A 002684 27.04.2020
Google LLC
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
google.com
April 21, 2020
David Sassoli, President of the European Parliament
European Parliament
Bâtiment Paul-Henri Spaak 09B011
Rue Wiertz 60
1047 Brussels
Belgium
Dear President Sassoli,
A lot has happened since our meeting at Davos just a short while ago. I have been fol owing
the situation in Italy and across Europe more broadly—and wanted to take a moment to
connect and update you on the work we are doing to support European citizens and
businesses at this difficult time.
We are focusing on three key areas to provide support:
● Ensuring the public has timely and authoritative information on COVID-19;
● Supporting smal and medium size businesses through an economic support package
and other measures; and
● Enabling people to connect remotely, including by providing free access to education
resources for teachers and students.
Delivering the most accurate information on COVID-19
Every day, people come to Google to search for medical information, travel advisories and
prevention tips. For the last few weeks, Google Search has been deploying an ‘SOS Alert’ (our
tool for providing timely, actionable information in times of crisis) to connect people with
local, authoritative information from health ministries.
More recently, we have launched a COVID-19 microsite, tailored specifical y to the needs of
every EU country, to provide the most up-to-date local information and advice to European
citizens. It’s a one-stop-shop for anyone searching for information on COVID-19, covering
symptoms, prevention and treatment with al content drawn directly from health ministries
and the World Health Organization. Site visitors can access data and insights on the virus.
To help governments disseminate information, we are providing $99 mil ion in advertising
grants to help key Ministries and health organizations in Europe promote critical information
related to COVID-19. As part of this program, it is our intention to provide $1 mil ion in grants
for the European Parliament.
Across our products, we are safeguarding users from phishing, misleading practices,
conspiracy theories, malware and misinformation—and we are constantly monitoring for new
threats. Beyond this, when users search for content related to COVID-19 on YouTube, we
display an information panel pointing to information from the WHO and national Ministries.
On Google Ads, our policies do not al ow ads that seek to capitalize on or lack reasonable
sensitivity towards an event like coronavirus, resulting in mil ions of ads blocked over the last
few weeks. We are making exceptions for COVID-19-related ads from government
organizations and select advertisers who aim to inform the public.
We are also seeking to use data to help inform government decision makers. Recently, we
launched our COVID-19 Community Mobility Reports—available for al EU countries—to
provide insights into what has changed in response to government cal s to stay at home.
These reports use aggregated, anonymized data to chart movement trends over time, always
adhering to our stringent privacy protocols.
Furthermore, we recently announced a partnership with Apple that wil enable Android and
iOS devices to be leveraged in the fight against COVID-19. Specifical y, Google and Apple wil
enable the use of Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the
spread of the virus through contact tracing, with user privacy and security central to the
design.
Lastly, we are working directly with governments to protect government websites with
Google Cloud's Content Delivery Network and to provide the public with up-to-date
information on COVID-19. Our chatbot and contact center solutions are helping governments
respond to thousands of citizen inquiries at scale.
Support for businesses
While we are working to make sure people remain informed, we are also cognizant of the
significant chal enges faced by businesses during this time—particularly
smal -and-medium-size enterprises. To that end, in Europe, we have made over $115 mil ion of
free advertising available for SMEs with active Google accounts as part of a broader global
package of support for governments and businesses.
As more businesses rely on connecting at home to maintain productivity, we’re also offering
free access to advanced Google Meet video conferencing capabilities so they can stay in
touch with customers, employees and suppliers. More information can be found here.
As businesses adjust to remote working, we are starting to see interest in topics such as
productivity, technology, and digital transformation on Google Search; we’ve also seen a
threefold increase in uptake of our training courses across Europe. Our Grow with Google
program, focused on supporting SMEs, wil continue to offer free online tools and learning
resources for smal and medium businesses in Italy, and we provide Google Cloud training
courses at no cost to help ease this transition.
Support for learning and researching As soon as schools began to close last month, we worked with Ministries of Education to
rapidly shift students to entirely remote learning. Our engineers worked around the clock to
speed up the enrol ment process in our free tools for education; they even made a virtual help
desk available for timely activation and support.
Our newly launched Teach from Home hub provides information, training, and tools to help
instructors keep teaching from home. On YouTube, Learn@Home gathers resources for
families from YouTube’s most popular learning channels, and our YouTube Learning hub
centralizes high-quality educational content from across YouTube. Al of these resources are
available in every EU country in English today and wil expand to many more languages in the
coming days.
In addition, we’re providing $20 mil ion in Google Cloud credits to help academic institutions
and research organizations as they study potential therapies and vaccines, track critical data,
and identify new ways to combat COVID-19. Researchers who need Google Cloud capacity
for work on COVID-19 can learn how to apply for credits on our Google for Education site
These are, no doubt, very chal enging times—and we stand ready to support your efforts in
dealing with this crisis, however possible. I hope some of the measures outlined above prove
valuable as businesses and citizens navigate the uncertainties presented, but please do not
hesitate to reach out personal y at any time.
Sincerely,
CEO, Google and Alphabet
From:
Sent: 27 April 2020 11:58
To: CourrierOfficiel‐Cabinets
Subject: FW: Letter to President Sassoli from Google CEO
Attachments: SIGNED_Sundar Letter to EU Parliament President ‐ COVID‐19.pdf
Categories:
Pour enregistrement officiel svp
Merci beaucoup
Bonne journée,
From
Sent: 27 April 2020 12:38
To:
Cc:
Subject: Letter to President Sassoli from Google CEO Sundar Pichai
Dear
,
I hope this mail finds you safe, sane and at home during this difficult time.
I would be grateful if you could bring the attached letter from Google CEO,
, to
the attention of President Sassoli.
Supporting Governments and Institutions in the fight against COVID19 is a priority for
Sundar.
We are already working with the EU Parliament, e.g. providing support to spread critical
COVID19 related information to European citizens and discussing how contact tracing
systems can be as effective and privacy compliant as possible.
Allow me to reiterate the availability of Sundar to discuss with President Sassoli about the
measures already in place and how Google could further support Europe in this delicate phase.
Thank you very much for your availability.
We remain at your disposal for any further information or initiative.
Best regards,
•
• Director Government Affair and Public Policy South Europe
Diversity is being invited to the party, inclusion is being asked to dance at the party.
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