Tag Archives: Public Policy

Managing your location data

Location information lets us offer you a more helpful experience when you use our products. From Google Maps’ driving directions that show you how to avoid traffic, to Google Search surfacing local restaurants and letting you know how busy they are, location information helps connect experiences across Google to what’s most relevant and useful.

Over the past few years, we’ve introduced more transparency and tools to help you manage your data and minimize the data we collect. That’s why we:

  • Launched auto-delete controls, a first in the industry, and turned them on by default for all new users, giving you the ability to automatically delete data on a rolling basis and only keep 3, 18 or 36 months worth of data at a time.
  • Developed easy-to-understand settings like Incognito mode on Google Maps, preventing searches or places you navigate to from being saved to your account.
  • Introduced more transparency tools, including Your Data in Maps and Search, which lets you quickly access your key location settings right from our core products.

These are just some ways that we have worked to provide more choice and transparency. Consistent with those improvements, we settled an investigation with 40 U.S. state attorneys general based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago. As well as a financial settlement, we will be making updates in the coming months to provide even greater controls and transparency over location data. The updates include:

  • Revamping user information hubs: To help explain how location data improves our services, we’re adding additional disclosures to our Activity controls and Data & Privacy pages. We’re also creating a single, comprehensive information hub that highlights key location settings to help people make informed choices about their data.
  • Simplified deletion of location data: We’ll provide a new control that allows users to easily turn off their Location History and Web & App Activity settings and delete their past data in one simple flow. We’ll also continue deleting Location History data for users who have not recently contributed new Location History data to their account.
  • Updated account set-up: We’ll give users setting up new accounts a more detailed explanation of what Web & App Activity is, what information it includes, and how it helps their Google experience.

Today’s settlement is another step along the path of giving more meaningful choices and minimizing data collection while providing more helpful services.

Why Google supports the US Securing Open Source Software Act

Open source software — code that is made freely available to the public to use or modify — is the foundation of the modern internet. It’s given us a world that is more innovative and more accessible. Yet the very openness that makes the digital world accessible to everyone, also leaves it uniquely vulnerable to security threats and cyber attacks.

At Google, we’ve been working to solve this paradox for years — and have arrived at the conclusion that modern digital security actually can come through embracing openness. We protect more people online than anyone, and we recently announced a $10 billion investment in making the internet safer and more secure. But with the dramatic rise of state-sponsored cyber attacks and malicious actors online, it’s clear that we not only need stronger public-private partnerships — but dynamic policy frameworks to shore up security for everyone.

That’s why we welcome efforts by the U.S. Government to advance open source software security, such as the Securing Open Source Software Act introduced in the Senate last month. This bipartisan bill proposes the creation of a framework to guide the federal government in their use of open source software. The proposed legislation reflects a helpful focus on security and cyber risk mitigation to respond to a recent spike in malicious cyber activity against the software supply chain.

We are glad to see a continued emphasis on the importance of open source software security from the U.S. Government, and we hope that both public and private organizations will follow their lead to promote improved cybersecurity for the ecosystem at large.

The problem of securing open source

The world of open source software development allows collaboration and rapid innovation by sharing solutions freely. This community, built on openness and sharing, contributes an enormous amount of code to a majority of the applications we use today.

However, despite the benefits of this openness, the unprecedented scale of recent attacks has emphasized gaps in infrastructure and tooling and the need for improved transparency into the security practices and attributes of open source projects. Seemingly simple questions about the open source supply chain are still difficult to answer:

  • Does a project contain known vulnerabilities?
  • Are the project’s maintainers and community following security best practices during software development?
  • What open source dependencies are part of a particular piece of software?
  • How secure was the distribution supply chain?

Answering these questions requires specialized technical skills and capabilities, and given the primarily volunteer-driven nature of the open source community, we cannot expect open source developers to shoulder the full burden of advancing software security on their own.

Continued advances

Through our work with multiple industry collaborators, Google has helped create free tools, services and best practices to make it easier for the open source community to develop and distribute software securely, while providing consumers with information about the security of the software they use.

