Spotlight: The first Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund recipients

Over the past three months, the world has witnessed the resilience and spirit of the Ukrainian people. We’ve seen how an entire population has responded to unimaginable circumstances and demonstrated not only a will to survive, but to persevere and succeed.

We know this spirit well from the strong and vibrant Ukrainian startup community, which boasts its share of “unicorn” startups including GitLab, Grammarly, Genesis, People.ai, and Firefly Aerospace.

To help Ukrainian entrepreneurs maintain and grow their businesses, strengthen their community and build a foundation for post-war economic recovery, in March we announced a $5 million Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund to allocate equity-free cash awards throughout 2022. Selected Ukraine-based startups will receive up to $100,000 in non-dilutive funding as well as ongoing Google mentorship, product support, and Cloud credits.

Meet the first recipients

Today, we are proud to announce the first cohort of recipients of the Google for Startups Ukraine Support Fund.

• Almexoft: A low-code platform for business process automation and electronic document management.
• CareTech Human: A fully-automated, plug-and-play device for daily health checks and early disease detection.
• Discoperi: An AI-powered video control system that collects traffic data to prevent car accidents and make roads safer.
• Dots Platform: A cloud-based, all-in-one food delivery platform.
• Elai.io: A text-to-video platform that allows users to generate video content with virtual presenters from text.
• Effy.ai: An HR software that empowers leaders to build high-performing teams.
• Handy.ai: An internal сommunications platform offering a personal virtual assistant for employees.
• Lab24: A digital medical laboratory marketplace connecting customers to affordable services.
• Mindly: An end-to-end mental health platform for online therapy that offers AI-powered patient care and clinical admin automation.
• PRAVOSUD: A litigation analytics platform enabling lawyers to craft successful legal strategies.
• pleso therapy: A mental health platform that efficiently matches patients with therapists.
• Private Tech Network: An AI-driven “venture capital-as-a-service” platform, designed to make fundraising faster and more efficient.
• Releaf Paper: The world's first manufacturer of paper products made from fallen leaves.
• Respeecher: A high-fidelity voice cloning (voice conversion) system for content creators.
• Skyworker: A hiring app providing tech recruiting and human resources services.
• VanOnGo: An AI-powered, direct-to-consumer delivery platform.
• ZooZy: A one-stop pet care mobile app streamlining all of your pet’s needs—food, training advice, healthcare, and other essentials—into a single platform.

Startups are selected based on the criteria and evaluation of an interview, and Ukrainian-founded startups that meet the criteria can apply on a rolling basis here. And while some companies may not qualify for the Fund itself, Google for Startups continues to offer other forms of support that can be found here.

Key challenges, according to one Ukrainian founder

We spoke to Ukraine Support Fund recipient Dimitri Podoliev, CEO and co-founder of mental health support app Mindly, to better understand the specific challenges that Ukrainian founders face as they navigate running their businesses during a war.

When Mindly participated in last year's Google for Startups Accelerator: Europe - for healthtech and wellbeing startups - Podoliev’s focus was “to build a team that will be able to quickly, efficiently and effectively use a data-driven approach to build an amazing product.”

Mindly’s CEO and co-founder Dimitri Podoliev (on screen) meeting with Sundar Pichai

Now, Mindly is pivoting to help make mental health support accessible to all Ukrainians, in the war zone and beyond. During a round table with Google and Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai at the Google for Startups Campus in Warsaw, Podoliev shared that the support extends to psychotherapists as well as patients. “Therapists are people too, and they are all from Ukraine and in very difficult situations, I feel it unfair to ask them to work for free. During the time of war, Mindly has committed to invest 100% of its income in mental health therapy for Ukrainians who currently can’t afford to pay for it themselves. Our goal is to maximize the number of free-of-charge therapy sessions we can provide and people we can help,” said Podoliev.

With Google’s support, Mindly plans to expand to Poland, which has seen a huge increase in Ukrainian population. Podoliev sees Warsaw as a key player in helping Ukraine’s economic recovery, and will use the Ukraine Support Fund resources to scale in Poland, generate new revenue streams, and provide virtual therapy to as many people affected by the crisis as possible.

Support for Ukrainian founders like Podoliev will help them succeed and build the tech that their country needs now. Stay tuned as we continue to announce more Ukraine Support Fund recipients over the next few months.

by Michal Kramarz via The Keyword

Finding belonging in LGBTQ+ spaces

The Stonewall Inn, a small bar in New York City where in June of 1969 LGBTQ+ people fought back against years of oppression and abuse, has special meaning for many people, including me. When I moved to New York City in 2007, I lived in the West Village, the neighborhood where the bar is located. I shared many memorable and meaningful nights with newfound friends at Stonewall and other local bars, where we felt a sense of community and belonging. As a minority in most other establishments, it’s hard to explain how comforting it is to walk into a place and feel like you are among your people and not feel othered or insecure. That’s what these bars were to me and millions of others.

The most meaningful one of those Stonewall Inn nights was when I met my future wife, Christine, a digital entrepreneur with her own LGBTQ+ media startup. She also happened to bartend there on Thursday nights. Needless to say, I spent more Thursday nights there then I should have after that, but it was well worth it.

With such fond memories of my time there, I was surprised to learn the Stonewall Inn was almost twice the size it is now when the rebellion took place in 1969. As New York City rents rose, the leaseholders were forced to let part of the building go, which is now 51 Christopher Street.

Google has been committed to preserving and sharing this history of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement in the U.S. Today, we’re building on our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community with almost $1 million in support from Google and Google.org to Pride Live, an advocacy group dedicated to the fight for LGBTQ+ equality that is working to secure the lease to 51 Christopher Street to reunite the Stonewall Inn and build the Stonewall National Monument Education and Visitor Center. On June 24th, Pride Live will be celebrating the reuniting of the Stonewall Inn, with musical guest Kesha, at their annual “Stonewall Day'' event.

In 2019, through Google.org grants totaling $1.5 million and the tireless work of volunteer Googlers, The LGBT Community Center of New York commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with the launch of the Stonewall Forever, the first-ever interactive “living monument” dedicated to the LGBTQ+ community and their fight for equal rights.

Within Google, our PRIDE at and Trans at Google employee resource groups continue to grow each year. It’s great to see so many LGBTQ+ Googlers and their allies coming together with their local communities and participating in local Pride marches. For the first time, Googlers will be participating in Baltic Pride, organized by Lithuanian Gay League (a Google.org grantee) in Vilnius. We will showcase a Google Arts & Culture piece about Harvey Milk, who was an LGBTQ+ rights pioneer and of Lithuanian descent.

