The company has received criticism involving issues such as privacy concerns, tax avoidance, censorship, search neutrality, antitrust, and abuse of its monopoly position. After the success of its original service, Google Search (often known simply as « Google »), the company has rapidly grown to offer a multitude of products and services. Google’s other ventures outside of internet services and consumer electronics include quantum computing (Willow), self-driving cars (Waymo), and transformer models (Google DeepMind). In August 2024, Google sent an email to users informing them of its legal obligation to disclose certain confidential information to U.S. government authorities. In January 2025, U.S. federal judge Richard Seeborg rejected Google’s motion to dismiss a class-action lawsuit.

Financial services

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• The company also actively funds and profits from climate disinformation by monetizing ad spaces on most of the largest climate disinformation sites.

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• In the third quarter of 2005, Google reported a 700% increase in profit, largely due to large companies shifting their advertising strategies from newspapers, magazines, and television to the Internet.

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• In August 2024, Google would lose a lawsuit which started in 2020 in lower court, as it was found that the company had an illegal monopoly over Internet search.

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• In a lawsuit filed January 8, 2018, multiple employees and job applicants alleged Google discriminated against a class defined by their « conservative political views[,] male gender[,] and/or … Caucasian or Asian race ».

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• Schmidt was not initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company’s full potential had not yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO.

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• The DoJ also sought a ban on Google re-entering the browser market for five years and restrictions on its investments in rival search or AI technologies.

He had been trying to find a CEO that Page and Brin would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company. Schmidt was not initially enthusiastic about joining Google either, as the company’s full potential had not yet been widely recognized at the time, and as he was occupied with his responsibilities at Novell where he was CEO. Google is Alphabet’s largest subsidiary and is a holding company for Alphabet’s internet properties and interests.

Install Chrome offline

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• Employees are split into six hierarchies based on experience and can range « from entry-level data center workers at level one to managers and experienced engineers at level six ».

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• These centers, which will be built in Columbus and Lancaster, will power up the company’s tools, including AI technology.

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• In December 2022, Google debuted OSV-Scanner, a Go tool for finding security holes in open source software, which pulls from the largest open source vulnerability database of its kind to defend against supply chain attacks.
• Page and Brin originally nicknamed the new search engine « BackRub » because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site.

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• Technology news website Recode reported that the company was purchased for $400 million, yet the source of the information was not disclosed.

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• He had been trying to find a CEO that Page and Brin would accept for several months, but they rejected several candidates because they wanted to retain control over the company.

It had previously accepted requests for removing confidential data only, such as Social Security numbers, bank account and credit card numbers, personal signatures, and medical records. In May 2022, Google announced that the company had acquired California based, MicroLED display technology development and manufacturing Start-up company Raxium. In December 2022, Google debuted OSV-Scanner, a Go tool for finding security holes in open source software, which pulls from the largest open source vulnerability database of its kind to defend against supply chain attacks. Both firms were initially hesitant about investing jointly in Google, as each wanted to retain a larger percentage of control over the company to themselves.
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• In June 2022, Google agreed to pay a $118 million settlement to 15,550 female employees working in California since 2013.

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• Upon discovering Ding had been in contact with Chinese state-owned companies, Google notified the FBI, who carried on the investigation of the data breach.

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• The EU Court of Justice found that Google’s treatment of rival shopping searches, which the court referred to as « discriminatory », was in violation of the Digital Markets Act.

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• Google provided anonymized location data from devices in the area, which raised privacy concerns due to the potential inclusion of unrelated protesters.
• In 2022, Google began accepting requests for the removal of phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses from its search results.
• Later that month, both Facebook and Alphabet agreed to « cooperate and assist one another » in the face of investigation into their online advertising practices.

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Gender discrimination lawsuit

In October 2020, the company pledged to make the packaging for its hardware products 100% plastic-free and 100% recyclable by 2025. In December 2016, Google announced that—starting in 2017—it would purchase enough renewable energy to match 100% of the energy usage of its data centers and offices. In September 2019, Google’s chief executive announced plans for a $2 billion wind and solar investment, the biggest renewable energy deal in corporate history.

European Union

According to The Wall Methbet casino Street Journal, Google secretively began the project in 2018, with St. Louis-based healthcare company Ascension. Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google on October 20, 2020, asserting that it has illegally maintained its monopoly position in web search and search advertising. The lawsuit alleged that Google engaged in anticompetitive behavior by paying Apple between $8 billion and $12 billion to be the default search engine on iPhones. Later that month, both Facebook and Alphabet agreed to « cooperate and assist one another » in the face of investigation into their online advertising practices. This includes sales of apps, purchases made in-app, digital content products on Google and YouTube, Android and licensing and service fees, including fees received for Google Cloud offerings. In 2022, Google began accepting requests for the removal of phone numbers, physical addresses and email addresses from its search results.

Initial public offering

In February 2010, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission granted Google an authorization to buy and sell energy at market rates. The new campus, reported to be the company’s largest outside the United States, will accommodate 13,000 employees. In November 2018, Google announced its plan to expand its New York City office to a capacity of 12,000 employees.