We envision a more secure future where the burden of security is shared, and there is increased trust in and resilience of the open source software ecosystem. To get there, we need freely available, automated solutions that make developer’s lives easier, such as:

  • Infrastructure that prevents tampering, by default, when software is being built and released
  • Advances in vulnerability discovery and management that automate finding, tracking and fixing bugs for developers
  • Seamless connections across sources of security data and tools for analysis so consumers can have meaningful insight into the security of their software

We’re currently working to make these solutions a reality, at scale, with little to no additional work for developers.

Sustaining the community

We hope that the framework that will emerge due to U.S. Government efforts drives further investments in open source communities by both the public and private sectors. We’re already seeing the impact of the $100M Google pledged to non-profit organizations and software foundations like the Open Source Security Foundation to support open source creators.

This pledge backs efforts like our “open source maintenance crew,” a team of developers who spend 100 percent of their time directly enabling critical open source projects to adopt key security improvements. It also supports our Linux Kernel team, which continues to drive efforts to eliminate entire classes of bugs from open source code, including paving the way for greater memory safety using the Rust language.

We encourage other major consumers of open source to follow this lead and directly invest both funds and developer time in securing open source projects and ecosystems. Furthermore, we call on other major consumers of open source, both public and private, to implement similar policies around safe open source usage as well.

Securing open source software is a shared responsibility, and we look forward to continued collaboration on this urgent, critical problem.

In Madrid, a pitch for “open security”

The following is adapted from remarks delivered by Kent Walker, President of Global Affairs, at the “Google Cybersecurity Summit: Protecting Europe's Digital Space” in Madridon October 26, 2022.

Kent Walker is on a platform stage addressing a room full of people

Today’s cybersecurity discussion couldn’t be more timely.

Against a backdrop of rising geo-political tensions, we are seeing more and more efforts to undercut our shared security.

Cyber and information wars have become tools of the trade in attempts to exploit our vulnerabilities and destabilize our economies and our democracies.

It is no wonder that when the European Commission unveiled its plan for Europe’s digital transformation by 2030, it called security a fundamental right central to its vision.

So where do we begin the task of securing the digital world?

On the one hand, some would embrace data localization requirements, limits on market access, and even restrictions to accessing some cross-border services.

Essentially walled gardens and high fortresses. But we would suggest a different tack.

Though it sounds like a paradox, the best modern digital security actually comes through embracing openness.

Though it sounds like a paradox, the best modern digital security actually comes through embracing openness. Kent Walker

That’s because in today’s mobile, hybrid environment, cybersecurity is a team sport. We are each only as strong as our weakest link. But when we work together, we spur innovation and advance best practices that benefit all.

I speak from some experience here, as Google’s services are attacked every day. And yet we keep more people safe than anyone else in the world. We do that by looking at security through a collective lens, leveraging open frameworks, and relying heavily on secure open-source software.

We hope to use what we have learned to help secure Europe’s “digital decade.”

To that end, we recently published a white paper with recommendations like investing in technology that’s secure by default; working with private and international partners on new areas of cooperation, and building security based on openness and interoperability.

These recommendations are based on first-hand experience. In 2009, Google was the victim of a major cybersecurity attack, code named Operation Aurora. We learned that transparency, coupled with security by design, was the best way to secure the digital ecosystem.

As we detail in our recently released docuseries, HACKING GOOGLE, Aurora changed everything. It spurred us to shift away from the old “perimeter defense” model of crunchy on the outside, chewy in the middle (with high outside walls but no interior defenses) to a zero-trust model in which all users, all devices, and all applications are continuously checked for security risks, and yet security comes easily and naturally for users.

After Aurora, we launched our Threat Analysis Group, or TAG, to spot, disclose, and attribute threats, whether they were coming from nation-state actors or commercial spyware and surveillance vendors. We also launched our Project Zero team to find and promptly disclose previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities in our own and other companies’ software, raising the security bar for everyone.

It hasn’t always been comfortable work–but that kind of transparency is key to security. As the computer engineering saying goes, “with enough eyes, all bugs are shallow.”

Today, by adopting advanced security innovation and threat intelligence, we ensure vulnerabilities are fixed fast, before they can be widely exploited.

You can see our approach in action whenever TAG discloses a new threat. For example, in 2017, our Android operating system was the first mobile platform to warn users about NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware–“zero-click” malware designed to allow an attacker to compromise a smartphone without a user taking any action.