The mood of this Pride isn’t just celebratory. It’s been another tough year for LGBTQ+ folks and many historically marginalized communities. We see continuing discrimination and violence worldwide, especially against the trans community and for folks at the intersections of Asian and Pacific Islander and Black communities in the U.S. Moreover, many LGBTQ+ refugees in Ukraine remain displaced and overlooked as conflict continues in the region.

Given the challenges facing so many LGBTQ+ people, we are donating to nonprofits that work directly with the community. Googlers will be able to donate to nonprofits during Pride month and Google.org will match their donations to local LGBTQ+ charities around the world. Google.org has also made a critical contribution to OutRight Action International’s Ukraine Emergency Fund. This program is delivering humanitarian support to LGBTQ+ refugees, providing aid to neighboring countries and helping those that have been internally displaced and impacted by conflict. We are also providing donated Search advertising and other tools to nonprofit organizations like GLAAD and The Trevor Project, helping them spread awareness of their critical work and cultivate support for LGBTQ+ communities.

We are also continuing our work on making our products more inclusive and useful for everyone – including the LGBTQ+ community. We heard directly from members of the transgender community that the way Google Photos was resurfacing old Memories was hurtful. So last year we brought in our partners at GLAAD and worked with the trans community and learned how we could make reminiscing with Google Photos more inclusive. This effort led to launching new controls that let users hide photos of certain time periods or people from Google Photos’ Memories feature.

Our products continue to help small businesses owners connect with the LGBTQ+ community. Like helping merchants show their commitment by using the “LGBTQ+ friendly” and "Transgender safespace” attributes on Maps and Search, and our Google Ads products that help businesses connect with users that are looking for products made by companies that match their values.

As our community continues to be under attack both here in the U.S. and abroad, what gives me hope is the work we do across our products and platforms to help the LGBTQ+ community find places where they can feel accepted and safe. I found the Stonewall Inn and I found my wife. So many other establishments, like the Stonewall Inn, play a vital role for many in our community. They are more than just places where we socialize and gather, they bring a life-saving sense of community, belonging and security that everyone deserves.

by Adrienne Hayes via The Keyword

Encontrando pertenencia en espacios LGBTQ+

El Stonewall Inn, un pequeño bar en la ciudad de Nueva York donde en junio de 1969 las personas LGBTQ+ lucharon contra años de opresión y abuso, tiene un significado especial para muchas personas, incluyéndome a mí. Cuando me mudé a Nueva York en 2007, vivía en West Village, el barrio donde se encuentra el bar. Compartí muchas noches memorables y significativas con nuevos amigos en Stonewall y otros bares locales, donde sentimos un sentido de comunidad y pertenencia. Al ser una minoría en la mayoría de los demás establecimientos, es difícil explicar lo reconfortante que es entrar en un lugar y sentir que estás entre tu gente y no sentirte diferente o inseguro. Eso es lo que estos lugares eran para mí y millones de personas más.

La más significativa de esas noches de Stonewall Inn fue cuando conocí a mi futura esposa, Christine, una empresaria digital con su propia startup de medios LGBTQ+. Además de este trabajo, ella también era bartender allí los jueves por la noche. No hace falta decir que pasé más jueves por la noche allí de lo que debería, pero valió la pena.

Con tan buenos recuerdos de mi tiempo allí, me sorprendió saber que el Stonewall Inn tenía casi el doble del tamaño que tiene ahora cuando tuvo lugar la rebelión en 1969. A medida que aumentaban los alquileres en la ciudad de Nueva York, los arrendatarios se vieron obligados a alquilar parte del edificio, que ahora está en Christopher Street, 51.

Hoy, Google continúa con nuestro compromiso con la comunidad LGBTQ+ al apoyar a Pride Live, un grupo de defensa dedicado a la lucha por la igualdad LGBTQ+. Con casi $1 millón de dólares en apoyo de Google y Google.org, Pride Live está trabajando para asegurar el contrato de arrendamiento de Christopher Street, 51 para recomponer en su totalidad el Stonewall Inn y construir el Stonewall National Monument Education and Visitor Center. El 24 de junio, Pride Live celebrará la reunión de Stonewall Inn, con la invitada musical Kesha, en su evento anual "Stonewall Day".

Google se ha comprometido a preservar y compartir esta historia del movimiento moderno por los derechos LGBTQ+ en los EE. UU. En 2019, a través de subvenciones de Google.org por un total de 1,5 millones de dólares y el trabajo incansable de Googlers voluntarios, el Centro Comunitario LGBT de Nueva York conmemoró el 50º aniversario de los disturbios de Stonewall con el lanzamiento de Stonewall Forever, el primer "monumento interactivo " dedicado a la comunidad LGBTQ+ y su lucha por la igualdad de derechos.

Dentro de Google, nuestros grupos de recursos para empleados PRIDE at y Trans at Google continúan creciendo cada año. Es genial ver a tantos Googlers LGBTQ+ y sus aliados unirse a sus comunidades locales y participar en las marchas locales del Orgullo. Por primera vez, los Googlers participarán en Baltic Pride, organizado por la Liga Gay Lituana (un beneficiario de Google.org) en Vilnius. Mostraremos una pieza de Google Arts & Culture sobre Harvey Milk, quien fue un pionero de los derechos LGBTQ+ y tenía ascendencia lituana.

El objetivo delOrgullo no es solo de celebración. Ha sido otro año difícil para las personas LGBTQ+ y muchas comunidades históricamente marginadas. Vemos una continua discriminación y violencia en todo el mundo, especialmente contra la comunidad trans y para las personas en las intersecciones de las comunidades negras, asiáticas e isleñas del Pacífico en los EE. UU. Además, muchos refugiados LGBTQ+ en Ucrania siguen desplazados y son ignorados mientras el conflicto continúa

Dados los desafíos que enfrentan tantas personas LGBTQ+, estamos donando a organizaciones sin fines de lucro que trabajan directamente con la comunidad. Los empleados de Google podrán donar a organizaciones sin fines de lucro durante el mes del Orgullo y Google.org igualará sus donaciones paraorganizaciones benéficas LGBTQ+ locales de todo el mundo. Google.org también ha hecho una contribución crítica al Fondo de Emergencia de Ucrania de OutRight Action International. Este programa brinda apoyo humanitario a los refugiados LGBTQ+, brinda ayuda a los países vecinos y ayuda a aquellos que han sido desplazados internamente y afectados por el conflicto. También proporcionamos publicidad de búsqueda donada y otras herramientas a organizaciones sin fines de lucro como GLAAD y The Trevor Project, ayudando a difundir su trabajo fundamental y a cultivar el apoyo para las comunidades LGBTQ+.

