The tensions between Google and Oracle are on the rise once again but the former’s previous use of select Java APIs in Android now took a backseat to more recent controversies over foreign misinformation campaigns that Alphabet’s subsidiary is trying to combat. Nonprofit group Campaign for Accountability on Tuesday accused Google of doing little to stop its test ad purchases design to mimic those Russian agents used to attempt manipulating the public discourse and polarize the American public in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
CfA says it both used Russian IP addresses and paid for the advertising in rubles, in addition to designing its ads based on the 2016 ones, claiming Google failed to detect them despite so many red flags. The Mountain View, California-based company dismissed the episode as an outliner financed by Oracle, stating its rival donated money to CfA in the past. “Now that one of our US-based competitors is actively misrepresenting itself, as part of a stunt to impersonate Russian trolls, we have taken further appropriate action to upgrade our systems and processes,” a company spokesperson said in a prepared statement provided to Business Insider. Oracle SVP Ken Glueck denied the allegation that the tech giant in any way participated in CfA’s operation. “Wish we had a ruble for every time Google blamed their problems on us,” Mr. Glueck said mockingly.
In response to the episode, Google also called for Oracle to collaborate with it on preventing foreign misinformation campaigns, with the latter not responding to the appeal. The tensions surrounding fake news and other foreign endeavors aimed at polarizing and otherwise influencing the American public are likely to rise in the run-up to this year’s mid-terms scheduled to take place on November 6. Representatives of Twitter and a number of other tech companies will be attending a hearing on the matter in front of a Senate committee later today, though Google‘s presence at the gathering was previously deemed unnecessary, at least as far as certain officials are concerned.