• The European Union will issue antitrust charges against Apple Inc. later this week in response to allegations that the company’s App Store policies are harmful to app developers, according to several people with direct knowledge of the announcement. (Financial Times)
• The Senate Commerce Committee’s markup for the Endless Frontier Act, which would allocate $112 billion to research and development efforts to bolster the United States’ competitiveness with China, is being pushed back until the Senate returns from recess on May 10, according to Senate Republicans, after more than 230 amendments were filed. (Reuters)
• Former Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai is joining private equity firm Searchlight Capital Partners, whose investments include Univision and telecom service provider Mitel Networks Corp. (New York Post)
• Apple said it plans to invest $80 billion over the next five years into the U.S. economy, hiring for an additional 20,000 positions and establishing a new $1 billion campus in North Carolina, which will provide more than 3,000 high-tech jobs. (The Washington Post)

States Are Moving on Privacy Bills. Over 4 in 5 Voters Want Congress to Prioritize Protection of Online Data
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Facebook Stopped Employees From Reading An Internal Report About Its Role In The Insurrection. You Can Read It Here.

Ryan Mac et al., BuzzFeed News

Last Thursday, BuzzFeed News revealed that an internal Facebook report concluded that the company had failed to prevent the “Stop the Steal” movement from using its platform to subvert the election, encourage violence, and help incite the Jan. 6 attempted coup on the US Capitol.

Congress drags algorithms out of the shadows

Ashley Gold and Ina Fried, Axios

Tech platforms have built the heart of their businesses around secretive computer algorithms, and lawmakers and regulators now want to know just what’s inside those black boxes. Why it matters: Algorithms, formulas for computer-based decision making, are responsible for what we get shown on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube — and, increasingly, for choices companies make about who gets a loan or parole or a spot at a college.

Lyft sells self-driving tech unit to Toyota for $550 mln, moves up profit timeline

Tina Bellon, Reuters

Lyft Inc will sell its self-driving technology unit to Toyota Motor Corp in a $550 million deal, the companies said on Monday, allowing the ride-hail company to hit its profitability target one quarter earlier. The sale of Level 5 to Toyota’s Woven Planet division will allow Lyft to focus on partnerships with self-driving companies that want to deploy their technology on its platform, rather than develop costly technology that has yet to be put to wide-scale use.

Jeff Bezos’ Rocket Company Challenges NASA Over SpaceX Moon Lander Deal

Kenneth Chang, The New York Times

Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, two of the richest men in the world, both with dreams of leading humanity out into the solar system, are fighting over the moon. On Monday, Blue Origin, the rocket company founded by Mr. Bezos, who will step down as Amazon’s chief executive later this year, filed a 50-page protest with the federal Government Accountability Office, challenging a $2.9 billion contract to SpaceX from NASA to build a lander for American astronauts to return to the moon.

Congressional audience hopes to hear from Biden on China strategy

Niels Lesniewski, Roll Call

Much of the coverage in advance of President Joe Biden’s first address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night has been on the speech’s domestic policy components. When it comes to foreign policy, however, lawmakers have diverse interests, so everyone will have some country or region that they would like to see the president mention Wednesday. But there is one recurring theme in recent conversations with lawmakers. They want to hear Biden talk about China.

Apple hit with German antitrust complaint

Rebecca Klar, The Hill

The German Advertising Federation filed an antitrust complaint on Monday against Apple over the tech giant’s rollout of its App Tracking Transparency feature. The ZAW, the advertising federation, filed the complaint with a German competition regulator, arguing Apple is abusing its market power and violating antitrust law through the launch of its antitracking feature, according to the federation’s press release.

Lawmakers Unveiling ‘Earmark’ Requests for Infrastructure Bill

Billy House, Bloomberg

House members are pitching billions of dollars worth of projects in their home districts ranging from marine terminals to hiking trails that they want folded into President Joe Biden’s massive infrastructure package. Lawmakers have until the end of the day Tuesday to send their proposals for district or community-level projects to the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee under new rules that revived the practice of designated spending, or earmarks. More than $8 billion in such earmark requests are expected.

AT&T is upgrading the speeds of its Fiber home internet plans

Eli Blumenthal, CNET

AT&T is giving its Fiber home internet customers a speed boost. On Monday the telecom giant announced changes to its home internet offerings that should give those with the service faster internet speeds without a change in price.

Dish wants California regulators to reopen T-Mobile inquiry

Ina Fried, Axios

Dish Network says that T-Mobile has gone back on promises it made in order to win permission to buy Sprint and is asking the California Public Utilities Commission to enforce the company’s pre-merger commitments. Why it matters: The effort, which follows a complaint to the FCC, centers around T-Mobile’s decision to end support for Sprint’s older CDMA network at the beginning of next year — a network still used by the majority of Dish’s customers.

DoorDash offers lower-priced delivery plans amid criticism

Dee-Ann Durbin, The Associated Press

DoorDash is launching lower-priced delivery options for U.S. restaurants, responding to criticism that the commissions it charges are too high for the beleaguered industry. The San Francisco delivery company said Tuesday it will offer a new basic plan that will charge restaurants 15% per order for delivery, or around half the cost of previous plans.

