LONDON: Google was slammed Friday by UK regulators who say it’s taking advantage of its dominance in digital advertising to thwart competition in Britain, ratcheting up pressure that the tech giant is facing on both sides of the Atlantic over its “ad tech” business practices.
Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority said that the US company gives preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers in Britain’s 1.8 billion pound ($2.4 billion) digital ad market.
Google is a major player throughout the digital ad ecosystem, providing servers for publishers to manage ad space on their websites and apps, tools for advertisers and media agencies to buy display ads, and an exchange where both sides come together to buy and sell ads in real time at auctions.
“We’ve provisionally found that Google is using its market power to hinder competition when it comes to the ads people see on websites,” the watchdog’s interim executive director of enforcement, Juliette Enser, said in a press release.
The watchdog’s charges, known as a statement of objections, come two years after it opened its investigation. The European Union’s antitrust authorities have also been Google’s ad bidding services while and it has also been the focus of a state-led antitrust lawsuit against Google that’s set to go to trial this month.
The CMA said that Google’s “anti-competitive” conduct is ongoing, but the company disputed the allegations Friday.
“Google remains committed to creating value for our publisher and advertiser partners in this highly competitive sector,” the company said in a prepared statement. “The core of this case rests on flawed interpretations of the ad tech sector. We disagree with the CMA’s view and we will respond accordingly.”
The UK watchdog alleged Google has been exploiting its dominance since 2015 to strengthen the market position of its own AdX ad exchange and protect it from rivals. AdX is where Google charges the highest fees in the ad tech system, taking about 20 percent of the amount from bids, the CMA said.
The regulator’s accusations include charges that Google manipulates advertiser bids so they have higher value when they go into AdX auctions then rival exchanges. AdX also gets to bid first in auctions run by Google’s publisher ad server, potentially shutting out rivals from the chance to bid, the watchdog said.
Google now has the chance to reply to the charges. The CMA said its considering what is needed to make sure Google ceases the anti-competitive practices. It has the power to impose a fine worth up to 10 percent of a company’s annual worldwide revenue.
UK watchdog accuses Google of anti-competitive behavior in digital ads business
https://arab.news/bjw6f
UK watchdog accuses Google of anti-competitive behavior in digital ads business
- The Competition and Markets Authority said that the US company was giving preference to its own services to the detriment of online publishers and advertisers
French terrorist linked to Charlie Hebdo attackers goes on trial
- Peter Cherif was arrested in Djibouti in 2018 after years of allegedly fighting in the ranks of Al-Qaeda
Peter Cherif, also known as Abou Hamza, was arrested in Djibouti in 2018 after years of allegedly fighting in the ranks of Al-Qaeda in the Middle East.
He is being tried for terrorism-related offenses allegedly committed between 2011 and 2018, and the 2011 kidnapping of three French aid workers in Yemen.
In 2015, Cherif was placed on a US blacklist as a member of the Yemen-based militant group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).
Cherif, 42, was linked to a Paris terrorist cell and was named in the enquiry into the fatal January 2015 attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, due to his regular contact with the perpetrators, brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi.
The massacre claimed the lives of 12 people and sent shock waves across France.
Cherif has not been formally charged over the attack but his potential involvement is expected to be at the center of the trial.
Investigating judges believe that he “facilitated the integration into AQAP of one of the Kouachi brothers, most probably Cherif” and that he had knowledge of the plan to carry out an attack in France
According to several witnesses, including Cherif’s late girlfriend, AQAP advised foreign fighters in Yemen to return to their countries of origin to stage attacks.
Peter Cherif is also believed to have maintained contact with Cherif Kouachi on his return to France.
He has denied having knowledge of the planned attack.
In 2020, he was a witness during the trial over the 2015 attacks and claimed to have had “nothing to do” with the massacre.
According to Sefen Guez Guez, one of his lawyers, Cherif “knows that the Charlie Hebdo trial weighs heavily in the balance but he will come forward with a sincere statement.”
