It really isn’t, which is why it’s news when something like that comes out. People sometimes confuse being cynical with knowing how things work.
That said, this one is confusing, because it really does seem like Google is blurring the lines here between an ad spot or a product placement spot and pre-release samples for tech influencers intending to review them.
Honestly, cynicism aside, The Verge does a good job of breaking it down, including clarifying that they are under no such stipulations for their own review, so I’d recommend just reading the article in full.
Any review that doesn’t begin and end with “its a great phone, but it’s 4x the price of last years budget model and only provides a modest improvement” is just an advertiment
Find an article with a review, and there’s a 90% chance it links to an Amazon ref link, or similar.
Which means they completely ignore products that are only sold on other stores.
And they probably don’t even look at the product, half the “top 10 lists” obviously just base the list off of Amazon reviews and SOMETIMES reddit posts.
You really have to search to find decent reviews sites like rtngs or similar.
In published media it’s getting really frustrating to find articles that seem like honest reviews. The NYT did an article on toaster recommendations and they praised one for having something like a 3 year warranty because “toasters aren’t known for their longevity.”