Author Archives: Google Africa Blog

Helping you avoid COVID-19 online security risks

As people around the world are staying at home due to COVID-19, many are turning to new apps and communications tools to work, learn, access information, and stay connected with loved ones.

While these digital platforms are helpful in our daily lives, they can also introduce new online security risks. Our Threat Analysis Group continually monitors for sophisticated, government-backed hacking activity and is seeing new COVID-19 messaging used in attacks, and our security systems have detected a range of new scams such as phishing emails posing as messages from charities and NGOs battling COVID-19, directions from “administrators” to employees working from home, and even notices spoofing healthcare providers. Our systems have also spotted malware-laden sites that pose as sign-in pages for popular social media accounts, health organizations, and even official coronavirus maps. During the past couple of weeks, our advanced, machine-learning classifiers have seen 18 million daily malware and phishing attempts related to COVID-19, in addition to more than 240 million COVID-related spam messages.
To protect you from these risks, we've built advanced security protections into Google products to automatically identify and stop threats before they ever reach you. Our machine learning models in Gmail already detect and block more than 99.9 percent of spam, phishing and malware. Our built-in security also protects you by alerting you before you enter fraudulent websites, scanning apps in Google Play before you download, and more. But we want to help you stay secure everywhere online, not just on our products, so we’re providing these simple tips, tools and resources.

Know how to spot and avoid COVID-19 scams
With many of the COVID-19 related scams coming in the form of phishing emails, it’s important to pause and evaluate any COVID-19 email before clicking any links or taking other action. Be wary of requests for personal information such as your home address or bank details. Fake links often imitate established websites by adding extra words or letters to them—check the URL’s validity by hovering over it (on desktop) or with a long press (on mobile). Keep these tips handy and learn more at g.co/covidsecuritytips.

Use your company’s enterprise email account for anything work-related
Working with our enterprise customers, we see how employees can put their company’s business at risk when using their personal accounts or devices. Even when working from home, it’s important to keep your work and personal email separate. Enterprise accounts offer additional security features that keep your company’s private information private. If you’re unsure about your company’s online security safeguards, check with your IT professionals to ensure the right security features are enabled, like two-factor authentication.

Secure your video calls on video conferencing apps
The security controls built into Google Meet are turned on by default, so that in most cases, organizations and users are automatically protected. But there are steps you can take on any video conferencing app to make your call more secure:
  • If your meetings use short, numeric codes, turn on the password or PIN feature. The extra layer of verification will help ensure only the invited attendees gain access to the meeting.
  • When sharing a meeting invite publicly, be sure to enable the “knocking” feature so that the meeting organizer can personally vet and accept new attendees before they enter the meeting.
  • If you receive a meeting invite that requires installing a new video-conferencing app, always be sure to verify the invitation—paying special attention to potential imposters—before installing.

Install security updates when notified
When working from home, your work computer may not automatically update your security technology as it would when in the office and connected to your corporate network. It’s important to take immediate action on any security update prompts. These updates solve for known security vulnerabilities, which attackers are actively seeking out and exploiting.

Use a password manager to create and store strong passwords
With all the new applications and services you might be using for work and school purposes, it can be tempting to use just one password for all. In fact, 66 percent of Americans admit to using the same password across multiple accounts. To keep your private information private, always use unique, hard-to-guess passwords. A password manager, like the one built into Android, Chrome, and your Google Account can help make this easier.

Protect your Google Account
If you use a Google Account, you can easily review any recent security issues and get personalized recommendations to help protect your data and devices with the Security Checkup. Within this tool, you can also run a Password Checkup to learn if any of your saved passwords for third party sites or accounts have been compromised and then easily change them if needed.

You should also consider adding two-step verification (also known as two-factor authentication), which you likely already have in place for online banking and other similar services to provide an extra layer of security. This helps keep out anyone who shouldn’t have access to your accounts by requiring a secondary factor on top of your username and password to sign in. To set this up for your Google Account, go to g.co/2SV. And if you’re someone who is at risk of a targeted attack—like a journalist, activist, politician or a high profile healthcare professional—enroll in the Advanced Protection Program, our strongest security offering, at g.co/advancedprotection.