Lawmakers call for increasing the budget of key federal cybersecurity agency

Maggie Miller, The Hill

A pair of House lawmakers are urging legislators to appropriate more funding for a key federal cybersecurity agency after a year in which cyber threats skyrocketed. Reps. Jim Langevin (D-R.I.) and Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) sent a letter, provided to The Hill on Monday, to the leaders of the House Appropriations Committee asking them to carve out at least $400 million in additional funding for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s (CISA) upcoming budget allocation.

Before SolarWinds, US officials say SVR began stealthily targeting cloud services in 2018

Sean Lyngaas, CyberScoop

U.S. national security agencies on Monday continued their concerted efforts to expose hacking techniques used by the Russian intelligence agency allegedly responsible for a historic cyber-espionage campaign aimed at the U.S. government. The latest public statement from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security traces the evolution of Russia’s SVR foreign intelligence agency as a formidable cyber adversary capable of exploiting U.S. networks through a range of tools.

Intelligence community creating hub to gird against foreign influence

Martin Matishak, Politico

The nation’s top spy agency has begun work to establish a hub to combat hostile foreign meddling in U.S. affairs, following multiple assessments that Russia and other countries have sought to sway elections and sow chaos among the American people. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence will create the Foreign Malign Influence Center “in light of evolving threats and in support of growing policy and congressional requirements,” an agency spokesperson said Monday in a statement to POLITICO.

Washington, D.C., police report server breach, FBI called to investigate

Phil Helsel, NBC News

The Washington, D.C., police department reported “unauthorized access” on its server, but said it was still determining the full impact of the breach. The Metropolitan Police Department did not detail what information may have been exposed, who was behind the hack or if any demand has been made.

A Look at Covid-19 Vaccine ‘Passports,’ Passes and Apps Around the Globe

Heather Murphy, The New York Times

It is the latest status symbol. Flash it at the people, and you can get access to concerts, sports arenas or long-forbidden restaurant tables. Some day, it may even help you cross a border without having to quarantine.

The next tech hearing targets social media algorithms — and YouTube, for once

Taylor Hatmaker, TechCrunch

Another week another big tech hearing in Congress. With a flurry of antitrust reform bills on the way, Democratic lawmakers are again bringing in the some of the world’s most powerful tech companies for questioning. In the next hearing, scheduled for Tuesday, April 27 at 10 AM ET, the Senate Judiciary’s subcommittee on privacy and technology will zero on concerns about algorithmic amplification. Specifically, the hearing will explore how algorithms amplify dangerous content and shape user behavior on social platforms.

YouTube starts airing COVID-19 vaccine PSAs

K. Holt, Engadget

YouTube has created COVID-19 vaccine PSAs that it’s running on its own service, TV, radio and as ads on other social media platforms through July. The “first chapter” in a series of PSAs is live today in the US. It will roll out to other regions in line with local vaccine availability.

Student’s Snapchat profanity leads to high court speech case

Mark Sherman, The Associated Press

Fourteen-year-old Brandi Levy was having that kind of day where she just wanted to scream. So she did, in a profanity-laced posting on Snapchat that has, improbably, ended up before the Supreme Court in the most significant case on student speech in more than 50 years.

New White House task force will look for ways to boost union organizing

Zoe Schiffer, The Verge

President Biden issued an executive order today to create a new labor task force in support of worker organizing in the United States. The effort will be led by Vice President Kamala Harris.

Basecamp bans internal social and political conversations

Megan Rose Dickey, Protocol

Basecamp, the maker of email app Hey, is banning social and political discussions at the company, its CEO Jason Fried announced today. “Today’s social and political waters are especially choppy,” Fried wrote in a blog post.

Demystifying Algorithms and Giving People More Control of Their Experience on Twitter

Lauren Culbertson (Head of U.S. Public Policy, Twitter), Morning Consult

As Twitter aims to provide meaningful transparency and more consumer control and choice, algorithms are sometimes viewed as the antithesis – opaque mechanisms over which consumers have little say or control. Concerns about algorithms are legitimate. There’s no question that our industry can do more to address and explain the impact of some of these systems.

Opinion: Congress must decide: Will it protect social media profits, or democracy?

Tom Malinowski and Anna Eshoo, The Washington Post

Imagine clicking on a Facebook video alleging that a “deep-state cabal” of Satan-worshiping pedophiles stole the election from Donald Trump. Moments later, your phone rings.

Apple’s $430 Billion Spending Spree Is the Ultimate Power Play

Tae Kim, Bloomberg

The tech giant pledged to invest tens of billions in the U.S. on next-generation chips, artificial intelligence and 5G technologies. The timing isn’t coincidental.

Goodbye Section 230, Hello Liberty

Bill Hagerty, The Wall Street Journal

For too long Americans have watched Big Tech trample on the principles of the First Amendment—free speech, freedom of thought and belief, free assembly and the open exchange of ideas. As more information is filtered through online platforms, the First Amendment is becoming a dead letter. That’s why I’m taking action to hold these corporations accountable.