Google began restricting third-party tech support service ads worldwide and plans to introduce a verification system in the coming months, but some believe the search company is leaning too hard on some industries and not enough on others.
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai is calling for greater oversight of major technology companies as Congress prepares to grill executives from Facebook and Twitter this week. Pai said in blog post published Tuesday that he’s concerned about how much power the internet platform companies wield, combined with allegations that the industry is biased against conservatives.
With new attacks by President Trump, high-stakes testimony next week on Capitol Hill, and a midterm election vulnerable to online manipulation, tech’s giants are bracing themselves for two months after Labor Day that could decide whether and how much the government regulates them.
On Thursday, Sen. Orrin Hatch, the Republican chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, asked the Federal Trade Commission to examine potential antitrust developments in Google’s search and digital advertising.
How Trump Could Hurt Google
President Donald Trump’s Tuesday morning attack on Google for delivering “rigged” search results met with a swift denial from the company, but Trump’s threat to address the “suppressing” of conservative voices might not be so easily dismissed. While Trump has few direct ways of going after Google, his administration and allies in Congress could find ways to make life difficult for the company.
Exclusives
President Trump attacked Google on Tuesday for what he claimed was an effort to intentionally suppress conservative views supportive of his administration, an accusation that increases pressure on technology companies grappling with their increasingly central role as purveyors of information. The president hinted that he would take action against the search giant in his latest attack on a tech company.
The metric gives marketers a barometer to indicate whether the ad content ranges from “poor” to “excellent” and measure its relevance, quality and diversity. Combined with actionable feedback, the new tool aims to make it easier to improve the effectiveness of ads.
A new section in Google’s Transparency report, announced Wednesday, titled Political Advertising, provides a list of advertisers who have spent amounts greater than $500. These advertisers are listed from highest to lowest amount spent. Searchable and downloadable information on ad spend in search, with display and video, details the amount that advertisers spent in any state.
While the platforms may not have anticipated the influx of hate speech and meddling from foreign powers like Russia, North Korea and China, they should have acted more quickly once they found it.
The complications of dynamic ad insertion is one factor keeping local broadcasters from making a bigger run at OTT. But with the promise of higher CPMs from ad targeting as motivation, broadcasters and vendors say solutions are on the horizon.
The Senate Intelligence Committee announced Wednesday it will question executives from Facebook and other social media companies on Sept. 5 in the wake of Facebook’s revelation of a new disinformation campaign aimed at […]
The European Union’s decision to fine the search giant $5 billion for what it described as illegal practices to strengthen its dominance in search advertising could restrict how Google operates and provide an opening to its rivals.
While Google can easily afford the record fine, the ruling could hurt the company’s business model, which relies on giving away its operating system in return for opportunities to sell ads and other products.
Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.) said in a Thursday letter to top antitrust regulators that the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department should probe Google’s market dominance.
Chrome’s mobile article recommendations are up 2,100% in one year. It’s already driving almost as many visits as Twitter, and publishers have no idea why their stories get chosen (or don’t).
During Tuesday evening’s broadcast of The Late Show on CBS, host Stephen Colbert filled time that ought to be devoted to commercials with more of his own antics. And the ad-free segment was sponsored by Google. Yes, that’s TV advertising in 2018: Google will advertise the fact that it is sponsoring a program segment during which commercials normally run, marking the first Late Show takeover of a regularly scheduled advertising break.
Google today announced a multi-pronged News Initiative, which Chief Business Officer Phillipp Schindler described as a way to tie together all the company’s efforts to work with the journalism industry. Google says the News Initiative is focused on three broad goals — strengthening quality journalism, supporting different business models and empowering newsrooms through technological innovation.
Google is set to announce plans to aggressively move into in-app advertising with the launch of new strategies to monetize mobile gaming apps through video and rewards, as well as an innovative bidding strategy for in-app ad inventory.
A House Democrat introduced a bill today that would allow media outlets to band together to negotiate for better terms with giant tech platforms that have been dominating the market for online ad revenue. Rep. David Cicilline’s (D-R.I.) Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would grant a temporary antitrust waiver for news publishers to collectively negotiate with companies like Facebook and Google.
CNN boss Jeff Zucker has called upon advertisers and tech firms to help find new way to monetize news content on mobile platforms, and on authorities to pay closer attention to the power wielded by Google and Facebook, as news providers try to adapt to the changing digital landscape.
