[simplecto]

50/50 you read the article, so I will leave this here:

> Google is testing a new feature that will surface Instagram and TikTok videos in their own dedicated carousel in the Google app for mobile devices — a move that could help the company retain users in search of social video entertainment from fully leaving Google’s platform.

In short, it appears they scrape and display content from sites they don't own in an effort to keep people on their platform. This is anti-competitive, and any smaller player engaged in similar behavior would have the door shot on their fingers.

Google use help people find their way to interesting places. Now they seem more and more interested in keeping them in a walled garden.

[Barrin92]

No offense but did you read the rest of the article?

>Both Instagram and TikTok videos were available in the Short Videos row. When clicked, you’re taken to the web version of the social platform — not the native mobile app, even if it’s installed on your device. The end result is that Google users are more likely to remain on Google, as all it takes is a tap on the back arrow to return to the search results after watching the video.

at least they're taking you to the web version of the service they're presenting content from, so it's not like they just serve the content themselves. I don't see a problem with that.

[colejohnson66]

Isn’t that just the app not registering URL handlers with the OS? I’ve clicked YouTube URLs before and it opens the YouTube app.

[stevesearer]

I recently noticed that some Google search results now load images associated from the content on the search results page when you hover over the search result link.

I have no doubt some users will find it helpful, but it is another example of Google extracting data/content from websites and then displaying it on their own platform making less people visit where the content originates from.