Finland launches criminal probe of suspected environmental damage by Google

Finnish police have launched a criminal investigation into suspected breaches of environmental law at the construction site of a planned Google data centre in northern Finland. The project is part of a $15bn deal announced last month by Alphabet's Google to invest in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Finland, which the US company described as its largest investment in Europe. "We are investigating whether the company's operations have breached the Water Act and resulted in environmental damage," Detective Superintendent Kari Pakanen told the Reuters news agency on Thursday, adding that a guilty finding could lead to a corporate fine. Pakanen declined to say whether any individuals could become a target of the investigation, and a Google spokesperson said the company would cooperate with the police investigation and continue to focus on maintaining compliance at its sites. Videos and photographs showing the scale of the forest clearance at the site of the data centre, and Google's initial reluctance to address the issue in the days after the news broke, have prompted widespread anger in Finland, where there is a high level of respect for the natural environment among the public.