Google's Summer Of Reckoning

What began as a routine quarterly earnings report quickly turned into a landslide of reversals that have shaken the company's foundation and cast doubt on its future dominance in the digital world

- Shubhranshu Singh

FRANCIS BACON wrote in the sixteenth century, "Knowledge itself is power". But in the Internet era, sourcing and sorting knowledge is more powerful. Information is abundant and accessible, and making sense of it is the challenge.

For decades, the world had gone to one well to quench its thirst for pre-sorted knowledge. That well was Google. It has been a harsh summer for Google. What began as a routine quarterly earnings report quickly turned into a landslide of reversals that have shaken the company's foundation and cast doubt on its future dominance in the digital world.

From underwhelming financial results to a damning antitrust ruling, Google is grappling with challenges that could fundamentally alter its business model and its future.

In July, Alphabet, Google's parent company, saw its shares dip following secondquarter earnings that failed to meet investors' expectations. While this might have been shrugged off as a minor setback, it was merely the beginning of a series of events that would place Google under intense scrutiny.

Shortly afterwards, the Financial Times reported that Google had struck a secret deal with Meta to target advertisements at teenagers. This agreement appeared to circumvent Google's own rules regarding the treatment of minors online, raising ethical concerns and further damaging the company's reputation.

The Instagram campaign deliberately targeted a group of users labelled as 'unknown'in its advertising system, which Google knew skewed towards under-18s, the report said. It further suggests that steps were taken to ensure the true intent of the campaign was disguised.