close
    • chevron_right

      Google caught placing big-brand ads on hardcore porn sites, report says

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Wednesday, 29 November - 20:29

    Google caught placing big-brand ads on hardcore porn sites, report says

    Enlarge (credit: NurPhoto / Contributor | NurPhoto )

    The appearance of any big brand's ads on websites that the brand has specifically blocked is one of a brand's biggest nightmares. That could include specifically blacklisted sites—like Breitbart—or any category of generally controversial site, like sites in countries sanctioned by the government, sites featuring hardcore pornography, or sites containing pirated content.

    According to an Adalytics report , the Google Search Partner Network (SPN) has allegedly been putting brands at risk of all of these undesirable placements without advertisers fully realizing the dangers. Adalytics researchers reported finding Google search ads for top brands and government agencies displaying on hundreds of undesirable websites.

    Among those impacted were big brands—like Amazon, Apple, BMW, Home Depot, Lego, Meta, Microsoft, Paramount+, Samsung, and Uber—and top government entities including the US Treasury and the European Commission. Ads from nonprofits like the American Cancer Society and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, as well as major media outlets like The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal were also found on illegal or adult sites.

    Read 26 remaining paragraphs | Comments

    • chevron_right

      Google Search starts rolling out ChatGPT-style generative AI results

      news.movim.eu / ArsTechnica · Thursday, 25 May, 2023 - 17:39 · 1 minute

    Google's "Search Generative Experience" is a plan to put ChatGPT-style generative AI results right in your Google search results page, and the company announced the feature is beginning to roll out today . At least, the feature is rolling out to the mobile apps for people who have been on the waitlist and were chosen as early access users.

    Unlike the normally stark-white Google page with 10 blue links, Google's generative AI results appear in colorful boxes above the normal search results. Google will scrape a bunch of information from all over the Internet and present it in an easy list, with purchase links to Best Buy and manufacturers' websites.

    If this ever rolls out widely, it would be the biggest change to Google Search results ever, and this design threatens to upend the entire Internet. One example screenshot of a "Bluetooth speaker" search on desktop shows a big row of "Sponsored" shopping ads, then the generative AI results start to show up in a big blue box about halfway down the first page. The blue box summarizes a bunch of information harvested from somewhere and lists several completely unsourced statements and opinions about each speaker. In Google's example, users are never told where this information comes from, so they can't make any judgment as to its trustworthiness. The links all appear to go to manufacturer websites and below that blue box, about two or three screens down, there are finally links to more neutral external websites. The end design goal seems to be "no one will ever click on an external search link ever again," and that would force a lot of sites to shut down.

    Read 1 remaining paragraphs | Comments