Amid Russia's Invasion of Ukraine... Eric Schmidt Says "Tech Companies Must Support National Security"

Eric Schmidt, former Chairman of Google

[Asia Economy Reporter Jeong Hyunjin] Eric Schmidt (photo), former Google chairman and former U.S. Department of Defense Innovation Advisory Board chairman, said that Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine will demonstrate why national security is important to technology companies and why they should support it.

Schmidt appeared on CNBC's Power Lunch on the 14th (local time) and said, "This war will help increase technology companies' understanding of why security is important," adding, "If 10 years ago we mistakenly believed that the war was over, conflicts would no longer occur, and we did not need a military to protect us, we probably would have said, 'Let's not collaborate with the government, let's not focus on this issue.'" He emphasized, "I think, unfortunately, we have postponed such discussions until now," and "We need strong security for this country (the U.S.), and the tech industry must support it."

Schmidt, who led Google from 2001 to 2011, has been an advocate for cooperation between the government and Silicon Valley for national security. In 2018, when Google faced internal backlash over a joint project with the U.S. Department of Defense using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to target unmanned aerial vehicles, he strongly supported the collaboration, stating that "AI is a technology useful for both defensive and offensive purposes." However, Google eventually announced that it would not renew its contract with the Department of Defense due to employee opposition.

Following Russia's airstrikes on Ukraine, technology companies immediately blocked social networking service (SNS) platforms to prevent the spread of Russian government propaganda. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, disabled Russian government state accounts and subsequently allowed posts criticizing the invasion of Ukraine but prohibited posts threatening to kill Russian President Vladimir Putin and others.

Schmidt said that Western countries' sanctions are basically "trying to push Russia back to the 1980s, where people receive ration tickets and stand in long lines for distribution," but he added, "As far as technology is concerned, I think it is good to convey what information Russian citizens are unable to see."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.