Posts Tagged: presidential

Samsung heir Jay Y.Lee gets a presidential pardon

South Korean president President Yoon Suk Yeol has pardoned Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee and has cleared him of bribery charges in hopes of revitalizing the country's economy. Lee was originally sentenced to five years in prison in 2017 after being found guilty of bribing public officials to back the merger of two Samsung affiliates, which would have solidified his control over the tech giant. He walked free after a year in detention, but the South Korean Supreme Court overturned that decision and ordered the case to be retried. 

While Lee was sentenced with two-and-a-half years of prison time in early 2021 in that retrial, he was paroled half a year later in a development that civic groups had described as another example of the justice system being lenient towards the country's elite. Now, Lee doesn't have to worry about being sent to prison on bribery charges again — the presidential pardon even allows him to rejoin Samsung's board and to travel overseas to close deals. He was previously not allowed to take on an official role at Samsung under the conditions of his parole, even though the company's executives had been keeping him apprised of the latest developments. 

According to Bloomberg, Lee is now expected to make major strategic decisions for the tech giant, including deals related to chipmaking. The Korean government said in a statement:

"In a bid to overcome the economic crisis by vitalizing the economy, Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong, whose suspended prison term was ended recently, will be reinstated."

Similarly, Justice Minister Han Dong Hoon said at a briefing:

"With urgent needs to overcome the national economic crisis, we carefully selected economic leaders who lead the national growth engine through active technology investment and job creation to be pardoned."

In its latest earnings report, Samsung posted a 12 percent profit increase due to weak mobile and PC demand, which it blamed on "geopolitical issues and concerns over inflation on top of continued weak seasonality." The company also expects demand for consumer devices to stay weak over the coming months. 

As Bloomberg said, it's unclear if Lee intends to take over as Samsung's chairman, which has been a vacant position since his father Lee Kun-hee passed away in 2020. It's worth noting that Lee still isn't completely free of legal problems, though, and could still face jail time if he's found guilty in a separate case of fraud and stock manipulation. He will continue attending hearings related to that case.

Engadget is a web magazine with obsessive daily coverage of everything new in gadgets and consumer electronics

Presidential Inauguration, live on YouTube

From conventions to debates to election day, millions of you came to YouTube over the past year to stay informed and engage in a conversation on the 2016 U.S. election.

The results are in and in one week President-elect Trump will take the oath of office. As in 2013, YouTube is live streaming inauguration coverage and this year you can tune into live streams from more news organizations than ever before.

Head to YouTube on Friday, January 20, and choose a news channel to follow the day-long events:

You’ll also be able to feel what it’s like to be in the center of the action – look out for special coverage from some of the channels above in 360 degrees and amazing 4K quality.

Stay up to speed on U.S. political news, including live coverage, by heading to youtube.com/news.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched ”Presidential History.”


YouTube Blog

The three 2016 U.S. presidential debates rank as the most-viewed political live streams of all time

This year, more news organizations live streamed the U.S. presidential debates on YouTube than ever before, and we saw record-breaking interest from the YouTube community. The 2016 presidential debates rank as the three most-viewed political live streams of all time. In total, these debates drove 8.5M live watch hours and averaged 1.7M live peak concurrent viewers.

Last night’s final presidential debate delivered:

  • 2.8M live watch hours, nearly five times higher than 2012
  • 1.7M live peak concurrent viewers, over four times higher than 2012
  • Over 140 million views on all debate-related videos

Elections-related YouTube searches are also at an all-time high. Searches for U.S. election content are up 547 percent compared to this time in the last presidential race.

Throughout the debates, millions of viewers tuned in and stayed engaged. The average live session duration was 22 minutes across all three presidential debates and concurrent viewership consistently peaked towards the end of the debate.

In true YouTube fashion, Americans weren’t the only ones involved. Have a look at who was watching the most around the globe:

With only 18 days until U.S. Election Day voters are preparing to head to the polls. If the voter registration deadline in your state hasn’t passed, register today! It only takes 1 min., 34 seconds.

Kurt Wilms, Product Lead, Live Streaming at YouTube, recently watched “The Third Presidential Debate.”


YouTube Blog

Tune in to the final presidential debate, live on YouTube

With just 21 days remaining, the U.S. presidential election is top of mind for voters across the country.

