Tag Archives: Google

Google To End Donations To Seditionist Republicans

Axios reports: Google will not make contributions from its political action committee this cycle to any member of Congress who voted against certifying the results of the presidential election, following the deadly Capitol riot. Several major businesses paused or pulled political donations following the events of Jan. 6, when pro-Trump rioters, riled up by former President Trump, stormed the Capitol …

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Google Suspends Parler From Google Play App Store

NBC News reports: Google suspended the social media platform Parler on Friday from its Google Play app store until the “Twitter for conservatives” adopts content moderation policies following the attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of President Donald Trump supporters. “In order to protect user safety on Google Play, our longstanding policies require that apps displaying user-generated content …

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YouTube And Gmail Experience Widespread Outages

Newsweek reports: Several Google services appear to be suffering outages, with widespread issues hitting Gmail, YouTube, Drive and Hangouts. An error on Gmail reads: “We’re sorry, but your account is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest trying again in a few minutes.” YouTube is also offline, with a warning that now reads: “Something went wrong…” According to …

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DOJ To Charge Google With Antitrust Violations

The Washington Post reports: The Department of Justice is expected Tuesday to charge Google with violating federal antitrust law, according to two people familiar with the matter, finding after a year-long investigation that the tech giant wrongfully wielded its digital dominance to the detriment of corporate rivals and consumers. The federal government’s imminent lawsuit will touch off a landmark and …

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Google Unveils Ban On Post-Election Day Political Ads

Axios reports: Google informed its advertisers Friday that it will broadly block election ads after polls close Nov. 3, according to an email obtained by Axios. Why it matters: Big Tech platforms have been under pressure to address how their ad policies will handle conflicts over the presidential election’s outcome. Facebook recently said that it will no longer accept new …

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Justice Dept To Bring Anti-Trust Suit Against Google

The New York Times reports: The Justice Department plans to bring an antitrust case against Google as soon as this month, after Attorney General William P. Barr overruled career lawyers who said they needed more time to build a strong case against one of the world’s wealthiest, most formidable technology companies, according to five people briefed on internal department conversations. …

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Game Maker Declares War On Apple And Google

The BBC reports: Fortnite-maker Epic Games is taking legal action against Google after being banned from the Google Play app store, hours after doing the same with Apple. Apple and Google both removed the hit game from their app stores after Epic Games bypassed their payment systems, to avoid giving them a cut of sales. Both platforms take a standard …

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LIVE VIDEO: Big Tech CEOs Testify Before US House

CBS News reports: The CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google are set for a rare turn in the congressional spotlight on Wednesday, with lawmakers expected to pose a critical — and potentially perilous — question for the technology titans: Are you guys too powerful? For the executives, the issue of their companies’ massive market dominance comes at a delicate …

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Google To Keep All Employees Home Until July 2021

The Wall Street Journal reports: Google will keep its employees home until at least next July, people familiar with the matter said, making the search-engine giant the first major U.S. corporation to formalize such an extended timetable in the face of the coronavirus pandemic. The move will affect nearly all of the 200,000 full-time and contract employees across Google parent …

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Google Demonetizes Cultist Sites Over BLM [UPDATE]

NBC News reports: Google has banned two far-right websites from its advertising platform after research revealed the tech giant was profiting from articles pushing unsubstantiated claims about the Black Lives Matter protests. The two sites, ZeroHedge and The Federalist, will no longer be able to generate revenue from any advertisements served by Google Ads. A Google spokesperson said in an …

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States Get Apple/Google Contact Tracing Technology

USA Today reports: Apple and Google are releasing contact tracing technology to help public health officials develop mobile apps that can identify and test people who’ve spent time with or near someone infected with the coronavirus, the companies announced Wednesday. A number of U.S. states, including North Dakota and Alabama, and 22 countries have received access to the technology that …

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Details Issued On Apple/Google Contact Tracing App

BGR reports: Apple and Google have developed a standard API that authorities can use to create coronavirus contact tracing apps for specific countries or communities. These apps rely on a phone’s Bluetooth connectivity to ping nearby devices and create local records of that handshake. When one of those users reports they have been diagnosed COVID-19 positive, a database will record …

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Google Doubles COVID Reponse Donations To $100M

Axios reports: Google’s philanthropic arm is doubling its planned coronavirus response donations to a total of $100 million, Google.org head Jacquelline Fuller told Axios. The effort is in addition to coronavirus-related moves by the corporate side and, in some cases, also comes with hands-on technical support from Google employees to help organizations with the technical aspects of their efforts. Google.org …

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Google Makes Video Conferencing Service Free

CNET reports: Google today said it’s making its teleconferencing service, called Google Meet, free to consumers. The move takes aim at Zoom, the rival video chat service that’s become a household name during the stay-at-home era spurred by the novel coronavirus. Previously, Meet was only available to paying customers of G Suite, Google’s line of enterprise apps that includes Gmail, …

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Coming App Will Tell If You’ve Had COVID Contacts

The New York Times reports: In one of the most far-ranging attempts to halt the spread of the coronavirus, Apple and Google said they were building software into smartphones that would tell people if they were in recent contact with someone who was infected with the virus. The technology giants said they were teaming up to release the tool within …

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Google Store Finally Bans Infowars App Over Virus Lies

Wired reports: Google has removed the Infowars Android app from its Play Store, extinguishing one of the last mainstream strongholds of infamous conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The takedown comes on the heels of a video, posted in the Infowars app last week and viewed by WIRED, in which Jones disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine …

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Google Parent To Donate $800M In Coronavirus Relief

Reuters reports: Alphabet Inc will donate more than $800 million in funds towards producing medical supplies used to fight COVID-19, and in ad credits to government and health organizations and businesses, Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai said on Friday. The company is working with Magid Glove and Safety to produce 2 million to 3 million face masks, and will financially …

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Trump Denies He Lied About Google (Which He Did)

Wired reports: President Donald Trump announced Friday that the US government’s coronavirus testing apparatus, which has lagged badly behind other developed nations, would soon get an assist from Google. The search and advertising giant will create a website, Trump said, that would help Americans figure out if they need a test for the virus, and if so where they can …

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Google: Trump Just Lied About Us Building A Site

The Verge reports: Google is not working with the US government in building a nationwide website to help people determine whether and how to get a novel coronavirus test, despite what President Donald Trump said in the course of issuing an emergency declaration for the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, a much smaller trial website made by another division of Alphabet, Google’s …

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Google Recommends That Staffers Work From Home

Business Insider reports: Google is recommending that all of its tens of thousands of North American employees work from home, its latest move to try and protect its employees from the growing coronavirus outbreak. On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley-based search giant sent out a memo to its workforce informing that it was now changing its policies to recommend all workers …

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