermining support for the war within Russia.
An online petition organized by Stas Matvienko, CEO of restaurant order-forward company Allset in Los Angeles, has called on US developers of entertainment, payments, dating and other apps to block access to Russia.
Big Tech’s financial and supply chain muscle could also help.
Silicon Valley-based humanitarian aid group Nova Ukraine has urged Amazon to donate worker time as well as space for straps and other vital supplies on its cargo planes and vehicles headed to neighboring countries such as Poland.
“They have the scale that no one else has,” said Igor Markov, a director at Nova Ukraine and a technical research scientist.
Amazon declined to comment. This week it said it would donate up to $10 million to organizations providing aid in Ukraine.
Organizing online aid for Ukraine has consumed Julia Nechaeva, product director of Amazon’s live streaming unit Twitch.
“I’ve only opened my work computer three times since last Wednesday,” she said. “To let my manager know I’ll be shut down and use charity matching.”
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