Google has been criticized for continuing to collect location data from users who had turned off location-sharing settings. Google provided anonymized location data from devices in the area, which raised privacy concerns due to the potential inclusion of unrelated protesters. Google donates to climate change denial political groups including the State Policy Network and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The company also actively funds and profits from climate disinformation by monetizing ad spaces on most of the largest climate disinformation sites.
Corporate identity
The company has received criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust, and abuse of its monopoly position. After the success of its original service, Google Search (often known simply as “Google”), the company has rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services. Google’s other ventures outside of internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Willow), self-driving cars (Waymo), and transformer models (Google DeepMind). In August 2024, Google sent an email to users informing them of its legal obligation to disclose certain confidential information to U.S. government authorities. In January 2025, U.S. federal judge Richard Seeborg rejected Google’s motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit.
- It was ruled in 2025 by the Justice Department alongside 17 other states that Google operates a monopoly in online advertising technology.
- This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings.
- Google donates to climate change denial political groups including the State Policy Network and the Competitive Enterprise Institute.
- It has been referred to as “the most powerful company in the world” by the BBC, and is one of the world’s most valuable brands.
- In February 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Google an authorization to buy and sell energy at market rates.
- In February 2010, Google announced the Google Fiber project, with experimental plans to build an ultra-high-speed broadband network for 50,000 to 500,000 customers in one or more American cities.
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Employees are split into six hierarchies based on experience and can range “from entry-level data center workers at level one to managers and experienced engineers at level six”. As a motivation technique, Google uses a policy known as Innovation Time Off, where Google engineers are encouraged to spend 20% of their work time on projects that interest them. A job search product has also existed since before 2017, Google for Jobs is an enhanced search feature that aggregates listings from job boards and career sites. Google Earth, launched in 2005, allows users to see high-definition satellite pictures from all over the world for free through a client software downloaded to their computers. Page and Brin originally nicknamed the new search engine “BackRub” because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Rajeev Motwani and Terry Winograd later co-authored with Page and Brin the first paper about the project, describing PageRank and the initial prototype of the Google search engine, published in 1998.
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- In November 2013, Google announced plans for a new London headquarter, a 1 million square foot office able to accommodate 4,500 employees.
- The company announced the two locations will generate 169.5 megawatts of power, enough to supply 55,000 homes.
- For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues.
- Terry Semel, Yahoo’s then-CEO, offered $3 billion to purchase the company, but Page and Brin reportedly held firm on a $5 billion valuation.
- In May 2022, Google announced that the company had acquired California based, MicroLED display technology development and manufacturing Start-up company Raxium.
- In 1998, Yahoo’s founders offered Page and Brin $1 million for their search engine technology, but they were turned down.
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On October 8, 2024, The U.S. government suggested it could request Google to divest parts of its business, such as the Chrome browser and Android, due to its alleged monopoly in online search. Google, which intended to appeal, argued that the proposals were too extreme, while also dealing with other antitrust cases involving its app store and advertising operations. The DoJ also sought a ban on Google re-entering the browser market for five years and restrictions on its investments in rival search or AI technologies. On January 21, 2019, French data regulator CNIL imposed a record €50 million fine on Google for breaching the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Data loss
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- Google, which intended to appeal, argued that the proposals were too extreme, while also dealing with other antitrust cases involving its app store and advertising operations.
- This will grow their green energy profile by 40%, giving them an extra 1.6 gigawatt of clean energy, the company said.
- In January 2025, U.S. federal judge Richard Seeborg rejected Google’s motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit.
- In September 2019, Google’s chief executive announced plans for a $2 billion wind and solar investment, the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.
- Rajeev Motwani and Terry Winograd later co-authored with Page and Brin the first paper about the project, describing PageRank and the initial prototype of the Google search engine, published in 1998.
- A job search product has also existed since before 2017, Google for Jobs is an enhanced search feature that aggregates listings from job boards and career sites.
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According to The Wall Street Journal, Google secretively began the project in 2018, with St. Louis-based healthcare company Ascension. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google on October 20, 2020, asserting that it has illegally maintained its monopoly position in web search and search advertising. The lawsuit alleged that Google engaged in anticompetitive behavior by paying Apple between $8 billion and $12 billion to be the default search engine on iPhones. Later that month, both Facebook and Alphabet agreed to “cooperate and assist one another” in the face of investigation into their online advertising practices. This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings. In 2022, Google began accepting requests for the removal of phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses from its search results.
Gender discrimination lawsuit
He had been trying to find a CEO that Page and Brin would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company. Schmidt was not initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company’s full potential had not yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO. Google is Alphabet’s largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet’s internet properties and interests.
In February 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Google an authorization to buy and sell energy at market rates. The new campus, reported to be the company’s largest outside the United States, will accommodate 13,000 employees. In November 2018, Google announced its plan to expand its New York City office to a capacity of 12,000 employees.
Called Google Hudson Square, the new campus is projected to more than double the number of Google employees working in New York City. In the third quarter of 2005, Google reported a 700% increase in profit, largely due to large companies shifting their advertising strategies from newspapers, magazines, and television to the Internet. For the 2006 fiscal year, the company reported $10.492 billion in total advertising revenues and only $112 million in licensing and other revenues. Google generated $50 billion in annual revenue for the first time in 2012, generating $38 billion the previous year. Google’s Internet business was responsible for $10.8 billion of this total, with an increase in the number of users’ clicks on advertisements. Google indexes billions of web pages to allow users to search for the information they desire through the use of keywords and operators.
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In October 2020, the company pledged to make the packaging for its hardware Methbet casino products 100% plastic-free and 100% recyclable by 2025. In December 2016, Google announced that—starting in 2017—it would purchase enough renewable energy to match 100% of the energy usage of its data centers and offices. In September 2019, Google’s chief executive announced plans for a $2 billion wind and solar investment, the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.
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It had previously accepted requests for removing confidential data only, such as Social Security numbers, bank account and credit card numbers, personal signatures, and medical records. In May 2022, Google announced that the company had acquired California based, MicroLED display technology development and manufacturing Start-up company Raxium. In December 2022, Google debuted OSV-Scanner, a Go tool for finding security holes in open source software, which pulls from the largest open source vulnerability database of its kind to defend against supply chain attacks. Both firms were initially hesitant about investing jointly in Google, as each wanted to retain a larger percentage of control over the company to themselves.