YouTube to reinstate banned channels: What it means for advertisers
The return of banned YouTube creators could reshape ad reach and placements – and pose risks for brands and marketers.
Topic: Freedom of speech
TikTok takes U.S. ban challenge to the Supreme Court
With not much time to spare before the Jan. 19 ban, TikTok has taken its case to the Supreme Court.
TikTok highlights its value to brands and search experience
TikTok is highlighting the discovery modes that power community-driven search ecosystems to show what brands will miss if the app is banned.
TikTok warns ‘predetermined’ vote on U.S. ban will ‘damage millions of businesses’
TikTok could lose its 150 million-strong U.S. user base if new legislation receives Senate approval next week.
X (Twitter) is bringing back political ads
The platform is reversing the decision of former CEO, Jack Dorsey, as part of its "commitment to free speech".
Twitter: Edit button coming (but you’ll have to pay to get it)
Twitter says it's been working on a feature that will allow users to edit tweets. The catch: it will only be available to Twitter Blue users.
In a victory for speech, EU’s top court sides with Google in right to be forgotten case
A decision in favor of French regulators might have set a difficult precedent.
Google facing fine in Russia for allegedly not purging banned websites
The fine would be just over $10,000, but Russian officials are seeking penalties of 1 percent of global revenue going forward.
US court orders Google not to comply with Canadian court’s order delisting search results
The US court agreed with Google that implementation of the Canadian court's ruling would violate US laws, including the right to free speech.
Canada’s Supreme Court orders Google to de-index site globally, opening door to censorship
Decision is dangerous to free speech and the free flow of online information.
Florida court: Google permitted to delist sites regarded as spam under First Amendment
The e-ventures Worldwide, LLC vs. Google case should have been dismissed earlier.
Google wins ‘right to be forgotten’ case in Japanese high court
Court rules that search results are a form of speech entitled to protection.
Google Japan Ordered To Remove Negative Reviews Based On Thin Evidence
Ruling appears to be based largely on affidavit signed by the doctor in question.
Google France Homepage Goes “Je Suis Charlie” In Memory Of Charlie Hebdo Victims
Google France homepage now displaying "Je Suis Charlie" badge to honor victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre.
World War II, Communism Subtext In Right To Be Forgotten
From an American legal perspective, the recently established European Right to Be Forgotten (RTBF) is a disaster. It’s a confusing, vague, impractical and possibly even dangerous decision. But from a European historical perspective, it makes considerable sense. The different histories of the U.S. and Europe in the 20th Century have shaped different attitudes and rules […]
Blogger Fined By French Court Because Negative Restaurant Review Was Too Prominent In Google
A French court has ordered a blogger to pay a substantial fine and change the title of a restaurant review because the review was too prominent in search results and harmed business at the restaurant. The post has since been removed but can be viewed here (via TechDirt). The restaurant, Il Giardino, complained to the […]
US Court Says Baidu Has Free Speech Right To Censor Search
Late last week, Chinese search engine Baidu succeeded in gaining dismissal of a lawsuit by pro-democracy activists based in New York (Zhang et al. v. Baidu.com, Inc). Plaintiffs had sued in the US and argued that Baidu improperly blocked them from seeing content on the search engine. Specifically, according to Reuters, the plaintiffs said that people in the US couldn’t […]
Microsoft: We Don’t Censor Search Outside China
Bing censors search results in China in accordance with Chinese law. But does it do so in the US and elsewhere around the world for Chinese users? That disturbing proposition was raised yesterday in an article appearing in The Guardian. The article asserted that Bing search results for Chinese language speakers in the US were […]
VA Court Delivers Blow To Yelp, Free Speech Of Users
A Virginia state court of appeal has ruled that Yelp must disclose the real identities of seven individuals who posted anonymous, critical reviews of an Alexandria, Virginia carpet cleaning business, Hadeed Carpet. Yelp and free speech advocacy groups have decried the decision. Hadeed said that he didn’t believe that any of the reviews came from actual […]
Google’s Latest Transparency Report Shows Rise In Content Removal Requests From Russia & Turkey
Google announced today it has released its eighth Transparency Report since 2010 when the search engine began providing data on government requests to remove content. According to the latest Transparency Report covering the first half of 2013, Google saw a “significant” increase in the number of requests from Turkey and Russia, with Russia’s requests to […]
French Court Orders Google To Remove Max Mosley Images From Search Engine Results
After making a public plea for the European courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Formula One president Max Mosley, Google found out today the French court has ruled in favor of Mosley and is forcing the search engine to censure search results. According to a report on Reuters.com, the French court has ordered […]
Google Says European Law Does Not Support Mosley Lawsuit To Censor Search Results
Yesterday, Google posted a plea on their Google Europe blog asking European courts to dismiss a lawsuit filed by former Formula One president Max Mosley. The lawsuit requests that Google build a filter to identify and block what Mosley claims is unlawful content. A report on Bloomberg.com claims Mosley’s lawyers filed a suit in a […]
Governments Across The Globe Are Making More Requests To Remove Content From Google Services
According to a new Transparency Report released today, Google received 4,096 government requests to remove 42,249 pieces of content during 2012. The purpose of Google’s Transparency Reports is to record the number of worldwide government requests to censor content on Google services, and offer insight into the amount of censorship happening across the globe. The […]
In Another “Right to Be Forgotten” Case, UK Officials Threaten Legal Action Against People Posting Pictures Of Convicted Killer
Although slightly different than the Spanish case discussed yesterday, the “right to be forgotten” has reared its head again — this time in the UK.” UK Attorney General Dominic Grieve has threatened legal action against anyone posting pictures of convicted killer Jon Venables online. TechDirt offers a short summary of the underlying facts of the […]
Privacy Vs Censorship: Google, Spanish Government Face Off In European Courts
In a test case that could have significant implications for Google throughout Europe the company faced off against the Spanish data protection authority in the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg. One could frame the case as “privacy vs. censorship.” From the Spanish government’s point of view its data protection authority is […]
Most Censorship And Content Takedown Requests Come From US, Says Google
Google has released data from its latest Transparency Report covering censorship and content removal requests. The report features separate presentations of copyright-based removal requests and government requests. Google began publishing this data about two years go. The report is updated regularly; however government censorship and removal requests are updated every six months. The number of […]
Does The First Amendment Create A Complete Defense For Google Against Antitrust Regulation?