Help your kids stay safe online
With schools closed around the world, kids are online more than ever before. You can help your kids learn how to spot scams with the educational material at Be Internet Awesome and within the interactive learning game, Interland. You can also use Family Link to create age-appropriate accounts, control your kids’ app downloads, and monitor their activity.

Our teams continue to monitor the evolving online security threats connected to COVID-19 so that we can keep you informed and protected. For more tips to help you improve your online security, visit our Safety Center.



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It’s now free to sell on Google

The retail sector has faced many threats over the years, which have only intensified during the coronavirus pandemic. With physical stores shuttered, digital commerce has become a lifeline for retailers. And as consumers increasingly shop online, they're searching not just for essentials but also things like toys, apparel, and home goods. While this presents an opportunity for struggling businesses to reconnect with consumers, many cannot afford to do so at scale.

In light of these challenges, we’re advancing our plans to make it free for merchants to sell on Google.

Beginning next week, search results on the Google Shopping tab will consist primarily of free product listings, helping merchants better connect with consumers, regardless of whether they advertise on Google. With hundreds of millions of shopping searches on Google each day, we know that many retailers have the items people need in stock and ready to ship, but are less discoverable online.

For retailers, this change means free exposure to millions of people who come to Google every day for their shopping needs. For shoppers, it means more products from more stores, discoverable through the Google Shopping tab. For advertisers, this means paid campaigns can now be augmented with free listings. If you’re an existing user of Merchant Center and Shopping ads, you don't have to do anything to take advantage of the free listings, and for new users of Merchant Center, we'll continue working to streamline the onboarding process over the coming weeks and months.

These changes will take effect in the U.S. before the end of April, and we aim to expand this globally before the end of the year. Our help center has more details on how to participate in free product listings and Shopping ads.

We’re also kicking off a new partnership with PayPal to allow merchants to link their accounts. This will speed up our onboarding process and ensure we’re surfacing the highest quality results for our users. And we’re continuing to work closely with many of our existing partners that help merchants manage their products and inventory, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, to make digital commerce more accessible for businesses of all sizes.

Solutions during this crisis will not be fast or easy, but we hope to provide a measure of relief for businesses and lay the groundwork for a healthier retail ecosystem in the future.

Posted by Bill Ready, President, Commerce

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Grow your skills with the Google Africa Developer Scholarships

We are pleased to announce the third round of Google Africa Developer Scholarships, as part of our commitment to create skills and economic opportunities for Africa. This builds on our 5-year engagement to help bridge the developer skills and opportunities gap in Africa by providing 100,000 African developers with access to high-quality, world-class training on mobile technologies and Cloud platforms. 

Today, we are announcing an additional 30,000 training scholarship opportunities and a further 1,000 grants for the Google Associate Android Developer and Associate Cloud Engineer certifications. The training will be delivered by our partners, Pluralsight and Andela, through an intensive curriculum designed to prepare learners for entry-level and intermediate roles as software developers.

Across Africa we continue to see developers who have successfully gone through the scholarship program grow their careers and also use their skills to benefit their communities. Boutheina Bouchahda, a middle-school teacher from Tunisia, went through the training program last year and is building an application for her students to teach them how to program. Boutheina credits the scholarship program for her skills and confidence growth. Ayeah Godlove Akoni from Cameroon completed the web development skills track and immediately got a job as a web developer. He is also one of the 1,000 developers across Africa who qualified for the developer certification grants. .

Throughout this journey, we have seen the value of peer-to-peer learning as a catalyst for deeper learning thanks to the in-person meetups facilitated by our community leads in multiple cities across Africa. Developers accepted into the scholarship will gain access to our network of over 250 Google Developer Groups and Developer Student Clubs in 150 cities across Africa. This connection to communities focused on Google technologies will provide access to extra skills and help inspire the next generation of software developers in Africa.