También continuamos nuestro trabajo para hacer que nuestros productos sean más inclusivos y útiles para todos, incluida la comunidad LGBTQ+. Escuchamos directamente de los miembros de la comunidad transgénero que la forma en que Google Photos estaba recordando los momentosdel pasadodoloroso. Así que el año pasado trabajamos con GLAAD y con la comunidad trans y aprendimos cómo podíamos hacer para que recordar con Google Photos fuera más inclusivo. Este esfuerzo llevó al lanzamiento de nuevos controles que permiten a los usuarios ocultar fotos de ciertos períodos de tiempo o personas de la función Recuerdos de Google Photos.

Nuestros productos continúan ayudando a los propietarios de pequeñas empresas a conectarse con la comunidad LGBTQ+. Como la función de Google Maps que ayuda a los comerciantes a mostrar su compromiso mediante el uso de los atributos "LGBTQ+ friendly" y "Transgender safespace" y nuestros productos de Google Ads que ayudan a las empresas a conectarse con usuarios que buscan productos fabricados por empresas que coincidan con sus valores.

Mientras nuestra comunidad sigue siendo atacada tanto aquí en los EE. UU. como en el extranjero, lo que me da esperanza es el trabajo que hacemos en todos nuestros productos para ayudar a la comunidad LGBTQ+ a encontrar lugares donde puedan sentirse aceptados y seguros. Encontré Stonewall Inn y encontré a mi esposa. Muchos otros establecimientos, como el Stonewall Inn, juegan un papel vital para muchos en nuestra comunidad. Son más que simples lugares donde socializamos y nos reunimos, brindan un sentido de comunidad, pertenencia y seguridad que salva vidas y que todos merecen.

by Adrienne Hayes via The Keyword

Driving growth in the Middle East

The Nest is an online store that offers curated handcrafts from Egypt, from home accessories to fashion and furniture. When the pandemic started, founders Dina and Omar had to close their physical showroom, which used to drive 90% of their sales. They listed their business details on Google Maps and Search, promoted their products online and revamped their website which, in less than a year, became their main source of revenue.

According to a new report published by Public First research agency and commissioned by Google, our products and tools in the UAE, Egypt and Saudi Arabia helped businesses to adapt during the pandemic and helped people sharpen their skills and find jobs.

The report shows 45% of people in Egypt last year used Google Maps to find a local business and 52% of businesses in Saudi Arabia reported an increased proportion of their customers coming from online search or search advertising.

Since opening our first office in the Middle East and North Africa 13 years ago, Google has been actively supporting local businesses and developers, YouTube content creators, and publishers. Public First estimates that last year Google products like Search, YouTube, Android and Google Ads drove 12.2 billion SAR [3.2 billion USD] to the Saudi economy, 11.3 billion AED [3 billion USD] to the UAE economy and 11.2 billion EGP [600 million USD] to Egypt's economy.

Growing developers and creators

Manal, DIY content creator on YouTube in Saudi Arabia. Photo credit: Manal’s YouTube page

Manal, from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, has a passion for DIY in fashion and home improvement. She started her YouTube channel to share her knowledge in upcycling dresses and scarves to make trousers, and repainting her room for Ramadan. Manal’s work has inspired others, and her community often share their own versions of her designs and ask for DIY tips. When she built her channel during the pandemic, her subscribers grew by over 300%. Manal is one of many talented creators in Saudi Arabia growing their business on YouTube. In fact, the percentage of YouTube channels in Saudi Arabia making six figures or more in revenue is up more than 20% year over year. That's a sign of steady growth in Saudi Arabia’s YouTube creator community.

Badr Ward, founder of Lamsa World, an Arabic educational platform in the UAE. Photo credit: Hub71

Lamsa World is an educational platform in Arabic for children. It has interactive courses in math, science, language, arts and more. Badr Ward, the Dubai-based founder, wanted to help his children watch more educational content in Arabic, which was sparse and not always engaging. Badr and his team took part in the Google Accelerator Program in Dubai last year and, with the help of mentors, tested different sign-up options and experimented with different content formats. This led to a significant increase in the website's sign-up rates and a 300% increase in Arabic content downloads.

Unlocking skills and jobs

Since its launch in 2018, Maharat min Google, Google's digital skills program in Arabic, has trained 1.5 million people in the Middle East and North Africa. And in October 2020, Google announced a $13 million USD fund for digital tools, training programs, mentorship and financial grants to support businesses and job seekers in the Middle East and North Africa during the pandemic. Following Google's mentorship program with Mercy Corps, 50% of trainees said that they found a job, accelerated their career or grew their business by hiring new staff or increasing revenue.

Google Search also played a big role in helping people in the region access information and skills last year. For example, 85% of people in the UAE said they used Search to learn a new skill.

People looked for jobs too. Every month, around 11 million women in Egypt go to Search to look for a job. In Saudi Arabia, 1.8 million people use Search to prepare for a job interview. According to the World Economic Forum, many women are contributing to the innovation coming out of the Middle East and North Africa, yet this region continues to have one of the lowest levels of female economic involvement globally.

Public First estimates there are already 85,000 Android-based developer jobs in Egypt and 50,000 in the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, the total number of developers making USD 10,000 per month on Google Play grew by 16% last year.

We are proud that people in the Middle East and North Africa are able to unlock opportunities for themselves with the help of Google products and tools. The region is young, smart and digital, and Google is committed to doing more to help entrepreneurs, local business owners, developers and content creators get the skills they need to build and grow their digital businesses.

If you want to understand more about Google's impact in the Middle East and North Africa, and the methodology behind the report, visit the links below:

• UAE: googlemena.publicfirst.co/uae
• Saudi Arabia: googlemena.publicfirst.co/saudiarabia
• Egypt: googlemena.publicfirst.co/egypt

by Anthony Nakache via The Keyword

Look closer and take better notes with your Chromebook

With the latest update to your Chromebook, we’re introducing a note-taking app, features that improve screen magnification and more. Whether you’re using your laptop for work or fun, these handy features will help you get things done your way.

