Google (GOOGL) Losses Its Appeal in High-Profile Epic Games Lawsuit
Elevate Your Investing Strategy:
Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence.
Interestingly, the original antitrust ruling, which was issued in December 2023, found that Google was running the Play Store as an illegal monopoly. Indeed, a jury determined that Google's practices, including charging developers fees of up to 30% and making secret deals with rivals to prevent competition, unfairly limited the Android app market. In addition, Judge Margaret McKeown explained that antitrust laws can require companies to stop certain actions (even if those actions are normally legal) when it's needed to fix or prevent unfair business practices.
In response to the court's decision, Google stated that it had concerns about the potential impact on users and developers. It argued that the ruling could 'significantly harm user safety' and reduce innovation on the Android platform. Despite the loss, Google plans to continue appealing while focusing on keeping its platform secure, according to comments made by Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google's vice president for regulatory affairs.
Is Google Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on GOOGL stock based on 26 Buys and nine Holds assigned in the past three months. Furthermore, the average GOOGL price target of $214.42 per share implies 11.8% upside potential.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Engadget
16 minutes ago
- Engadget
Google: Actually, AI in Search is driving more queries and higher quality clicks
Last month, a Pew Research Center report shed light on Google's AI Overviews' effect on web publishing. In short, the analysis painted an abysmal outlook for anyone relying on web traffic. But on Wednesday, Google Search head Liz Reid penned a blog post that puts quite a different spin on things. The Google VP claims traffic from search to websites is "relatively stable" and that click quality has increased. Reid's framing boils down to everything is peachy, and AI is making things better — even for websites! She wrote that Google Search's total organic click volume to websites has been "relatively" stable year-over-year. Reid also claimed Google sends more "quality clicks" (visitors who don't quickly bounce) to websites than a year ago. The company says people are also happier with the search experience. The company didn't share any numbers — the post has no data whatsoever — to support its claims. Google's explanation for the rosy outlook? "With AI Overviews, people are searching more and asking new questions that are often longer and more complex," Reid wrote. "In addition, with AI Overviews, people are seeing more links on the page than before. More queries and more links mean more opportunities for websites to surface and get clicked." Reid does highlight a shifting landscape. She says user trends are resulting in lower traffic for some sites and increased traffic for others. Of course, the Google Search head didn't call out any specific websites. But she claims forums, videos, podcasts and posts with "authentic voices and first-hand perspectives" are thriving. Reid added that content like "an in-depth review, an original post, a unique perspective, or a thoughtful first-person analysis" does well. A Google AI Overview for the query (Google / Engadget) The Google VP said people seeking simple Q&A types of searches are leaning more on AI. "For some questions where people are looking for a quick answer, like 'when is the next full moon,' people may be satisfied with the initial AI Overviews response and not click further," Reid wrote. "This has also been true for other answer features we've added, like the Knowledge Graph or sports scores. But for many other types of questions, people continue to click through, as they want to dig deeper into a topic, explore further or make a purchase. This is why we see click quality increasing — an AI response might provide the lay of the land, but people click to dive deeper and learn more, and when they do, these clicks are more valuable." It's quite the contrast from the Pew report. It found that visitors who saw an AI summary clicked a traditional search result in eight percent of all visits. Those without an AI summary? They clicked on a traditional result in 15 percent of their visits. As for those source links in AI summaries? Pew found that only one percent of people clicked on those. Users were also more likely to end their browsing after visiting a page with an AI summary. That aligned with comments Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince made in June. He said search traffic referrals keep plummeting. "The future of the web is going to be more and more like AI, and that means that people are going to be reading the summaries of your content, not the original content," he said. Prince said that a decade ago, Google sent a publisher one visitor for every two pages it crawled. Early this year, it dropped to one visitor for every six pages. He said that, in June, it was down to one for every 18. I can't tell you who to believe. But here's what the ultimate source had to say: Straight from the source! (Google / Engadget)
