{"id":587667,"date":"2026-10-31T17:46:38","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T06:46:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=587667"},"modified":"2026-10-31T17:47:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T06:47:44","slug":"finland-launches-criminal-probe-into-land-clearance-for-google-data-centre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=587667","title":{"rendered":"Finland launches criminal probe into land clearance for Google data centre"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Finnish police have launched a criminal investigation into suspected breaches of environmental law at the construction site of a planned Google data centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Oulu Police Department said on Thursday it had launched an investigation into Google’s Finnish subsidiary, Tuike, over work conducted in Muhos in northern Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuike cleared about 330 hectares of forest in Muhos and nearly 200 hectares at a second site in Kajaani before mandatory environmental impact assessments were completed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google recently announced a US$15 billion ($21 billion) investment in artificial intelligence infrastructure in Finland, described by the company as its largest investment in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The clear cutting has seen the US tech giant’s plans mired in controversy, sparking criticism from citizens concerned about their impact.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

How did the logging unfold?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Documents seen by Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat (HS) revealed that logging at the Muhos site began in March and continued for months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finland’s Supervisory Agency (LVV) responded to correspondence from Tuike in May, saying environmental impact assessments had to be completed before logging could begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In September, Google announced its plans to invest $21 billion over two years to build data centres in Finland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A week later, Finnish news agency STT reported on allegations by an environmental organisation that Google had cleared forest illegally at the Muhos and Kajaani sites.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finnish police have launched a criminal investigation into suspected breaches of environmental law at the construction site of a planned Google data centre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90574,"featured_media":584184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35,12785,1578],"tags":[17591,21483],"class_list":["post-587667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-breaking-news","category-data-centre","category-finland","tag-google","tag-muhos"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t