Take better notes with Cursive

Say goodbye to taking notes with pen and paper. Last year, we launched Cursive on select devices and now we’re excited to roll it out to all Chromebooks that work with a stylus.

The Cursive app makes it easy to capture, edit and organize handwritten notes on your Chromebook. Beyond just handwriting, you can also sketch out drawings, or paste images within your notes. And you can keep related content together by sorting notes into custom notebooks for different projects. When it's time to share your idea with others, you can quickly copy and paste it into another app or send a PDF.

If you write a sentence that fits better on a different part of the page, that’s not a problem – easily move it by circling the content on the page and dragging it to wherever you like. Didn’t quite perfect your drawing the first time? Erase it by scribbling over it with your stylus. And if you need to add more notes to the top of the page, just draw a horizontal line and drag your content down to free up more space. Try doing that with a pen and piece of paper!

In the coming months we’ll also introduce features for more personalization, like more easily changing the thickness, style and color of the stylus stroke.

Cursive will be preinstalled on all eligible Chromebooks – just tap the Everything Button and search for the app – or you can download it by going to cursive.apps.chrome and tap “install” in the toolbar. Check out this list of most stylus-enabled Chromebooks and see if you can try out Cursive.

The Cursive app makes taking and editing notes easy.

Improvements to magnification and panning

We zoomed in on your feedback and are rolling out magnification customization on Chromebooks. Currently, the docked magnifier feature creates a split screen: the bottom half is your standard screen, and the top half is the zoomed in version of your screen. This is especially helpful if you have a vision impairment and want to zoom in on just part of your screen.

With our new update, you can control the size of the magnified portion of the screen. You can make it larger if you want to see more zoomed in content, or smaller if you want to see more of the standard screen. You can adapt it to fit your preferences, or adjust based on the content you’re looking at.

Now you can resize the docked the magnifier so you can see just the part you want.

Recently, we also made updates to the panning experience. With continuous panning, when you move your cursor the rest of the screen will follow it. And if it’s more convenient, you can also use your keyboard to control panning by pressing ctrl + alt + arrow keys.

Alerts for USB-C cables with limited functionality

We’ve all been there before. You try to use a spare USB-C cable to connect a docking station or monitor to your laptop and it just doesn’t seem to work. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you have a faulty cable. Many USB-C cables look identical, but function differently.

Now you can get your extra monitor up and running with less headache. Eligible Chromebooks will notify you if the USB-C cable you're using won’t support displays, or isn’t performing ideally for your laptop. You’ll also get a notification if the cable you’re using doesn’t support the high performance USB4/Thunderbolt 3 standards that your Chromebook does.

To kick things off, this feature is available on Chromebooks with 11th or 12th generation Intel Core CPUs with USB4 or Thunderbolt capability, with more devices to come. You can learn more about the best cables to use with your device in the support center.

You’ll now get a notification if the USB-C cable you’re using doesn’t support your displays.

We hope you like using these new features as much as we do. We’ll be back soon with more updates.

by Alexander Kuscher via The Keyword

Supporting our Asian community organizations

Growing up, I spent my grade school years in a community where my family and I — along with a Korean family and Filipino family — were the only Asians. While I had a great childhood, the realities of racism were always there — and to press on, I believed I had to work hard, keep my head down and stay in the background.

Now as VP of Audit in Google’s Finance team and one of the executive sponsors for the Asian Googler Network employee resource group, I’ve learned how important it is to have safe, supportive spaces that can remind the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) community of the power of our voice. I get to use my own voice to connect API-owned or focused organizations with the incredible resources Google has to offer.

Last year, Google announced our efforts to help #StopAsianHate by supporting organizations leading the charge in creating safe and inclusive spaces for the API community. And today, we're continuing our commitments to support API-focused organizations with an additional $3.25 million in cash and in-kind contributions to help fight for safety, dignity and equity for the API community.

As a part of this recommitment, Google will donate Search advertising to Right To Be, Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies and Council of Korean Americans. These in-kind contributions will help these and other API organizations raise funds, share resources with community members and cultivate new allies and supporters. Google.org will also continue its funding of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJC) to help them as they advance civil and human rights for Asian Americans.

But giving is only a small part of the equation for real impact. I sat down with Emily May, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Right To Be, to learn more about all the work they’re leading to advance a more fair and equitable society and how partnership with companies like Google help them make lasting change in the world.

Read Article

Asian community and culture in focus

Asian Pacific American Heritage Month — and all year long — is a chance to celebrate and support the Asian community.

Read Article

A spotlight on Right To Be: taking action, together

Right to Beis focused on building a world free of harassment, for all communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, you expanded your training program to include addressing anti-Asian hate and xenophobia. Tell us about how this got started.

In March 2020 when the pandemic started, we quickly saw a significant rise in hate against the API community. We reached out to AAJC, and together asked, “what can we do to help?” We created and launched a 1-hour Bystander Intervention training in April 2020. Although we weren’t sure what the response would be, the demand kept growing and our sessions were always full. In our two-year partnership with AAJC, we’ve trained 200,000 people!

That’s incredible! What did you find most surprising or challenging in developing this training?

Understanding history was one of the most important things we did, and this is where AAJC was incredibly helpful. There’s a common belief that Asian Americans are the model minority, do not face discrimination, and are running Silicon Valley. But Asian Americans have been consistently sidelined, especially through policy. Anti-Asian hate did not suddenly appear because of the pandemic; this is just the latest chapter in a long history.

And how do you build awareness of this training and your organization?

Word-of-mouth promotion is definitely a key channel for us. But having advertising funds like Google Ad Grants is just as important, because when you are dependent on word-of-mouth, you are also dependent on people who are connected through similar ideologies and communities. When you are trying to change the world, however, you need people from different spaces and communities to get involved and spread the word through their networks.

I have two young daughters and so much of our conversation today are topics I didn’t expect I’d be having with them at a young age. A lot of what we discuss is reflective of the Bystander Intervention’s trainings core principles, the 5Ds: Distract, Delegate, Document, Delay, and Direct. For those who haven’t taken the training yet, can you tell us about the 5Ds?

My vision is that the 5Ds become the “stop, drop, and roll'' for this generation. My hope is that the 200,000 people who have taken our training addressing anti-Asian hate will now feel empowered to say, “That’s not okay; I’m going to distract; or I’m going to delegate.” using these core principles. If folks want to learn more, we share more about this in our free training and our new book that complements the training.