By sharing information early and widely, we raised awareness of this threat, helped victims understand if they were compromised, and promoted a greater focus on mitigations. Since then, TAG has continued to report on Pegasus and other commercial spyware tools, shining a light on this murky industry.

So when the war came in Ukraine, open security principles kept us one step ahead. Since the war began, we’ve sent thousands of warnings to users targeted by nation-state actors–another practice we pioneered after Aurora. We’ve succeeded in blocking the vast majority of the attacks. And we launched Project Shield, bringing not just journalists, but human rights organizations and even government websites in Ukraine under Google’s security umbrella against distributed denial of service attacks.

Because while it can be easy to DDOS small sites, it turns out that it’s pretty tough to DDOS Google.

We are all in on this collaborative approach to security. Currently, we are working with our team at VirusTotal to launch a new Google Safety Engineering Center in Málaga, Spain, which we hope will become a European hub for joint research on advanced threats.

Image of the exterior of a tall building on a tree-lined city street

In 2023, our newest Google Safety Engineering Center will be launching in Málaga.

Since we acquired VirusTotal in 2012, they have grown from a scrappy startup to become the world’s leading malware scanner and repository, what many call “the Google of cybersecurity tools.” VirusTotal enables people to search for malware against the millions of new samples submitted daily.

On top of that, when Google combined our existing security solutions with Mandiant’s cyber threat intelligence, we laid the groundwork to help public and private sector organizations in Europe anticipate, warn about, and mitigate threats.

What are the larger lessons for all of us as we work toward open security?

First, partnerships and agreements among democratic and rule-of-law societies are key. We need to set aside siloed approaches and embrace an ecosystem of innovation where security experts can share threats, evolve best practices, and adopt new technologies.

In support of that ecosystem, I’m pleased to announce that in 2023, we will be hosting a new Google for Startups Growth Academy for EU Cybersecurity, a growth program to help cybersecurity startups across Europe grow into success stories.

Second, interoperability and aligned security standards between technologies and among countries makes compliance easier for businesses, innovators, and manufacturers of all sizes–which makes for more secure hardware and better software.

The third and final thing to keep in mind is that when we shift away from buggy legacy technology and perimeter defense models and toward modern infrastructure, we can accommodate today’s increasingly global, hybrid workforces, without sacrificing security.

Collective security requires not just walls, but bridges.

By adopting an approach built on open principles like security-by-default, zero-trust architecture, transparency, and principled partnerships, we can advance the frontiers of information security, letting all of us sleep better at night.

A $100 billion opportunity to boost digital exports in Latin America

The World Trade Organization recently predicted global trade growth will slow sharply next year, and the World Bank believes that declining growth rates will undermine efforts to reduce poverty. Meanwhile, inflation, high energy prices and fiscal pressures are in focus for policymakers everywhere.

Against this gloomy backdrop, one area that remains a source of optimism is the potential for digital transformation to jumpstart economic growth and create new opportunities — particularly for micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) who often are most vulnerable to economic downturns. As more people and businesses come online, particularly in emerging markets, the internet continues to create new opportunities for businesses to export and grow.

A report that we’re launching today gives us a sense of the scale of the opportunity, estimating that the right investments in digital transformation can boost the exports of six Latin American countries up to $140 billion annually, by 2030 – a four-fold increase over current levels.

“The Digital Sprinters”

Today’s report builds on our 2020 Digital Sprinters framework, which offered a blueprint for how emerging economies can accelerate their digital transformation with investments in four key areas:

  • Infrastructure: Investing in digital connectivity and secure and environmentally sustainable infrastructure, including smart management.
  • People: Preparing people across all communities for the jobs of the future by helping to skill and train them for the digital economy.
  • Technological innovation: Deploying technological innovation that can unlock new opportunities. Increasing the use of data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, to create efficiencies and enable economic growth.
  • Public policies: Creating a predictable regulatory ecosystem that promotes competitiveness, open markets, interoperable regulatory standards, and tax regimes based on international standards.

Digital Exports in Latin America

To assess the potential for Latin America, we commissioned new research to better understand digital exports and their potential to impact six economies in the region. The results are noteworthy. Overall, researchers projected digital exports to contribute more than 2% of GDP for Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay by 2030, or approximately $140 billion per year – an increase from the current $34 billion, or 0.8% of GDP.

