Chrome Data Collection Lawsuit Revived; OpenAI Strikes Deal with Condé Nast; YouTube Expands Shopify Partnership

by Aimee Newell Tarín on 22nd Aug 2024 in News

On today’s news digest: Chrome Data Collection Lawsuit Revived; OpenAI Strikes Deal with Condé Nast; YouTube Expands Shopify Partnership

Google is navigating stormy seas at the moment. It was dealt a significant blow a couple of weeks ago, when US District Judge Amit Mehta ruled that it acted illegally to maintain a search monopoly. As we await its trial against the DoJ on 9th September in relation to its ad stack, more trouble is brewing for the tech titan. A class action lawsuit accusing Google of collecting Chrome users’ data without their consent has been revived, through a federal appeals court reversal on a ruling which had dismissed the case in December 2022. It claimed that Google “intentionally and unlawfully” sent users’ browsing history, IP addresses, cookie IDs and unique browser IDs without permission – to which Google argued users had consented by agreeing to the company’s privacy policy. The case had been dismissed by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who determined that users had adequately consented. Now, Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. states that Judge Gonzalez Rogers failed to consider whether users actually understood the agreement. The case will be reconsidered by the lower courts.

While Google faces more trials and tribulations, rival OpenAI has struck a new partnership with Condé Nast. As a result of the partnership, OpenAI will display content from brands such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and GQ within their products including ChatGPT and SearchGPT. OpenAI’s collaboration with publishers to collect feedback on SearchGPT is ongoing. In the company’s own words, it has been working with publishers “to ensure that as AI plays a larger role in news discovery and delivery” while maintaining “accuracy, integrity, and respect for quality reporting.”

Collaboration is also currently top of mind for YouTube, which has just announced the expansion of its partnership with Shopify. The deal will allow more merchants to make their products available for creators to tag in their shopping content. All eligible Shopify Plus and Advanced merchants in the US now have the option to sign up for the video platform’s Shopping affiliate programme through the Google and YouTube app on Shopify. Merchants can access analytics, content and products from Google Merchant Center. Additionally, the video giant is introducing a new Chrome extension for US creators in the YouTube Shopping affiliate programme which will allow them to save products while browsing a brand or retailer’s site, so they’re able to find them more easily when the time comes to tag the video.