Cherif faces life in prison if convicted.
He grew up in the 19th district of Paris and converted to Islam in 2003.
Semafor Gulf launches with lineup of expert contributors
- Semafor’s third edition will join US, sub-Saharan Africa iterations
- Focus on global effects of region’s business, finance, geopolitics
LONDON: News platform Semafor launched its Gulf edition on Monday with former Dow Jones reporter Mohammed Sergie as editor, supported by a roster of local and international journalists, editors and analysts.
Joining Sergie at the platform is former Beirut-based Washington Post Middle East correspondent Sarah Dadoush, and Kelsey Warner, the former editor of UAE-based media startup The Circuit.
The new platform, which includes a thrice-weekly newsletter, will examine how the region’s financial, business, and geopolitical direction shape the world. The coverage will include culture, investment, infrastructure, climate and technology, as well as the dramatic transformations of the Gulf states.
Semafor Gulf marks the firm’s third edition, which joins its US and sub-Saharan Africa newsletters as it expands across the globe.
Contributors to the latest Semafor edition include prominent voices from Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and around the region. They will work in concert with Semafor’s topflight business reporters in New York, its technology journalists in San Francisco, and its Washington D.C. bureau.
The experienced lineup includes veteran journalist, editor and former Bloomberg energy correspondent Wael Mahdi, and award-winning international journalist and host at Al Arabiya Hadley Gamble.
Other contributors will include Omar Al-Ubaydli, an affiliated associate professor of economics at George Mason University and senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center in Washington, D.C., as well as Camilla Wright, an award-winning journalist and media commentator.
“The Gulf is this incredibly important site for politics, and these things (politics and other topics like economy and business) are intertwined,” Ben Smith, co-founder and editor-in-chief of Semafor, told Arab News in a previous interview.
While global legacy news media brands usually report for their home country, Semafor Gulf aims to “flip that on its head and actually report for the region and the world interested in the region,” Justin Smith, co-founder and CEO of Semafor (no relation to Ben), told Arab News in a previous interview.
“My understanding is that some of the big global English-language news brands have not necessarily invested as aggressively into the Gulf region, commensurate with the growth of the Gulf story,” he said.
Representative pre-launch coverage includes scoops on Nvidia’s plans to sell chips to Saudi Arabia and tensions in the office of a major global consulting firm in the UAE.
In addition, the company has established digital and event collaborations with some of the region’s top brands across a diverse range of sectors.
Joining Semafor Gulf as its inaugural launch partners are First Abu Dhabi Bank, G42, Mubadala, and Invest Qatar.
This expansion builds on the company’s success since its 2022 launch, having built a global audience of over 700,000 subscriptions across nine premium newsletters.
The firm was named as one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2024 for “rewriting the story on international reporting.”
Ex-BBC anchor Huw Edwards to be sentenced over indecent child images
- Edwards, one of the most recognizable faces on UK television, pleaded guilty in July to three charges of making indecent images of children
- The 63-year-old faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a minimum of 12 months
LONDON: British broadcaster Huw Edwards, one of the most recognizable faces on UK television, is due to be sentenced Monday over indecent photographs of children, capping a stunning fall from stardom.
The ex-BBC presenter has guided Britons through some of their country’s most seismic events over the past two decades, including the death of Queen Elizabeth II and coronation of King Charles III.
His calm delivery — mixed with the publicly funded broadcaster’s reputation for journalistic impartiality — made him a trusted and reassuring presence on screens for millions watching at home.
But the 63-year-old’s reputation and career now lie in tatters after he pleaded guilty in July to three charges of making indecent images of children between December 2020 and August 2021.
Edwards faces a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a minimum of 12 months when he learns his fate at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in London at around 10:00 am (0900 GMT). It is possible it could be suspended.
The former leading anchor admitted receiving 41 indecent images of children over WhatsApp, including seven of the most serious type.