CNET
16 minutes ago
- CNET
Researchers Seize Control of Smart Homes With Malicious Gemini AI Prompts
Recent reports and demonstrations from the Black Hat computer-security conference have shown how outside Gemini AI prompts -- dubbed promptware -- could fool the AI and force it to control Google Home-connected smart devices. That's an issue for Google, which has been working to add Gemini features to its Google Home app and replace Google Assistant with the new AI helper. The secret to these serious vulnerabilities is how Gemini is designed to respond to basic commands in English. Demonstrations show how a prompt sneakily added to an inserted Google Calendar invite will be read by Gemini the same way it scans other Google app data, such as when it is summarizing emails. But in this case, the addition gives Gemini a very specific order, like creating an agent to control everyday devices from Google Home. The Tel Aviv University researchers, including Ben Nassi, Stav Cohen and Or Yair, have created their own website that showcases their report, "Invitation is All You Need." It includes videos showing how the right Gemini prompts could be used to open windows, turn off lights, turn on a boiler, or geolocate the current user. As the Invitation is All You Need research shows, a detailed prompt can be hidden in an innocuous Calendar invite title or similar spot. These commands can make Gemini create a hidden agent and wait for a common response (like saying "thank you" in an email) to trigger certain actions. Even if your calendar controls are tight, some of these promptware attacks could be performed through other things that Gemini scans, such as an email subject line. Other demonstrations showed how similar commands could lead to spam messages, deleted events, automatic Zoom streaming and more unpleasant tricks. Should you worry about your Google Home devices? Google told CNET they have introduced multiple fixes to address the promptware vulnerabilities since the researchers provided Google with their report in February 2015. That's the point of the Black Hat conferences -- to uncover problems before real cybercriminals seize them, and get the fixes in fast. Andy Wen, senior director of security product management at Google Workspace, told CNET, "We fixed this issue before it could be exploited thanks to the great work and responsible disclosure by Ben Nassi and team. Their research helped us better understand novel attack pathways, and accelerated our work to deploy new, cutting edge defenses which are now in place protecting users." If you're still concerned, you can disable Gemini entirely in most cases. As I've covered before as CNET's home security editor, smart home hacking is very rare and very difficult with today's latest security measures. But as these new generative AIs get added to smart homes (the slowly rolling out Alexa Plus and eventual Siri AI upgrades included), there's a chance they could bring new vulnerabilities with them. Now, we're seeing how that actually works, and I'd like these AI features to get another security pass, ASAP.
Yahoo
36 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Trump Media, Perplexity Partner To Bring AI-Powered Search To Truth Social
On Tuesday, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. (NASDAQ:DJT) rolled out public beta testing of its new AI-powered search feature on the Truth Social platform. The firm has partnered with Perplexity to introduce Truth Search AI in its web interface, with mobile testing on iOS and Android slated to begin soon. 'We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback,' said Devin Nunes, CEO and Chairman.'Curiosity is the engine of change,' said Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity. He noted that the AI integration will deliver direct, reliable answers with transparent citations, empowering users to explore topics more deeply. Truth Search AI joins the company's existing brands, Truth+, the streaming service, and its FinTech arm, to strengthen the 'Patriot Economy' ecosystem. Currently appearing on the Web version of Truth Social, Truth Search AI is planned to begin public Beta testing on the Truth Social apps for iOS and Android in the near future. On August 2, Trump Media ended the second quarter with financial assets of approximately $3.1 billion, comprised of cash and equivalents, restricted cash, trading securities, and short-term investments, posting exponential year-on-year growth of financial assets of approximately 800%. In the second quarter, Trump Media said it achieved a key milestone by posting its first quarter of positive operating cash flow, with cash flow from operating activities totaling $2.3 million. Price Action: DJT shares are trading lower by 0.92% to $16.24 at last check Wednesday. Read Next:Photo by mundissima via Shutterstock UNLOCKED: 5 NEW TRADES EVERY WEEK. Click now to get top trade ideas daily, plus unlimited access to cutting-edge tools and strategies to gain an edge in the markets. Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga? This article Trump Media, Perplexity Partner To Bring AI-Powered Search To Truth Social originally appeared on © 2025 Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