The research identifies three ways in which the digitization is changing trade in Latin America:

  • Easier access to new markets. The lion’s share of current and potential economic gains come from digital tools that facilitate access to overseas markets, making it easier to sell abroad. What previously required heavy upfront investment and navigating complex bureaucratic processes can today be handled online, often on a smartphone or tablet. Over 60% of economic growth is fuelled by tools like online ads, which are regularly served to consumers abroad. Cloud services are another driver of digital exports, enabled by new infrastructure investments in the region, like Google’s “Cloud Regions” in Santiago, Chile, and São Paulo, Brazil.
  • New products. The second area, making up over a third of expected gains, are exports of a growing array of new digital products and services. Think of mobile apps that find a global audience through the Play Store or other platforms. More than 2.5 billion people in over 190 countries use Google Play every month. And more than 2 million developers work with us to build their businesses and reach people around the globe. Video streaming is another example where content produced in one country can easily be exported. Paying out over $6 billion to content creators between 2021 and 2022, YouTube is enabling content and culture to transcend borders.
  • Digitization of trade procedures. A third area that is contributing to export growth is the overall digitalization of trade processes. Think paperless procedures at the border or in ports, email or online forms instead of phone calls, or Cloud computing or artificial intelligence technologies to simplify formerly complex trade machinery while shrinking the cost. Google Translate supports more than 100 languages, it can translate entire websites, scanned documents or pictures, enabling seamless communication across borders. While not counted in overall estimates, digitalization of trade would bring additional efficiencies to trade balances.

A big opportunity for small businesses

Leveraging digitization for exports is already taking place today. For example, Doris Canseco opened a traditional flower shop in Mexico, but the limited local market led her to move online. Using Google Ads to get the word out about her business, Flores de Oaxaca's customers in Europe, the United States and Canada, among other places. The business doubled in size and today online sales account for between 60 and 85 percent of its total revenue.

Similarly, Germán Garmendia was born in the small town of Copiapó, in the Atacama desert in Chile. A shy and quiet child, his mother signed him up for drama classes. A few years later, Germán started posting videos online. Today, he is one of the world’s most popular YouTubers, with more than 43 million subscribers on HolaSoyGerman and 46 million on JuegaGerman, and has used the platform to break into other fields.

Doris’ and Germán’s stories reflect a broader trend in Latin America and beyond, where digital tools are democratizing access to the global economy and creating new opportunities that didn’t exist a generation ago. The new report suggests that governments, together with the private sector and civil society, should adopt policies and invest to reinforce this trend.

Compelling data for governments and policymakers

The report looked at how policymakers can unlock export opportunities in a way that is inclusive and sustainable. Based on prior experience across Latin America, they identified 11 recommendations across five areas, which are aligned with the Digital Sprinters framework: — (1) lead from the top, (2) build physical capital, (3) develop human capital, (4) enhance competitiveness, and (5) enable technology usage. While progress and priorities vary among countries, the most common recommendations involve boosting digital infrastructure, digital skilling, digital security and policies that promote trade.

How Google is supporting economic inclusivity through exports

The report estimates that Google's digital products enabled 13% of the export growth across these economies in 2021. We are proud of this contribution and look forward to supporting future growth. We’re also committed to supporting entrepreneurship and skills development across the region.

When we opened our Google for Startups campus in Brazil in 2016, there were no “unicorns” — startups valued at $1 billion or more – in the region. Today, there are 35, including 13 that have been part of our Google for Startups programs. Many of these startups develop digital exports, provide their services across borders, and help traditional small businesses to grow. With investment, resources and training from Google, we have supported more than 450 startups in the region. These startups have gone on to raise more than $9 billion in investments while creating 25,000 jobs.

We’re also supporting digital skills—like cross-border marketing online — which are key to unlocking opportunities for entrepreneurs. Through our Grow with Google program and Google.org grantees, we’ve trained nearly eight million people across Latin America in digital skills since 2017. To build on this momentum, we’ve recently announced that we’ll provide Google Career Certificate scholarships to train one million more people in Latin America — opening paths to well-paying jobs in high-growth fields.

