Weekly New/Digital Media (55)

Head of Google Europe apologises over ads on extremist content

Google has been summoned to the Cabinet Office to explain itself after ads were put on ‘inappropriate and hate-filled sites’.

Summary: "Matt Brittin says company ‘needs to do more’ but declines to say whether it will actively seek out inappropriate material" Google’s European chief has publicly apologised after online adverts for major brands appeared next to extremist material, but declined to say whether the company would begin actively seeking out such content and taking action against it. Almost monotising hate itself. Causing many brands to withdraw from these adverts as not to be assossiated with such a thing. 

 Key facts/ statistics:

  • “I want to start by saying sorry to the brands affected by this. I take the issue very seriously and I apologise in the instances where that may have happened.”
  • Brittin told an audience of advertising industry figures that the company would improve its ad placement system, which has seen ads attached to videos by extremists, including hate preachers and the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke.
  • The ads help fund payments to the people who post the videos, with every 1,000 clicks worth about £6.
  • “Of course we’re looking again at how we improve what we’re doing on enforcement. That’s a question of resources and technology and community,” he said.
  • Cooper, who last week accused the company of “profiting from hatred” said she was not satisfied with Brittin’s response to the issue.
  • They need to say whether they will be paying back any of that advertising revenue and to answer our questions on what more they are doing to root out extremism or illegal activity on YouTube because they are still failing to do enough to remove illegal or hate-filled content from YouTube.
  • The government and several high-profile companies have suspended adverts, or are reviewing whether to do so, after it emerged that extremists including Duke were able to profit from adverts on Google’s network.
  • Marks & Spencer became the latest company to pull advertising from Google on Monday, adding its name to a growing list that includes government departments, major advertising agencies and well-known companies. McDonald’s, the BBC, L’Oréal, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds, the Guardian, Audi and Channel 4 are among the firms to suspend advertising.
  • BT and Sky said they were reviewing their relationship with Google.
  • While Brittin admitted that Google had work to do to mend fences with advertisers, he also pointed out that it handles a huge volume of content, including 400 hours of YouTube video uploaded every minute.

My opinion:
It seems that the sheer rapid increase in the size of new and digital media is hard to keep up with causing new issues to come to light everyday. This said, im pretty sure there is a massive profit insentive which is why companies like google delay comfronting such issues highlighting just how money driven these industries are and the negative impact it may have on society as a whole - and probably won't claim any responsibility/ do anything to correct these negative impacts.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Identities: applying feminism

Media factsheet: Applying Feminism F ind and read Media Factsheet  #86 Applying Feminism . Save it to USB or email it to yourself so you have access to the Factsheet for homework. You can find the Factsheet on the Media Shared drive - M:\Resources\A Level\Media Factsheets. Once you have read the Factsheet, complete the following tasks: 1) What are the five types of feminism outlined on the first page of the Factsheet? Radical Feminism - This type of feminism sees the cause of women’s oppression as men. It assumes that men deliberately exploit women as  this benefits them. One of the main aims of this theory is to address concerns over violence against women, especially is sexual relationships Liberal Feminism -  This type of feminism is mainly concerned with gender socialisation in order to show that gender roles are not biologically  determined. The main aim of this type of feminism is to change the ways children are socialised into stereotypical gend...
Read more

Weekly New/Digital Media (62)

Image
Apple launches Clips as it bids for a slice of the Snapchat action https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/apr/07/apple-launches-clips-as-it-bids-for-a-slice-of-the-snapchat-action Summary: " App enables creative camera tomfoolery that Snapchat does so well, but without attached social network"  " Cloning Snapchat is the new brunch, which is the new black.  Facebook did it , Instagram did it, even WhatsApp did it. But even so, it’s surprising today to see that Apple’s done it too."  A new app by Apple is cloning snapchat but in a different way to the others. Apple understands that social media isn't their biggest strength so there isn't a social media platform to the app. Light clips that are easy to make compared to imovie feature which is always easier on laptops so an app that creates something good to post on other social medias. But it does need to find originality before it can properly take off as snap chat's filters are constantly c...
Read more

Weekly New/Digital Media (9)

Image
I'm with you on the digital revolution, it's the lack of journalism  I can't face im-with-you-on-the-digital-revolution-its-the-lack-of-journalism-i-cant-face Summary:  A small US state community of New Hampshire newspaper ceased publication after 90 years, creates worries about the implications of a redcution in the numbers of news gatherers (i.e journalists). The closing down came about due to the increased production costs, despite trying to sell that paper off, no one seemed to want to buy it. Laconia, had two local news papers so people still have the free Laconia Daily Sun. The collumist, Arlinghaus, of New Hampshire Union Leader wrote an article with many interesting points. He made the following statements;  “No one gets their news from Twitter” “even the people who think they do.” this was based on the assumption that "Someone (else) read or produced the report — gathered the news — that we repost or tweet or link to." Therefore its a platf...
Read more