• FBI Director Chris Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Chinese government has the ability to control software on millions of devices and could control the data of millions of users because of its relationship with TikTok parent company ByteDance Ltd. Wray also warned that the Chinese government could drive narratives on TikTok by controlling what content is shared with users with little to no “outward signs of it happening.” (Axios)
• Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is hiring Evan Turnage, former senior counsel for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), to serve as his new chief counsel. Turnage, who will join Schumer’s office later this week, specializes in antitrust and competition and may signal a new push from the Senate to pursue antitrust reforms aimed at Big Tech companies. (Politico)
• Sony Group Corp. has asked the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority to either block Microsoft Corp.’s proposed $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. or force the companies to sell the popular Call of Duty franchise as part of the deal, citing its belief that no other solution is available to prevent harm to game consumers, according to responses to the potential remedies published on Wednesday. Microsoft has claimed the purchase can’t be completed without the inclusion of Call of Duty and has sought out licensing deals for the game with competitors like Nintendo Co. and Nvidia Corp. to appease regulators. (Bloomberg)
• A “significant data breach” at DC Health Link, the online marketplace that offers health care plans for members of Congress and Capitol Hill staff, has potentially exposed personal identifiable information of hundreds of lawmakers and staff, according to a letter from House Chief Administrative Officer Catherine L. Szpindor. Information exposed in the breach included “full names, date of enrollment, relationship (self, spouse, child), and email address, but no other Personally Identifiable Information (PII),” and it is believed that lawmakers were not specifically targeted in the attack. (NBC News)

Happening today: 

• The House Judiciary’s Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government will hold a hearing on “the Twitter Files.” Witnesses include Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger, two of the people tapped by Twitter Inc. owner Elon Musk to publish communications between the company and the federal government.
• The House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation will hold a hearing titled “FAA Reauthorization: Securing the Future of General Aviation,” which will focus on civil aviation aircraft. The hearing will feature testimony from Jack Pelton, chief executive of the Experimental Aircraft Association; Curt Castagna, president and CEO of the National Air Transportation Association; and Mark Baker, president and CEO of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association.

Can TikTok convince the world it is not a tool for China?

Financial Times

The Scientific Breakthrough That Could Make Batteries Last Longer

Aylin Woodward, The Wall Street Journal

Milestone could one day help realize efficient electrical grids, better battery life for cellphones and improving nuclear fusion.

Ex-FBI officials lay out security demands for companies to get billions in chips funding

Reed Albergotti, Semafor

A group of former FBI agents, intelligence analysts, and military officials is calling on the White House to add new security requirements for companies seeking part of $50 billion in new funding to bolster the U.S. chips industry.

Sohn supporters slam Democrats over failure to confirm Biden’s FCC nominee

Rebecca Klar, The Hill

Advocacy groups that led the charge for Gigi Sohn, President Biden’s nominee to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), slammed Democrats over their failure to confirm her, leaving the agency with a 2-2 partisan split. 

GM’s EV Push Stalls Amid Slow Rollouts for GMC Hummer, Cadillac Lyriq

Mike Colias, The Wall Street Journal

General Motors Co. Chief Executive Mary Barra has called 2023 a breakout year for the company’s electric-vehicle push. It is off to a slow start.

Southwest Is Modernizing Its Technology With Help From Amazon After Holiday Meltdown

Matt Day and Mary Schlangenstein, Bloomberg

Southwest Airlines Co. will use Amazon.com Inc. servers to help process fare searches, crew scheduling and other software tasks, a modernization of its technology that comes months after a meltdown stranded thousands of the airline’s passengers. 

Google One brings VPN to $1.99/month plan, adding dark web info monitoring

Abner Li, 9to5Google

After adding Magic Eraser last month, Google One is significantly expanding the availability of its VPN and introducing dark web monitoring for stolen information.

Spotify listeners cross half a billion mark

Eva Mathews, Reuters

Spotify Technology SA said on Wednesday it would roll out new features like smart shuffle and previews of podcasts and music playlists on its audio streaming platform, as it crossed 500 million in monthly active listeners.

ASML chief warns of IP theft risks amid chip sanctions

Anna Gross and Tim Bradshaw, Financial Times

US-led export restrictions have raised stakes for tech group’s security efforts, says Peter Wennink.

Chinese AI groups use cloud services to evade US chip export controls

Eleanor Olcott et al., Financial Times

Chinese artificial intelligence groups are skirting export controls to access high-end US chips through intermediaries, revealing potential loopholes in Washington’s blockade of cutting-edge technology to the country.

Microsoft tells UK it will license ‘Call of Duty’ to Sony for 10 years

Paul Sandle, Reuters

Microsoft said it would license Activision Blizzard’s “Call of Duty” (CoD) to Sony for 10 years to address concerns raised by Britain over its $69 billion takeover of the games maker, according to a document published by the regulator.

Dutch to restrict semiconductor tech exports to China, joining US effort

Toby Sterling et al,, Reuters

The Netherlands’ government on Wednesday said it plans new restrictions on exports of semiconductor technology to protect national security, joining the U.S. effort to curb chip exports to China.

Chatbot therapy, despite cautions, finds enthusiasts

Peter Allen Clark, Axios

People are already using chatbots as therapists, as the emergence of generative AI has raised new questions around tech’s role in mental health.