Next Steps

At a time of global macroeconomic uncertainty, it is more important than ever to double down on digitally-led trade growth . We hope this research we are releasing today sheds further light on the opportunities and policies needed to achieve them —and helps communities and policymakers in Latin America as they seek to harness digital transformation to become Digital Sprinters.

A pilot program to build a diverse pool of policy experts

During the 15 years I have been at Google, I have seen important improvements in the diversity of our workforce. For example, I used to be the only woman in the room, but now I am often surrounded by talented women leaders.

I work in the world of government affairs and public policy, which means engaging with governments and influencers to find constructive solutions to challenges that our industry and society face today. Having diverse representation and voices is important to us, as so much of our work requires building relationships across different groups, geographies, issues, and perspectives. But we must still do more to ensure that we are fostering a tech policy ecosystem that reflects the diversity of the world we build for.

That’s why our team started the Policy Summer Institute (PSI) with our academic partners at CIVICA, an alliance of eight leading European higher education institutions in the social sciences. The goal: to promote professional opportunities of first-generation university students in the digital policy ecosystem.

For our first year, nine scholars from Sudan to Switzerland had the opportunity to learn about how we work on tech policy by spending a week with our government affairs and public policy team in Europe. They then completed a summer internship funded by Google with one of our partner consultancies.

I am delighted that several of our scholars were offered further employment opportunities at their agencies following their internships. Others will continue to explore tech policy issues through their studies.

Shivona Fernandes-Köhler, an Msc. Politics and Policy Analysis student at Bocconi University in Milan, shared her key takeaways from the experience:

What was your motivation to apply for the program?

I have always been interested in the interrelations between the private and public sector, especially regarding innovation, and wanted to understand the impact that policy firms and big tech have on the world around us. However, without an existing network, internships in the field are often limited and challenging to gain access to. When I first saw the program, I didn’t think I had a chance, but when I saw that it focused on first-generation university students, I felt motivated to apply and showcase that diversity is in fact my strength.

Seven photographs of ten people in various locations at Google offices.

Our amazing first cohort of PSI scholars. Shivona is on the top right in a white shirt standing next to Mahreen Zaidi San Miguel, who was a coordinator of the program.

How has this experience prepared you for the next stage of your career?

In the immediate term, I'll be staying on with the policy agency I interned with as a working student while I finish my studies. Being part of the PSI showed me that it's important to get a range of experience in different sectors, and that in order to really progress my career, I'll need to build a strong network of professional contacts. Being part of this program and working with fascinating and diverse individuals has given me a new sense of confidence, one that highlights that taking a unique path is key to a successful future.

What was something you learned that was unexpected or surprising?

My summer in Berlin was filled with surprises. I was unaware of the many facets of this sector and the incredible team effort involved in making it function. From the outside, it can appear as if policy-making is not something that businesses should be involved in, but rather something that should be left to the politicians. Instead, I have realized that both the public and the private are essential to one another and that they can only function with a well-coordinated network. I was also surprised on a personal and cultural level. Despite living in Italy, and being raised in Germany, I never realized that working cultures can be so different even within a country!

Can you share an example over this summer where you brought a different perspective to the work you were doing?

People in the tech and policy world can often get stuck in their own bubbles: Everyone has their own habits, organizational methods and ways of communicating. Being at a small policy firm that had just begun working with Google, I had the opportunity to develop methods and strategies to make collaboration and communication easier and more effective. I was especially involved in delivering new event formats and monitoring media updates. As a newcomer to the sector, I was able to highlight areas of ambiguity and improve existing organizational matters, facilitating workflow and workload.

While the tech policy industry needs to do a lot more when it comes to diversity, I am proud of the results of this pilot program and look forward to continuing to work with our partners to build a robust, diverse talent pool that supports our industry’s growth.

Google at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly

This week world leaders gathered in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Google participated in a range of UNGA-related engagements as part of our commitment to collaborate with international organizations to achieve collective solutions to the world’s most pressing challenges. Here are just a few of the many topics we covered:

Global governance in a digital era

The global internet was built to be a shared resource that everyone could access wherever they lived — but over the last few years this ideal has been increasingly challenged. Regulatory barriers to the free flow of information across borders are threatening to fragment the internet. New and revitalized global governance frameworks are needed for an increasingly digitized world, and international organizations will be critical to achieving them, which is why we support the UN Global Digital Compact.

