GOOGLE ACQUIRES FITBIT FOR WHOPPING $2.1 BILLION

Highlights

• The US Justice Department had said that it has not reached a final decision about whether to pursue an enforcement action regarding the Fitbit deal

• “We complied with the DOJ's (Justice Department’s) extensive review for the past 14 mont...

GOOGLE HALTS POLITICAL ADVERTISEMENTS IN U.S. BEFORE BIDEN’S INAUGURATION

Highlights

• The Alphabet-owned company had lifted the temporary ban on election-related advertisements on December 10, 2020, which took effect following polls closed in the US presidential election

• Google in a statement said “it would temporarily pause all p...

AMAZON WILL TAKE DOWN FEW QANON PRODUCTS FROM ITS WEBSITE

Highlights

• Amazon said it was taking efforts to take down some QAnon products from its online marketplace, citing policies that restrict offensive items or other inappropriate content

• Similarly tech company Apple dropped Parler from its App Store, while the cloud...

AFTER GOOGLE, APPLE & AMAZON TOO TAKE DOWN PARLER FROM THEIR SERVICES

Highlights

• Parker was removed from their stores as the social media network was among those used to organize riots at the US Capitol

• While tech company Apple dropped Parler from its App Store, the cloud unit of Amazon decided to stop hosting it from Sunday night<...

GOOGLE TAKES DOWN ‘PARLER’ FROM PLAY STORE

Highlights

• The alphabet owned company further said all developers agree to these terms and we have reminded Parler of this clear policy in last few months

• Google said that they are aware of continued posting in the Parler app that seeks to incite ongoing violence...

PRIVACY PLAN OF GOOGLE CHROME BEING INVESTIGATED IN UNITED KINGDOM

Highlights:

• The browser privacy plan of Google Chrome is going to be investigated in the United Kingdom
• The Competition and Markets Authority or CMA said that, the privacy plan of Google Chrome may have a significant impact on the digital advertising ...

GOOGLE ONE SUBSCRIBERS CAN NOW GET 3-MONTHS OF FREE YOUTUBE PREMIUM IN UK

Highlights:

• The subscribers of the Google One will now be getting a 3-month free subscription of the YouTube premium in the United Kingdom
• The offer is looking like, it will be available for some time only in the United Kingdom

One o...

TOP SEVEN TECH COMPANIES ADDED VALUE WORTH $3.4 TRILLION IN 2020

Highlights

• Tesla founder Elon Musk made it to the list of top three richest people on the planet by adding over $120 billion in net worth

• Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook, Tesla and Nvidia added a total $3.4 trillion together in market cap in the year...

‘ALPHABET WORKERS UNION': U.S. GOOGLE EMPLOYEES FORM LABOR UNION

Highlights

• This labor union known as the “Alphabet Workers Union” has been formed to promote workplace equity and ethical business practices

• It will collect dues of 1 percent of total compensation from members and these funds will cover paid organizer...

GOOGLE TO DISPLAY INSTAGRAM AND TikTok VIDEOS IN ITS SEARCH RESULTS

Highlights

• Reports state that the Alphabet-owned company is working on the possibility to feature the videos from both the platforms, TikTok and Instagram

• A Google spokesperson said the search-engine giant is currently testing the feature on mobile phones

GOOGLE RESPONDS TO U.S. ANTITRUST LAWSUIT, DENIES MISUSE OF POWER

Highlights

• Google said it didn’t make use of its multibillion-dollar deals with other tech companies to safeguard its position as the primary online search engine

• The Alphabet-owned company used agreements with device makers like Apple, Samsung and LG in or...

GOOGLE IS OFFERING FREE WEEKLY COVID-19 TESTS TO 90,000 EMPLOYEES IN THE U.S.

Highlights

• The company has already announced extension of its work from policy till September 2021, which will be applicable to all its 200,000 employees worldwide

• Every employee of Google and its subsidiaries like YouTube will be eligible to sign up for a free a...

38 U.S. STATES FILE ANTITRUST LAWSUIT AGAINST GOOGLE

Highlights

• The states are asking the court to stop Google’s illegal conduct and restore a competitive marketplace said the New York attorney general's office in a statement on Thursday

• The search engine giant was previously accused of using its dominanc...

NEW EU RULES LIKELY TO FORCE U.S. TECH FIRMS TO CHANGE BUSINESS PRACTICES IN EUROPE

Highlights

• This move has been made to keep tech giants in control and curb the emergence of anti-competitive dominant companies

• As per the new draft EU rules major technology companies in the U.S. including likes of Apple and Facebook may require to change their ...

YouTube, GOOGLE, AND GMAIL ARE WORKING NOW: GOOGLE

Highlights

• While Gmail and Google Search were working fine for most of the users, it was YouTube that gave trouble to several thousands of users across the world

• According to Downdetector, more than 79 percent of Gmail users were witnessing problems in logging in...

TECH COMPANIES TO FACE 6% FINES FOR BREACHING THE NEW EUROPEAN UNION CONTENT RULES

Highlights:

• The big technology companies like Facebook and Google will be facing 6 percent of fines if they the new content rules of the European Union
• The technology companies will have to do more for tackling the illegal which includes the child sex...

SEZNAM CLAIMED 417 MILLION DOLLARS FROM GOOGLE FOR RESTRICTING COMPETITION

Highlights:

• Seznam.cz said that, it has claimed 417 million dollars in the damages from Google
• The company said that, Google has abused its dominant on the Czech Republic market with the licensed operating systems and application stores

GOOGLE HAS LAUNCHED COVID-19 INFORMATION PANELS FOR TACKLING MISINFORMATION ABOUT VACCINES

Highlights:

• Google has launched new corona virus information panels in the search results to stop the spread of misinformation about covid-19 vaccine
• The new feature by google is going to be rolled out first in the United Kingdom

On ...

U.S. GOVERNMENT, 48 STATES FILE LAWSUIT AGAINST FACEBOOK

Highlights

• This is the second major antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. government this year as the US Justice Department in October had dragged Google to the court over similar charges

• The Federal Trade Commission and New York Attorney General Letitia James said...

GOOGLE, FACEBOOK MUST PAY TO AUSTRALIAN NEWS COMPANIES FOR PROTECTING VALUE OF ORIGINAL JOURNALISM

HIGHLIGHTS

• Australia finalized plans to make Facebook Inc and Google pay its news sources for news content, a world-first move pointed toward ensuring independent journalism that has drawn solid resistance from the web giant companies like Youtube, Facebook, and...