This was just incredibly dumb. Now any positive news about their new phone is going to be seen as planted.
I always assume that anyway
deleted by creator
It really isn’t, which is why it’s news when something like that comes out. People sometimes confuse being cynical with knowing how things work.
That said, this one is confusing, because it really does seem like Google is blurring the lines here between an ad spot or a product placement spot and pre-release samples for tech influencers intending to review them.
Honestly, cynicism aside, The Verge does a good job of breaking it down, including clarifying that they are under no such stipulations for their own review, so I’d recommend just reading the article in full.
Influencer is a fancy word for salesman. Instead of going door to door like grandpa did in the old days, they stream directly to your device.
I don’t see what’s the problem. It’s a proposal of a sponsorship with payment in nature (the expensive phones) instead of money. If the influencer disagrees, there’s no problem and they can buy the phones by themselves, Google is not forced by law to send free phones to influencers.
I don’t think that all those influencers are actually playing raid shadow legends or eating factor or using betterhelp.
Google is giving free review samples to real reviewers