The the first of April the web is approaching and traditionally it is full of jokes and more or less plausible news, in order to create a bit of confusion and make fun of the unfortunate who fall for it. For years to captain the Internet world in this practice is Google, famous for elaborate jokes included in almost all its services. In a difficult period like this, with the world grappling with the Coronavirus pandemic, Google has however decided that this year it is better to desist and not to propose jokes of any kind.
In an internal email obtained from Business Insider, Google informed employees that this year is taking "a year off from tradition for respect for all those who fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Our main goal right now is to help people, so let's keep the lines for next April, which will undoubtedly be much brighter than this".
The company is categorical. "We have already stopped any coordinated April Fools work, but we realize that there may be smaller projects within the teams we are not aware of. Please cancel these efforts and make sure your teams stop any jokes that they may have planned – internally or externally. "
Whether you like this tradition or not, one thing is certain: Google's decision is right. The severity of the pandemic requires the main search engine and service provider on the web (Gmail, Maps, etc.) not to create confusion for those who use their services for work (and could also be medical personnel) or for study. The hope is that other companies will adopt this line: there will be a time to laugh and joke, all together, but this is not it.