Google’s Cut from Search to Apple Revealed; YouTube-Disclose AI Content or Be Demonetized; Exxon Wants to Mine Lithium in Arkansas; Big Losses for Truth Social

A witness in the Google antitrust case let it drop how much they pay Apple as a cut of all search ad revenue…and it is a bundle…36%! Theverge.com reports that University of Chicago professor Kevin Murphy testified in Google’s defense, and revealed the figure the search giant pays Apple for searches that come from Safari. We already knew that Google has been paying some $18 billion to keep Google as the default search engine for Safari. Neither Google nor Apple have responded to requests for comment from media organizations.

YouTube is gearing up to require creators to disclose if their video has AI generated content. According to androidauthority.com, the platform will penalize consistent non-complying creators with content removal, demonetization, or even suspension from the YouTube Partner Program. Users will soon see ‘altered or synthetic content’ labels on videos that have AI generated content. Note that  if the video violates YouTube’s Community Guidelines, it could still be removed, regardless of whether it correctly labeled itself as AI-generated content. It is good to see YouTube trying to get out ahead of this situation. 

Numerous companies are looking for ways to get lithium for EV batteries without having to depend on China. The US has hundreds of thousands of tons of ‘recoverable’ lithium, but there is just one American commercial scale lithium mining site in the country right now…it’s in Nevada, and run by Albermarle. TechCrunch.com says that Exxon is angling to drill for lithium in Arkansas. Meanwhile, Tesla is working on extracting the metal from clay in Texas. There are at least 3 other firms in the hunt for the rare metal. Exxon hopes to start producing lithium by 2027. So you think electric vehicles will be the demise of big oil companies…think again! A side note: Exxon was involved in lithium-ion battery production back in the 70’s but quit because the business wouldn’t ‘scale’ in those days. 

Truth Social, the Trump social media platform has lost $73 million in net sales since the official launch in February of 2022. TheHill.com reports that the info comes from a filing from Digital World Acquisition Corp. Digital is a merger partner with Trump Media and Technology Group. If the Trump group can’t complete its merger with DWAC and get more funds in, the company likely won’t survive, according to the amended S-4 filing. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.