Tech On Me: Google, X and the big tech drama

This week, the tech world was rocked by major antitrust rulings and a fiery lawsuit from Elon Musk's X (formerly Twitter), highlighting the industry's ongoing struggle with competition, content moderation, and brand safety.

Musk vs. the ad world

Elon Musk's attempt to bully advertisers back to X has spectacularly backfired, claiming a major casualty in the process: GARM, the industry group dedicated to online brand safety. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) made the difficult decision to shutter GARM in the wake of Musk's aggressive antitrust lawsuit, a move they claim is necessary to protect the organisation and its members.

The irony is palpable. Musk's lawsuit, ostensibly aimed at reviving X's advertising revenue, has instead created a chilling effect, pushing away the very advertisers he seeks to attract. By silencing a leading voice for brand safety, Musk has heightened anxieties about X's volatile environment and fueled an even greater exodus of brands.

"Advertisers know a bad ad placement when they see one," notes Claire Atkin, co-founder of ad tech watchdog Check My Ads. "The reality is today’s decision means even more advertisers will flee X, and quickly so they’re not targeted in the future."

This aversion to accountability, as Arielle Garcia from Check My Ads points out, is a hallmark of Musk's reign at X. He attempts to rewrite the narrative, ignoring the chaos and destabilisation that drove advertisers away in the first place—the mass layoffs the policy flip-flops, the public spats with brands, and the unchecked proliferation of hate speech and misinformation. The lawsuit reeks of "hypocrisy and entitlement, not freedom of speech," as Garcia points out.

Musk's "my way or the highway" approach has created an environment of uncertainty and risk that brands simply cannot ignore. By conflating brand safety with mere content adjacency, he downplays the very real business implications of associating with a platform widely perceived as toxic.

Google's illegal monopoly and the fight for the future of search

A US judge delivered a blow to Google, ruling that the tech giant violated antitrust laws by leveraging its dominance to maintain a stranglehold on the search market. While Google attempts to downplay the potential fallout, experts believe this decision could have far-reaching consequences.

"This goes way beyond a slap on the wrist," Garcia, the director of intelligence at Check My Ads has warned. She predicts the ruling could force Google to soften its grip on vast troves of search data, potentially leveling the playing field in the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence. Even more dramatically, structural remedies could be on the table, forcing Google to separate Search from its Chrome browser and Android operating system, effectively dismantling its data-sharing ecosystem.

This landmark decision sets a powerful precedent, emboldening regulators and potentially impacting the outcome of the upcoming adtech antitrust trial in September. For marketers and consumers alike, a more competitive search landscape could mean greater innovation, fairer pricing, and more choice.

My take: Elon Musk's "war" on advertisers has exposed a fundamental tension in the tech industry: the battle between unfettered free speech and brand safety. While Musk frames advertiser boycotts as an attack on free expression, brands are taking a stand against hate speech and misinformation, refusing to be complicit in a toxic online environment. Stopping their advertising on X was rooted in genuine concerns about the rise of extremist content after Musk’s takeover.

Advertisers are now in a precarious position. The dismantling of GARM shows the high stakes of this battle, leaving advertisers to fend for themselves in a landscape increasingly hostile to their values and bottom lines. Now more than ever, it is crucial that advertisers do not succumb to Musk's aggressive tactics. Instead, they must uphold their autonomy to set standards that align with their brand values and business needs, maintaining their stance now more than ever.

As for the Google ruling, for years, Google has secured its position as the default search engine on various devices through massive payments to companies like Apple. This cosy arrangement, while profitable, has now come under intense scrutiny. 

If Google is forced to cancel its deal with Apple, the iPhone maker could take a significant financial hit—possibly around 4% to 6% of its profits. But again, this temporary financial setback could force Apple to explore alternative revenue-sharing deals with other search engines like Bing. However, such deals might not be as lucrative given Google's superior ad monetisation capabilities.

From a media buyer’s perspective, the ruling could lead to a more diversified search market. If other search engines gain traction, it might shift how ad budgets are allocated, providing more options beyond the Google-Apple monopoly. 

In other news

TikTok TV?

TikTok is leveraging its role as a discovery platform for other media by launching a new feature called ‘Spotlight’ in collaboration with studios like Warner Bros. This feature appears on videos related to movies or TV shows and directs users to a landing page with details such as the synopsis, cast information, and related video content. From this page, users can watch the title on streaming services, rent it on-demand, or buy movie tickets.

To qualify for Spotlight links, videos must meet certain viewership and follower criteria. Participating creators can earn rewards like profile frames, filters, merchandise, movie tickets, and access to events. Warner Bros. is using Spotlight to promote "House of the Dragon" Season 2, encouraging creators to post related content with incentives like limited profile frames for fans of specific houses.

Warner Bros. initially tested Spotlight in February for "Dune: Part Two," generating over 260,000 fan posts before the premiere. At its launch, Spotlight will be available to a limited number of studios but is expected to expand, potentially making TikTok a primary hub for media discovery, challenging Google's dominance.