Over the course of this week, we had various conversations about what needs to be done to ensure that the internet remains open, secure and reliable for everyone. Preserving the cross-border availability of secure technologies and digital services – coupled with forward-looking decisions by governments to invest in digital infrastructure and digital skilling – can protect access to information everywhere and ensure that the benefits resulting from the global internet are preserved.

Kent Walker is seated on a stage with moderator Ravi Agrawal talking

Kent Walker on stage with Foreign Policy Editor in Chief Ravi Agrawal at FP Tech Forum

Supporting the UN Sustainable Development Goals

Progress on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was a key topic during this week’s UNGA. The 17 UN SDGs were created “to make a better world for everyone, now and into the future.” They include goals like achieving gender equality, ensuring quality education and tackling economic inequality. At Google, we see countless ways in which technology can help accelerate progress on these goals.

While the global community has made some important progress in meeting the SDGs since they were launched in 2015, headwinds persist due to Covid-19 and global conflict and, unfortunately, not a single country is on track to meet all 17 goals by 2030. To that end, Google's philanthropic arm, Google.org recently announced that we are expanding these efforts through a $25 million commitment to support NGOs and social enterprises using artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate progress in achieving the SDGs.

group of people seated at a conference table

James Manyika, Jacquelline Fuller and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed hosted a roundtable on using AI to accelerate the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. (L to R: Jacquelline Fuller - President of Google.Org, Elizabeth Cousens - President of UN Foundation, Paula Ingabire - Minister of Information Communications Technology and Innovation of Rwanda, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed, James Manyika - SVP of Technology & Society and UN Tech Envoy Amandeep Singh Gill).

A number of the SDGs – ensuring sustainable cities, and access to affordable and clean energy, for example – were established with sustainability top of mind. And as our CEO has said before, solving climate change is humanity’s next big moonshot. Working together, governments, companies, and citizens can create technology-enabled, scalable solutions that deliver a prosperous, carbon-free future for all of humanity.

As a company we've been carbon neutral since 2007, and by 2030 we aim to achieve net zero emissions across our operations and value chain, and to run our data centers and offices entirely on carbon-free energy. As we work towards these goals, we’re collaborating with partners to share tools and resources to make clean energy achievable for all, such as the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Hub and Academy launched earlier this week. And we continue to partner with UN Energy, Sustainable Energy for All, and dozens of companies and cities around the world to grow the 24/7 Carbon-Free Energy Compact.

Ukraine

The war in Ukraine continues to be both a tragedy and a humanitarian disaster. Since the war broke out, our team has worked around the clock to combat disinformation, elevate authoritative content across our services, protect cybersecurity in Ukraine and globally, while also providing humanitarian assistance and supporting the region more broadly. This week, we were honored that Sundar was selected as a recipient of one of this year’s Atlantic Council Global Citizen Awards, in recognition of Google’s efforts in response to Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine, our commitment to digital resilience, and our ongoing support for refugees and displaced people throughout the world.

Sundar Pichai speaking at a podium

Sundar Pichai delivers an acceptance speech at the Atlantic Council’s 2022 Global Citizen Awards, highlighting the role the private sector can play in helping refugees around the world.

International organizations like the United Nations are unique in their ability to convene countries from all over the world, and we are pleased to collaborate closely with member governments to play our part.

Sprinting towards a more equitable and sustainable future

Editor's Note: Today, Google is launching the Portulans Institute’s first global Future Readiness Economic Index at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly. This report covers 124 economies, is designed to help countries accelerate digital transformation, and a new online toolwill allow anyone to assess how stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth can be achieved.

The world continues to face a great deal of uncertainty. The pandemic touched every corner of the globe; conflicts have wreaked havoc on food security and energy prices; and climate-related disasters are becoming all too frequent. Being prepared for uncertainty and ready to adapt to current and future challenges is more essential than ever.

Central to this idea of readiness is digital transformation — no longer seen as a luxury, but a necessity. We have witnessed unprecedented technological advancements in the last few decades that have brought us closer together and made our societies and economies more interconnected. New possibilities have emerged from the digital revolution, including new ways to address long-standing challenges and the promise of a more equitable and sustainable future. Despite the acceleration of digital transformation that we’ve seen, there are still numerous issues to address before technology’s potential can be fully realized.