Please click here to apply for the scholarship.

Posted by John Kimani, Program Manager


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Boostez vos compétences grâce aux bourses d’études Google Africa destinées aux Développeurs

Nous sommes heureux d’annoncer la troisième série de bourses Google Africa destinées aux développeurs dans le cadre de notre engagement pour créer des compétences et des opportunités économiques pour l’Afrique. Cette initiative s’inscrit dans notre engagement sur cinq ans visant à combler le déficit de compétences et d’opportunités en Afrique dans le domaine du développement informatique, en permettant à 100 000 développeurs africains d’accéder à une formation de qualité de niveau international sur les technologies mobiles et les plateformes cloud.

Cette année, nous offrons 30 000 bourses d’études supplémentaires et 1 000 subventions en plus pour les programmes de certification Google Associate Android Developer et Associate Cloud Engineer. La formation sera dispensée par nos partenaires, Pluralsight et Andela sous forme de cours intensifs destinés à des étudiants souhaitant accéder à des postes de développeurs logiciels junior ou de niveau intermédiaire.

Dans toute l’Afrique, les exemples sont nombreux de développeurs qui ont suivi avec succès le programme de bourses d’études. Ces professionnels progressent dans leur carrière et utilisent également leurs compétences au profit de leur communauté. Boutheina Bouchahda, une enseignante de collège tunisienne, a suivi le programme de formation l’année dernière et a créé une application pour ses élèves afin de leur enseigner la programmation. Selon Boutheina, ce programme de bourse lui a permis de développer ses compétences et sa confiance en soi. Originaire du Cameroun, Ayeah Godlove Akoni a suivi le parcours de développement web et a immédiatement décroché un emploi de développeur web. Il fait également partie des 1 000 développeurs répartis dans l’ensemble du continent qui remplissent les conditions pour bénéficier du programme de bourses de certification destiné aux développeurs.

Tout au long de ce voyage, nous avons pu constater combien l’apprentissage entre pairs servait de catalyseur pour apporter une formation plus approfondie grâce aux rencontres individualisés mises en place par nos responsables communautaires dans de nombreuses villes d’Afrique. Les développeurs qui bénéficieront de cette bourse d’études auront accès à notre réseau de plus de 250 groupes de développeurs Google et clubs d’étudiants en développement informatique présents dans 150 villes d’Afrique. Ce lien avec les communautés, axé sur les technologies Google, permettra d’accéder à de nouvelles compétences et contribuera à inspirer la prochaine génération de développeurs de logiciels en Afrique.

Veuillez cliquer ici pour déposer une demande de bourse.

Publié par John Kimani, Directeur des programmes

A Global Journalism Emergency Relief Fund for local news

Local news is a vital resource for keeping people and communities connected in the best of times. Today, it plays an even greater function in reporting on local lockdowns or shelter at home orders, school and park closures, and data about how COVID-19 is affecting daily life.

But that role is being challenged as the news industry deals with job cuts, furloughs and cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn prompted by COVID-19. The Google News Initiative wants to help by launching a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally. The funding is open to news organizations producing original news for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from the low thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region.

Starting today, publishers everywhere can apply for funds via a simple application form. We’ve made this as streamlined as possible to ensure we get help to eligible publishers all over the world. Applications will close on Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. At the end of the process, we’ll announce who has received funding and how publishers are spending the money.

Additionally, we recognize that covering the coronavirus pandemic can take its toll on reporters on the front line. That’s why Google.org is giving $1 million collectively to the International Center for Journalists, which plans to provide immediate resources to support reporters globally, and the Columbia Journalism School's Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma which is helping journalists exposed to traumatic events experienced during the crisis.

Today’s news builds on other efforts we’ve made to support the industry and connect people to quality information at this time of need. We believe it is important to do what we can to alleviate the financial pressures on newsrooms, and will continue to look at other ways to help with more to announce soon.

