Tag Archives: Google

YouTube Blocks Channel For Russia’s Parliament

Reuters reports: YouTube has blocked Duma TV which broadcasts from Russia’s lower house of parliament, drawing an angry response from officials who said the world’s most popular streaming service could face restrictions in response. On Saturday, a message on YouTube said the Duma channel had been “terminated for a violation of YouTube’s Terms of Service”. YouTube, owned by Alphabet, has …

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Google Demonetizes Bongino’s Site Over COVID Lies

The Daily Beast reports: Fox News host Dan Bongino’s website has been temporarily suspended from monetizing with Google ads over “persistently” breaching the company’s guidelines on publishing COVID-19 misinformation. “We have strict publisher policies in place that explicitly prohibit misleading and harmful content around the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrably false claims about our elections. When publishers persistently breach our policies, …

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Google Easter Egg Marks Betty White’s 100th Birthday

CNET reports: Betty White was a comedy icon who collected millions of fans the world over in a broadcast career that stretched well over half a century. Her legions of fans were gearing up to celebrate the beloved actress’ 100th birthday, which falls on Monday, when she died on Dec. 31. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still celebrate her …

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YouTube TV Loses All Disney Channels In Fees Dispute

The Washington Post reports: All Disney-owned content, including ABC and ESPN, went dark on YouTube TV late Friday after a breakdown in distribution negotiations between Disney and Google. The financial dispute between the media giants over carriage fees has led to the first major blackout for Google-owned YouTube TV, which has more than 3 million subscribers and is one of …

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Google Tells Employees: Get Vaxxed Or Get Terminated

CNBC reports: Google has told its employees they will lose pay — and will eventually be fired — if they don’t comply with the company’s Covid-19 vaccination policy, according to internal documents viewed by CNBC. The document said employees who haven’t complied with the vaccination rules by the Jan. 18 deadline will be placed on “paid administrative leave” for 30 …

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YouTube Begins Hiding “Dislike” Counts From View

The Verge reports: YouTube has announced that it’ll be hiding public dislike counts on videos across its site, starting today. The company says the change is to keep smaller creators from being targeted by dislike attacks or harassment, and to promote “respectful interactions between viewers and creators.” The dislike button will still be there, but it’ll be for private feedback, …

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Google To Court: Bing’s Top Search Term Is “Google”

Bloomberg News reports: Google is so successful that it’s the most searched for term on Microsoft Corp.’s Bing search engine, the company’s lawyer told a European Union court on Tuesday. “We have submitted evidence showing that the most common search query on Bing is by far Google,” Alfonso Lamadrid, a lawyer for the Alphabet Inc. unit, said at the EU’s …

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Google Demonetizes Homocon Site Gateway Pundit

Homocon Gateway Pundit founder Jim Hoft writes: Google censored President Trump for years pushing hit pieces on the 45th President to the top of their search results. Google frequently censored top conservative websites like The Gateway Pundit and just this week news broke that Google-YouTube censored and removed over a million videos on COVID. On Friday we learned that Google …

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Google To Ban “Sugar Dating” Apps From Play Store

The Verge reports: “Sugar dating” apps will not be allowed on the Android Play Store from September 1st, Google has announced as part of a series of policy changes for the platform. The change, which was first reported by Android Police, specifically prohibits apps relating to “compensated sexual relationships.” Other changes coming to the platform include a new crackdown on …

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Google Opens Its First Retail Store In Manhattan

The Verge reports: After years of pop-up experiments, Google is finally dipping its toes in the physical retail waters with its first store, located underneath its offices in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York City. It will primarily feature Google’s own hardware products, including Pixel phones, Nest smarthome gadgets, Fitbits, and assorted other devices. There will also be a selection …

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YouTube Bans Booze, Drugs, Political Ads On Masthead

Axios reports: YouTube will stop accepting ads for its masthead ad unit from certain verticals, including alcohol sales, gambling, prescription drugs, and election and political ads, Axios has learned. YouTube’s masthead, a highly visible rectangle across the top of the homepage, is often the platform’s most expensive and sought-after ad unit. Beginning Monday, ads that feature any gambling-related content offline …

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GOP Ohio AG Sues To Declare Google A Public Utility

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Tuesday asked a state court to declare Google a public utility as a way to ensure that the tech giant can’t prioritize placement of its own products in search results. The lawsuit, filed in Delaware County Common Pleas Court, is the first of its kind filed in the nation, …

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G7 Nations Strike Deal On Taxing Multinational Firms

Reuters reports: The United States, Britain and other large, rich nations reached a landmark deal on Saturday to squeeze more money out of multinational companies such as Amazon and Google and reduce their incentive to shift profits to low-tax offshore havens. Hundreds of billions of dollars could flow into the coffers of governments left cash-strapped by the COVID-19 pandemic after …

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Google To Let Android Users Opt-Out Of Ad Tracking

Bloomberg News reports: Google will let Android mobile software users opt out of being tracked by advertisers on their smartphone applications, following an earlier move by rival Apple Inc. to bolster privacy on iPhones. The option will become available in late 2021, with a Google Play services update, the Alphabet Inc. unit said on a support website. Developers will no …

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Google Partners W/Hospital Giant On Guiding Doctors

The Wall Street Journal reports: Alphabet Inc.’s Google and national hospital chain HCA Healthcare Inc. have struck a deal to develop healthcare algorithms using patient records, the latest foray by a tech giant into the $3 trillion healthcare sector. Nashville, Tenn.,-based HCA, which operates across about 2,000 locations in 21 states, would consolidate and store with Google data from digital …

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Hawley To Intro Bill To “Bust Up” Major Tech Companies

Fox News reports: Sen. Josh Hawley on Monday will introduce a bill to “bust up” Big Tech, which will target massive companies like Google and Amazon, including by banning them from simultaneously running an online marketplace and selling goods on that marketplace. The bill, titled the Bust Up Big Tech Act, follows a bill Hawley introduced last week that would …

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Google Tests Health Records App For Patients

STAT News reports: After 13 years, Google is coming back for patient health records. The tech giant has launched an early user feedback program aimed at exploring how patients might want to see, organize, and share their own medical record data. The work could inform the creation of a consumer-facing medical records tool along the lines of Apple’s Health Records …

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YouTube Flops In Moves Meant To Thwart Hate Speech

The Verge reports: Google says it has blocked several terms associated with hate speech from being used as ad keywords on YouTube videos. The move follows a report by The Markup, which found that advertisers could search for terms like “white lives matter” and “white power” when deciding where to place ads on YouTube. Google says it does not publicly …

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Google: We Will Stop Tracking Users For Targeted Ads

From Google’s corporate blog: Last year Chrome announced its intent to remove support for third-party cookies, and why we’ve been working with the broader industry on the Privacy Sandbox to build innovations that protect anonymity while still delivering results for advertisers and publishers. Even so, we continue to get questions about whether Google will join others in the ad tech …

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YouTube Extends Trump Ban, Demonetizes Giuliani

Politico reports: Video sharing giant YouTube extended its suspension of former President Donald Trump’s channel indefinitely on Tuesday and restricted Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani’s ability to make money off the platform. “In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will remain suspended,” YouTube spokesperson Ivy Choi said in a statement. “Our teams are …

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