Google says 'We missed the mark' as Team Pixel influencer policy raises concerns about biased reviews

• Google's Team Pixel initiative is an influencer program designed to generate buzz and excitement around new Pixel devices.

• Its updated agreements, which recently came to light, essentially require influencers that are part of the program to be biased towards Pixel devices or risk losing their relationship with Google.

• Google says the language that appeared in this form "Missed the mark" and that it has now removed the new policy. Readers can be assured that AP is not a part of any such influencer programs.

The Made by Google Pixel 9 event concluded earlier this week, and several of the preceding leaks and rumors about the devices turned out to be spot on.

The Pixel Screenshots app is likely the best AI tool to come out of the event, Satellite SOS will be available across the Pixel 9 series, though, breaking a multi-year tradition, the new series will ship with Android 14 , not the upcoming Android 15.

Our initial impressions of the new series are positive , and our hands-on thoughts are up on Android Police for you to read. We're thoroughly testing out the new devices to give you unbiased reviews in the coming weeks, but beware; other sources may not have the same level of independence.

Google's Team Pixel program, which was once considered to be a program for influencers to share their genuine thoughts about Pixel devices with their audience, generating buzz and excitement for Google's products as a byproduct, appears to have undergone a drastic change, losing any semblance of being perceived as a review program.

According to the program's new agreement terms, "If a creator shows preference to another device when reviewing the Pixel, Google will cease their partnership with that creator," as highlighted by tech reviewer @Marks_Tech on X (Twitter).

Previously, influencers part of the Team Pixel program were free to share their honest thoughts about Pixel devices, provided they included the #giftfromgoogletag with their posts. "There are no specific expectations," and "When posting about Pixel or the Google brand, your content should always be truthful, accurate, and reflect your honest opinions and experiences with whatever product or feature you're posting about," are some of the excerpts we've seen on Team Pixel emails, as shared by Max Weinbach , who was a part of the program for three years.

The new terms fall under a 'Brand Love' section, which wasn't a thing in the past.

"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? Please note that if it appears other brands are being preferred over the Pixel, we will need to cease the relationship between the brand and the creator."

As part of the new agreement, it appears that influencers can still be critical of Google's devices, but they must refrain from recommending or showing preference towards other smartphone brands, which introduces bias regardless. As far as public information goes, no other major smartphone brand forces similar stipulations.

The review and Team Pixel programs are entirely different

Readers can be assured that AP is not a part of any such influencer programs, and we're not bound by stipulations. Where the lines get blurry for regular readers and content consumers, however, is spotting which reviews are biased and which ones aren't.

An easy way to spot these would be to find hashtags like #teampixelor #giftfromgoogle. Now, we're not saying you should avoid content from those in the program; we're sure everyone that is part of the program puts in a lot of time and effort to bring you worthy tech content. We're just warning you about biases that you might encounter, forced upon those creators as part of Team Pixel's agreement.

Google says 'We missed the mark'

Acknowledging the issue in a statement to Android Police, Google Communications Manager Kayla Geier offered the following explanation:

#TeamPixel is a distinct program, separate from our press and creator reviews programs. 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.

So as we suspected, it was an influencer program meant to get Pixels into the hands of highly visible people. From the language used in Google's comment, it appears that the Team Pixel program was indeed managed by an external PR firm as reported, but Google doesn't explicitly point the finger at anyone else.

Don't forget the influencer side of the story

Android Police spoke with an influencer who had previously been enrolled in the Team Pixel program to glean some more insight into the situation. The influencer explained that, prior to the Pixel 9 launch, there were no explicit requirements for eligibility in the program beyond the FTC's sponsorship disclosure rules for social media influencers that necessitate the #TeamPixel hashtag being attached to posts.

1000heads , a self-proclaimed "Social Transformation Company," handled the program on Google's behalf, per the influencer we spoke with. Throughout their interactions with this company, our source got the impression that the contract with Google was very important to 1000heads, with the company reportedly tracking FTC hashtag infractions on a whiteboard at its main office. Meanwhile, Google's involvement in the project was said to be minimal from the influencer perspective.

It's unclear if 1000heads was still handling the program for the Pixel 9 launch this year, but our source was adamant that this was the first year any form of "Brand Love" stipulations had been included in the agreement. It remains unclear exactly which party introduced the controversial language.

We also spoke with Kevin Nether, better known as The Tech Ninja on YouTube , who echoed the same sentiment of the program being on the up-and-up prior to this year. Nether had only been to one Team Pixel event, but noted that it was mostly lifestyle influencers rather than people on the tech scene — exactly the type of crowd you'd expect from an influencer sponsorship program rather than a review initiative. And it was made clear throughout the partnership that Google PR wouldn't work with people on Team Pixel in order to maintain separation between the initiatives.

Like our other source, Nether was never told to restrict what he said about the devices, only to use a hashtag identifying the sponsorship. Nether's videos about past Pixel models contained pros as well as cons, and they even compared the Pixel to other phone models without eliciting a word from his Team Pixel contact, so it's clear that "Brand Love" wasn't a policy at the time. Upon being contacted with the new terms yesterday, Nether decided it was time to move on from Team Pixel and has elected not to work with the program going forward.

The language being removed from the program's terms now is somewhat reassuring, but it will take more than a retraction to restore trust in the Pixel review process after this ordeal.