Morning Consult Tech Presented by NCTA: TIkTok’s CEO to Face Congress as Lawmakers Push to Ban App in U.S.
 

Tech

Essential tech industry news & intel to start your day.
March 23, 2023
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Paid Content Creators Would Pay for Social Media Features, but Most Americans Wouldn’t

Meta Platforms Inc. became the most recent social media company to introduce a paid subscription product that offers users extra benefits in exchange for a monthly fee, but a new Morning Consult survey shows that 3 in 4 U.S. adults are not interested in paying to use social media platforms. Among the findings:

  • Just 1 in 5 adults expressed a willingness to pay for social media features, while more than half said they would never consider paying.
  • Two in 3 content creators who earn income from social media were interested in paying for features, with a “verified” status badge ranking as the most important paid feature a platform can offer.

To see more, read the story here: Most Americans Won’t Pay for Social Media, but Those Who Would Want a Badge and Improved Security

 

Today’s Top News

TikTok CEO Shou Chew will testify before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce today amid calls from lawmakers to ban the popular video sharing app over its parent company ByteDance Ltd.’s ties to the Chinese government:

  • Chew is expected to tell the committee that ByteDance is “not an agent of China,” according to prepared remarks released in advance of the hearing, emphasizing that TikTok is a “global enterprise” and that the platform has not shared data on American users with China and would never do so.
  • Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Ore.), the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, is expected to tell Chew that TikTok’s popularity, amassing more than 150 million active users in the United States, “emphasized the urgency for Congress to act,” according to excerpts of her prepared remarks.
  • While there has been a bipartisan effort to ban TikTok, Democratic Reps. Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Mark Pocan (Wis.) and Robert Garcia (Calif.) rallied to instead push for a broader piece of privacy legislation that would cover all major social media companies. Also, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., who has a sizeable TikTok following, is against the ban.
  • Influencers and users with large followings on TikTok took to Washington, D.C., to urge lawmakers not to ban TikTok, calling the app an important tool for civic engagement, online conversations and small business.
  • The Biden administration has pushed for TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell their share of the video sharing platform in order to quell national security concerns, but a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said that the country’s government would “resolutely oppose” any attempt to force a sale.

In other top news today:

  • Tech firms including Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Meta Platforms Inc. are asking Congress to limit Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a law that gives U.S. intelligence agencies the ability to collect and view texts, emails and information about users of online services, according to three people familiar with the discussions. The law, passed by Congress in 2008, is set to expire at the end of the year. (Bloomberg)
  • Publishers of online content are working to determine how much of their content was used to train artificial intelligence models such as ChatGPT in an effort to seek compensation and potential legal action, according to people familiar with meetings organized by publishing trade group News Media Alliance. Reddit has also reportedly had conversations with Microsoft Corp. about the use of its content in AI training.  (The Wall Street Journal)

Happening today

  • Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will speak at the Economic Club of New York.
  • Ginni Rometty, the former chairperson, president and chief executive officer of IBM Corp. will be at the New York Historical Museum and Library speaking about her new book, “Good Power: Leading Positive Change in Our Lives, Work, and World.”
 

Chart Review

 
 

What Else You Need to Know

General
 

You can now try Microsoft Loop, a Notion competitor with futuristic Office documents

Tom Warren, The Verge

Microsoft’s Notion competitor has futuristic Lego-like Office documents and its AI-powered Copilot assistant.

 

Chipmakers fight spread of US crackdowns on ‘forever chemicals’

Patrick Temple-West, Financial Times

Intel helped form lobbying group that has opposed state legislation on PFAS.

 

U.S. judge narrows shareholder lawsuit against Alibaba

Jonathan Stempel, Reuters

A U.S. judge said Alibaba Group Holding Ltd , the Chinese e-commerce giant founded by Jack Ma, must face claims it defrauded shareholders about its alleged monopolistic practices, but dismissed claims over a shelved initial public offering for its Ant Group affiliate.

 

FTC Proposes Penalizing Firms for Onerous ‘Call-to-Cancel’ Subscriptions

Katie Deighton, The Wall Street Journal

The Federal Trade Commission is proposing a new rule requiring companies to offer an easy click-to-cancel option for subscriptions.

 
Antitrust and Competition
 

FTC Seeks Comment on Cloud Industry in Sign of Greater Scrutiny

Dina Bass, Bloomberg

The US Federal Trade Commission is asking for comment on the business practices of cloud-computing providers as regulators begin to scrutinize market power, competition and security in the key technology field.

 

UK regulator warns on Broadcom’s $69bn VMware deal

Kate Beioley, Financial Times

Competition and Markets Authority says it may launch in-depth probe if concerns are not addressed.

 
Artificial Intelligence/Automation
 

Conservatives Aim to Build a Chatbot of Their Own

Stuart A. Thompson et al., The New York Times

After criticizing A.I. companies for liberal bias, programmers started envisioning right-wing alternatives, making chatbots a new front in the culture wars.

 

Writers Guild Says It’s Pushing to Prohibit AI-Generated Works Under Contract in Negotiations

Katie Kilkenny, The Hollywood Reporter

The guild, which is currently at the table with studios and streamers over this issue and others, said Wednesday that artificial intelligence “has no role in guild-covered work, nor in the chain of title in the intellectual property.”

