PUNTUEUS claims on the European Parliament to ensure linguistic diversity in the digital environment
- PUNTUEUS has presented in the working group of minority languages of the Strasbourg Chamber the situation of the Basque language on the internet, especially related to Google’s tools and services.
- Josu Waliño: “Ensuring the presence of all European languages in the tools and services of major digital industry companies is essential to safeguard the future of European cultures and languages.”
PUNTUEUS has warned today in the European Parliament that major technology industries like Google disregard the linguistic diversity of Europe, impede the visibility of languages with fewer speakers, and consequently hinder their normalisation.
During his intervention in the working group of minority languages in the plenary session of the European Parliament, the CEO of PUNTUEUS, Josu Waliño, has highlighted the limitations that condition the presence of the Basque language on the Internet.
Waliño has recalled the message released by the PUNTUEUS Foundation last July, revealing that Google was discriminating the Basque language on the internet, particularly in search results for Basque-language websites, an issue that was subsequently fixed by Google with the latest algorithm update in September.
However, Waliño has denounced that Google continues to reject the Basque language in other of its services or tools, such as Google Ads, Google Chrome, or Google Advanced Search.
“Despite Google updating its search algorithm, there are still other Google tools and services that reject the Basque language and should also include our language among their options,” has noted the CEO of PUNTUEUS.
The need for digital language policies
The capacity for digital transformation to transform society is directly impacting the development of languages, and in this regard, the CEO of PUNTUEUS considers that language policies established by major technology industry companies reinforce the world’s largest languages while dismissing the rest.
“The digital environment, as we know, is not limited to the Internet. We are talking about the technology that surrounds us. The digital environment is central in our daily actions and relationships.” Therefore, “it is essential that digital platforms guarantee the presence of all European languages in their tools and services in order to preserve, develop and maintain European cultures and languages”, has stated Waliño.
About PUNTUEUS
PUNTUEUS is the organization responsible for managing, controlling, and administering the .EUS domain. In May 2012, PUNTUEUS submitted the application for the .EUS domain to ICANN, and it was the foundation that signed the contract with the entity responsible for managing the internet in December 2013.
PUNTUEUS’s mission is to influence the digital transformation of society through the Basque language, by promoting the dissemination of the .EUS domain and implementing advanced digital transformation projects. Currently, there are more than 14,000 .EUS domains registered.