Google will stop requiring local officials to sign nondisclosure agreements when discussing new data-center construction projects.

Google will no longer require local officials to sign nondisclosure agreements, or NDAs, during discussions of new data-center projects. The report says a Google spokesperson confirmed the decision and pointed to a recently published company document describing its data-center construction approach.

The reported change follows criticism that these agreements restricted officials’ ability to inform residents about projects’ local effects. The same report says Amazon and Microsoft had also abandoned the practice.

The report places the change alongside community and political opposition involving electricity prices and noise, with some projects rejected over such concerns. It does not identify specific affected sites or state that Google is abandoning all commercial confidentiality agreements beyond this local-official context.