August 22, 2014
Google Chrome has finally touched down in Cuba. In a Google+ post Wednesday, Google blames American export controls and sanctions that may prohibit the access of certain tools in Cuba.
U.S. export controls and sanctions can sometimes limit the products available in certain countries. As these trade restrictions evolve we’ve been working to figure out how to make more tools available in sanctioned countries,” the company said in a post.
Although many may have found ways to download Chrome through other channels, the browser is now available across all platforms, such as Mac OS X, Android, Windows and iOS.
According to The Verge, this announcement comes just a couple of months after Google CEO Eric Schmidt and a group of web activists visited Cuba in June, campaigning for “open and free Internet.”
The Cuban government has been trying to make Cuba more Internet accessible by opening more than a hundred Internet cafes and offering DSL service to residents. However, that does not mean that Cubans have easy access to the Internet. Only 3% of Cubans use the Internet, making the country one of the least connected places in the world.
In the past few years, Google has also pushed for Chrome access to Syria, Iran, Myanmar and North Korea (Digital Journal).
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