PARIS: Google says it will publish users’ location data around the world from Friday to allow governments to gauge the effectiveness of social distancing measures, brought in to stem the COVID-19 pandemic.
The reports on users’ movements in 131 countries will be made available on a special website and will “chart movement trends over time by geography,” according to a post on one of Google’s blogs.
Trends will display “a percentage point increase or decrease in visits” to locations like parks, shops, homes and places of work, not “the absolute number of visits,” said the post, signed by Jen Fitzpatrick, who leads Google Maps, and the company’s chief health officer Karen DeSalvo.
For example, in France, visits to restaurants, cafes, shopping centers, museums or theme parks have plunged by 88 percent from their normal levels, the data showed.
Local shops initially saw a jump of 40 percent when confinement measures where announced, before suffering a drop of 72 percent.
Office use is possibly stronger than suspected meanwhile, as the decline in that area is a more modest 56 percent.
“We hope these reports will help support decisions about how to manage the COVID-19 pandemic,” the Google execs said.
“This information could help officials understand changes in essential trips that can shape recommendations on business hours or inform delivery service offerings.”
Like the detection of traffic jams or traffic measurement Google Maps, the new reports will use “aggregated, anonymised” data from users who have activated their location history.
No “personally identifiable information,” such as an individual’s location, contacts or movements, will be made available, the post said.
The reports will also employ a statistical technique that adds “artificial noise” to raw data, making it harder for users to be identified.
From China to Singapore to Israel, governments have ordered electronic monitoring of their citizens’ movements in an effort to limit the spread of the virus, which has infected more than a million people and killed over 50,000 worldwide.
In Europe and the United States, technology firms have begun sharing “anonymised” smartphone data to better track the outbreak.
Even privacy-loving Germany is considering using a smartphone app to help manage the spread of the disease.
But activists say authoritarian regimes are using the coronavirus as a pretext to suppress independent speech and increase surveillance.
In liberal democracies, others fear widespread data harvesting and intrusion could bring lasting harm to privacy and digital rights.
Google to publish user location data to help governments tackle virus
https://arab.news/b5eac
Google to publish user location data to help governments tackle virus
- The reports on users’ movements in 131 countries will be made available on a special website and will “chart movement trends over time by geography”
- Trends will display “a percentage point increase or decrease in visits” to locations like parks, shops, homes and places of work, not “the absolute number of visits”
Trending: BBC report suggests sexual abuse and torture in UAE-run Yemeni prisons
- The investigation was produced by British-Yemeni BBC journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi
LONDON: A recent BBC video report diving into what it says was UAE-run prison in Yemen has drawn widespread attention online and raised fresh questions about the role of the emirates in the war-torn country.
The report, published earlier this month and recently subtitled in Arabic and shared on social media, alleged that the prison — located inside a former UAE military base — was used to detain and torture detainees during interrogations, including using sexual abuse as a method.
The investigation was produced by British-Yemeni BBC journalist Nawal Al-Maghafi, who toured the site, looking into cells and what appear to be interrogation rooms.
Al-Maghafi said the Yemeni government invited the BBC team to document the facilities for the first time.
A former detainee, speaking anonymously, described severe abuse by UAE soldiers: “When we were interrogated, it was the worst. They even sexually abused us and say they will bring in the doctor. The ‘so-called’ doctor was an Emirati soldier. He beat us and ordered the soldiers to beat us too. I tried to kill myself multiple times to make it end.”
Yemeni information minister, Moammar al Eryani also appears in the report, clarifying that his government was unable to verify what occurred within sites that were under Emirati control.
“We weren’t able to access locations that were under UAE control until now,” he said, adding that “When we liberated it (Southern Yemen), we discovered these prisons, even though we were told by many victims that these prisons exist, but we didn't believe it was true.”
زارت بي بي سي مواقع داخل قواعد سابقة لدولة الإمارات العربية المتحدة في اليمن، حيث يقول محتجزون إنهم تعرضوا لسوء المعاملة. pic.twitter.com/BfS5GRxULp
— BBC News عربي (@BBCArabic) January 23, 2026
The BBC says it approached the UAE government for comment, however Abu Dhabi did not respond to its inquiries.
Allegations of secret detention sites in southern Yemen are not new. The BBC report echoes earlier reporting by the Associated Press (AP), which cited hundreds of men detained during counterterrorism operations that disappeared into a network of secret prisons where abuse was routine and torture severe.
In a 2017 investigation, the AP documented at least 18 alleged clandestine detention sites — inside military bases, ports, an airport, private villas and even a nightclub — either run by the UAE or Yemeni forces trained and backed by Abu Dhabi.
The report cited accounts from former detainees, relatives, civil rights lawyers and Yemeni military officials.
Following the investigation, Yemen’s then-interior minister called on the UAE to shut down the facilities or hand them over, and said that detainees were freed in the weeks following the allegations.
The renewed attention comes amid online speculation about strains between Saudi Arabia and the UAE over Yemen.
