About: Google
User data on the Internet: Manipulation as a business model
European election campaigns are well underway and online votes are also being sought. In such situations, the temptation to misuse data is great, as the Cambridge Analytica scandal in the US elections demonstrated. In the EU, parties have also long relied on advanced data analysis, but is this still legal? EURACTIV Germany talked to a communication expert.
Vestager calls for more access to data for smaller platforms
Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager made a suggestion at the re:publica conference in Berlin: "Access to data has to be redesigned so that newcomers can compete with big tech giants". In a discussion with EURACTIV, she also drew parallels with a recent complaint by Spotify and similar lawsuits. EURACTIV Germany reports.
In the fight against fake news, YouTube has a ‘bias toward keeping content up’
YouTube has a systemic 'bias towards keeping content up,' although the video-sharing platform recently removed more than one million channels for violation of its policies as part of the EU's code of practice against disinformation, EURACTIV has learnt.
EU lawmakers back one-hour deadline to remove online terrorist content
Lawmakers in the European Parliament's Justice Committee have backed measures to clamp down on the spread of online terrorist content, including an obligation for platforms to remove offending content within one hour of reporting or face fines of up to 4% of their global turnover.
Google meets Commission to discuss data access in energy markets
Google’s global chief for Energy Market Development will on Tuesday (9 April) meet with senior European Commission officials to stress the importance of data access in the digital transformation of the energy sector, as stricter EU rules entered into force last December.
Force tech giants to share data rather than break them up: academics
EU antitrust regulators should consider forcing tech giants such as Google and Amazon to share their data with rivals rather than break them up, three academics enlisted by the European Commission said on Thursday (4 April).
‘Regulation will not solve Facebook’s problems,’ Commission says
Better regulation won't divert attention away from Facebook's shortfalls in other areas, European Justice Commissioner Věra Jourová told EURACTIV.com, criticising Mark Zuckerberg's recent call for tighter regulatory frameworks on internet services.
Facebook says political ads fix brings ‘unprecedented levels of accountability’
Facebook has unveiled a raft of measures to prevent foreign campaigns from interfering in national elections. But the plans will also make it more complicated for pan-European parties to advertise in countries where they are not directly represented.
Commission fines Google €1.49 billion for illegal practices
The European Commission fined Google €1.49 billion on Wednesday (20 March), after concluding that Google had breached EU laws by restricting rival online advertising services to access third-party websites.
Commission urges platforms to take action on fake accounts before EU elections
Online platforms need to step up their attempts to quell the spread of fake accounts but also provide greater independent access to their content for fact checkers, as part of their wider efforts in compliance with the code of practice against disinformation, the European Commission said on Wednesday (20 March).
Google braces for multi-million fine in final EU antitrust case
The European Commission is expected to fine Google over its online advertisement services today (20 March), bringing an end to the last outstanding case in a decade-long antitrust battle with the American digital giant.
Russian disinformation attempts to weaken ‘America’s commitment to Europe,’ US ambassador says
The Russian state is engaging in “subtle and insidious” disinformation campaigns that aim to “weaken America’s commitment to Europe” and “exploit the open market of ideas in our democracy,” the US Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland has said.
Google uses AI technology to boost wind energy efficiency
Google has boosted the value of the wind energy it produces by 20% after installing its own artificial intelligence (AI) software across its largest renewable energy facilities in the US. EURACTIV's media partner edie.net reports.
EU raps Facebook, Twitter and Google for inaction on fake news
Online platforms are failing to make sufficient progress in the fight against disinformation, the European Commission warned on Thursday (28 December). As the European elections draw closer, the EU cybersecurity agency ENISA has called for national legislation in the fight against fake news.
Apple, Google and Facebook embroiled in new tech war
Apple shut down Google’s distribution of internal iOS apps on Thursday (31 January), following allegations that the search engine giant had violated Apple’s app distribution policy in wrongly collecting user data for internal research. The move came a day after Apple imposed similar restrictions on Facebook.
News media lobbies Merkel, Macron on copyright reform
European news media associations wrote to French President Emmanuel Macron and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday (31 January) to push for action on online copyright reform.
EU Commission hits out at Facebook’s disinformation report
European Commission Security Chief Julian King criticised the "patchy, opaque and self-selecting" reporting provided by Facebook and other tech giants following their bids to comply with the EU's code of practice against disinformation on Tuesday (29 January).
France hits Google with €50 million GDPR fine
By hitting Google with a fine, the French data regulatory authority has set a precedent which may rattle digital leaders across Europe - the derelictions of duty which Google is accused of in France are shared by many other operators. EURACTIV France reports.
Updating copyright rules for news: There’s a better way
The EU Copyright directive should avoid making reforms that takes away publishers’ choices about how to distribute and make money with their content online, writes Richard Gingras.
Right to be forgotten should be limited to EU, top court says in Google case
The EU's "right to be forgotten" ruling should only be limited to the EU, the European Court of Justice said on Thursday (10 December), delivering an opinion on a case brought by France's privacy authority, the Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés (CNIL).
Loopholes the size of a double-decker bus would make a mockery of the Copyright Reform
Lawmakers must ensure that the new EU copyright directive protects press publishers and their right to assert their copyright in the digital age, argues Christian van Thillo.
2019 LOOKAHEAD: Towards a ‘Techno-ethics’
2019 is likely to prove the dawn of a 'Techno-ethics' in which consumers will expect their rights to be respected in the digital realm as they are in everyday life and legislators will oblige tech giants to play by the same rules as the wider industry.
Shadow rapporteurs take stand against Parliament’s handling of copyright directive
Shadow rapporteurs on the controversial copyright directive are frustrated that the European Parliament does not have a unified position on disputed Articles 11 and 13, with one MEP telling EURACTIV that Parliament has been conducting institutional negotiations without a text fully agreed on by shadows.