Tech
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Essential tech industry news & intel to start your day.
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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
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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:
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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:
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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)
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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:
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Jen Easterly, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, will speak at the Economic Club of New York.
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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.”
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PRESENTED BY NCTA |
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What Else You Need to Know
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Antitrust and Competition
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Artificial Intelligence/Automation
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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.
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Telecom, Wireless and Internet Access
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Cybersecurity and Privacy
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A Message From NCTA:
Despite record inflation that reached a 40-year high and led to surging prices for many essential goods and services, the cost of high-speed broadband in America has remained stable and affordable, delivering a great value to American consumers. Learn more.
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Social Media and Content Moderation
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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.
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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.
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Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives
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Risk of ‘industrial capture’ looms over AI revolution
Madhumita Murgia, Financial Times
A handful of individuals and corporations now control much of the resources and knowledge in the sector.
Net Neutrality’s Dead: Time To Focus On The Real Issue: Telecom Monopolization
Karl Bode, TechDirt
With the FCC effectively lobotomized, states and municipalities have effectively given up on coherent federal leadership on issues like telecom policy. Instead they’re redirecting the conversation back to where it probably should have been all along: the perils of unchecked telecom monopolization, and the need to build cohesive, locally-owned and operated alternatives to monopoly power.
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