Richard Gingras, VP of News, Google



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Un fonds mondial d’aide d’urgence pour le journalisme en faveur de l’information locale

En temps normal, l’information locale joue un rôle essentiel pour assurer le lien entre les gens et au sein des communautés. Aujourd’hui, ce média remplit une fonction encore plus importante en relayant les consignes concernant le confinement et l’ordre de rester chez soi, les fermetures d’écoles et de parcs, ainsi que les informations sur l’impact du COVID-19 sur la vie quotidienne.

Mais ce rôle est remis en question à l’heure où le secteur de l’information est confronté à des suppressions d’emplois, au chômage technique et à des réductions de personnel en raison du ralentissement économique provoqué par le COVID-19. Google News Initiative veut apporter son aide en lançant un Fonds d’aide d’urgence pour le journalisme dans l’objectif de fournir un soutien rapide à des milliers d’éditeurs de presse locale - petits et moyens - dans le monde entier. Ce fonds est destiné aux organes de presse qui produisent des contenus d’information qui s’adressent aux communautés locales en cette période de crise. Les montants varieront de quelques milliers de dollars pour les petites rédactions des journaux couvrant un territoire extrêmement restreint à plusieurs dizaines de milliers pour les structures plus importantes, avec des variations selon les régions.

À partir d’aujourd’hui, les éditeurs du monde entier peuvent déposer une demande de financement au moyen d’un simple formulaire. Nous avons simplifié au maximum cette procédure afin que les éditeurs éligibles du monde entier puissent bénéficier de cette aide. La date limite de dépôt des demandes est fixée au mercredi 29 avril 2020 à 23h59, heure du Pacifique. À l’issue de ce processus, nous annoncerons les noms des éditeurs qui bénéficieront de ces fonds et nous préciserons l’usage qui en sera fait.

Par ailleurs, nous sommes conscients que la couverture de la pandémie de coronavirus peut avoir des conséquences sur la santé des journalistes en première ligne. C’est pourquoi Google.org a effectué un don d’un montant total d’1 million de dollars au profit du Centre international des journalistes, qui prévoit de fournir des ressources immédiates afin de soutenir les journalistes dans le monde entier, et du Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma de l’école de journalisme de Columbia qui vient en aide aux journalistes exposés à des événements traumatiques pendant la crise.

L’information diffusée aujourd’hui s’appuie sur d’autres initiatives que nous avons prises pour soutenir ce secteur et pour permettre aux citoyens d’avoir accès à une information de qualité dans cette période difficile. Nous pensons qu’il est important de faire le maximum pour alléger la pression financière qui pèse sur les rédactions. Nous poursuivons nos efforts dans ce sens et annoncerons prochainement d’autres initiatives.

Posté par Richard Gingras, vice-président de l’information, Google

A Global Journalism Emergency Relief Fund for local news

Local news is a vital resource for keeping people and communities connected in the best of times. Today, it plays an even greater function in reporting on local lockdowns or shelter at home orders, school and park closures, and data about how COVID-19 is affecting daily life.

But that role is being challenged as the news industry deals with job cuts, furloughs and cutbacks as a result of the economic downturn prompted by COVID-19. The Google News Initiative wants to help by launching a Journalism Emergency Relief Fund to deliver urgent aid to thousands of small, medium and local news publishers globally. The funding is open to news organizations producing original news for local communities during this time of crisis, and will range from the low thousands of dollars for small hyper-local newsrooms to low tens of thousands for larger newsrooms, with variations per region.

Starting today, publishers everywhere can apply for funds via a simple application form. We’ve made this as streamlined as possible to ensure we get help to eligible publishers all over the world. Applications will close on Wednesday April 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time. At the end of the process, we’ll announce who has received funding and how publishers are spending the money.

Additionally, we recognize that covering the coronavirus pandemic can take its toll on reporters on the front line. That’s why Google.org is giving $1 million collectively to the International Center for Journalists, which plans to provide immediate resources to support reporters globally, and the Columbia Journalism School's Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma which is helping journalists exposed to traumatic events experienced during the crisis.