Right To Be’s 5D’s, the core principles to its bystander training program

Finally, what is one piece of advice that you’d like to give someone who wants to be an ally and help marginalized groups?

Listen. Don’t commit to an outcome or your vision on how you think things should be. Let those who are most impacted take the lead, make the space for them to do that, and learn from them.

by Lisa Lee via The Keyword

How Google helped me live the dream at the Winter Games

For me, Google has become more than a great place to work. It’s become a place where I can continue to live out my passions — more specifically, my dream to get involved at the recent Beijing Winter Games.

In 2018, I got to work with a broadcasting company at the PyeongChang 2018 Games. But when I accepted an offer from Google Korea and moved from the U.S. to Seoul, I thought that dream was over. But I was wrong. Earlier this year I received the opportunity from the same company I worked for in 2018, to be part of the Beijing Winter Games.

It takes a team to dream

I was ecstatic and over the moon when they extended the opportunity for me to join their logistics team. But I didn’t know if it would be possible to say yes, given my current role and responsibilities at Google. After much thought and consideration (and a lot of encouragement from close peers), I presented the opportunity to my manager, who expressed unconditional support without hesitation. And before I even reached out for help, my colleagues were quick to offer their support to cover my duties while I was out.

I met many people in Beijing who wondered how I could get so much time off from work to be there. I never missed the chance to tell them about my amazing support team at Google that helped make it happen.

One team, one dream

Managing the logistics for the Winter Games during a pandemic is no easy feat. Every day was chaotic — change was a true constant — and there was certainly no shortage of rules and restrictions related to health and safety.

At the Games, I learned about the power of unity, and the amazing outcome that results when a team truly operates as one. The logistics team I worked with consisted of people from all over the world, in different life stages and with varying backgrounds, and every person had a different reason or motivation for being there. Moreover, our team had to work cross-functionally around the clock with many other teams.

If we all operated according to our own needs and desires, it would have been a logistical disaster and an emotional mess. But we instead put our team’s goals first in everything that we did. Despite all of the complexities, especially during the pandemic, and on top of any personal differences, we accomplished our goal as one team.

Quite frequently throughout the Beijing Winter Games everyone would say, “one team, one dream.” It really is incredible, the things that can happen when you put not yourself but the team first.

Google took a big chance by letting me take this opportunity to go to Beijing, and my experience there was something I will never forget. I’ve come back refreshed and rejuvenated, and with a whole new level of gratitude (and skill sets) and a more defined sense of purpose for the work I do here. Sure, the Beijing Winter Games are over, but I can still say that I am living the dream.

by Hannah Jang via The Keyword

Supporting journalists who are taking a stand

How Unni's passion for social impact led him to Google

Welcome to the latest edition of “My Path to Google,” where we talk to Googlers, interns, apprentices and alumni about how they got to Google, what they do in their roles and how they prepared for their interviews.

In celebration of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, today’s post features Unni Nair, a senior research strategist on Google’s Responsible Innovation team. As a second-generation Indian American, Unni’s background has helped shape his passion for sustainability and responsible artificial intelligence (AI).

What’s your role at Google?

I’m a senior research strategist on the Responsible Innovation team. In this role, I use Google’s AI Principles to help our teams build products that are both helpful and socially responsible. More specifically, I’m passionate about how we can proactively incorporate responsible AI into emerging technologies to drive sustainable development priorities. For example, I’ve been working with the Google Earth Engine team to align their work with our AI Principles, which we spoke about in a workshop at Google I/O. I helped the team develop a data set — used by governments, companies and researchers — to efficiently display information related to conservation, biodiversity, agriculture and forest management efforts.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, but I lived in many different parts of the U.S., and often traveled internationally, throughout my childhood. Looking back, I realize how fortunate I was to live in and learn from so many different communities at such a young age. As a child of Indian immigrants, I was exposed to diverse ways of life and various forms of inequity. These experiences gave me a unique perspective on the world, helping me see the potential in every human being and nurturing a sense of duty to uplift others. It took dabbling in fields from social work to philosophy, and making lots of mistakes along the way, to figure out how to turn this passion into impact.

In honor of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, how else has your background influenced your work?

I’m grateful for having roots in the 5,000+ year-old Indian civilization and am constantly reminded of its value working in Silicon Valley. One notable example that’s influenced my professional life is the concept of Ahimsa — the ethical principle of not causing harm to other living things. While its historical definition has been more spiritually related, in modern day practice I’ve found it’s nurtured a respect for nature and a passion for sustainability and human rights in business. This contemporary interpretation of Ahimsa also encourages me to consider the far-reaching impacts — for better or for worse — that technology can have on people, the environment or society at large.

How did you ultimately end up at Google?

I was itching to work on more technology-driven solutions to global sustainability issues. I started to see that many of the world’s challenges are in part driven by macro forces like rapid globalization and technology growth. However, the sustainability field and development sector were slow to adapt from analog problem solving. I wanted to explore unconventional solutions like artificial intelligence, which is why I taught myself the Python programming language and learned more about AI. I started hearing about Google’s AI-first approach to help users and society, with an emphasis on the need to develop that technology responsibly. So I applied to the Responsible Innovation team for the chance to create helpful technology with social benefit in mind.

Any advice for aspiring Googlers?

Google is one of those rare places where the impact you’re making isn’t just on a narrow band of users — it’s on society at large. So, take the time to reflect on what sort of impact you want to make in the world. Knowing your answer to that question will allow you to weave your past experiences into a cohesive narrative during the interview process. And more importantly, it will also serve as your personal guide when making important decisions throughout your career.

by Grace Wu via The Keyword

Celebrating 10 years of Google for Startups in the UK

I remember clearly the palpable sense of excitement at the Google for Startups Campus in London’s ‘Silicon Roundabout’ when I first visited in 2012. My first startup, back in Krakow Poland, had shut down after three years of solid early traction, and I moved to London in pursuit of bigger opportunities, a community and capital to fuel growth. The UK quickly became home, and my London Campus experience was so positive I ended up joining Google six years later.

As we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Google for Startups UK, we’re taking a moment to celebrate the entrepreneurs and teams who have blazed a trail, and looking ahead to ensure we’re helping create the right conditions for future founders.

The industry has grown exponentially since Google for Startups UK launched 10 years ago – this year, we’ve already seen UK tech startups and scaleups cumulatively valued at more than $1 trillion (£794bn); up from $53.6 billion (£46bn), ten years ago.

