Google

California Attorney General Announced Settlements Against Google and iHeartMedia

~ jen

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, in partnership with the Federal Trade Commission and other state attorney’s general, announced against Google and iHeartMedia resolving allegations that Google paid DJs, predominately at iHeartMedia, to offer misleading personal endorsements of the Google Pixel 4 cell phone, even though most had never used the phone.

This conduct violated California’s False Advertising law and Unfair Competition Law. As part of the settlement, Google will pay $9 million, of which California will receive approximately $2.7 million, and iHeartMedia will pay $400,000, of which California will receive approximately $125,000. Both companies will also be required to comply with important injunctive terms to deter future misconduct.

“Goole tried to take shortcuts in advertising its products, and now it’s paying the price,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Asking DJs to share personal experiences about a product they had not used is misleading – and a violation of state consumer protection laws. As Attorney General, I won’t stand by when consumers spend their hard-earned money based on a lie.”

In 2019, Google partnered with iHeartMedia and other local radio stations to run an ad campaign for the Google Pixel 4. In these ads Google instructed radio personalities to describe their supposed personal experiences using the Pixel 4, despite the phone not yet being available, and despite Google refusing to provide the phones to any stations in advance of recording and airing the first-round ads.

Therefore, the radio personalities’ statements about their personal experience were generally untrue. Google ran these ads over 23,000 times in 10 different markets, including more than 9,000 times in the San Francisco and Los Angeles media markets.

In addition to monetary penalties, Google and iHeartMedia will comply with injunctive terms to deter future misconduct. Google, specifically, will be subject to a 20-year injunction prohibiting it from making misrepresentations or encouraging misrepresentations when hiring endorsers to advertise its products. Google will also be required to submit compliance upon request and engage in robust record keeping to demonstrate full compliance with the settlement agreement.

Attorney General Bonta joins the Federal Trade Commission and the attorneys general of Arizona, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York in the settlement against Google. Texas also joined the group settlement against iHeartMedia.

FeedBurner Plans some Upcoming Changes

~ jen

FeedBurner announced that there will be some upcoming changes to FeedBurner in July of 2021. If you ever had a podcast on FeedBurner in the past, or have one there now, you may have gotten an email about these changes.

Starting in July, we are transitioning FeedBurner onto a more stable, modern infrastructure. This will keep the product up and running for all users, but it also means that we will be turning down most non-core feed management features, including email subscriptions, at that time.

What FeedBurner users can expect

For many users, no action is required. All existing feeds will continue to serve uninterrupted, and you can continue to create new accounts and burn new feeds. Core feed management functionality will continue to be supported, such as the ability to change the URL, source feed, title, and podcast metadata of your feed. Basic analytics on feed requests and the ability to create enclosure tags for MP3 files will also continue to be supported.

What is changing?

FeedBurner is turning down most non-core feed management features that help you optimize and publicize your feed, e.g., email subscriptions, Browser Friendly, and Password Protector.

Downloading your FeedBurner email subscriber data

If you want to continue using email subscriptions after the June transition, FeedBurner recommends downloading email subscriber data so that you can migrate your subscribers to a new email subscription service. This data will also be available for download after the transition.

Blogger email subscriptions

FeedBurner’s email subscriptions feature powers Blogger’s email subscription widget, also known as the FollowByEmail widget. When FeedBurner’s email subscriptions feature is turned down in July, Blogger’s email subscription widget will also stop working at that time.

Your News Update is Coming to Google Podcasts

~ jen

Google announced that Your News Update is coming to Google Podcasts. This comes after Google launched their smart audio news playlist Your News Update on Google Assistant last fall.

The reason why Google is launching Your News Update is to fix a problem. According to Google, news is the fastest growing category in podcasts. But, it tends to focus on national and broader news topics. It is harder to find on-demand quality journalism at the local-level about things that are personally relevant to listeners.

We want to help bridge that gap with new, intelligent audio news experiences that deliver local stories and more personalized content. We’re bringing Your News Update to Google Podcasts and also making it easier to listen to local news when you ask Google Assistant. Both of these updates will feature new natural sounding text-to-speech voices to make the listening experience more enjoyable.

It sounds like it works rather simply for users. Open the Google Podcast app and navigate to the Explore tab. You can subscribe to Your News Update and listen to a mix of short news stories chosen in that moment based on your interests, location, user history and preferences.