Today’s news builds on other efforts we’ve made to support the industry and connect people to quality information at this time of need. We believe it is important to do what we can to alleviate the financial pressures on newsrooms, and will continue to look at other ways to help with more to announce soon.

Richard Gingras, VP of News, Google



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Un fonds mondial d’aide d’urgence pour le journalisme en faveur de l’information locale

En temps normal, l’information locale joue un rôle essentiel pour assurer le lien entre les gens et au sein des communautés. Aujourd’hui, ce média remplit une fonction encore plus importante en relayant les consignes concernant le confinement et l’ordre de rester chez soi, les fermetures d’écoles et de parcs, ainsi que les informations sur l’impact du COVID-19 sur la vie quotidienne.

Mais ce rôle est remis en question à l’heure où le secteur de l’information est confronté à des suppressions d’emplois, au chômage technique et à des réductions de personnel en raison du ralentissement économique provoqué par le COVID-19. Google News Initiative veut apporter son aide en lançant un Fonds d’aide d’urgence pour le journalisme dans l’objectif de fournir un soutien rapide à des milliers d’éditeurs de presse locale - petits et moyens - dans le monde entier. Ce fonds est destiné aux organes de presse qui produisent des contenus d’information qui s’adressent aux communautés locales en cette période de crise. Les montants varieront de quelques milliers de dollars pour les petites rédactions des journaux couvrant un territoire extrêmement restreint à plusieurs dizaines de milliers pour les structures plus importantes, avec des variations selon les régions.

À partir d’aujourd’hui, les éditeurs du monde entier peuvent déposer une demande de financement au moyen d’un simple formulaire. Nous avons simplifié au maximum cette procédure afin que les éditeurs éligibles du monde entier puissent bénéficier de cette aide. La date limite de dépôt des demandes est fixée au mercredi 29 avril 2020 à 23h59, heure du Pacifique. À l’issue de ce processus, nous annoncerons les noms des éditeurs qui bénéficieront de ces fonds et nous préciserons l’usage qui en sera fait.

Par ailleurs, nous sommes conscients que la couverture de la pandémie de coronavirus peut avoir des conséquences sur la santé des journalistes en première ligne. C’est pourquoi Google.org a effectué un don d’un montant total d’1 million de dollars au profit du Centre international des journalistes, qui prévoit de fournir des ressources immédiates afin de soutenir les journalistes dans le monde entier, et du Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma de l’école de journalisme de Columbia qui vient en aide aux journalistes exposés à des événements traumatiques pendant la crise.

L’information diffusée aujourd’hui s’appuie sur d’autres initiatives que nous avons prises pour soutenir ce secteur et pour permettre aux citoyens d’avoir accès à une information de qualité dans cette période difficile. Nous pensons qu’il est important de faire le maximum pour alléger la pression financière qui pèse sur les rédactions. Nous poursuivons nos efforts dans ce sens et annoncerons prochainement d’autres initiatives.

Posté par Richard Gingras, vice-président de l’information, Google

Pray #WithMe: Connect online with your faith community

This week, millions of people across the globe will celebrate Passover and Easter. And in the coming weeks, millions will begin to observe Ramadan. This year, these important religious holidays will feel very different, as faith organizations all over the world look for new ways to celebrate safely in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within their communities.

During these difficult times, it’s important for us to continue to connect with each other and feel part of our wider communities, even from home.

While some faith organizations have used digital tools to connect with their congregations for many years, this year’s broadly mandated orders to stay home will make it essential for churches, synagogues, mosques, families and individuals to find new ways of coming together, online.

The shift has already begun - since the start of March, the combined subscribers of all Vatican News channels has more than doubled.

To assist faith organizations everywhere who are new to online services, YouTube has brought together helpful information to get started with live streaming. Please visit our Playlist and Help Center for best practices, or check out instructions for hosting a live stream event either from a mobile device or desktop.

