Tag Archives: Google

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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, …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

The Verge reports: Google is temporarily shutting down all of its China offices due to the coronavirus outbreak, the company confirmed to The Verge on Wednesday. The shutdown includes all offices in mainland China, as well as Google’s offices in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Currently, the offices are closed for the extended Lunar New Year holiday, a measure the Chinese …

The Verge reports: YouTube today announced an expansion of its anti-harassment policy that will ban video creators from insulting one another on the basis of their race, gender expression, or sexual orientation — even if the person they are insulting is a popular creator, celebrity, politician, or other public figure. The new policy comes several months after YouTube was criticized …

CBS News reports: In response to concerns raised after the 2016 election cycle, Google and YouTube, like Facebook, keep a searchable archive of political ads that have run on the site. 60 Minutes reviewed the archive to learn more about President Trump’s problematic political ads. We found that over 300 video ads were taken down by Google and YouTube, mostly …

Reuters reports: Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it will offer personal checking accounts next year through its Google Pay app in partnership with Citigroup Inc and a small credit union at Stanford University. The project, named Cache, comes as rivals Facebook and Apple are expanding their own efforts in consumer finance, a broad area that ranges from digital payment …

Politico reports: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki said today that content by politicians would stay up on the video-sharing website even if it violates the company’s standards, echoing a position staked out by Facebook this week. “When you have a political officer that is making information this is really important for their constituents to see, or for other global leaders to …

CNBC reports: Fifty attorneys general are joining an investigation into Google over possible antitrust violations, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the initiative’s leader, announced Monday. The news confirms reports last week about the bipartisan investigation into Google’s practices. The bipartisan probe includes attorneys general from 48 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. California and Alabama are not involved …

CNBC reports: Google’s YouTube will pay $170 million to settle allegations by the Federal Trade Commission and the New York attorney general that it earned millions by illegally collecting personal information from children without their parents’ consent. The settlement, announced Wednesday, was passed in a 3-2 vote by the commissioners along party lines. The two Democrats voted against it, saying …