Google Admits Misstep Over Pressure on Team Pixel Influencers

Google, an undisputed outsize influence on our always-on, social media-centric 21st century world, is no slouch when it comes to online marketing. As industry standards shift to the current, sometimes tricky blend of traditional ads and reviews, and snazzy images and videos made by exciting, there's now a huge role for young social media influencers--with millions of followers--to market products and create content against highly targeted ads.

Thanks to its near monopoly over search ads, Google should be up to date on these digital marketing trends, but the tech giant just admitted a big mistake. Last week, Google told influencers testing out its brand new Pixel 9 smartphone that they had to "feature the Google Pixel device in place of any competitor mobile devices" and if it looked like "other brands are being preferred" then Google would have to sever its potentially lucrative partnership with offending influencers.

Even someone who's barely had a sip of their morning coffee can spot Google's fundamental product promo bungle here.

Tech news site Mashable explains that Google has had a system in place to send out sample products to influencers--the invite-only program "Team Pixel"--since "at least 2017." The idea is that influencers with the right kind of audience get a shiny new device to use, and Google gets its newest products showcased to prospective buyers. Influencers were only required to add the hashtag #TeamPixel to please Google and a label like #giftfromgoogle to satisfy FTC requirements making it clear the post is promotional.

But when the new Pixel 9 phones were unveiled last week, influencers soon leaked notice of Google's new condition for Team Pixel members. "By opting into this program, do you acknowledge that you are expected to feature the Google Pixel device in place of any competitor mobile devices?" the demand began, and it ended with two simple buttons: "Yes, I acknowledge and agree" or "No, I don't agree." 

Essentially Google was holding influencers hostage unless they promised to make their phone look good, above and beyond competitors' devices--even if these rivals' products were meaningfully better, and the influencers themselves felt that to be the case. One influencer told tech news site The Verge that he was quitting Team Pixel over the new rule. Even notable tech influencer and reviewer Marques Brownlee commented on the saga. Though not a Team Pixel member himself, he said in an X post that Google's strongarm clause was Google doing "what every other tech company kind of wishes they could do," in trying to guarantee some positive spin for its Pixel 9 phones. But real tech reviewers should never sign up to be "team one thing over the other," Brownlee said.

Tech news site Engadget reports that Google has now admitted its mistake: Kayla Geier, a communications manager at Google, explained "The goal of #TeamPixel is to get Pixel devices into the hands of content creators, not press and tech reviewers. We missed the mark with this new language that appeared in the #TeamPixel form yesterday, and it has been removed."

Seeding lots of "artificially" positive influencer reviews for its new devices is arguably unethical, and puts Google in a dubious light. The general public may also wonder if the new devices actually that good, or are influencers merely being "made" to say so? It's also a questionable time to pull off this stunt: Google's under serious antitrust pressure, and may facing a breakup mandated by the Justice Department.