Most children were aged 13 to 15 and one was between seven and nine.
Edwards was first arrested in November and charged in June, but the case was only revealed publicly in late July a couple of days before he appeared in court to admit the counts.
The Welsh presenter had resigned from the BBC in April on “medical advice” after 40 years with the broadcaster.
The BBC, whose brand is built on public trust, has admitted being made aware by police of the arrest and has been criticized for paying Edwards a salary for six months afterwards.
The broadcaster is funded by a license fee paid by UK households.
Edwards was made anchor of the BBC’s flagship 10:00 p.m. news bulletin in 2003.
As well as the funeral of the late Queen, Edwards narrated the wedding of Prince William to Kate Middleton and has hosted UK general election coverage.
But the father-of-five’s professional life began to unravel in July 2023 when he was suspended by the BBC following allegations in a tabloid newspaper that he paid a young man for explicit images.
Edwards did not comment publicly on the allegations, but his wife released a statement saying her husband was “suffering from serious mental health issues” and receiving “in-patient hospital care.”
The police’s criminal investigation into Edwards started after a phone seized by officers as part of an unrelated probe revealed his participation in a WhatsApp conversation.
Police say the man who sent Edwards the images was a 25-year-old convicted paedophile.
BBC director Tim Davie said the broadcaster was “very shocked” at the details that came to light during Edwards’ prosecution.
The BBC Board has said that Edwards brought the corporation into “disrepute” and that it has asked him to return his salary from the time he was arrested — a sum of £200,000.
The BBC has been rocked in recent years by scandals that saw some big names revealed as serial sex offenders and reports of a culture of covering up for its star presenters.
A current BBC employee and a former staff member have been critical of an internal inquiry that has not been made public, after they told the BBC last year they had received “inappropriate messages” from Edwards.
Leading Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury dies at 76
- Khoury, a leading voice of Arab literature, had been ill for months and admitted and discharged from hospital several times over the past year
- Khoury had been known for his political stances from his support of Palestinians to his harsh criticism of Israel
BEIRUT: Lebanese novelist Elias Khoury who dedicated much of his writings to the Palestinian cause and taught at universities around the world, making him one of Lebanon’s most prominent intellectuals, has died. He was 76.
Khoury, a leading voice of Arab literature, had been ill for months and admitted and discharged from hospital several times over the past year until his death early Sunday, Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily that he worked for said.
In addition to his novels, Khoury wrote articles in different Arab media outlets over the past five decades making him well known throughout the Arab world.
Two days after the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7, Khoury wrote an article in Al-Quds A-Arab daily titled “It’s Palestine.” Khoury wrote then that “the biggest open-air prison, the besieged Ghetto of Gaza, has launched a war against Israel, occupied settlements and forced settlers to flee.”
Born in Beirut on July 12, 1948, Khoury had been known for his political stances from his support of Palestinians to his harsh criticism of Israel and what he called its “brutal” settling policy in Palestinian territories. He studied at the Lebanese University and later at the University of Paris, where he received a PhD in social history.
“The Catastrophe began in 1948 and it is still going on,” he once wrote referring to Israel’s settlement policies in occupied Palestinian territories. The “nakba,” or “catastrophe” is a term used by many Arabs to describe the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians when Israel was created in 1948.
Khoury was an outspoken supporter of Arab uprisings that broke out in the region starting in 2011 and toppled several governments.
“The question is not why the Arab revolts broke out,” Khoury wrote after uprisings that toppled long-serving leaders such as Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. “The question is not how people tore down the wall of fear but how fear built Arab kingdoms of silence for five decades.”
Khoury, who belonged to a Greek Orthodox Christian family, took part in Lebanon’s 1975-90 civil war and was wounded in one of the battles.
From 1992 until 2009, Khoury was the editor of the cultural section of Lebanon’s leading An-Nahar newspaper. Until his death, he was the editor-in-chief of the Palestine Studies magazine, a bulletin issued by the Beirut-based Institute for Palestine Studies.