Over the past three debates you’ve come to YouTube to follow live coverage from more news organizations than ever before. And Wednesday’s third and final presidential debate will be no exception.

Pick your favorite news channel and tune in to the debate starting at 9 p.m. ET on Wednesday, October 19. Here is where you can watch live on YouTube:

You can also join The Young Turks and Complex News on the ground reporting from Las Vegas, Nev., using YouTube Live directly from their phones.

Can’t decide on one stream? Check out youtube.com/news to follow all of the coverage.

And if the voter registration deadline in your state hasn’t passed, register today! It only takes 1 min., 34 seconds.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “How Voters Decide.”


YouTube Blog

#voteIRL: Announcing YouTube’s get out the vote initiative and presidential debate live streams

At YouTube, we believe in giving everyone a voice. So this U.S. elections season, we’re committed to making sure that people–especially young people–use their voice by voting.

With November just around the corner, election-related content is exploding. Over 200,000 election videos have been uploaded to YouTube every day since the July Conventions and you’ve watched more than 110 million hours of candidate and issues-related content on YouTube.

But while people are clearly engaged with the election online, we want to make sure they get involved “in real life,” too. Today, we’re announcing YouTube’s get out the vote campaign, #voteIRL, where together with the YouTube creator community, we’re helping get young people to the polls. Check out our new #voteIRL anthem video featuring some of YouTube’s top talent, including Bethany Mota, Hannah Hart, Kingsley, Hank Green and more.

Did you know it only takes 1:34 to register to vote?1 With voter registration deadlines looming in October, it’s fast and easy to register to vote using registration tools built by Google. Starting today, look out for familiar faces making 1:34 videos where they do anything from hosting their radio show (hey Ryan Seacrest) to doing their eyebrows, while encouraging their fans to go register. We teamed up with AwesomenessTV, Fullscreen, Machinima, and Maker Studios, so watch for more 1:34 videos every day until National Voter Registration Day.

In addition to the link above, you can also find voter registration tools directly on YouTube. Watch out for registration reminders on the homepage, watch page, and search results page on September 27, Voter Registration Day.

Voting requires you to get educated with the latest and greatest from the candidates. That’s why we’re excited to announce that we’re live streaming the presidential debates from more news organizations than ever before including NBC NewsPBS, Fox NewsThe Washington Post, Univision, and Telemundo. You can also follow your favorite YouTube creators, including The Young Turks and Complex News, who will be on the ground reporting from the debates using YouTube Live directly from their phones.

Stay tuned to youtube.com/youtube and our social media channels as we release new videos, report from the presidential debates, and bring you closer to the election (and the polls) this November. And make sure you’re registered to vote!

Claire Stapleton, YouTube Elections team, recently watched “Maymo the Dog Runs for President: Maymo 2016.”

1 We got a group at YouTube together and registered in every state and the average was just 1:34.


YouTube Blog

Second presidential debate-related videos rack up 40 percent more views than the first

Sunday’s highly-anticipated debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump drew new levels of interest from the YouTube community. The closely watched live debate and on-demand videos surrounding it generated over 124M views since Sunday, representing a 40 percent increase compared to the first presidential debate, which drove 88M views.

Of course many viewers came to YouTube to watch the debate live and we saw over 1.5M peak concurrent viewers, five times higher than the second presidential debate in 2012, and over 2.5M live watch hours, nearly six times higher than 2012.

Those viewers were highly engaged as well. On average, they watched the debate for nearly 25 minutes. And they came from all over the globe. After the U.S., top countries by viewership were: Canada, Mexico, Australia, Great Britain and Vietnam.

While much of the attention was on the debate, commentary continues to be a hot topic on YouTube. Sketches from some of the most popular late night shows were amongst the weekend’s most-viewed videos leading up to the debate. If you’re looking for a laugh after Sunday’s heated debate, check out Jimmy Fallon’s Trump calls Madea and Saturday Night Live’s Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Debate Cold Open.

The final presidential debate is next Wednesday, Oct. 19, and we’ll bring you all the action live on YouTube from Las Vegas, Nev.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News & Politics, recently watched the second presidential debate.