My take: This could solify TikTok's evolution from a social media app to a powerful entertainment discovery engine. By seamlessly integrating promotional content and incentivising creators, TikTok is poised to capitalise on its massive user base and inherent virality. However, the platform needs to ensure inclusivity for smaller creators and attract a wider range of studios to fully realise Spotlight's potential. From a broader perspective, this move could be a game-changer, posing a significant challenge to Google's dominance in media search.

Brainstorming with Gemini

YouTube is experimenting with integrating Google Gemini to assist creators in brainstorming video ideas, titles, and thumbnails. This new feature, called Brainstorm with Gemini, was announced through YouTube's Creator Insider channel and is currently available to a select group of creators for testing. Feedback from these creators will determine whether the feature will be more widely implemented.

This integration could provide YouTube with a competitive advantage over other social media video platforms by offering creators unique tools not available elsewhere. It aligns with Google's strategy to promote its AI tools, encouraging creators to utilize YouTube's AI capabilities over alternatives like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Brainstorm with Gemini is an extension of an AI-powered content inspiration tool that YouTube began testing in May. This earlier tool generates video topic ideas and outlines based on audience interest to help creators kick-start their content creation process.

My take: This experiment could significantly impact how creators approach their content. However, there are some potential pitfalls. Relying too heavily on AI-generated content ideas might lead to a homogenisation of content, where videos start to look and feel similar because they are derived from the same AI algorithms. 

This could dilute the unique voices and creativity that make YouTube's ecosystem so vibrant. Additionally, there's the question of data privacy and how these AI tools use and store information provided by creators.

Breaking news on WeChat

Tencent is currently testing a new breaking news alerts feature on WeChat, enhancing its capabilities as a major information platform for over 1.2 billion users. 

This new feature, available to a limited group of users, displays breaking news bulletins from official media sources on the app's subscription account page following a recent system update. It shows alerts on topics like weather, finance, politics, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

Previously, WeChat users had to follow specific subscription accounts to receive posts from media outlets. The new breaking news alerts will provide content from publishers even if users do not follow them. 

News outlets already have significant followings on WeChat's subscription accounts, but the new alerts feature aims to broaden the content range and increase user engagement. 

My take: I see a strategic move that underscores the app's evolving role as a comprehensive information hub. With over 1.2 billion users, WeChat already dominates China's social media landscape, but this new feature could solidify its position further by integrating real-time news into its ecosystem.

From a user perspective, this development is intriguing. The convenience of receiving breaking news alerts directly on WeChat without needing to follow specific accounts enhances the app's utility significantly. 

It streamlines the information-gathering process, making it easier for users to stay informed about critical updates on various topics such as weather, finance, and global events. This move could make WeChat an even more indispensable tool in daily life, combining social interaction, commerce, and now, up-to-the-minute news.

However, this integration also raises questions about content regulation and the influence of state media. Given the strict scrutiny of online content by Chinese regulators, it's likely that the news alerts will be heavily curated to align with official narratives. 

While this ensures compliance and possibly curbs misinformation, it also means that the information presented might lack diversity and critical perspectives. For users, this could be both a blessing and a curse: reliable and timely updates, but with potential biases that need to be navigated thoughtfully.

Looking ahead

A YouTube creator has initiated a class action lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that the company used millions of YouTube video transcripts to train its AI models without informing or compensating the content creators.

Filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, David Millette, a Massachusetts-based YouTube user, alleges that OpenAI transcribed his and other creators' videos secretly to develop its AI tools, including ChatGPT. 

The lawsuit contends that OpenAI violated copyright laws and YouTube's terms of service, which prohibit the use of videos for external applications, by profiting from the creators' content without consent or remuneration.

The complaint, filed by the law firm Bursor & Fisher, seeks a jury trial and over $5 million in damages for all affected YouTube creators. It argues that as OpenAI's AI products improve through these unauthorized training data sets, they become more valuable, attracting more users who pay for subscriptions to access them.

My take: As someone who follows the evolution of AI and its integration into various platforms, I can see both sides of this issue quite clearly.

On one hand, the allegations that OpenAI used YouTube video transcripts without notifying or compensating the creators is troubling. Content creators put a significant amount of effort into their videos, and it’s only fair that they are informed and compensated if their work is being used to train AI models. 

The lawsuit suggests that OpenAI may have profited substantially from this practice, which raises serious ethical and legal questions. It’s a stark reminder that as we advance in AI technology, we must also ensure that the rights of individuals contributing data are respected and protected.

The use of vast amounts of data to train AI models is not new, and companies often argue that such practices fall under fair use. However, the boundaries of fair use are continually being tested and challenged, particularly as AI capabilities expand. The fact that more than 35% of the world’s top websites now block OpenAI’s web crawler indicates a growing awareness and concern about data privacy and ownership.

What strikes me is the broader implication of this lawsuit. If the court rules in favor of the YouTube creator, it could set a precedent that significantly impacts how AI companies gather and use data. This could lead to stricter regulations and force companies to be more transparent and accountable in their data collection practices.

The drying up of traditional data sources due to increased restrictions and the pivot towards video transcriptions as a key training resource highlight the challenges AI developers face in sourcing high-quality data. This lawsuit may accelerate the need for companies like OpenAI to find new, ethical ways to gather training data without infringing on individual rights.