Firms In New Zealand To Pull Advertisements From Facebook, Google

collective of some of New Zealand's biggest companies is set to pull ads from Facebook and Google in the wake of the March 15 Christchurch mosques shootings in which the gunman live-streamed his massacre of 50 people.

Using a GoPro camera, the gunman broadcast extremely graphic footage of him shooting people at the Al Noor Mosque via Facebook Live. The livestream was available to watch on social media for hours after the attack.

Besides being livestreamed on Facebook, the video, lasting 17 minutes, was shared repeatedly on YouTube and Twitter, before being removed by the social media giant.

The New Zealand Herald said on Monday that the collective, including ASB Bank, Lotto NZ, Burger King, Spark, has come together to take a stand against the harm caused by unmoderated content on the Internet.

At this stage, it is still unclear how extensive the pull-back will be or for how long the companies are likely to pull their digital ads.


Other brands have also acted independently, The New Zealand Herald reported.

Kiwibank suspended all digital advertising on March 15 shortly after the carnage took place at the Al Noor mosque and the Linwood Avenue Masjid that also left over 40 others injured.

On Sunday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said that she intended to ask Facebook how the gunman was able to livestream the massacre.

Facebook has on its part said that as many as 1.5 million videos of the attack were removed from its platform in the first 24 hours.

This is not the first time New Zealand companies have pulled ads from these platforms.

Earlier this month, telecom company Spark pulled all its advertising from YouTube over concerns about paedophilic content.

Spark's move was part of an international response, which also saw Disney and Nestle pull ads from the site.

US Senator Proposes Breaking Up Amazon, Facebook, Google

Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren pledged on Friday to take aim at Amazon, Facebook and Google if she is elected president in 2020, breaking apart each of the big tech companies and introducing sweeping new regulation of Silicon Valley.

The proposal marks the most ambitious and aggressive effort targeting the tech industry offered by any Democratic contender for the White House, and it could put pressure on other presidential aspirants to offer similar plans for more aggressive tech oversight.

To restore the balance of power in our democracy, to promote competition, and to ensure that the next generation of technology innovation is as vibrant as the last, it's time to break up our biggest tech companies," Warren said.

Warren's proposal has two key elements. First, the Democratic lawmaker said her administration would appoint "regulators committed to reversing illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers," including Amazon's purchase of Whole Foods, Facebook's tie-up with WhatsApp and Instagram and Google's ownership of Waze, Nest and DoubleClick.

Second, Warren said she would push legislation that would label key services - such as Amazon's marketplace for goods and Google search - as "platform utilities," which would have to be spun off from those tech giants' business on those platforms.

Her plan primarily targets only those companies with annual revenue over $90 billion, and it would embolden federal and state regulators to issue steep fines and other penalties that harm competition or consumers. Even web users could sue Amazon, Facebook and Google if they violated Warren's proposed federal rules.

Warren's blueprint - detailed in a Medium post - comes as she prepares to speak to supporters in Long Island City, New York, where Amazon initially sought to construct one of two new headquarters. The company ultimately withdrew from the city amid staunch local opposition and fierce criticism from national figures, like Warren, who felt Amazon had received "taxpayer bribes" from New York.

"We must ensure that today's tech giants do not crowd out potential competitors, smother the next generation of great tech companies, and wield so much power that they can undermine our democracy," Warren said Friday

Amazon, Facebook and Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

New tech news .26 09 2018.Changed on Google web search results: Sundar

Google head office chief Sunder begging has reported that the website will bring changes in search results for political reasons. This information was published by the US-based news and information web site Axios on Friday 21.09.2018.



According to The Wall Street Journal, the American news magazine has reported that Google employees have been discussing the possibility of a change in search techniques. The magazine reports that it has been known through their inter-e-mail transactions. In 2017, US President Trump issued a mandate to prevent travelers from certain countries to visit the United States in consideration of US security. Google was behind this and it was thought to have taken such steps.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Google was not seriously concerned about the change in search results.



Axios website reported that Google's company chief executive Sunder Bhik was informed by Google that the company was attempting to make some changes in Internet searches for political reasons in an e-mail sent to his employees.

"We are not going to leave our goal of consolidating information around the world and creating a suitable environment for everyone to take advantage of it. Akciyas news agency reported that Sundar begging through e-mails was "not true in the news that we are going to compromise on web search results for political reasons