News

Apple CEO faces tough questions about app store competition

Apple CEO Tim Cook described the company’s ironclad control over its mobile app store as the best way to serve and protect iPhone users, but he faced tough questions about competition issues from a judge Friday about allegations he oversees an illegal monopoly. The rare courtroom appearance by one of the world’s best-known executives came […]

ByteDance CEO steps down, raising questions over government involvement

Shock and surprise were the predominant emotions bustling through ByteDance employees when their softly spoken founder Zhang Yiming announced that he will be stepping down as CEO of what has been described to be the world’s biggest unicorn. Zhang – a 38-year-old billionaire estimated by Forbes to have a net worth of $35.6 billion – […]

WhatsApp denies it will drop privacy update for Turkey users

Turkey’s competition watchdog said Friday it was told by WhatsApp that the chat app won’t apply a controversial privacy update following an investigation, but the announcement was contradicted by the Facebook-owned app, which said it still plans to roll out the update for Turkish users. It’s a fresh sign of the confusion between regulators and […]

Bill Gates' leadership roles stay intact despite allegations

Despite damaging allegations suggesting Bill Gates pursued women who worked for him, don’t expect changes to his roles at the two iconic institutions he co-founded, Microsoft and his namesake philanthropic foundation. Critics say the revelations raise accountability concerns, though it remains unclear how much the dent to Gates’ reputation might affect the institutions that are […]

Report says Myanmar internet a 'virtual battlefield'

Myanmar’s military rulers are seeking to limit access to the internet to an internal network of only “whitelisted” sites to quash opposition to their seizure of power, according to a report by the International Crisis Group. It likened the internet to a “virtual battlefield” where the military is struggling to gain an edge because it […]

California places Tesla's 'Full Self-Driving' under review

California’s Department of Motor Vehicles is reviewing whether Tesla is violating a state regulation by advertising its vehicles as being fully autonomous without meeting the legal definition of self-driving. The department confirmed the review Monday in an email to The Associated Press. State regulation prohibits advertising vehicles for sale or lease as autonomous if they […]

EU court: Amazon tax deal with Luxembourg was legal

In the latest setback to European Union efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, a court on Wednesday annulled a ruling by the European Commission that a tax deal between the Luxembourg government and Amazon amounted to illegal state support. The EU’s executive branch ordered the U.S. online retailer in 2017 to pay around 250 million […]

NTSB: Tesla owner got into driver's seat before deadly crash

Home security camera footage shows that the owner of a Tesla got into the driver’s seat of the car shortly before a deadly crash in suburban Houston, according to a government report Monday. But the preliminary report on the crash that killed two men doesn’t explain the mystery of why authorities found no one behind […]

2 on trial as China enforces online control amid pandemic

Two amateur computer coders taken by police from their Beijing homes last year were standing trial Tuesday in a case that illustrates the Chinese government’s growing online censorship and heightened sensitivity to any deviation from the official narrative on its COVID-19 response. Authorities have not said specifically why Chen Mei, 28, and Cai Wei, 27, […]

Online speech shield under fire as Trump Facebook ban stays

Lurking beneath Facebook’s decision on whether to continue Donald Trump’s suspension from its platform is a far more complex and consequential question: Do the protections carved out for companies when the internet was in its infancy 25 years ago make sense when some of them have become global powerhouses with almost unlimited reach? The companies […]