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Saudi Arabia Participates in Global Forum on Technology in Paris

The Kingdom’s participation at the forum aimed at exchanging expertise and views on the developments in the IT sector.
The Kingdom’s participation at the forum aimed at exchanging expertise and views on the developments in the IT sector.
TT
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Saudi Arabia Participates in Global Forum on Technology in Paris

The Kingdom’s participation at the forum aimed at exchanging expertise and views on the developments in the IT sector.
The Kingdom’s participation at the forum aimed at exchanging expertise and views on the developments in the IT sector.

Saudi Arabia has participated in the Global Forum on Technology held by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris.

The Kingdom’s participation at the forum, represented by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), aimed at exchanging expertise and views on the developments in the IT sector at the national and global levels.

Participating in a panel session titled “digital technology gap,” Daniah Orkoubi, the Undersecretary of MCIT for Technological Foresight & Digital Economy, reviewed the procedures the Kingdom has taken to lay the foundations of an efficient digital infrastructure under the targets of the Saudi Vision 2030.

She also reviewed the Kingdom's programs to empower Saudi women and support digital talents.

Orkoub pointed out that the Kingdom also has the largest number of digital talents in the region, with 340,000 male and female workers in the communications and IT sector.

She highlighted the Kingdom’s efforts to bridge the digital gap through several initiatives, chiefly the Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTN) Program, in a way that contributes to achieving inclusiveness and prosperity of human communities.

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Google Proposes Fresh Tweaks to Search Results in Europe

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. (Reuters)
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. (Reuters)
TT
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Google Proposes Fresh Tweaks to Search Results in Europe

The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. (Reuters)
The logo of Google LLC is shown at an entrance to one of their buildings in San Diego, California, US, October 9, 2024. (Reuters)

Google has proposed more changes to its search results in Europe after some smaller rivals complained about lower traffic to their sites resulting from previous tweaks by the Alphabet unit and as EU antitrust regulators consider levying charges against the company under new EU tech rules.

Under the Digital Markets Act, Google is prohibited from favoring its products and services on its platform. The Act kicked in last year and is aimed at reining in the power of Big Tech.

The world's most popular internet search engine has since then tried to address conflicting demands from price-comparison sites, hotels, airlines and small retailers, among others. The latter three groups said their direct booking clicks have fallen by 30% due to recent Google changes.

"We have therefore proposed more changes to our European search results to try to accommodate these requests, while still meeting the goals set by the DMA," Google's legal director, Oliver Bethell, said in a blog post on Tuesday.

Changes include introducing expanded and equally formatted units allowing users to choose between comparison sites and supplier websites, new formats letting rivals show prices and pictures on their websites as well as new ad units for comparison sites.

"We think the latest proposal is the right way to balance the difficult trade-offs that the DMA involves," Bethell said.

For its search results in Germany, Belgium and Estonia, Google also plans to remove the map showing the location of hotels and the results beneath the map, similar to its old "ten blue links" format from years ago, as part of a short test to gauge users' interest.

"We're very reluctant to take this step, as removing helpful features does not benefit consumers or businesses in Europe," Bethell said.

Google has been in the European Commission's crosshairs since March. DMA violations can cost companies as much as 10% of their annual global turnover.