“The Digital Sprinters”

With this context in mind, we launched our Digital Sprinters initiative in November 2020, aiming to provide a blueprint for emerging countries to accelerate their digital transformation.

As we shared in our Digital Sprinters 2020 report and framework, digital transformation will require investment by governments and the private sector in infrastructure, people, technological innovation and public policies:

  • Infrastructure: Investing in digital connectivity and secure and environmentally sustainable infrastructure. It’s not just about investment but also how the infrastructure is managed.
  • People: Preparing people across all communities for the jobs of the future.
  • Technological innovation: Deploying technological innovation that can unlock new opportunities. Increasing the use of data, artificial intelligence and cloud computing, which empower the growth of next-generation technologies. This means new opportunities alongside new questions about how best to harness these technologies.
  • Public policies: Supporting a regulatory ecosystem that promotes competitiveness. Advancing policies that encourage competitive and open markets, interoperable regulatory standards, and tax regimes that are predictable and based on international standards.

The Future Readiness Economic Index

Building on the Digital Sprinters framework, in 2021 Google commissioned the Portulans Institute’s first edition of the Future Readiness Economic Index (FREI). The index gives governments, businesses and analysts comprehensive metrics and milestones to assess their digital transformation.

That original index focused on 27 countries — but future readiness matters globally. That’s why today we’re launching Portulans Institute’s first global Future Readiness Economic Index at the 2022 United Nations General Assembly. The report covers 124 economies and helps countries in assessing how ready they are for the future, and how they can accelerate their digital transformation for stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth.

Assessing trends is an inexact science. But by breaking down the data in critical areas like infrastructure, talent development, skills matching, and technology adoption, the Future Readiness Economic Index can help countries focus their efforts to get the biggest returns on investment. For example, the Index suggests that the United Arab Emirates, which ranks 27th globally on the Index, could sprint ahead by encouraging greater research and innovation in emerging digital technologies like cloud, AI and machine learning; while Mexico, which ranks 62nd on the index, would benefit from expanding Internet access and bandwidth, as well as improve energy consumption efficiency.

This year’s report is accompanied by an online tool that will allow anyone interested in digital transformation to simulate, compare and assess how it can be achieved.

Seizing the opportunity to sprint ahead

Generally speaking, the most future ready economies are mostly high-income countries, with Singapore leading the world in this regard. Those that score highly all have in common solid institutions and infrastructure, and good all-around performances across all FREI pillars.

Many emerging countries are lagging in future readiness — held back by weaknesses across all four pillars. Accelerating digital transformation would be a game changer for such countries. In fact, according to a Digital Sprinters studyby the strategic economics consultancy AlphaBeta, accelerating digital transformation could add half a trillion dollars to the annual GDP of three African countries (Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa), and over a trillion dollars to the annual GDP of the six largest economies in Latin America, by 2030. In this journey emerging countries have a key advantage. Unlike more developed economies, they can leapfrog ahead, building advanced tools from scratch rather than upgrading or replacing outdated legacy infrastructure.

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to becoming future-ready. Countries should pick and choose the tools best suited to their needs and objectives. The Index provides some objective comparisons to help determine which policies, technologies, and balance of human capital, infrastructure and other critical elements might work best.

By highlighting the gaps in policy, technology, human capital and physical capital, the Future Readiness Economic Index is aimed at providing governments around the world with insights on both challenges and opportunities. We hope it can equip them with some helpful tools to spur future progress.

The Court’s decision to dismiss much of the Texas AG’s antitrust case

Today, a United States District Court struck down large parts of Texas Attorney General Paxton’s case as being "not plausible."

Importantly, the Court dismissed the allegations about our Open Bidding agreement with Meta — the centerpiece of AG Paxton’s case. Despite his allegations, this has always been a well-publicized, pro-competitive agreement.

The Court also agreed that many of AG Paxton’s claims relating to our technology innovations and practices — like Open Bidding and Accelerated Mobile Pages — are not plausible violations of antitrust law. The Court dismissed his claims about Privacy Sandbox too.