His first novel was published in 1975, but his second, Little Mountain, which he released in 1977 and was about Lebanon’s devastating civil war was very successful.
Bab Al-Shams, or Gate of the Sun, released in 2000, was about Palestinian refugees in Lebanon since 1948. A movie about the novel was made in Egypt.
His novels were translated to several languages including Hebrew.
Khoury also taught at different universities including New York University, Columbia, Princeton and Houston, as well as the University of London.
Jewish Chronicle deletes Gaza articles over fabrication allegations
- World’s oldest Jewish newspaper severs ties with journalist after Israeli media labeled his information ‘baseless’
- JC has faced scrutiny in UK in recent months over its editorial direction, ownership
LONDON: The Jewish Chronicle has removed several articles from its website over allegations that the journalist behind them, Elon Perry, fabricated information about the conflict in Gaza and his professional life.
The articles, supposedly based on sources within Israeli intelligence, detailed military operations in Gaza as well as what appeared to be highly sensitive information on Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The world’s oldest Jewish newspaper issued a statement saying: “The Jewish Chronicle has concluded a thorough investigation into freelance journalist Elon Perry, which commenced after allegations were made about aspects of his record.
“While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims.
“We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr Perry.
“The Jewish Chronicle maintains the highest journalistic standards in a highly contested information landscape and we deeply regret the chain of events that led to this point.
“We apologise to our loyal readers and have reviewed our internal processes so that this will not be repeated.”
Perry’s articles came under suspicion after several journalists were unable to verify key details, and last week his stories were described as “fabrications” in a report published by Israeli media.
There have even been suggestions in Israel that articles with false information have been planted in Western media, including in German tabloid Bild, which are supportive of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s position on Gaza.
On Sept. 4, for instance, Netanyahu claimed in a press conference that Sinwar could use the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt to escape with hostages if the area was not under Israeli control.
The next day, an article by Perry was published in the JC stating that Israeli intelligence claimed to have proof that this was Sinwar’s plan based on information obtained by interrogating a senior Hamas figure and documents found in Gaza.
A spokesperson for the Israeli military described the story as “baseless” after it was shared by Netanyahu’s wife and son on social media.
Questions have also been raised about Perry’s history serving in the Israeli military, including that he was involved in the Entebbe hostage rescue mission in 1976.
Perry also claims to have worked as a professor in Tel Aviv for 15 years, which has been questioned by journalists.
One of the journalists involved in disputing Perry’s claims, Ben Reiff of Israeli outlet +972, posted on X: “It seems that by firing Elon Perry @JewishChron is hoping to put this whole affair to bed, as if decisions weren’t made at the very top to employ a fake journalist, publish nine fake articles without verifying sources, and use the paper (as) an active agent in a pro-Bibi influence op.”
The JC, founded in 1841 and a once much-respected publication in the UK, has faced questions over its rightward editorial direction under its editor, Jake Wallis Simons, and over its ownership in recent months.
Earlier this year, Sunday Times journalist Gabriel Pogrund voiced his concerns about the paper on social media, saying: “The coarseness and aggression of the JC’s current leadership is such a pity and does such a disservice to our community.
“It also once again poses the question: who owns it!? How is it that British Jews don’t know who owns ‘their’ paper. Moreover, how can a paper not disclose its ownership?
“It’s an oxymoron. I hate having to pose the question publicly but I asked privately more than a year ago to no avail.”
A figure close to the JC told The Guardian: “There was a sense that it was in the pocket of no one. It worked for the whole Jewish community, and because of that it had a greater institutional reach … in the Jewish community. It has become much narrower in its outlook and campaigns on a particular set of issues.”
When contacted by The Guardian, both the JC and Wallis Simons refused to comment.
Perry told The Observer that the JC’s statement is a “huge mistake,” and that he is the victim of a “witch-hunt … caused by jealousy from Israeli journalists and outlets who could not obtain the details that I managed to.”