 

What Happens When Sexting Chatbots Dump Their Human Lovers

Ellen Huet, Bloomberg Businessweek

People who grew accustomed to sexting with Replika’s AI-powered companions were heartbroken when the company blocked its bots from engaging in racy chats.

 

ChatGPT Can Save You Hours at Work. Why Are Some Companies Banning It?

Lindsay Ellis, The Wall Street Journal

Surveys indicate that ChatGPT is already widely used among employees, with some highlighting that it makes them more productive. Many leaders are nervous about what corporate intelligence workers might be sharing.

 

OpenAI tech gives Microsoft’s Bing a boost in search battle with Google

Akash Sriram and Chavi Mehta, Reuters

The integration of OpenAI’s technology into Microsoft-owned Bing has driven people to the little-used search engine and helped it compete better with market leader Google in page visits growth, according to data from analytics firm Similarweb.

 

Microsoft’s GitHub to Add OpenAI Chat Functions to Coding Tool

Dina Bass, Bloomberg

Microsoft Corp.’s GitHub unit created one of the first widely deployed programs using OpenAI’s language-generation tools — an app called Copilot that helped software developers write computer code. Now GitHub is adding a chat and voice feature that will let programmers ask how to accomplish certain coding tasks.

 
Telecom, Wireless and Internet Access
 

WIA and Cowen size the U.S. cellular tower market

Linda Hardesty, Fierce Wireless

A report from the Wireless Infrastructure Association (WIA) said there were 142,100 cellular towers in operation in the U.S. at the end of 2022. 

 

AT&T touts impressive new 5G achievements, claims ‘largest wireless network’ in the US

Adrian Diaconescu, PhoneArena

The carrier has been (discreetly) working hard on improving and expanding its network to the level of its rivals, going on the offensive today to claim a nation-leading position that Verizon may take issue with and also share a couple of 5G-specific achievements.

 
Mobile Technology
 

Would You Pay $1,000 for a Smartphone Without 5G? Huawei Thinks So

Dan Strumpf, The Wall Street Journal

Huawei Technologies Co. is doubling down on its bet that customers are willing to pay top dollar for a premium smartphone even if it doesn’t have 5G.

 
Cybersecurity and Privacy
 

Some Android users should turn off Wi-Fi calling due to security concerns, Google team warns

Addy Bink, The Hill

If you have an Android phone, you may want to stop using Wi-Fi calling, a team of security experts with Google warns.

 

Hackers post Minneapolis schools data

Nick Halter, Axios Twin Cities

The group taking credit for hacking Minneapolis Public Schools has followed through on its promise to post the data online.

 
Social Media and Content Moderation
 

After growing a TikTok following, House Democrat leads push against a ban

Lauren Feiner, CNBC

While many lawmakers are pushing for a ban or sweeping changes to the popular video-sharing app TikTok, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., has embraced the app and is now pushing back against a proposed ban.

 

It’s not just TikTok: French also warn against WhatsApp, Instagram

Laura Kayali, Politico Pro

In a typically French move, France’s top lawmakers are refusing to side with the United States and single out China’s TikTok.

 

Potential TikTok ban sends advertisers scrambling

Sheila Dang, Reuters

Advertisers are seeking any assurances from TikTok, the viral app that helped usher in a wave of short-form video across social media, as the Chinese-owned company again faces a potential ban in the U.S. over national security concerns.

 

TikTok’s popularity complicates possible U.S. ban

Sara Fischer, Axios

The U.S. government’s threat to ban TikTok takes aim at what has become the most popular smartphone app in the country.

 

TikTok caught in US-China battle over its powerful algorithm

Hannah Murphy et al., Financial Times

Chinese parent company ByteDance stuck between legal manoeuvres aimed at controlling video app’s future.

 

TikTok is D.C.’s new boogeyman. Can Silicon Valley’s tactics save it?

Cat Zakrzewski and Cristiano Lima, The Washington Post

TikTok’s reputation in Washington as a danger to the American public has been building for years, buoyed by lawmakers who have fixated on the foreign-owned app in response to concerns about the rise of China and the harmful effects of social media on children.

 
Tech Workforce
 

Senior Meta ads exec departs amid efficiency drive

Katie Paul, Reuters

A veteran Meta advertising product executive will leave the company in May, according to an internal announcement seen by Reuters, amid a months-long pruning of projects and staff that Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg has dubbed the “year of efficiency.”

 

Amazon Faces More UK Strikes Despite Lifting Warehouse Pay

Benoit Berthelot, Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc. said it would hike pay at its UK warehouses following strikes but unions dismissed the offer as “an insult.”

 

Job search platform Indeed to cut 2,200 jobs

Akash Sriram, Reuters

U.S.-based job search platform Indeed said on Wednesday it will cut about 2,200 jobs, or 15% of its workforce, joining a host of companies rationalizing their labor force following a pandemic-fueled hiring boom.

 

Logitech Cuts 300 Jobs on Post-Covid Slump in Computer Gadgets

Cecilia D’Anastasio and Amy Thomson, Bloomberg

Logitech International SA, a maker of keyboards, webcams and other computer accessories, is laying off about 300 people in a global reorganization. 

 

Accenture cuts jobs, trims forecasts on worries of lower IT spending

Chavi Mehta, Reuters

Accenture Plc on Thursday lowered its annual revenue and profit forecasts and said it would cut about 2.5% of workforce, or 19,000 jobs, the latest sign that the worsening global economic outlook was sapping corporate spending on IT services.

 
Morning Consult