Today's decision underscores how AG Paxton's case is deeply flawed. As we’ve long said, advertising technology is a fiercely competitive industry — and our products increase choice for publishers, advertisers and consumers while enabling small businesses to affordably find new customers. We look forward to setting the record straight about the remaining claims.

Google and U.S. developers find agreement over Google Play store

The Android app economy has helped create nearly two million American jobs; developers around the world have earned more than $120 billion using the Google Play Store. We’re proud that Google Play helps developers build great apps and rewards them for doing so. And we know that a successful ecosystem must benefit both developers and consumers, which is why we have rules of the road to keep the store secure, protect privacy and prevent fraud. While we strive to make Google Play the best platform for everyone, Android also provides consumers and developers the opportunity to use other app store options.

Today, we’re pleased to share a proposed agreement that will help ensure that both developers and consumers can continue to benefit from Google Play. Google and a group of U.S. developers have reached a proposed settlement that allows both parties to move forward and avoids years of uncertain and distracting litigation.

As part of the settlement, we’re establishing a $90 million fund to support U.S. developers who earned two million dollars or less in annual revenue through Google Play during each year from 2016-2021. A vast majority of U.S. developers who earned revenue through Google Play will be eligible to receive money from this fund, if they choose. If the Court approves the settlement, developers that qualify will be notified and allowed to receive a distribution from the fund.

In addition to the fund, we’re committing to maintain a number of existing practices and implement new benefits that help developers innovate and communicate with their users:

  • To continue to provide developers with a tiered pricing model, we’ll maintain Google’s 15% commission rate for the first $1 million in annual revenue earned from the Google Play Store for U.S. developers, which we implemented in 2021.
  • We’re revising our Developer Distribution Agreement to make it clear that developers can continue to use contact information obtained in-app to communicate with users out-of-app, including about subscription offers or lower-cost offerings on a rival app store or the developer’s website.
  • In new versions of Android, Google will maintain certain changes implemented in Android 12 that make it even easier for people to use other app stores on their devices, while being careful not to compromise the safety measures Android has in place.
  • To showcase independent and small startup developers building unique high-quality apps, we’re creating an “Indie Apps Corner” that will appear on the apps tab on the U.S. Google Play homepage and shine a spotlight on these developers.

These commitments, including the $90 million fund, build on a number of ways we already support developers, such as providing tools that help developers build great apps, lower their costs, and grow their businesses. In fact, compared to other prominent digital content stores, we provide developers more ways to interact with their customers.

Finally, we’ve heard developers want to understand more about how Google Play operates, which is why we’ve agreed to publish annual transparency reports. The reports will share information about the Google Play Store, including statistics such as apps removed from Google Play, account terminations, and other data regarding how users interact with Google Play.

We’re pleased that we worked with the developers to propose this agreement for the Court’s approval. As the agreement notes, we remain confident in our arguments and case, but this settlement will avoid protracted and unnecessary litigation with developers, whom we see as vital partners in the Android ecosystem. We remain steadfast in our commitment to building thriving, open platforms that empower consumers and help developers succeed.

Our support for the Economic Opportunity Coalition

A healthy economy exists only when opportunities to participate are open to everyone. Google has long worked to make that possible through efforts such as our Google Career Certificates, the Grow with Google Small Business Fund and our commitment tosupplier diversity. Core to this work is our belief that progress is best achieved when we partner with others to scale these efforts.

Consistent with that approach, today Google is proud to help launch the Economic Opportunity Coalition, a group dedicated to building an equitable economy. Google intends to work alongside others in the public, private and nonprofit sectors to find ways to help close the racial wealth gap in the United States. The Coalition has identified four focus areas: investing in strengthening community finance organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, improving financial health and addressing infrastructure needs, such as affordable housing.

At Google, we have pioneered solutions to these issues and continue to do so. For example, our $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund focuses on Google’s digital skills training program and introduces a new financing model to provide loans and grants to students through Social Finance, a leading national nonprofit in the field of workforce development. Another example is our funding to Opportunity Finance Network to help Community Development Financial Institutions, which provide capital to underserved small businesses.

Our work in this regard contributes to sustainable economic growth, and the efforts of others in the Coalition will amplify our impact. Building a world in which everyone has access to opportunities will help foster more vibrant economic communities, and we look forward to others joining us in the Economic Opportunity Coalition and contributing to this important work.