Latest in Google

Roku says its impasse with Google over carriage of its YouTube and YouTube TV apps has remained despite six months of efforts to resolve it. The distribution deal for YouTube’s main app is set to expire on December 9. YouTube TV, the pay-TV service with more than 3 million customers, already reached the end of the…

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) plan to introduce legislation that would limit the ability of large tech platforms like Google, Apple and Amazon to give preference to their own products or engage in conduct that disadvantages rivals. The American Innovation and Choice Online Act would be a…

Google and its YouTube subsidiary are implementing steps to make their vast digital arenas safer for users under 18 years old. Google said it will now block ad targeting based on the age, gender or interests of people under 18. It is also turning off its data-tracking “location history” option for users under the age…

UPDATED with Microsoft vaccine policy, return-to-office date. Microsoft has become the latest large corporation to require all of its workers to have the Covid-19 vaccine, and the same goes for anyone visiting its U.S. offices. The policy will take effect in September. The tech giant, which has a total workforce of…

UPDATED with comments from earnings call: Google's YouTube saw ad revenue jump last quarter, passing $7 billion from $3.8 billion a year ago. The video giant's parent Alphabet saw overall sales surge during second-quarter 2021 to nearly $62 billion from $38 billion, beating Wall Street expectations across the…

Joe Biden has nominated attorney Jonathan Kanter, a prominent critic of Google and big tech, as the next antitrust chief in the Justice Department. Kanter has been “a leading advocate and expert in the effort to promote strong and meaningful antitrust enforcement and competition policy,” the White House said in a…

Google is facing another antitrust lawsuit from a coalition of attorneys general as the government officials target the tech giant for its business practices, claiming that it is trying to gain an unfair advantage for its own streaming services via its app store. The lawsuit is the second filed by the coalition, after…

Donald Trump held a press conference on Wednesday to announce class action claims against Facebook, Twitter and Google, along with their CEOs, after the companies suspended or banned his accounts following the Jan. 6 insurrection. “I’m filing, as the lead class representative, a major class-action lawsuit against the…

UPDATE, 12:03 PM PT, Thursday, updated with WGAW comment: The House Judiciary Committee narrowly advanced a sixth and final piece of legislation that has been dubbed the “break up” bill, on the notion that it ultimately could lead to tech giants shedding assets or splitting in two. The bill, the Ending Platform…

President Joe Biden on Tuesday named Lina Khan as the next chair of the Federal Trade Commission, just hours after she won Senate confirmation for a vacancy on the commission. Khan is a major and outspoken critic of big tech conglomerates, and her confirmation in a 69-28 vote earlier in the day was a reflection of the…

House lawmakers today announced sweeping bipartisan legislation aimed at big tech that if passed, they said would "expand opportunities for consumers, workers, and small business owners." It would radically reshape some of the world’s biggest companies, requiring them to shed businesses and refrain from deals that…

The attorney general of Ohio is asking a state court to declare Google a public utility, something that would subject the search giant to extensive government regulation. The lawsuit (read it here) was filed by Dave Yost, a Republican, and reflects the party’s shift from traditional stances opposed to government…