One area of the UK tech startup community that has flourished in particular is impact tech - defined as . companies founded to help address global challenges like climate change and help transform health, education and financial inclusion. Our new report created in partnership with Tech Nation, A Decade of UK Tech, shows that funding for impact tech startups has soared. In fact, since 2011, funding for impact tech companies addressing UN Sustainable Development Goals has risen 43-fold from just $74 million (£59 million) to $3.5 billion (£2.8 billion).

Graph: Investment into impact tech scaleups (2011-2021)

Source: Tech Nation, Dealroom, 2022

Startups are helping to solve global challenges, like climate change, education, health, food and sanitation, with agility, innovation and determination. And at Google for Startups, we’re proud to be supporting these businesses along the way by connecting founders with the right people, products and practices to help them grow. Because their continued success is vital not just for the UK’s future, but that of the world.

Enduring market barriers and perceptions of high risk can slow private sector investment. But even such challenges create a multitude of new opportunities for tech startups to leverage the UK's position as a financial services powerhouse. Elizabeth Nyeko
Founder of Modularity Grid - A deep tech startup

Google for Startups was launched in the UK with a mission to support a thriving, diverse and inclusive startup community. Here’s where we are a decade later:

• Startups in our community have created more than 24,000 jobs
• Startups in our network have raised £358 million
• We supported 20 UK-based Black-led startups with the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund in Europe. Last year's European cohort went on to raise £64 million in subsequent funding and increase their headcount by 21%

Our work at Google for Startups is far from over. We’re committed to levelling the playing field for all founders, and closing the disproportionate gap in access to capital and support networks for underrepresented communities. For the impact tech sector to continue to grow and succeed, we must ensure funding is channeled towards the most innovative startups - no matter their valuation, funding stage or background.

Find out more at Google for Startups.

by Marta Krupinska via The Keyword

Display & Video 360 brings Google audiences to connected TVs

Building the future of marketing together

An accelerator for early-stage Latino founders

After 10 years of working with early-stage founders at Google for Startups, I’ve seen time and time again how access activates potential. Access to capital is the fuel that makes startups go, access to community keeps them running, and access to mentorship helps them navigate the road to success.

But access to the resources needed to grow one's business are still not evenly distributed. Despite being the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S., only 3% of Latino-owned companies ever reach $1 million in revenue. As part of our commitment to support the Latino founder community, today we're announcing a new partnership with Visible Hands, a Boston-based venture capital firm dedicated to investing in the potential of underrepresented founders.

During last year’s Google for Startups Founders Academy, I met Luis Suarez, a founder and fellow Chicagoan whose startup, Sanarai, addresses the massive gap in Spanish- speaking mental health providers in the U.S. Sanarai connects Latinos to therapists in Latin American countries for virtual sessions in their native language. When I asked Luis about the most helpful programs he had participated in, he highly recommended Visible Hands. The program gave Luis the opportunity to work alongside a community of diverse founders to grow his startup and have also helped him craft his early fundraising strategy. Visible Hands also supplies stipends to their participants, helping founders who might otherwise not be able to take the leap into full-time entrepreneurship.

Inspired by feedback from founders like Luis, Google for Startups is partnering with Visible Hands to run a 20-week fellowship program, VHLX, to better support the next wave of early-stage Latino founders across the U.S. and to create greater economic opportunity for the Latino community. In addition to hands-on support from Google and industry experts, we are providing $10,000 in cash for every VHLX participant to help kickstart their ideas. Following the program, founders will have the opportunity to receive additionaladditional investment from Visible Hands, up to $150,000.

Our work with Visible Hands and our recent partnership with eMerge Americas is part of a$7 million commitment to increase representation and support of the Latino startup community. I’m also looking forward to the Google for Startups Latino Leaders Summit in Miami this June, where in partnership with Inicio Ventures we’re bringing together around 30 top community leaders and investors from across the country to discuss how we can collectively support Latino founders in ways that will truly make a difference. And soon, we'll share the recipients Google for Startups Latino Founders Fund.

If you or someone you know would be a great fit for VHLX, encourage them to apply by June 24.

by Kaili Emmrich via The Keyword

Street View turns 15 with a new camera and fresh features

Fifteen years ago, Street View began as a far-fetched idea from Google co-founder Larry Page to build a 360-degree map of the entire world. Fast forward to today: There are now over 220 billion Street View images from over 100 countries and territories — a new milestone — allowing people to fully experience what it’s like to be in these places right from their phone or computer. And Street View doesn't just help you virtually explore, it’s also critical to our mapping efforts — letting you see the most up-to-date information about the world, while laying the foundation for a more immersive, intuitive map.

While that’s all worth celebrating, we aren’t stopping there. Today, we’re unveiling Street View’s newest camera, giving you more ways to explore historical imagery, and taking a closer look at how Street View is powering the future of Google Maps.

Bringing Street View to more places with our newest camera

From the back of a camel in the Arabian desert to a snowmobile zipping through the Arctic, we’ve gotten creative with the ways we’ve used Street View cameras to capture imagery. And if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s that our world changes at lightning speed. Our hardware is one way we’re able to keep up with the pace.

In addition to our Street View car and trekker, we’re piloting a new camera that will fully roll out next year to help us collect high-quality images in more places. This new camera takes all the power, resolution and processing capabilities that we’ve built into an entire Street View car, and shrinks it down into an ultra-transportable camera system that’s roughly the size of a house cat. But unlike house cats, it’s ready to be taken to remote islands, up to the tops of mountains or on a stroll through your local town square.

Here’s a quick look at our new camera system:

• It weighs less than 15 pounds. This means it can be shipped anywhere. This is especially handy when we work with partners around the world to capture imagery of traditionally under-mapped areas — like the Amazon jungle.
• It’s extremely customizable. Previously, we needed to create an entirely new camera system whenever we wanted to collect different types of imagery. But now, we can add on to this modular camera with components like lidar — laser scanners — to collect imagery with even more helpful details, like lane markings or potholes. We can add these features when we need them, and remove them when we don’t.
• It can fit on any car. Our new camera can be attached to any vehicle with a roof rack and operated right from a mobile device — no need for a specialized car or complex processing equipment. This flexibility will make collections easier for partners all over the world, and allow us to explore more sustainable solutions for our current fleet of cars — like plug-in hybrids or fully electric vehicles. You’ll start seeing our new camera in fun Google colors alongside our iconic Street View cars and trekkers next year.

