Google

• YouTube Shorts is taking watch time from long-form videos–and contributing to a dip in ad revenue
• The Vanced app let users block YouTube ads and brought back the dislike button. Google wasn’t a fan.

  The app was created in 2017, and is a modified version of the actual YouTube app that jailbreaks paid features like background play and brings back old features like the dislike button.

  
• YouTube demonetizes Russia’s state-owned channels, citing “extraordinary circumstances”

  The channels are being treated as borderline content: they haven’t violated YouTube’s policies enough to be removed, but their videos are egregious enough that YouTube is restricting their presence.

  
• Google Cuts Play Store Fees To 15% Of App Subscription Revenues

  Faced with high-profile lawsuits and a proposed bill targeting the fees its Play Store marketplace charges app developers, Google has announced it will lower its cut of recurring subscription revenues from 30% to 15%.

  
• New Bill Aims To Stop Apple, Google From Forcing App Developers To Use Their Payment Systems
• Google Will Stop Using People’s Browsing Activity To Serve Them Ads
• Google Is Testing A Search Feature That Exclusively Serves Short Videos From TikTok, Instagram
• Insights: After 2020’s Crucial Role In Our Lives, Social Media Will Face A Far More Critical 2021
• Google CEO Sundar Pichai Talks YouTube Data Privacy At Antitrust Hearing
• Google Search Results Allegedly Promote YouTube Videos Over More Popular Clips From Competitive Platforms
• Trump’s Executive Order Targeting Social Platforms Could Hurt “Internet Freedom,” Google Says
• Google’s Looking To Take On TikTok With Acquisition Of Competitor Firework (Report)