The virtual assistant is being offered to owners of the Nest Cam IQ in a free update rolling out today. The move comes just two weeks after Nest moved back under Google’s direct control after spending nearly 2 1/2 years as a separate company owned by the same parent, Alphabet Inc. The $300 Nest Cam will give Google another potentially valuable earhole in its battle with Amazon and Apple to build digital command centers in people’s home.
Publishers today gained an automated ad unit from Google, which it calls “Auto” ads. The technology serving the ad automatically optimizes the placement on publisher sites based on a variety of data and insights.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Today, Google will begin using its Chrome browser to eradicate ads it deems annoying or otherwise detrimental to users. It just so happens that many of […]
Unilever continues to work with IBM to develop a blockchain to address transparency and trust issues among its advertising partners. Keith Weed, chief marketing and communications officer at Unilever, sent a forceful warning to Google, Facebook and other digital platforms to clean up their act, or the company will pull its advertising.
Eleven members of Parliament from the United Kingdom journeyed to a large ballroom in Washington Thursday to learn about fake news from three U.S. social media giants, Google, Facebook and Twitter. The meeting was unusual — the official parliamentary session was the first time a House of Commons committee broadcast a public hearing live from outside the United Kingdom. And it wasn’t exactly cordial.
The Case For Busting Up Big Tech
Four companies dominate our daily lives unlike any other in human history: Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. We love our nifty phones and just-a-click-away services, but these behemoths enjoy unfettered economic domination and hoard riches on a scale not seen since the monopolies of the gilded age.
BOSTON (AP) — A longtime Google executive is taking on a new role at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The university announced Monday that Eric Schmidt will become an innovation […]
Propelled by what we can legitimately call The Alexa Movement, voice is now perceived as the future of the User Interface. But we need numbers: How many of us continue to use Alexa (or Siri, or Google assistant) after the novelty has worn off? What do we use it for? This will help us understand the likely actual future of Voice UI.
Facebook announced Monday that it would begin prioritizing local news content in the News Feed. The news follows Google’s confirmation last week that it’s testing a hyper-local news app called Bulletin. Chief executives from local publishing groups have responded well to both efforts. Local and national news outlets have for months been split on the way they view their publishing relationships with Google and Facebook.
Republican FCC Commissioner Michael O’Rielly said Monday that regulators should not crack down on big tech companies like Facebook and Google.
Fake News Is Destroying Right-Wing Media
Media conservatives are now convinced that Google hates them, but the right’s credibility gap is its own doing.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google has quietly acquired a U.K. startup focused on technology that turns surfaces such as phone displays into speakers. Redux developed technology that eliminates the need for small speakers in mobile phones, freeing up space for batteries or other components.
Both companies usually shun conventions like CES, preferring to debut gadgets at their own press events. But these tech giants have built an imposing presence here this year as they work to weave their voice-operated digital assistants more deeply into our personal lives.
As brands increasingly seek to understand the Internet of Things, marketers are keying in on how Amazon and Google will dominate connected devices in 2018. That’s why Amazon’s Alexa and the Google Home — with their rapidly expanding sets of AI skills and services — will be completely unavoidable for the 180,000 expected attendees at this week’s annual CES in Las Vegas.
Google urges a judge to throw out a lawsuit over restricted videos on YouTube filed by radio talkshow host Dennis Prager, who in October filed a lawsuit against Google alleging censorship of conservatives. Now, Prager demands a preliminary injunction that would prohibit YouTube from restricting viewer access to its videos absent evidence of graphic nudity, violence, profanity, obscene material, hate speech, or anything that would be considered “objectively” offensive.
The standoff between Amazon and Google continues today with Amazon Fire TV owners scheduled to lose access to Google’s YouTube app in just six days. On Dec. 5, Google posted a message on the YouTube app on Fire TV devices that it would remove the app on Jan. 1. (The warning notice was still there this morning.)
Holiday Wish: Rein In Intrusive Digital Media
Digital media go way too far in collecting personal information and using it to target ads. It’s not good for people and, incidentally, it’s not good for broadcasting, which can’t compete with the likes of Google and Facebook in the Big Data game. A privacy law banning digital media from profiling their users is unlikely, but tough regulations that limit it may be possible.
The Alphabet executive, who has been with Google since 2001, will become a technical adviser and will continue to serve on the company’s board.
Tom Wheeler, the former chairman of the FCC under President Obama, on Wednesday called for internet giants like Facebook and Google to be regulated. “It is time to recognize that the most powerful companies in the country should not be making their own rules,” Wheeler wrote.