YouTube Blog

Watch tonight’s presidential debate live stream on YouTube — and don’t forget to #voteIRL

With 42 days remaining, voters across the U.S. are gearing up for this year’s presidential election — and tonight they’ll be able to watch the first presidential debate live on YouTube!

We announced last week that more news organizations than ever before are live streaming this major political event on YouTube. Have your choice and tune-in to your favorite news channel starting at 9:00 p.m. ET tonight. Here is where you can watch live on YouTube:

Can’t decide on one stream? Check out youtube.com/news to follow all of the live coverage.

You can also join The Young Turks and Complex News on the ground reporting from the debate using YouTube Live directly from their phones.

And don’t forget, tomorrow is National Voter Registration day and YouTube creators want you to head to the polls and #voteIRL. Tune in to this playlist to see how you can register to vote in the amount of time it takes Ryan Seacrest to host a radio show or The Fung Bros to shoot hoops. Surprising fact: it only takes one minute and 34 seconds!

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “How to Vote in Every State.”


YouTube Blog

Tune into the second presidential debate, live on YouTube

As U.S. voters prepare to head to the polls in just over a month, all eyes are on Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump as they debate for a second time — and like the last two debates, you can head to YouTube to watch the candidates take the stage.

Just choose a news channel on YouTube and join us live from St. Louis, Mo., on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET:

Stay up to speed on U.S. election news, including live coverage, by heading to youtube.com/news. And if you haven’t already, register to vote. It only takes 1 min, 34 seconds!

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “The Vice-Presidential Debate.”


YouTube Blog

Watch tonight’s vice presidential debate, live on YouTube

After last week’s record-breaking presidential debate, Americans are gearing up to hear from the vice presidential nominees in the only debate where they’ll face off — and you’ll be able to follow all the action live on YouTube!

Whether you’re watching from your smartphone or your smart TV, head to YouTube tonight at 9 p.m. ET and choose your favorite news channel, which will bring you live coverage from Farmville, Va.:

As always, check out youtube.com/news to follow all of the live coverage. See you tonight, and from the upcoming presidential debates in St. Louis, Mo., and Las Vegas, Nev.

Brandon Feldman, YouTube News and Politics, recently watched “The First Presidential Debate.”


YouTube Blog

With nearly 2 million concurrent viewers and over 3 million live watch hours, first presidential debate breaks political record

Last night’s debate marked the largest political live stream of all time and was one of the biggest live streams in YouTube history. This record-breaking political stream garnered nearly 2 million live concurrent viewers and 3 million live watch hours across the six news organizations that streamed the debate on YouTube.

To put these numbers into context, we took a look at 2012 debate viewership on YouTube. Compared to 2012, last night’s debate had 14x larger live viewership, 5x higher watch time, and 4x more peak concurrent viewers. And views on all debate-related videos exceeded 88 million.

Of course YouTube is a global community and people in the U.S. weren’t the only ones watching. Here are the top five countries, in descending order, outside of the U.S. that tuned in live:

  1. Canada
  2. Mexico
  3. Argentina
  4. Australia
  5. New Zealand

And remember, today is Voter Registration Day and YouTube creators along with The Rock, Conan, Bill Maher, and The Chainsmokers want you to head to the polls and #voteIRL.

Up next we’ll see you live from the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, October 4.

Kurt Wilms, Product Lead, Live Streaming at YouTube, recently watched “Fastest Skateboarder Ever!


YouTube Blog

Want to watch the presidential debates? Just head over to Twitter

A new deal brokered between the social media platform and Bloomberg Television will allow the Twitterverse to view a live-stream of all three presidential debates, the first of which is to take place on September 26.

The post Want to watch the presidential debates? Just head over to Twitter appeared first on Digital Trends.

Mobile–Digital Trends

Who’s your presidential sweetheart? Tinder gets political with ‘Swipe the Vote’

If you find an odd card as you swipe through possible dates on Tinder — don’t panic, it’s not an ad. It’s Tinder’s way of getting you involved in politics. Swipe the Vote lets you match with candidates based on issues you swipe right left or right on.

The post Who’s your presidential sweetheart? Tinder gets political with ‘Swipe the Vote’ appeared first on Digital Trends.

Mobile–Digital Trends