That the outrage doesn't seem to extend to the other companies clearing the other 242,700 acres in Finland

[edit] Request for source on illegality of the clearing (article states Google claims it was legal - I don't see where it says anyone is refuting that)

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john_strinlai 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Request for source on illegality [...] I don't see where it says anyone is refuting that

the regulators are the ones refuting google's claims. the headline opens with: "Finland's regulator says the environmental review came too late"

and the second paragraph of the linked article says:

"Google was apparently so eager to build its new data center infrastructure in Finland that it began bulldozing large swaths of forest __before the required environmental review of the full plan was complete__."

typically, doing something before the environmental review gives you a notice to proceed is illegal.

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arandomhuman 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Stop, leave the trillion dollar mega corporation alone!

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icantevenhold 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Typically one has to wait for courts to decide whether something is illegal or not.

If it was illegal them I’m sure the state prosecutors will take care of it.

I dislike Google as much as the next guy but this seems like a minor issue in a list of huge problems

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john_strinlai 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

>Typically one has to wait for courts to decide whether something is illegal or not.

in every country i am familiar with, disobeying an order from a regulator is already illegal.

	▲	icantevenhold 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Should be an easy case then! If it’s illegal fine them billions for all i care

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buzer 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

> If it was illegal them I’m sure the state prosecutors will take care of it.

In Finland prosecutors are not involved in most of the illegal things, they are only involved in criminal matters (and in some cases civil compensation claims which are linked to criminal case). Various regulators/authorities are the ones who enforce civil side.

In many cases the penalties that law allows those to authorities to issue are limited to ordering to stop doing that illegal thing, reprimands and conditional fines ("if you don't stop you need to pay fine"). Straight up fines tend to be more uncommon (unless individual is doing it, then fines tend to be very common). Targets of these can then file appeal in administrative court and usually behavior is allowed to continue while case is appealed (see e.g. various GDPR/ePD cases).

	▲	icantevenhold 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Yea I’m obviously not familiar with the details but whoever is in charge of enforcing the laws should do it. If the law is not sufficiently protecting Finnish interests here it should be changed.

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otherme123 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Finland has a very well managed forest. When I was there I was amazed about how carefully they cleared trees compared with what I was used to see in southern Europe. They are very proud of their wood houses, that they export everywhere, so wood management has to be excellent if they pretend to keep the business going. To see a foreign company just zeroing a forest with no intention of doing it right must hurt.

According to https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/oct/06/google-da..., they had to halt the construction because they failed to assess the environmental impact. The same article you say it doesn't refute that the leveling was illegal says that at least four areas that must be protected are now leveled. It sounds to me that Google is playing the card "it is done already, just fine us and let's move on" thanks to their deep pockets.

	▲	klaff 38 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		The answer to that should be "put the trees back and we'll start over on the conversation".

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0cf8612b2e1e 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Most other illegal logging is not happening by trillion dollar companies. When a company with all the resources cheats, people get extra mad.

	▲	icantevenhold 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Which is fair i think. The fines for them should be 1000x times higher or 50% of yearly revenue or something and they won’t cheat so much anymore.

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ajkjk 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

of course it does. do you think people are mad about clearing forests because it's Google doing it? no, Google is just the one that they just heard about this week. If it was someone else they'd be mad about that too, because it's anger based on principles. If Google had bulldozed a bunch of parking lots to make their data centers no one would care.