Google threatened tech influencers unless they ‘preferred’ the Pixel

Google really wants to be broken up, huh?

The company’s invite-only Team Pixel program — which seeds Pixel products to influencers before public availability — stipulated that participating influencers were not allowed to feature Pixel products alongside competitors, and those who showed a preference for competing phones risked being kicked out of the program.

Good move right after a judge ruled you're a monopoly using your position to influence the market. This doesn't reinforce that you engage in bad behavior at all. /s

This is being reported poorly. This is a voluntary program that is intended for social media brand embassadors, aka, the people who go out and rep a brand. It makes sense to include some language requiring someone prepping your brand to show preferable to it.

The agreement tells participants they’re “expected to feature the Google Pixel device in place of any competitor mobile devices.” It also notes that “if it appears other brands are being preferred over the Pixel, we will need to cease the relationship between the brand and the creator.” The link to the form appears to have since been shut down.

This is some Disney Influencer-level bullshit, where they just dole out premium perks to influencers who will endlessly and exclusively positively shill their shit.

Google’s official Pixel review program for publications like The Verge requires no such stipulations. (And, to be clear, The Verge would never accept such terms, in accordance with our ethics policy.)

So then, what is Team Pixel, exactly? Officially, it’s a program handled by PR agency 1000heads that seeds early units to influencers and superfans to drum up interest as brand ambassadors. While Google partners with 1000heads, it doesn’t directly run the program, and there are distinct differences from the traditional reviews program. For example, journalists and influencers in the official reviews program often get briefed and given products under embargo before or during an event. Team Pixel participants get the devices shortly after launch but before the public — all in exchange for some coverage on social media. For smaller creators, this can be a big leg up in terms of access.

extremely critical context here, this is kind of a non story tbh

This is m3an to target "pixel influencers". Those don't exist. Only Apple and Samsung has does. I can't think of a single " Google " channel. I can't really think of any Samsung either but they do have a cult following plus eco system, so more chances of them being out there.

“Be Evil.”

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