Microsoft Bing hits 100 million active users in bid to grab share from Google

Tom Warren, The Verge

The new Bing Chat feature has put Microsoft’s search engine in the spotlight recently and pushed usage to an important new milestone.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce calls for AI regulation

Suzanne Smalley, Reuters

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Thursday called for regulation of artificial intelligence technology to ensure it does not hurt growth or become a national security risk, a departure from the business lobbying group’s typical anti-regulatory stance.

Baidu Hurries to Ready China’s First ChatGPT Equivalent Ahead of Launch

Raffaele Huang and Karen Hao, The Wall Street Journal

A week away from the March 16 launch of Baidu Inc.’s ChatGPT equivalent, employees at China’s biggest search-engine operator said they are racing to meet the deadline with the chatbot still struggling to perform some basic functions. 

ChatGPT is being used to automatically write emails: Microsoft, Salesforce, and TikTok creators are hopping on the trend

Kif Leswing, CNBC

Generative AI and tools like ChatGPT have led to a boom as big tech companies and startups alike race to integrate it into their products.

DuckDuckGo Releases Its Own ChatGPT-Powered Search Engine, DuckAssist

Thomas Germain, Gizmodo

DuckDuckGo launched a beta version of an AI search tool powered by ChatGPT Wednesday called DuckAssist.

Dish struggles with multiple challenges simultaneously

Linda Hardesty, Fierce Wireless

Dish Network seems to be in the middle of a muddle on a few fronts. First, the company experienced a cybersecurity attack on February 23, and the effects still aren’t resolved. And secondly, the company was supposedly working to roll out its Boost Infinite postpaid wireless service this quarter.

Ericsson gets clearance for single 3.45 GHz/C-band radio

Monica Alleven, Fierce Wireless

The FCC last week conditionally granted a request from Ericsson so that now it can move forward with the manufacture of a single radio that supports both 3.45 GHz and 3.7 GHz/C-band.

Apple’s Huge 3nm Chip Orders for iPhone 15 Pro and M3 Macs Helping to Maintain TSMC’s Fab Utilization Rates

Tim Hardwick, MacRumors

Apple supplier TSMC is making strides to improve its production capacity for chips based on its cutting-edge 3-nanometer process technology, according to industry sources, which is expected to debut in this year’s iPhone 15 Pro and upcoming MacBook models.

The FBI Just Admitted It Bought US Location Data

Dell Cameron, Wired

Rather than obtaining a warrant, the bureau purchased sensitive data—a controversial practice that privacy advocates say is deeply problematic.

TikTok Commits $1.3 Billion to Build European Safeguards

Stu Woo, The Wall Street Journal

TikTok said it would spend about $1.3 billion a year on measures to safeguard European users, as the video app tries to assuage governments that are increasingly concerned about its Chinese parent company.

Meta doesn’t want to police the metaverse. Kids are paying the price.

Naomi Nix, The Washington Post

Experts warn Meta’s moderation strategy is risky for children and teens exposed to bigotry and harassment in Horizon Worlds.

Rise in Twitter outages since Musk takeover hints at more systemic problems

Alex Hern and Dan Milmo, The Guardian

Sixth failure this year comes against backdrop of financial and regulatory pressures on the company.

Senator’s TikTok whistleblower alleges data abuses

Ashley Gold, Axios

TikTok’s access controls on U.S. user data are much weaker than the company says, a former ByteDance employee told the office of Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), per a letter from Hawley to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen shared exclusively with Axios.

Where Musk’s Twitter Gambit Stands, Nearly Five Months In

Mark Maurer, The Wall Street Journal

The clock is ticking for Elon Musk to put Twitter Inc. back on a path to profitability as the social-media company continues to burn through cash nearly five months after the billionaire’s $44 billion takeover.

Meta’s Oversight Board will review the company’s handling of election content in Brazil

Karissa Bell, Engadget

The Oversight Board has agreed to review a case related to Meta’s handling of election content in Brazil. In a statement, the board said they planned to scrutinize the social network’s policies surrounding election content in “high-risk” areas.

The Right Is Big Mad at Big Tech But Can’t Quite Figure Out Why

Tom McKay, Rolling Stone

CPAC showed how the MAGA movement still can’t decide whether its problem is too much Silicon Valley or not enough faves.

These popular apps are also at risk under the new TikTok ban bill

Diego Mendoza, Semafor

A potential nationwide TikTok ban is now a possibility, with the White House backing a bill that would authorize President Joe Biden to do so at his discretion. Here’s a look at some of the other apps that could potentially face bans under the proposed bill.

The Satisfaction of Viral Quitting

Carol Pogash, The New York Times

On TikTok and YouTube, workers are sharing their stories of leaving their jobs, giving them a sense of power over often untenable situations.

Apple to Shake Up International Sales Operations to Make India Its Own Region

Mark Gurman, Bloomberg

Apple Inc. is reshuffling management of its international businesses to put a bigger focus on India, according to people with knowledge of the matter, a sign of the nation’s growing importance.

Ericsson Faces Questions for Flouting Executive Pay Guidelines

Rafeala Lindeberg, Bloomberg

Shareholders of Ericsson AB are questioning the telecom-equipment giant’s decision to deviate from its own remuneration guidelines to pay massive bonuses to Rory Read, the chief executive of Vonage Holdings Corp. it acquired last year.

Spooks in your machine: rise in WFH monitoring drives dissent

Taylor Nicole Rogers, Financial Times

Surveillance of staff at home or in workplaces can be counterproductive, researchers argue.