Category: Google

Facebook, Google CEOs Aware of Formal Advertising Market Deal: Court Filing

WASHINGTON—Chief executives of both Google and Facebook were aware of a deal to carve up part of the online advertising market, according to an amended complaint filed by Texas and other states who have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google. The deal with Facebook, which Google called Jedi Blue, was signed off by Google CEO…


Google Shows Faith in Office With $1 Billion London Deal

LONDON—Tech giant Google has spent $1 billion to buy a central London building where it is currently a tenant, showing its confidence in the future of the office as a place to work, the company said on Friday. Google, which employs 6,400 people in Britain, plans a multi-million pound refurbishment of its offices within the…


Google Executive in Charge of ‘Tackling Disinformation’ Becomes DHS Senior Leader

A past senior aide to former President Barack Obama, who became a Google executive in charge of “tackling disinformation”, has joined the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as a senior leader from this week. Kristie Canegallo, who was vice president of Trust and Safety in Google beginning March 2018, was appointed chief of staff in…


Watchdog Says Google Offers to Exclude Showcase From General Searches in Germany

BERLIN—Google has offered to remove Google News Showcase content from general search results in Germany in a bid to end a competition inquiry, the country’s Federal Cartel Office said on Wednesday. Alphabet’s Google launched Google News Showcase in 2020. The platform promotes content from more than 1,000 publishers that have agreed to license content for…


Sonos Wins Google Import Ban Ruling in US Patent Fight

WASHINGTON—A U.S. trade court barred Google late Thursday from importing products that infringe home-audio company Sonos’s smart-speaker patents. The U.S. International Trade Commission affirmed an August decision that Google audio products infringed five Sonos patents and banned Google from importing “networked speaker devices” and devices that can control them like mobile phones and laptops. The…


India Orders Probe Into Google Over Alleged ‘Abuse of Dominant Position’ in News Aggregation

India’s competition watchdog on Jan. 7 ordered a probe into Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google, over complaints that the company has allegedly “abused its dominant position” in news aggregation and imposed “unfair conditions” on news publishers. “In a well-functioning democracy, the critical role played by news media cannot be undermined, and it needs…


France Fines Google, Facebook Millions Over Tracking Consent

LONDON—French regulators on Thursday fined Google and Facebook a total of more than 200 million euros ($226 million) for not making it as easy for people to opt out of online tracking as it is for them to accept it. The CNIL data privacy watchdog said its investigations found that while the U.S. online giants…


German Cartel Office Steps up Examination of Google Products

BERLIN—Germany’s cartel office said it was examining Google’s use of personal data and its Google News Showcase product under its new powers to regulate internet companies, and was also considering cases involving Amazon, Apple, and Facebook owner Meta. The regulator said on Wednesday it had determined that Google’s owner Alphabet met the scale threshold required…


German Watchdog Puts Google Under Closer Antitrust Scrutiny

LONDON—Germany’s antitrust watchdog paved the way Wednesday for extra scrutiny of Google by designating it a company of “paramount significance,” the first to get that label since regulators got more power to curb abusive practices by big digital companies. The Bundeskartellamt said its decision comes after rules were introduced last year that allow it “to…


Much of Our ‘Mass Formation Psychosis’ Comes from Google

Commentary Google quite possibly is the greatest, most efficient purveyor of misinformation in the history of the human race. That’s the company whose original watchword was “Don’t be evil.” Why would they find it necessary to say that, I remember wondering at the time? I learned quickly when it was rumored the company was working…