African artists are also joining this special weekend of music and celebration. We invite you to join top African artists like Jethro Tait, Joeboy, King Perry, and Nasty C as they make music and chat with fans. As it is Easter weekend, gospel music lovers can join special performances hosted by top African gospel artists such as Benjamin Dube, Folabi Nuel, Glowreeyah, Mnqobi Nxumalo, Mthunzi Namba and Nosa, . Please visit goo.gle/stayhomewithme for the complete schedule and YouTube livestream links.
We also invite you to celebrate with a special Saturday Night Seder, premiering exclusively on YouTube via Tasty and SaturdayNightSeder on Saturday, April 11th at 12am GMT. This Passover-themed variety show will raise funds for the CDC Foundation, and includes comedy sketches, heartfelt moments and music, with an impressive list of participants including Jason Alexander, Ben Platt, Idina Menzel, Dan Levy, Henry Winkler, Tan France and Senator Chuck Schumer, among many others.

For those celebrating Good Friday and Easter, many churches are hosting live streams for their local congregations, so please check in with your church. The Vatican will live stream all of its Holy Week services from St. Peter’s Basilica, including Easter Sunday mass at 9AM GMT

Renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli will perform live at 5PM GMT on Sunday, April 12 from Milan’s historic Duomo Cathedral, available exclusively on YouTube. The concert entitled, “Music For Hope,” will represent a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world. The Duomo, currently closed, will open its doors exceptionally for Andrea Bocelli who will be accompanied only by the cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, playing one of world’s largest pipe organs. The “Music For Hope” trailer can be seen here.

We’ll have more to share in the next few weeks about upcoming Ramadan celebrations.

We wish safe and healthy holidays for faith communities across the world.
-- The YouTube Team



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Pray #WithMe: Connect online with your faith community

This week, millions of people across the globe will celebrate Passover and Easter. And in the coming weeks, millions will begin to observe Ramadan. This year, these important religious holidays will feel very different, as faith organizations all over the world look for new ways to celebrate safely in order to reduce the spread of COVID-19 within their communities.

During these difficult times, it’s important for us to continue to connect with each other and feel part of our wider communities, even from home.

While some faith organizations have used digital tools to connect with their congregations for many years, this year’s broadly mandated orders to stay home will make it essential for churches, synagogues, mosques, families and individuals to find new ways of coming together, online.

The shift has already begun - since the start of March, the combined subscribers of all Vatican News channels has more than doubled.

To assist faith organizations everywhere who are new to online services, YouTube has brought together helpful information to get started with live streaming. Please visit our Playlist and Help Center for best practices, or check out instructions for hosting a live stream event either from a mobile device or desktop.

African artists are also joining this special weekend of music and celebration. We invite you to join top African artists like Jethro Tait, Joeboy, King Perry, and Nasty C as they make music and chat with fans. As it is Easter weekend, gospel music lovers can join special performances hosted by top African gospel artists such as Benjamin Dube, Folabi Nuel, Glowreeyah, Mnqobi Nxumalo, Mthunzi Namba and Nosa, . Please visit goo.gle/stayhomewithme for the complete schedule and YouTube livestream links.
We also invite you to celebrate with a special Saturday Night Seder, premiering exclusively on YouTube via Tasty and SaturdayNightSeder on Saturday, April 11th at 12am GMT. This Passover-themed variety show will raise funds for the CDC Foundation, and includes comedy sketches, heartfelt moments and music, with an impressive list of participants including Jason Alexander, Ben Platt, Idina Menzel, Dan Levy, Henry Winkler, Tan France and Senator Chuck Schumer, among many others.

