google17 articles
Meta's Apps Hoover Up Three Times More User Data Than Apple's, Study Claims
A study by VPN provider Surfshark found that Meta's apps are the most data-hungry among major tech companies, collecting an average of 25 out of 35 possible data types, compared to just seven or eight for Apple and Microsoft apps. Google was also a significant offender, accounting for 29 of the 40 most data-collecting apps examined. The research, based on developer-submitted privacy disclosures in Apple's App Store rather than independent observation, analysed 171 iOS apps across Meta, Google, Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon.
Google Ditches the Industry Naming Pact and Builds Its Own Threat Actor Taxonomy
Google has launched its own two-word naming taxonomy for cybercrime groups, following its merger of Mandiant into the Google Threat Intelligence Group, assigning category terms such as CASTLE (China), RELIC (Russia), and COMET (non-state actors) as the second word. The move appears to contradict earlier reports that Google and Mandiant were open to joining a Microsoft and CrowdStrike-led industry initiative to standardise threat actor naming, which aimed to reduce the confusion caused by the same groups carrying up to ten different names across vendors. Google claims its system is intentionally simple to allow easy mapping to other taxonomies, though critics may see it as yet another competing schema adding to the existing fragmentation.
SerpApi Tells Google and Reddit to Get Off the Internet's Lawn
Google and Reddit have been using the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) to sue web scraping company SerpApi, arguing it illegally circumvents their anti-scraping technology to sell access to search results data. However, a court recently dismissed most of Google's lawsuit, finding Google lacked standing since it doesn't own the content in its search results, and Reddit's similar case faces the same legal obstacle. Legal experts warn that while the lawsuits aim to curb AI scraping, this broader push to restrict public web access could harm not just AI companies but also researchers, journalists, and archivists who depend on open data access.
Google Burned Through More Cash Than It Made Last Quarter. Thanks, AI.
Despite record revenues of $119.8 billion in Q2 2026, Google has reported negative free cash flow for the first time since going public, spending $44.9 billion on AI infrastructure against $39.1 billion in operating cash flow. The company has significantly increased its capital expenditure forecast to as much as $205 billion for 2026, reflecting the massive cost of building AI data centers, which caused its stock to drop around 4.5%. Google's long-term AI position also faces uncertainty, with a delayed flagship Gemini model, reports of falling behind competitors, and a wave of departures among top AI researchers.
EU Forces Google to Open Android and Share Search Data. Google Is Not Pleased.
The European Commission has announced new legally binding measures under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that will require Google to open up Android to competing AI assistants and share search data with rival search providers. On Android, third-party AI platforms must be granted the same deep system access currently enjoyed by Google's Gemini, while on search, Google must share data transparently and for a reasonable fee, with AI chatbots also treated as search services. Google has strongly opposed the rulings, arguing they threaten user privacy and security, but must comply by set deadlines of January 2027 for search data sharing and July 2027 for Android AI integration.
EU tells Google to open up Android and share search data. Google is not pleased.
The EU has issued two specification decisions requiring Google to share search data with competitor search engines and allow third-party AI assistants greater access to Android devices, including voice activation and in-app actions currently reserved for Gemini. Google has pushed back, arguing the rulings threaten user privacy, device security, and data protection, while the European Commission maintains that robust safeguards — including anonymisation, audits, and data-use restrictions — are built into the requirements. Compliance deadlines are set for January and July 2027, though legal challenges make it likely the rules will be tied up in litigation well beyond those dates.
Brussels Tells Google to Share Android's Sensors With Rival AI — Whether It Likes It or Not
The EU has ordered Google, under the Digital Markets Act, to grant rival AI assistants the same access to Android features — including the microphone, camera, screen contents, and wake-word detection — that its own Gemini assistant already enjoys, with compliance required by August 2027. A separate ruling also compels Google to share anonymised Search query and ranking data with rival search engines and AI chatbots at a cost-based fee. Google has objected, arguing the measures threaten device security, but the final rules include tighter safeguards than an April draft following Google's consultation submissions, and the company must now publicly define the certification programme through which rivals will gain access.
CJEU Ruling Punches a Hole in YouTube's Liability Shield
The EU's top court has ruled that Google cannot claim intermediary liability protection for YouTube content it has reviewed as part of commercial partnerships with creators. The case arose from a €750,000 fine imposed by Italy's communications regulator over YouTube videos promoting online gambling, where Google had reviewed the channel's content before entering a revenue-sharing agreement. The ruling means Google may lose its "neutral intermediary" defense for channels where it conducts content reviews tied to commercial deals, though it does not make Google broadly liable for all content on YouTube.
Google and FBI Knock Out NetNut Proxy Network Backed by Millions of Infected Devices
Google, the FBI, and other partners disrupted NetNut (also known as Popa), a residential proxy network comprising over 2 million infected Android devices, including smart TVs and streaming boxes compromised through malicious apps. The network, linked to Israeli firm Alarum Technologies, rented proxy access to cybercriminals and espionage groups, with 316 distinct threat clusters observed using it in a single week. Google's actions included disabling associated accounts, dismantling backend infrastructure, and removing infected apps via Google Play Protect, resulting in a significant reduction in the botnet's available devices.
