El Salvador’s president says use of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin will not be mandatory, but the country is planning to give out starter accounts with $30 to promote its use. Finance Minister Alejandro Zelaya said Thursday the government will allocate $120 million to establish as many as 4 million starter Bitcoin accounts, or “wallets,” though he […]
Associated Press
News Agency
Google will delay by nearly two years the phase out of Chrome web browser technology that tracks users for ad purposes, saying that it needs more time to develop a replacement system. The tech giant on Thursday moved its deadline to remove so-called third-party cookies to late 2023 rather than January 2022 as was initially […]
Digital media company BuzzFeed is setting its sights on growth. It plans to become a publicly traded company with an implied value of $1.5 billion through a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. BuzzFeed hopes the move will put it in a better position to capture lucrative digital ad dollars against much bigger rivals […]
A Dutch consumer group is launching a 1.5 billion euro ($1.8 billion) claim against TikTok over what it alleges is unlawful harvesting of personal data from users of the popular video sharing platform. The Consumentenbond and a foundation called Take Back Your Privacy demanded Thursday that TikTok pay damages to 1.2 million to 1.6 million […]
After months of frustration and delay, Japan has hit the remarkable benchmark of 1 million vaccines a day. But with the Olympics set to start in less than a month, and only a small portion of the country vaccinated, a question lingers: Is it enough? The vaccination pace is quickening even as the young remain […]
A Nigerian information technology worker has been indicted on federal wire fraud and identity theft charges, after authorities said he and his co-conspirators filed false claims for pandemic-related unemployment benefits in 17 states. Chukwuemeka Onyegbula, using the name “Phillip Carter,” was linked to at least 253 fraudulent filings for unemployment benefits, according to an indictment […]
Steven Spielberg, a filmmaker synonymous with big-screen enchantment, has set a new deal with Netflix in which his production company, Amblin Partners, will make multiple feature films per year for the streaming giant. The partnership, one long courted by Ted Sarandos, Netflix chief content officer, is a major get for the company that, amid increasing […]
John McAfee, the outlandish security software pioneer who tried to live life as a hedonistic outsider while running from a host of legal troubles, was found dead in his jail cell near Barcelona on Wednesday. His death came just hours after a Spanish court announced that it had approved his extradition to the United States […]
The COVID-19 pandemic hit Italy especially hard, killing more than 127,000 people and sending the European Union’s third-largest economy into a devastating tailspin. Yet out of that tragedy may come solutions for decades-old problems that have held back growth and productivity — and with them, a new sense of stability for the euro, the currency […]
The European Union’s move on Tuesday to investigate Google over alleged antitrust behavior in the digital ad tech sector is the bloc’s latest crackdown on U.S. tech giants. Here’s a look at enforcement actions taken by the EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, in recent years, as well as actions by U.S. antitrust regulators and states. […]