It is an interesting idea, considering how difficult it can be to access local news online. My local newspaper has a paywall that appears to lock off all content to anyone who isn’t paying for a subscription.

Trying to find local news information on social media can be difficult because it can be hard to tell a good news source from one that has a problematic agenda on first glance. Some of the most reliable news sites lock away content behind a paywall, which leaves people with disreputable news sites that spin a news topic in ways that may not be honest or true.

Perhaps the solution to these annoyances is Your News Update. It sounds to me that it can provide to podcast listeners what the local TV news channel used to provide for viewers several decades ago.

Google and PRX Revealed Round Two of Podcast Creator Program

~ jen

Google and PRX have revealed the teams chosen for their second round of the Google Podcasts creator program. Variety reported that Google and PRX received thousands of applications to the program from more than 100 countries.

PRX revealed the Round Two for the Google Podcasts creator program:

37 Graus (“37 Degrees”) – from Sãn Paulo, Brazil: Named for the average temperature of the human body, and intended to convey both science and human warmth, 37 Graus is a reported Portuguese-language podcast that tells stories behind Brazil’s iconic landscapes and events.

Sarah Azoubel (Co-Creator, Host, and Producer) is a Brazilian biology PhD turned science journalist and audio producer Bia Guimarães (Co-Creator, Host, and Producer) is a Brazilian journalist and audio producer with a master’s degree in Science and Cultural Communication.

City of Women – from Bangalore, India: Discover how Bangalore’s women navigate their working lives and the city through hyper-local tours of their workplaces, neighborhoods, communities, and favorite places to go for fun – because each woman draws her map differently.

Samyuktha Varma (Producer and Host) is a writer and researcher with a longstanding interest in how challenging topics are communicated to broader audiences. Radishika Viswanathan (Producer and Host) is a development researcher an podcaster whose interests lie at the intersection of development research, policy, and communication.

Cocktails & Cancer with MJ and Dani – from West Orange, New Jersey & Queens, New York. This immersive mix of social and cultural commentary and storytelling shapes the journey of two best friends after a breast cancer diagnosis to inspire and empower black women to have real conversations about cancer.

Michelle “MJ” James (Co-Host) and Danielle “Dani” Brown (Co-Host) have worked in media and entertainment for 20+ years. Dani was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, and is now three-years cancer-free.

De Eso No Se Habla – from Madrid, Spain. This Spanish-language show, whose title translates to “We Don’t Talk About That,” maps stories deliberately omitted from everyday discourse – because they hurt too much, because they endanger the status quo, or because we don’t even have the words to talk about them.

Isabel Cadenas Canñon (Creator, Host and Producer) is an independent audio producer and writer).

Her Stage – from Beirut, Lebanon. Discover the underground life of Beirut as this Arabic-language narrated documentary uncovers a hidden world where differences are celebrated, activism is brewing, and the feminine is being set free.

Rhea Chedid (Producer and Host) is the founder of a Beirut-based podcast production company. Afeef Nessouli (Producer and Host) is an American-Lebanese news producer and journalist.

Un periódico de ayer – from Bogatá, Columbia. A Spanish-language, narrative-driven podcast, “Yesterday’s News” is about the personal toll of history and how public issues can shape our most private moments.

Juan Serrano (Host and Lead Producer) is a lawyer, journalist, non-fiction book author and producer of various podcasts. Miguel Reyes (Producer) is a lawyer, writer, and producer. Daniel Díaz (Audio Designer) is a musician, copywriter and animal lover.

BBC Removed its Podcasts from Google

~ jen

BBC posted information that explains why its podcasts are no longer available on certain Google products. This includes the Google Podcast app and Google assistant. The post was written by Director, BBC Distribution & Business Development, Kieran Clifton.

Last year, Google launched its own podcast app for Android users – they’ve also said they will launch a browser version for computers soon. Google has since begun to direct people who search for a BBC podcast into its own podcast service, rather than BBC Sounds or other third party services, which reduces people’s choice – an approach the BBC is not comfortable with and has consistently expressed strong concerns about. We asked them to exclude the BBC from this specific feature but they have refused.

