Source: hindustantimes.com

Google will not be taking part in its annual April Fool’s prank this year owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. This was an expected move especially at a time when the entire world is grappling with the virus outbreak.

Google hasn’t officially announced it is cancelling this year’s April Fool’s joke. Business Insider (via The Verge) obtained an internal email which details the company’s decision to cancel the event. Google in its mail says that the decision to do so is “out of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic”. It will however continue its tradition next year which is expected to “undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one”.

Google also points out in the mail that it has already stopped centralised April Fool’s pranks but requested other teams to cancel their projects too. “Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned — internally or externally,” the email read.

Google’s April Fool’s pranks usually involve new products with bizarre features. Last year it introduced Google Tulip, an AI that can understand what tulips are saying and in dozens of human languages. Google Japan even introduced a smart spoon that can bend and with support for microUSB and Bluetooth. It even created a Github project to make the smart spoon believable.

Google’s decision to stop April Fool’s pranks will most likely be followed by other companies. The search giant has on the other hand been making efforts amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Google earlier today announced it is pledging $800 million to pandemic-hit businesses and health agencies. Google will offer this in the form of cash, ad credits, and cloud services.