News

Florida law seeks to rein in large social media companies

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill on Monday that seeks to punish social media platforms that remove “conservative ideas” from their sites, though it is not clear if it would pass constitutional muster because it might violate the First Amendment. The new law will enable the state to fine large social media companies […]

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 […]

Changed by pandemic, many workers won't return to old jobs

There’s a wild card in the push to return to pre-pandemic life: Many workers don’t want to go back to the jobs they once had. Layoffs and lockdowns, combined with enhanced unemployment benefits and stimulus checks, gave many Americans the time and the financial cushion to rethink their careers. Their former employers are hiring again […]

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, […]

Verizon sells internet trailblazers Yahoo and AOL for $5B

AOL and Yahoo are being sold again, this time to a private equity firm. Wireless company Verizon will sell Verizon Media, which consists of the once-pioneering tech platforms, to Apollo Global Management in a $5 billion deal. Verizon said Monday that it will keep a 10% stake in the new company, which will be called […]

Sony, Discord team up to bring chat-app to PlayStation

Sony Interactive Entertainment and Discord announced on Monday a partnership that will see the popular gaming-focused chat app integrated within the PlayStation’s in-house social tools, both companies said in a joint statement. While the brief announcement didn’t specify the nature of the partnership, it highlighted a promise to “bring the Discord and PlayStation experiences closer […]

Facebook reports soaring quarterly ad revenue, stock jumps

Facebook’s stock jumped Wednesday into record territory after the social media giant reported stronger-than-expected results for the first quarter thanks to soaring ad revenue. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the extra money means the company will invest more in new areas of potential growth — including augmented and virtual reality, commerce, business messaging and content creators, […]