Santa stops using Google and switches to Bing
North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) has announced that Santa’s progress on Christmas Eve will not be tracked on Google this year, with Microsoft instead sponsoring the service.
Google has been the sponsor for the previous five years, but a NORAD spokesperson has now said: “NTS [Norad Tracks Santa] and Google mutually agreed to go in new directions.”
The tracking system began in 1955 after an advertisement misprinted a telephone number for children to call Santa, with the number actually being the operations 'hotline' for CONAD, the forerunner of NORAD.
Children who called the hotline were given updates on Santa’s location.
This year, children will be able to follow Santa’s progress via Bing maps.