The BBC is a public service funded by the license fee payers in the UK. As such, the BBC wants their content and services to be available to as many people as possible. But, the BBC has to ensure that the availability of their content is done in a way that is good for all audiences.

The BBC wants to make sure podcasts made in, and championing in the UK, are prominent on global platforms. It also wants to make sure their programs and services as good as they can possibly be,which means getting hold of meaningful audience data.

The BBC says, “Unfortunately, given the way the Google podcast services operates, we can’t do any of the above.”

Google Introduced Google Podcasts Creator Program

~ jen

Google announced the Google Podcasts creator program in June. The program aims to support underrepresented voices in podcasting, and to make it easier to learn how to get into this growing medium. The application window is now open.

Google explained why they made the Google Podcasts creator program:

With the launch of Google Podcasts app in June, we’re working to make it easier for people around the world to find and access podcasts. While there are more podcasts than ever before, there continues to be an imbalance in who is creating them. Women and people of color are still underrepresented as hosts, and many of the world’s most popular podcasts hail from western, urban areas. In June, we announced the Google Podcasts creator program, which aims to support these underrepresented voices in podcasting, and make it easier for people to learn how to get into this growing medium.

The Google Podcasts creator program is focused on three main pillars:

  • Empowering and training underrepresented voices through an accelerator program
  • Education a global community with free tools
  • Showcasing participants’ work as a model for others

The application window is officially open globally through November 18, 2018, for the first round of the Google Podcasts creator program. Google has partnered with PRX, who will lead and manage the program. Applications will be accepted from around the globe. For more information on the program, and to apply, visit PRX’s Google Podcasts creator program website.

PRX, alongside a global advisory committee, will select teams to receive mentorship, seed funding, and an intensive 20-week training. For those who want to learn more about what it takes to create a podcast, but are not ready to apply to the program, PRX will draw on learnings from the program to develop a series of broadly accessible podcasting 101 videos in multiple languages.

Apple, YouTube, and Facebook Removed Alex Jones’ Content

~ jen

Last week, Spotify deleted several episodes of The Alex Jones Podcast. The reason was because that content violated Spotify’s hate content policy. Stitcher removed Alex Jones’ podcasts on August 2, 2018. Apple, Facebook, and YouTube have followed with their own bans.

Buzzfeed News reported that Apple removed the entire library for five of Infowars’ six podcasts from its iTunes and Podcasts Apps. Among them were War Room and Alex Jones Show.

Buzzfeed reported a statement from Apple that said:

“Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users. Podcast that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.”

CNBC reported that YouTube, which is owned by Google, has removed the Alex Jones Channel.

CNBC reported that Google said in a statement regarding the removal of the page: “All users agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines when they sign up to use YouTube. When users violate these policies repeatedly, like our policies against hate speech and harassment or our terms prohibiting circumvention of our enforcement measures, we terminate their accounts.”

Facebook provided information about why they removed four videos on four Alex Jones Facebook pages in a newsroom post titled: “Enforcing Our Community Standards”.

It starts with: “We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want everyone using Facebook to feel safe. It’s why we have Community Standards and remove anything that violates them, including hate speech that attacks or dehumanizes others. Earlier today, we removed four Pages belonging to Alex Jones for repeatedly posting content over the past several days that breaks those Community Standards.”

Toward the end of the post, Facebook said: “As a result of reports we received, last week, we removed videos on four Facebook Pages for violating our hate speech and bullying policies. These pages were the Alex Jones Channel Page, the Alex Jones Page, the InfoWars Page, and the InfoWars Nightly News page. In addition, one of the admins of these Pages – Alex Jones – was placed in a 30-day block for his role in posting violating content to these Pages.”

Facebook also removed more content from the same pages that had been reported to them. Facebook took it down for glorifying violence, which violates Facebook’s graphic violence policy, and using dehumanizing language to describes people who are transgender, Muslims, and immigrants, which violates their hate speech policies.

On August 2, 2018, Stitcher posted a tweet that said: “Thanks for your note. We have reviewed Alex Jones’ podcasts and found he has, on multiple occasions, harassed or allowed harassment of private individuals and organizations, (1/2)”

Stitcher followed that with a second tweet: “and that harassment has led listeners of the show to engage in similar harassment and other damaging activity. Therefore, we have decided to remove his podcasts from the Stitcher platform.”