For those celebrating Good Friday and Easter, many churches are hosting live streams for their local congregations, so please check in with your church. The Vatican will live stream all of its Holy Week services from St. Peter’s Basilica, including Easter Sunday mass at 9AM GMT

Renowned opera singer Andrea Bocelli will perform live at 5PM GMT on Sunday, April 12 from Milan’s historic Duomo Cathedral, available exclusively on YouTube. The concert entitled, “Music For Hope,” will represent a message of love, healing and hope to Italy and the world. The Duomo, currently closed, will open its doors exceptionally for Andrea Bocelli who will be accompanied only by the cathedral organist, Emanuele Vianelli, playing one of world’s largest pipe organs. The “Music For Hope” trailer can be seen here.

We’ll have more to share in the next few weeks about upcoming Ramadan celebrations.

We wish safe and healthy holidays for faith communities across the world.
-- The YouTube Team



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YouTube Music Lands in Naija!

From the Coachella livestream to popular videos like Wizkid’s "Joro", Burna boy’s "On The Low", and Drake’s "God's plan" people come to YouTube to be part of music culture and discover new music.

But YouTube was made for watching, which meant fans have had to jump back and forth between multiple music apps and YouTube. Those days will soon be over. Today, we’re excited to bring YouTube Music to Nigeria.

YouTube Music is a new music streaming service made for music listening, on top of the magic of YouTube: making the complete world of music easier to explore and more personalized than ever. Whether you want to listen, watch or discover - all the ways music moves you can be found in one place. 

Here are six reasons we think you’re gonna like YouTube Music:
  • It’s ALL here. Not just music videos, but official albums, singles, remixes, live performances, covers and hard-to-find music you can only get on YouTube. 
  • Recommendations built for you. A home screen that dynamically adapts to provide recommendations based on what you’ve played before, where you are and what you’re doing. At the gym workin’ on that fitness? Escaping during your commute? The right music is right here, built just for you. 
  • Thousands of playlists across any genre, mood or activity. That means no matter what kind of music you like, where you are, what you’re doing, or what mood you’re in, you can easily find the right playlist for that moment. Try “RELEASED” to discover new music or “Afrobeats Hotlist” to get the rhythm flowing. 
  • Smart Search so we’ll find the song, even if you can’t remember what it’s called. Try “that billionaire song” or “That rap song with flute” - We got you. You can also search by lyrics (even if they’re wrong). It’s that “bode thomas” right? 
  • The hottest videos. The hottest videos in the world right now are right there, on their own dedicated Hotlist screen. And with YouTube Music Premium you can seamlessly transition between a song and its music video for uninterrupted listening and watching with a simple tap of a button. 
  • No internet? No problem. Get YouTube Music Premium to listen ad-free, in the background and on-the-go with downloads. Plus, your Offline Mixtape automatically downloads songs you love just in case you forgot to.

While fans can enjoy the new ad-supported version of YouTube Music for free, we’re also launching YouTube Music Premium, a paid membership that gives you background listening, downloads and an ad-free experience for [N900] a month. Music fans can get one month free of YouTube Music Premium here, ([N900] per month after, [N1,400] per month for a Family Plan).

YouTube Premium also launches today
Starting today, you can also upgrade to YouTube Premium, providing members with the benefits of Music Premium, plus ad-free, background, and downloads across all of YouTube. You can also binge-watch YouTube Originals shows and movies, including the hit series Cobra Kai and many more. Try YouTube Premium free for one month here, ([N1,100] per month after, [N1,700] per month for a Family Plan).

Google Play Music subscribers will automatically receive access to YouTube Music Premium at their current price. Nothing is changing with Google Play Music - you'll still be able to access all of your purchased music, uploads and playlists in Google Play Music just like always.

YouTube Music and YouTube Premium are rolling out to users in Nigeria starting today. Get the new YouTube Music from the Play Store and App Store today or check out the web player at music.youtube.com. You can sign up for YouTube Premium at youtube.com/premium.