Traveling back in time with Street View 🕰️

Street View is all about capturing the world as it changes, and it’s also a powerful way to reminisce about the past. Starting today on Android and iOS globally, it’s now easier than ever to travel back in time right from your phone. Here’s how it works:

When you’re viewing Street View imagery of a place, tap anywhere on the photo to see information about the location. Then tap "See more dates" to see the historical imagery we’ve published of that place, dating back to when Street View launched in 2007. Browse each of the images to see a digital time capsule that shows how a place has changed — like how the Vessel in New York City’s Hudson Yards grew from the ground up.

Building a more helpful, immersive map 🗺️

Street View is also an essential part of how we map the world. Here’s a look at how imagery helps us do that:

• Updates to business information that reflect your changing world. We use Street View imagery coupled with AI to make helpful updates to Google Maps — such as adding newly opened businesses, surfacing new hours at your favorite restaurants and updating speed limit information. In fact, over the last three years, AI has helped us make over 25 billion updates to Maps so you can be confident that the information you’re seeing is as fresh and up-to-date as possible.
• Easier than ever navigation, indoors and out. Street View imagery powers popular features like Live View, which allows you to use your phone’s camera to overlay navigation instructions on top of the real world so you can walk to your destination in a snap.
• Immersive view helps you know before you go. Thanks to advances in computer vision and AI over the last several years, we’re able to fuse together billions of Street View and aerial images to create a rich, digital model of places around the world. With our new immersive view launching later this year, you can easily glide down to street level on Maps and even check out the inside of a business as if you were walking around.

In celebration of Street View’s birthday, you’ll have the opportunity to make your navigation icon a celebratory Street View car – just tap the chevron when you’re in driving navigation. And on desktop, our beloved Pegman – who you can pick up and drop anywhere in Maps to see Street View – will be dressed up in a birthday hat and balloons for the celebration.

To keep the celebration going, check out our newest collections of places like The Pyramids of Meroë in Sudan and Les Invalides in France, popular spots to explore with Street View and some of our all-time favorite Street View images to date. Oh the places you’ll go! 🎈

by Ethan Russell via The Keyword

Helping Ukrainian teachers keep teaching

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is a tragedy, not just for now but for generations to come. As the international community response evolves, we’ve continued to look for ways to help, whether by supporting the humanitarian effort, providing timely, trusted information and promoting cybersecurity.

With millions of people forced to leave their homes, and thousands of schools affected by bombings and shelling, the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science predict more than 3.7 million students are learning remotely.

Providing Chromebooks to schools

For Ukraine’s teachers, creating and delivering content to their students has become increasingly difficult with the move to distance learning. To help teachers keep teaching, Google is working with the Ukrainian Ministry of Education and Science, UNESCO, and partners from around the world to provide hardware, software, content and training.

To help education continue for both remaining and displaced students, Google is giving 43,000 Chromebooks to Ukrainian teachers - helping them to connect with their students, wherever they are now based.

To ensure those devices make the best possible impact, Google is partnering with local organisations to train around 50,000 teachers - and providing our Chrome Enterprise upgrade so that schools can set-up and manage devices remotely. Through a series of workshops and online material, educators will learn how to get the best use out of their devices, and the suite of Google Workspace for Education tools we’re providing.

Google for Education will also continue to update resources such as Teach From Anywhere, a central hub of information, tips, training and tools, that was developed during the pandemic.

In the coming weeks, we’re expanding youtube.com/learning to include the Ukrainian language so that Ukrainian students aged 13-17 can discover content that supports their curriculum - wherever they are. This will include a range of subjects, aligned to the national curriculum, from Ukrainian Literature and Language studies, to Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, and more.

Supporting universities and their students

Of course, university students have been impacted by the war in Ukraine too - with many now unable to attend their classes in person or in real-time. To help support them to continue their education, we have made several of our premium Google Workspace for Education features available to Ukrainian universities free of cost until the end of the year. That will allow universities to host larger meetings for up to 250 participants, as well as to record them directly in Drive.

Continuing to help Ukrainian refugees and students

Google will continue to search for ways it can partner with Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science, and those of bordering countries, to help those impacted by the war in Ukraine - including supporting the millions of school-age refugees to access education in this difficult and trying time.

by Matt BrittinGoogle Europe, Middle East and Africa via The Keyword

HBD to us! Let’s celebrate with Street View adventures

Street View is turning 15, and the birthday nostalgia is hitting us hard.

In 2007, we published our first Street View images of San Francisco, New York, Las Vegas, Miami and Denver. Since then, Street View cars equipped with cameras have captured and shared more than 220 billion Street View images and traveled over 10 million miles — the equivalent of circling the globe more than 400 times! We’ve also captured Street View imagery inside cultural landmarks, high up in space and deep under the ocean.

To celebrate Street View’s 15th birthday, we’re sharing 15 amazing Street View collections — including three places the world’s been loving lately, four new collections (consider this our party favor to you), and Street View images that make us feel some kind of way. So raise your glasses — er, cursors — and let's cheers to exploring the world together.

Where you’ve been exploring and new places to go

With so many places and landmarks at your fingertips, three spots in particular piqued your interest over the past year. Here are the three most popular places to explore on Street View: all 154 floors of the Burj Khalifa in the United Arab Emirates, which was named the world’s tallest building; the iconic Eiffel Tower in France, complete with dazzling views of Paris from the top; and our special collection of imagery from the Taj Mahal in India.

• Street View imagery from the top window of Burj Khalifa overlooking the city of Dubai.

  Burj Khalifa (United Arab Emirates): Named the world’s tallest building, you can use Street View to explore from the ground level up to the 154th floor!

• A Street View image gazing up at the Eiffel Tower from ground level.

  Eiffel Tower (France): If you haven’t had the chance to visit the Eiffel Tower or are just missing the views, Street View lets you gaze up at the Iron Lady or catch a glimpse of Paris from the top.

• A Street View image of the Taj Mahal with people standing in front of it.

  Taj Mahal (India): While Street View has yet to launch in India, you can still explore a special collection of imagery from the Taj Mahal.

And for your next Street View excursions, we’ve started rolling out four new collections that we think will become all-time favorites.

The Pyramids of Meroë in Sudan: Thanks to new panoramic imagery, explore the ancient pyramids that are home to tombs of the kings and queens of the Kushite Kingdom.