EU's Highest Court Kills Google's Android Appeal. All €4.1 Billion of It.
Google has lost its final appeal against a landmark EU antitrust fine, and must now pay €4.1 billion ($4.7 billion) for abusing its dominant position by bundling Google Search and Chrome as defaults on Android devices. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeal, leaving Google with no further legal options after the fine was slightly reduced from the original €4.34 billion in 2022. Despite the ruling's conclusion, the EU continues to pursue Big Tech regulation through the Digital Markets Act, with further scrutiny of Google's Android platform already underway.
NotebookLM Gets Gemini 3.5, Antigravity Integration, and Actual File Output
Google's NotebookLM is receiving a major update, upgrading to the Gemini 3.5 Flash model, which delivered a 65% win rate over the older Gemini 3.1 model across key evaluation areas. The update also introduces Antigravity integration, giving NotebookLM a "cloud computer" with over 100 software skills to run code and build workflows, along with the ability to generate a variety of file types such as PDFs, slides, charts, and images. Additionally, NotebookLM can now automatically find and import web sources directly from the chat interface, with the updates rolling out first to AI Ultra subscribers before reaching other users.
SpaceX Is Renting Out Its Nvidia Chips to Google for $920 Million a Month
SpaceX has signed a $920 million per month deal with Google, running from October 2026 to June 2029 and potentially worth around $30 billion in total, granting Google access to approximately 110,000 Nvidia AI chips to support its Gemini Enterprise agent platform. The agreement comes ahead of SpaceX's IPO, where Google — which holds a roughly 5% stake — stands to benefit from a strong debut. SpaceX has also secured a separate $1.25 billion monthly deal with Anthropic, positioning itself as a major AI infrastructure provider by leasing out computing capacity originally built for Musk's own xAI lab.
Google I/O 2026: Quadrillions of Tokens, Billions in Capex, and an Agent That Plans Your Block Party
At Google I/O 2026, CEO Sundar Pichai highlighted the company's massive AI infrastructure growth, noting token processing has surged to 3.2 quadrillion per month, supported by a capital expenditure budget of approximately $180–190 billion for the year. Google announced several new AI products, including Gemini 3.5 Flash (a faster, cheaper frontier model), Gemini Omni (a multimodal model combining video, image, and physics simulation), and Gemini Spark (a 24/7 personal AI agent capable of handling background tasks). The company also expanded its AI watermarking technology SynthID and deepened AI integration across Search, Chrome, and its app ecosystem, signalling an aggressive push toward always-on, agentic AI experiences.
Chrome Vulnerability Numbers Are Skyrocketing. AI Is Almost Certainly Why.
Google has seen a dramatic surge in Chrome vulnerability discoveries, with the number of internally found flaws jumping from a handful in March to 100 in a single advisory published on May 5, likely due to its use of AI tools. While Google has not explicitly confirmed AI is responsible, the timing aligns with its own statements that AI and automation are helping its teams remediate risks "at an unprecedented rate." Google has been developing AI-powered vulnerability discovery tools such as Big Sleep and CodeMender, and is also among a select group of organisations with access to Anthropic's powerful Claude Mythos model.
Google Is Quietly Testing Whether You'll Ever Need the Play Store Again
Google has introduced a feature in AI Studio that allows users to generate simple Android apps directly from text prompts in the browser, potentially reducing demand for basic utility apps on the Play Store. This mirrors the broader "SaaSpocalypse" debate in enterprise software, where AI threatens to replace off-the-shelf tools by enabling users to create their own custom solutions on demand. While Apple restricts this kind of locally-run, AI-generated software for security reasons, Google is embracing the approach, simultaneously using Gemini to surface professional apps — effectively competing at both ends of the software market.
Google Quietly Kills Open-Source Gemini CLI and Replaces It With Something Far Less Open
Google is replacing its open-source Gemini CLI tool with the new closed-source Antigravity CLI, with most free and paid consumer users losing access to Gemini CLI on June 18, 2026, while enterprise customers and those with paid API keys are exempt. Developers have reacted angrily to the switch, citing the lack of open-source code for Antigravity CLI, reported usage limit issues, and concerns that open-source community contributions were used to build a proprietary replacement. Google has acknowledged there will not be full feature parity at launch and that Gemini CLI will continue to be maintained, but only for paying enterprise customers.
Google Is Quietly Forcing Old 'Free Forever' G Suite Users Onto Paid Plans
Google is cracking down on long-standing G Suite Legacy accounts, warning users that their accounts have been flagged for "commercial use" and that they must either pay for a Google Workspace subscription or face suspension of services like Gmail, Drive, and Calendar within 45 days. Affected users insist their accounts are used solely for personal family domains with no commercial activity, and many report that the appeals process is opaque and inconsistent — with some accounts reinstated only after filing GDPR data requests. Google has not clarified what triggers the commercial-use classification, though some users suspect links to business listings or Google Business profiles may be a factor.