Posted by the YouTube Music Team

Funding 21 news projects in the Middle East, Africa and Turkey


Finding new and meaningful ways to engage readers is a hot topic for news organizations of any size, and the first Google News Initiative (GNI) Innovation Challenge for the Middle East, Turkey and Africa prompted a myriad of different approaches. The GNI Innovation Challenges, part of Google’s $300 million commitment to help journalism thrive in the digital age, saw news innovators step forward with new thinking. In South Africa, Daily Maverick proposed a “relevancy engine” that would aggregate data feeds about reader behavior for small and medium publishers. In Jordan, podcast startup Sowt looked to tackle the challenge with a new hosting platform for news podcasts.


We launched the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge last June, and received 527 applications from 35 countries. After a rigorous review, a round of interviews and a final jury selection process, we selected 21 projects from 13 countries to receive $1.93 million in funding. There are 7 projects from Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda and South Africa respectively. 


The call for applications listed four criteria: impact, feasibility, innovation and inspiration, and the successful projects clearly demonstrated all four. Here are just a few of the awardees (you can find the full list on our website):
  • Demirören Teknoloji Anonim Şirketi in Turkey wants to solve the tagging process for the Turkish language to help with the news discovery distribution process. Currently this work requires cumbersome manual work from their journalists, taking a precious share of their time. 
  • Daily news publisher Israel Hayom will be creating a loyalty scheme where online users get real-life rewards in the form of tickets or money-saving offers. 
  • Nas News wants to engage Iraq’s citizens in video debates for positive change with a mobile-first social and news platform that allows users to read and debate on local and national topics.
  • L'Orient le Jour in Lebanon wants to build a new loyalty plan to offer special and personalized privileges to subscribers via an interactive platform.
  • The National in the UAE will develop a service that converts quality text news into audio in real time, in both English and Arabic.
  • Ringier Africa Digital Publishing in Nigeria will be increasing personalization across their platform using a blend of prediction, recommendation and local information pages to increase user engagement.

A second round of the Middle East, Turkey and Africa Innovation Challenge will open for applications later in the year: Watch for details on our website..

Posted by Sarah Hartley, Recipients Manager, GNI Innovation Challenges



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Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison on Google Arts & Culture

Nelson Mandela, photograph by Andrew Zuckerman, copyright Nelson R. Mandela, from the collection of: Nelson Mandela Foundation
Thirty years ago today, Madiba was returned back to the people after having served 27 years in prison as he fought the apartheid rule. Millions of people around the world had campaigned for his release for decades, and were finally able to watch him walk out of Victor Verster Prison and give his first address at Cape Town city hall. The 11th of February is a symbol of the ‘long walk to freedom,’ and a testament of how Madiba paved a new path for hope.


To commemorate this day, The Nelson Mandela Foundation and Google Arts & Culture have collaborated to launch a digital project allowing everyone to be inspired by Madiba’s life and legacy at g.co/longwalktofreedom. As one of the first partners to launch on Google Arts & Culture in 2012, we showcase our joint commitment towards preserving Madiba’s legacy and sharing it online with everyone, everywhere. By harnessing the power of technology, we invite you to join Madiba's journey through over 1000 high resolution photographs and videos, over thirty digital stories and two virtual tours with Street View.
Nelson Mandela walks out of the gates of Victor Verster prison, 11 February 1990, photograph by Gideon Mendel / Courtesy of ARTCO Gallery, from the collection of the Nelson Mandela Foundation
The digital project brings together activists, leaders and people key to carrying on Madiba’s legacy through intimate stories and photographs. Listen to Verne Harris, Madiba’s personal archivist, narrate his memories of the day and why he thinks it’s crucial for the collective memory of South Africa. Even if you were born free in the 2000s, Zulaikha Patel, an activist for gender equality, argues there is still a long way to go. Listen to her being inspired by that day, and how it has fueled her passion for activism and human rights.


As you’re exploring Madiba's life and legacy and how he has influenced many people alive today, be sure to step into the Cape Town City Hall in VR. Take a few moments to reflect on where you are today, and what you want to create for the generations to come. As Madiba said “For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”



Posted by Sello Hatang, Chief Executive, The Nelson Mandela Foundation and Fortune Mgwili-Sibanda, Google Policy Manager


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