Google Podcasts is Now on Android

~ jen

Google announced that Google Podcasts is now available on Android. This is something that many podcasters have been wanting. Google published a blog post about it on June 19, 2018.

Today, we’re releasing the Google Podcasts app for Android, available globally in the Play Store. Integrated with the Google Assistant across your devices, and packed with personalized recommendations, Google Podcasts is designed to make it easier than ever for Android users to discover and listen to podcasts. We’re also announcing a partnership with industry experts to improve diversity in podcast creation, and sharing a peek at how AI can help transform podcasting for the better.

With Google Podcasts, you can listen and subscribe to any podcast. Beyond the podcasts you already know, Google Podcasts uses AI to offer recommendations based on your listening habits – such as your interest in sports or true crime, or podcasts from a particular network.

Google Podcast syncs across a variety of Google products, including the Google Assistant. This means that if you listen to a podcast on your phone during your commute home, you can resume it on your Google Home when you arrive.

The blog post includes a section about how podcasters can optimize for Google. To ensure inclusion in the Google Podcasts app, creators should follow Google’s updated developer guidelines. A few new sections have been included in their developer guidelines that cover how to:

  • Prompt Google to index new podcasts as quickly as possible
  • Generate a direct link to your podcast
  • Download the Google Podcasts brand assets for sharing on your website
  • Track analytics that come from Google Podcasts

Podcast Subscription Code Discovered in Google Beta App

~ shawn ~ 1 Comment

Google Play logoWhen Google announced it would be bringing podcasts to its Google Play Music app, many hailed this as the arrival of podcasting in the Googlesphere (including the Android and Google Home operating systems), likening it to the support Apple has provided for podcasting thru its desktop iTunes application and iOS Podcasts app. At the time, it felt like Google’s aversion to supporting podcasts had truly come to an end, and that having podcasts available thru the Google Play Music app would cause a massive stream of new listeners to come flooding into the podcasting space. But podcasting’s entry into Google Play Music came off with more of a whimper than a bang. Since then, very little has happened with podcasting and Google.

A recent teardown of the APK (Android application package) for the beta version of Google app 7.3 uncovered code within the app that appears to provide one-click style subscriptions to users of the app:

Last year, Google took a (half-hearted) stab at supporting podcasts with the Play Music app. The same day, in a much less expected move, it also became possible to listen to individual episodes right from a Google search. Fast forward several months and Google Assistant also gained the ability to play podcasts, which turned out to be a fairly natural feature for Google Home.

While Play Music allows users to subscribe to podcasts, listening to one through Google Search or Assistant meant asking for shows by name, and may also require a specific episode number if you want to hear anything but the most recent recording. Now it looks like Google is going to close that gap with built-in podcast subscriptions.

By all appearances, podcast subscriptions will be accessible in Google Assistant settings and will likely be treated much like subscriptions to news sources. The one obvious difference is that Google will track which episodes have been played so you won’t miss any or have to listen to repeats.

It’s unclear if this new functionality will automatically sync with users’ current Google Play Music libraries, or if it’ll be completely separate from that service. Regardless, it’s good to see some progress being made by Google in terms of podcast consumption.

Podcasts Coming to Google Play Music Tomorrow

~ shawn

Google Play logoIt’s been almost six months since Google announced it would be adding podcasts to its Google Play Music service. Since then, a limited number of podcasts have trickled out thru the platform. It now appears that Google will officially launch the podcasting side of Google Play Music on Monday, April 18th. The launch date was discovered as part of an internal NPR e-mail that was leaked to the public. The date hasn’t been confirmed by Google representatives.

The internal NPR message allegedly contains this statement:

Google will launch podcasts on Android and other platforms next Monday, April 18, inside of Google Play Music, a streaming service similar to Apple Music. Please note: this information is embargoed and should not be shared or promoted externally until Monday. NPR has worked with Google to ensure that public radio is represented in the Google Play environment.

Given NPR’s monolithic presence in the podcast space, it seems logical that the organization would want to be prepared for the launch of a new platform carrying its programs. That gives some legitimacy to the nature of the e-mail. Considering how cagey Google has been about its entrance into podcasting, it’s hard to say what this information will mean for all podcasters.

If you haven’t yet submitted your own podcast to the Google Play Music directory, you can do so here.