Update to Google Workspace TOS regarding public posts
Section 9 of Google Workspace's Terms of Service has been updated. Here's how it was summarized in the notification:
Section 9, Publicity: We clarified that neither Google nor you may issue a press release or other similar public statement regarding your use of the services without the other party’s permission
The section itself makes clear that:
Neither party may use the other party’s Brand Features or issue, publish, or present a press release, blog post, speech, social media post, or investor relations call or announcement discussing Customer’s use of the Services or this Agreement without the prior written consent of the other party
Have you seen similar terms before? It seems very strange to me that they would contractually disallow customers from sharing how they use Google services or from discussing the TOS.
I've seen these kinds of terms in lots of business-to-business and consulting contracts in startup world. In that space, the perception of what the business could eventually be is most of the value. So a whose-who list of customers can be part of building your own brand's value. Customers whose companies are already established will often negotiate a discount in order for the startup to say, "Company You've Heard?Of uses our Web 7.0 Widgetifier" on their website.
Of course, none of that matters to Google. The simplest guess is that this will give them a way to distance themselves from anyone using the platform for something that is causing negative publicity which in this environment could equally be "our fascist network runs on Google" or "our anti-fascist network runs on Google".
However, I have a deeper guess. I wonder if Google's brand strategy is actually to quietly become ubiquitous – to fade into the background so that people don't notice or think about how much of what they do relies on Google. I was just thinking today about how all the voice assistants have a persona, except Google's. Siri, Alexa, Cortana, Bixby, and ... Ok Google? Or how they took their core brand, Google, and made it about search and email, while the faceless Alphabet is connected to so many other things. If that were their goal, their ability to shut down the use of their brand would be an important part of the strategy.
That does seem a bit excessive. If I'm writing a blog about business management and I talk about my experience using Google Workspace in comparison with Microsoft's offerings, am I violating this bit of the ToS if I don't get permission first?
I think in this context "publicity" means something more formal, like a press release using Google's logo or implying some official sponsorship.