US senate votes to subpoena tech bosses to testify October 1, 2020 US tech bosses will be hauled in front of congress after a senate committee voted to compel them to testify. Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Google chief executive Sundar Pichai and Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey will be questioned on reforming Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The act shields social media firms from [...]
The digital services tax is targeting the wrong companies September 21, 2020 Cost-pass-through is a well-established economic theory. It describes what happens when a business changes the price of the products or services it sells following a change in the cost of producing them – be that an increase in procurement or production costs, increased demand, or a tax hike. When the government announced its ban on [...]
Exclusive: Google to pass on digital tax cost to advertisers September 1, 2020 Google will increase the price of advertising on its platforms in the UK due to the Digital Services Tax, City A.M. can reveal. In an email sent to advertisers today, seen by City A.M., the tech giant laid out plans for a two per cent ‘UK DST Fee’ which will be added to invoices from [...]
Social media news consumption drops as trust declines August 13, 2020 The number of people accessing news through social media has fallen in the last year as trust in online platforms has slipped, new figures have revealed. The proportion of Brits using social media sites to stay up to date with the latest stories slipped to 45 per cent in 2020, down from 49 per cent [...]
Google parent Alphabet sees revenue fall for first time ever July 30, 2020 Google parent Alphabet saw revenue fall for the first time in its history today, although it beat analyst expectations for its second quarter earnings. Revenue fell to $38.3bn from $38.9bn in the second quarter, compared to Refinitiv estimates of $37.4bn. It also beat expectations for earnings per share, which came in at $10.13, instead of [...]
France to force tech giants to remove harmful content within the hour May 13, 2020 Social media companies will be forced to remove the most harmful content from their platforms within an hour or face hefty fines under new French laws passed today. Firms such as Facebook, Google and Twitter could be fined up to four per cent of their global revenue if they fail to comply with the new [...]
Google removes 2.7bn bad ads as it launches Covid-19 taskforce April 30, 2020 Google removed roughly 2.7bn so-called bad ads last year as the tech giant ramps up its efforts to block misleading and malicious campaigns actors on its platform. The search engine’s crackdown, which equates to 5,000 ads per minute, is an increase on the 2.3bn adverts removed in 2018. In addition, Google suspended nearly 1m advertiser [...]
Alphabet earnings: Five key takeaways as Covid-19 hits Google April 29, 2020 Shares in Google parent company Alphabet were up almost eight per cent in after-hours trading last night after the tech giant reported its first-quarter earnings. The closely-watched report was the first in a string of major US tech results set to be published this week, and give a key indication of how the coronavirus crisis [...]
Google to cut marketing budgets by up to half and freeze hiring April 24, 2020 Google is said to be slashing its marketing budgets by as much as half as the tech giant begins to feel the impact of the coronavirus crisis. In internal emails seen by CNBC, Google told marketing employees the budgets would be cut in the second half of the year, while new hiring would be frozen [...]
Google forces advertisers to prove identity in transparency push April 23, 2020 Google today said it will require all advertisers to complete a verification process before buying ad space on its platform as the tech giant looks to improve transparency. In a blog post published today, Google said advertisers will need to submit personal identification, business incorporation documents or other information that proves who they are and [...]