As Israel’s ground offensive in the Gaza Strip approaches, Google announced that it has disabled the display of real-time traffic in its Google Maps and Waze navigation apps.
“As we have done previously in conflict situations and in response to events in the region, we have temporarily disabled the ability to view live traffic conditions (…) for the safety of local communities,” Google specifies to Tech&Co.
According to the American media Bloomberg, this action by Google was accepted at the request of the Israeli army, for fear that the tools would not allow locating the movements of IDF vehicles, within the framework of a ground offensive.
It’s not the first time
This isn’t the first time Google has agreed to clip real-time traffic information. The American company had made the same decision for Ukraine, just after the start of the Russian invasion, at the end of February 2022. Google had assured Tech&Co that these measures were intended to guarantee the safety of Ukrainians. More prosaically, they are primarily used to anticipate troop movements.
According to Israeli blog GeekTime, Apple has also agreed to disable real-time traffic in Israel and Gaza for its Maps app.
Source: BFM TV