The Duomo in Milan: The Duomo is the largest cathedral in Italy and the third-largest cathedral in Europe. Not to mention, it boasts one of the best views of Milan. We’ve been working with Google Arts & Culture and the Duomo of Milan since 2019 to bring imagery from inside the Duomo to Street View so that everyone can get a behind-the-scenes look at this architectural and cultural gem — and it’s now live!

Les Invalides in Paris: Before the Eiffel Tower, Les Invalides’ golden dome was the highest point in Paris. New images of the historic Hôtel des Invalides buildings let you explore its museums and monuments. Learn more about French military history viaa virtual tour.

Sydney Ferries in Australia: The iconic Sydney Ferries will soon be digitally preserved as a result of our work with Transport for New South Wales and Transdev. Later this year, we’ll bring this collection onto Street View so that people around the world can take a virtual tour of Sydney Ferries and get a glimpse of the journey along Sydney’s stunning harbor.

8 Street View images we love

With endless places to explore, it’s difficult to pick favorites — really, you should have seen the list we narrowed this down from — but we gave it our best shot. Here are eight Street View images we love.

Does the thought of visiting an active volcano scare you? Us too! A New Zealand-based Googler took a trekker into the active Ambrym Volcano Marum Crater in Vanuatu so you don’t have to.

Monemvasia is a Greek town that’s name is derived from two Greek words meaning “single entry.” Fittingly, there is only one way into this rock fortress. Explore the town on Street View without the headache of getting there.

The Wieliczka Salt Mine in Poland is a UNESCO site with a chamber where all decorative elements are made of salt.

Calling all scary movie buffs! Can you guess which 1998 horror film this active volcano in Japan served as a backdrop for? (Hint: the title rhymes with “The Wing.”)

Does Petra, Jordan look familiar? How about here? The filming location has made cameos in a number of movies, including “Aladdin,” “The Mummy Returns,” “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.”

Thanks to a collaboration with NASA, Street Viewers can get a taste of what it’s like to be an astronaut. Ditch the gravity and float through the International Space Station.

Dive into the Pacific Ocean and swim with sea lions off the shore of the Galapagos Islands.

And if there’s one Street View image that lives in our heads rent free… it's this horse eating a banana on the side of the road in Canada.

We’re proud of the work we’ve done to capture so much of the world’s wonder, history and quirkiness in Street View. But we’d be remiss if we didn’t give a shout out to all of the Maps users around the world who have captured and shared their own Street View imagery. To help make exploring the world together even easier, we’re launching Street View Studio — a new platform with all the tools you need to publish 360 image sequences quickly and in bulk. Check out more ways we’re advancing Street View so we can explore together for another 15 years.

by Pegman via The Keyword

Google and news in the UK: The facts

Recent events have reminded us of the role that journalists play in helping us understand important topics as they unfold. The UK has a long history of great journalism, which has enriched our society, economy and democracy.

When people use Google Search to look for information about what’s happening in the world around them, they want links to reliable news sources. Likewise, publishers want to reach and inform more readers, helping everyone make sense of events. This has real benefits for publishers. In fact, the overall value of web traffic is estimated to be worth more than £500 million a year to news publishers in the UK.

Beyond this simple value proposition, we invest heavily in news – making us one of the UK's biggest financial supporters of journalism. For instance, at the beginning of last year, we brought Google News Showcase to the UK, which licenses content from more than 200 UK news publications.

Sharing some facts about how we work with UK publishers

Publishers choose if and how links to their articles appear on Google

Like other types of web pages that appear on Google Search, we provide links to news content. News publishers remain in full control over whether or not links to their web pages are included in Search and how much of a preview of their articles we show. Most decide to be included because it helps readers find their stories. Each month, people click through from Google Search and Google News results to publishers' websites more than 24 billion times around the world. This traffic helps publishers increase their readership, build trust with readers and earn money through advertising and subscriptions.

Google does not make significant revenue from news-related searches

In 2020, news-related queries accounted for under 2% percent of total queries on Google Search in the UK. And we don’t run ads on Google News or the news results tab on Google Search. Nearly all of the ads people see on Google are on searches with commercial intent like “toasters,” or “electrician,” rather than from news-seeking queries.

Publishers that use our ad products keep the vast majority of the revenues

Many of the top news companies around the world use Google Ad Manager to manage their digital advertising business and on average they keep over 95% of the digital advertising revenue generated on their sites with this tool. Between 2018 and 2020, we paid out over £245m to the top five UK news publisher partners alone in our ad network.

Google invests in products and programmes to help publishers make money online

Almost half of the overall decline of newspaper revenue has come from the loss of newspaper classifieds to specialist online players like Rightmove or Motors.co.uk. Yet innovative publishers are evolving, turning to new ways for distribution, analytics, advertising and subscriptions and the majority of publishers are optimistic about the growth of digital revenues. Google is providing support through products, programmes and funding, like investing £18m in training, partnerships and programming with news organisations in the UK.

We support new rules

Beyond our existing support for journalism, we have been engaging closely with the UK government and regulatory authorities over many months as they consider how to ensure a strong future for news and enable innovation. We support thoughtful regulation.

Addressing speculation on the value we gain from links to news

A few days ago, we saw new speculation about the value Google gains by providing links to news publishers on Google Search. However, this latest paper chose not to include any mention of the vast value that news publishers gain from reaching readers through our platform – leaving out half of the story.

Even setting this aside, the paper essentially alleges that links to news content are of vital importance to Google, and that their loss would have devastating consequences. In the framework of the paper (which is something of a black box), it is claimed that the quality contributed by these links enables Google to carry something like half of its ads. This is not just wholly implausible – it also flies in the face of the facts. In reality, Google does not make significant revenue from news-related searches. As we said earlier, in 2020, news-related queries accounted for under 2% percent of total queries on Google Search in the UK and we don’t show ads on the vast majority of searches.

The paper also features some fanciful estimations on the value of the “data” derived from the integration of links to news results in Search for Google’s revenues from YouTube and its ad tech products. Yet its calculation relies on something else – the impact on publisher revenues from the removal of third party cookies on non-Google sites. Confused? So are we.

Ultimately, both publishers and readers gain real value from the presence of links to news sources on Google Search. We must all work together to ensure that people have access to authoritative information online and we will continue to work with the government, publishers, journalists and readers on public policies that further strengthen journalism.

by Ronan Harris via The Keyword