US tech titans look to ditch passwords
Reliance on passwords alone is decried as a major security flaw on the internet, with people keeping them overly simple or using the same one repeatedly to make...
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France punishes Google over contracts for app developers
The US tech giant was fined two million euros for abusive commercial practices and told to modify seven clauses in its contracts, according to a ruling by a commercial court in Paris issued on Monday and seen by AFP on Tuesday.
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Russia accuses Google of 'false' information, limits access
The decision was taken at the request of the Russian General Prosecutor's Office, according to a statement by the country's media regulator Roskomnadzor cited by the agencies.
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Google agrees competition, privacy pledge over online ads
Britain has accepted changes proposed by Google to address competition and customer privacy concerns linked to online advertising.
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Russia fines Google, Meta record $125 mn over banned content
In recent years Russia has been piling pressure on Western social media giants, with President Vladimir Putin saying those companies were becoming as influential as elected governments.
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YouTube hides 'dislike' counts to discourage attacks
A public count of likes -- or dislikes -- that social media posts rack up is regularly cited by critics as harmful to well-being, and Facebook as well as Instagram have allowed users to opt out.
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Google to invest $1 bn to lift internet access in Africa
Internet reliability is a problem in Africa where less than a third of the continent's 1.3 billion people are connected to broadband, according to the World Bank.
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Google lets users factor climate change into life
Artificial intelligence was put to work in Google's free Maps service in the United States to show people the most fuel efficient routes to destinations even if they are not the quickest.
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Russia fines Google again for not removing banned content
Russia in recent months has been taking legal action against foreign tech companies for not deleting content banned by the authorities, including pornographic material or posts deemed extremist or condoning drugs or suicide.
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New child safety features for Google, YouTube
Google's "safe search" -- which excludes sensitive or mature content -- will be the default setting for users under 18, which up to now had been the case only for under-13 users.
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Google to build its own chip for new Pixel smartphone
Google's Pixel line has captured scant share in a global smartphone market dominated by Samsung, Apple and Chinese manufacturers.
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France fines Google 220 mn euros over online ad dominance
The penalty is part of a settlement reached after three media groups, News Corp, French daily Le Figaro and Belgium's Groupe Rossel, accused Google of effectively having a monopoly over online ad sales.
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US states accuse Google of app store monopoly
The litigation aimed at the Play Store online shop for apps and other digital content for Android smartphones comes as the power of Big Tech firms is facing increasing pressure from regulators and lawsuits.
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Trump announces anti-censorship lawsuit against Facebook, Twitter
The former US president said that the nation's top tech firms had become the "enforcers of illegal, unconstitutional censorship". He was banned from posting on Facebook and Twitter in the wake of the deadly January 6 siege of the US Capitol by his supporters.
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Danish media unite to push tech giants on rights
In 2019, an EU directive gave media rights to be compensated for links to their content by web giants in order to ensure better compensation for creators of news content.
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Google delays plan to phase out browser-tracking 'cookies'
The phasing out of third-party cookies -- bits of software that keep track of sites visited by users -- will be pushed back into mid-2023 instead of late 2022 for the Chrome browser, Google said in a blog post.
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US lawmakers back Big Tech regulation bills in marathon session
Legislation being forwarded to the floor of the House of Representatives could force an overhaul of the practices of Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook, or potentially lead to a breakup of the dominant tech giants.
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France fines Google 220m euros over online ad dominance
The penalty is part of a settlement reached after three media groups - News Corp, French daily Le Figaro and Belgium's Groupe Rossel - accused Google of effectively having a monopoly over online ad sales.
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Facebook, Google unveil Asia-Pacific data cable plans
Facebook said on Sunday it would be investing with partners on the subsea cables known as Echo and Bifrost to connect Singapore, Indonesia and North America, which would increase overall transpacific capacity by 70%.