Google now faces antitrust investigations on multiple continents. The US FTC recently hired a prominent outside litigator in a sign that it may be preparing to bring an action against the company. But does Google have a “slam dunk” defense against such a case (at least in the US) under the First Amendment of the […]
Under Threat Of Being Blocked Google, Facebook Comply With India’s New Internet Censorship Rules
After China and the US, India is the third largest internet market in the world. But India has philosophically aligned itself more with China in pursuing a policy of censorship toward publication of content deemed “offensive” or “objectionable” by individuals, groups or the government. A recently enacted law seeks to remove all such content from […]
Free Speech Battle In India: Google, Facebook Summoned By Court Over “Inflammatory Images”
According to a report from Chinese news agency Xinhua, a judge in India has ordered a broad range of online companies, including Google, Facebook and Yahoo, to “delete ‘inflammatory’ images of religious figures” from their sites. Though not identified in news reports the images were deemed offensive or blasphemous under a sweeping law enacted earlier […]
Domain Seizures, De-Indexing And Censorship: Nevada Judge Dramatically Exceeds Limits Of His Authority
There’s a multi-pronged assault on the internet going on now. It comes from over-zealous legislators, the US executive branch and individual judges. There’s an effort on multiple fronts to grant over-broad powers to copyright owners to instigate domain seizures, cut-off funds and de-index “rogue” websites if found guilty of “infringement,” where that concept is very expansively defined […]
Reputation And The “Right To Be Forgotten”: Spain’s Radical Approach To Search And Personal Privacy
Call it “privacy 2.0.” Last year Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg famously (and incorrectly) said that privacy is no longer a social norm. However one has only to witness the uproar this week over Facebook Messenger and the exposure of phone contacts to see that privacy isn’t dead. In Europe — Spain in particular — privacy […]
Argentine Court Orders Google To Censor Results, Halt Suggestions
An Argentine court has ordered Google to stop “suggesting” searches that lead to sites deemed anti-Semitic and remove the sites from the search engine’s index. The company has reportedly said it won’t take action until getting the official order from the Buenos Aires court. The injunction, which represents censorship of search results, stems from a […]
Google Fails To Sway Indian Government On Web Content Restrictions
The Indian government has enacted tough restrictions on Internet content and publishers, ignoring objections detailed by Google in a confidential memo earlier this year. According to the Wall Street Journal, the new rules in India place what appears to be a heavy burden on websites to ban users from publishing certain types of content and […]
Google Confronting Spain’s “Right To Be Forgotten”
In a case that could have EU-wide implications a Spanish court is asking Google to remove data about a private individual from its index. This is known in Spain and elsewhere in Europe as “the right to be forgotten.” The immediate case at hand involves a Spanish plastic surgeon who was featured in a critical […]
Presidential Hopeful Rick Santorum Stymied By Search Problem
As former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum sets his sights on the White House, he has a lot of awareness-raising to do, and he desperately needs some help with search, a Roll Call piece this week shows. Currently, when you search for Santorum, the first result is a blog apparently started by gay syndicated sex columnist […]
Google’s Egypt Executive, Wael Ghonim, Should Be Released From Egyptian Custody Now
TechCrunch reported that CNN’s news anchor Hala Gorani tweeted that the Egyptian PM, Ahmed Shafiq said Google’s executive based in Egypt will be released today at 4pm Egyptian time. Being that it is after 4:30pm local time in Egypt, I’d hope he has been released. Although I still do not see any confirmation from Google […]
Spanish Want Google To Police Libel On The Internet
In yet another difficult European regulatory decision for Google the Spanish data protection authority has demanded that Google remove links to articles online (e.g., newspaper articles) that contain defamatory content. According to the UK-based Guardian: The technology giant has been ordered to remove almost 100 online articles from its search listings by Spain’s data protection […]
Brazil: Google Is Making Us Look Bad
See this screenshot above? The Brazilian government doesn’t like it. Actually, they don’t like where it came from: Google’s Government Requests tool, which was just launched last week. The AP reports that Brazil’s government has contacted Google’s representatives in that country for clarification about the numbers shown above — numbers that Brazil says give the […]
Google Fined In Brazillian “Pedophile” Defamation Case Tied To Orkut
For the second time in the past few months Google has been punished by a court outside the US for content posted by users on one of its owned and operated sites. In February an Italian court imposed a criminal privacy conviction on Google executives for the appearance of a video, showing the bullying of […]
Italian Court Finds Google Execs Guilty Of Violating Privacy Code
Three Google executives have been found guilty of criminal charges over a bullying video that appeared on the Google Video service. Google has responded with a blog post pledging to appeal the convictions and suggesting that they undermine “the very principles of freedom on which the Internet is built.” The video involved a youth with […]