An investigation by the Markup found that advertisers could find relevant videos for their ads by using terms like “white lives matter,” “all lives matter” and “white power.” Citing the Southern Poverty Law Center, the outlet noted that some of these phrases are popular with white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups. Anyone …
Read More »US Supreme Court rules in favor of Google in largest-ever programming copyright case
The $8 billion copyright case against Google landed heavily in the tech giant’s favor on Monday, with six judges finding in favor of the company and just two dissenting in support of Oracle. Google had argued its reuse of the code in question was in line with “long-settled, common practice[s] …
Read More »Google once again takes an axe to humor on April Fool’s Day, in its ongoing bid to Make Intelligence Artificial Again
Last year, Google nixed April Fool’s Day, citing the Covid-19 pandemic and reassuring customers there would be as few as possible interruptions to users’ misery. Apparently thrilled by the success of 2020’s sense of humor shutdown, the megacorporation has once again called on employees to “find appropriate ways to bring …
Read More »Google Podcasts is like Parler and you can find ALEX JONES there, says NYT in latest pro-censorship story
Google Podcasts is a service that helps search for, subscribe to and playback podcasts, a self-publishing media that became so popular now that leaders in the field easily rival the popularity of top TV shows and newspapers. According to the New York Times, the app “stands alone among major platforms …
Read More »President Richard Grenell? Google accidentally lists former Trump administration figure as POTUS in fake news blunder
Multiple results listed Grenell as the US president on Saturday, claiming he had taken over the position from President Joe Biden “since 2021.” Searches for ‘President of the United States’ also returned Grenell’s name alongside Biden’s. The false information appeared to come directly from Wikipedia, which is automatically used by …
Read More »Google promises to stop spying on users, saying 3rd-party for-profit tracking model to be phased out
Google is serious about moving away from privacy-invading micro-targeted ads, Director of Product Management David Temkin insisted in a Wednesday blog post, acknowledging that users are sick of being spied on and feel it puts them at risk. “We’re making explicit that once third-party cookies are phased out, we will …
Read More »Europe must hurry up with Covid-19 health certificates or Apple & Google could get there first, EU Commission president warns
European leaders got together for a large two-day video conference on Thursday, discussing the outstanding issues the bloc faces. The coronavirus situation and the EU’s response to it are among the main topics, with the issue of the proposed health certificates – or passports – remaining highly divisive. While, in …
Read More »Google fires ANOTHER AI ethics researcher amid row over ‘censorship & racism,’ as team member accuses company of ‘smear campaign’
Margaret Mitchell, who led Google’s Ethical AI unit, announced her termination in a brief tweet on Friday, saying only “I’m fired” without offering further detail. Google’s own statement on the matter was left somewhat vague, confirming Mitchell was let go over “multiple violations of our code of conduct,” while adding …
Read More »Google & Facebook ‘very close’ to striking deals with news orgs, Aussie treasurer says as media reform bill moves on
Australia’s News Media Bargaining Code, which first emerged in 2019, became the focus of a rather loud public feud between Canberra and the two digital advertising behemoths in recent weeks. The new regulations would significantly change how the Australian media and companies like Google and Facebook, which use news content …
Read More »India’s space agency to build homegrown alternative to Google Maps, after country introduces ‘own’ Twitter & WhatsApp
The new project was announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation and MapmyIndia late on Friday. The two have not yet specified any timeframe within which the service might arrive, nor revealed what it will be called. The ISRO said the “collaboration will enable them to jointly identify and build …
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