Top Stories

  • President Donald Trump is expected to spend the final days of his tenure railing against Twitter Inc. and the big tech giants, with the push set to start as soon as today, according to a person familiar with the matter, after Twitter permanently suspended his personal account Friday for repeatedly violating its policies against inciting violence. Trump’s Twitter ban comes as several major tech companies took unprecedented actions to deplatform the president after a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol last week. (The Washington Post)
  • Parler, the Twitter rival popular with conservatives for its lax content moderation policies, has been forced offline after Amazon Web Services pulled its hosting services today due to a “steady increase” in violent content on the platform, with Parler Chief Executive John Matze saying in a post on Parler before the shutdown that the platform could be “unavailable on this internet for up to a week as we rebuild from scratch.” Apple Inc. and Google also removed the app from their app stores after the social media site was linked to the insurgents who stormed the Capitol. (The Guardian)
  • Moscow-based cybersecurity firm Kaspersky said that hackers behind the cyberattack on the U.S. government used malware that closely resembled tools linked to a hacking group “Turla,” which Estonian officials have traced back to Russia’s FSB security service. The new research is the first publicly available piece of evidence that Russia was behind the monthslong hack that impacted up to 18,000 customers of SolarWinds Corp. (Reuters)
  • Stripe Inc. is no longer processing payments made on Trump’s campaign website, including donations, for violating its policies against promoting violence following last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to people familiar with the matter. The move comes as other non-social media companies kick the president off their platforms, including e-commerce company Shopify Inc., which booted online stores run by Trump’s business and campaign off its site on Thursday. (The Wall Street Journal)

Chart Review

Events Calendar (All Times Local)

01/11/2021
CES 2021 – virtual
Truth in Advertising’s virtual event with FTC Commissioner Rohit Chopra ahead of Supreme Court oral arguments about Section 13(b) of the FTC Act
01/12/2021
CES 2021 – virtual
FCBA Engineering and Technical plus IoT committees virtual event with FCC Chief Technology Officer Monisha Ghosh 12:15 pm
FCC Chairman Ajit Pai speech on bridging the digital divide with the National Grange and Multicultural Media, Telecom & Internet Council 2:00 pm
01/13/2021
CES 2021 – virtual
FCC January Open Commission Meeting 10:30 am
WSJ Pro Cybersecurity webinar on the cost of a breach 1:00 pm
The Washington Post’s virtual event on the future of artificial intelligence in health care 2:00 pm
01/14/2021
CES 2021 – virtual
AEI virtual event with FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr 10:30 am
The Hill’s virtual event on the future of American innovation 1:00 pm
01/15/2021
FCC’s A Road Map to Tech Jobs – Virtual Summit 12:00 pm
View full calendar

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General

Bans on Parler and Trump Show Big Tech’s Power Over Web Conversation
Sarah Frier, Bloomberg

As Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. banished users and groups supporting the violent mobs at the U.S. Capitol last week — including President Donald Trump himself — downloads surged for a less restrictive social media app called Parler. But in an effort to prevent further riot organizing, Google Inc. and Apple Inc. booted Parler from their app stores, and Amazon.com Inc. shut off its web services.

Facebook, Twitter could face punishing regulation for their role in U.S. Capitol riot, Democrats say
Tony Romm, The Washington Post

Facebook, Google and Twitter are staring down the prospect of harsh new regulations in Washington, as politically ascendant Democrats in Congress pledge to take fresh aim at Silicon Valley for its role in stoking the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol this week. The violent mob that stormed the House and Senate, leaving the two chambers in lockdown, has emboldened party lawmakers who say that social media sites failed to heed their repeated warnings — and then did too little, too late, in response to President Trump and his incendiary online rhetoric.

CES 2021 is still happening — without Vegas, crowds, prototypes or germs
Heather Kelly, The Washington Post

For one week every January, thousands of people pour into Las Vegas to see, touch and experience the latest tech innovations at the world’s largest technology show. Now entering its 54th year in the middle of a pandemic, CES is trying to host its massive conference virtually. But what is CES without most of the things that make it interesting to begin with?

Stripped of Twitter, Trump Faces a New Challenge: How to Get Attention
Maggie Haberman, The New York Times

Mr. Trump became a celebrity through television, but Twitter had given him a singular outlet for expressing himself as he is, unfiltered by the norms of the presidency.

San Francisco police are prepping for a pro-Trump rally at Twitter headquarters
Jonathan Shieber, TechCrunch

San Francisco police are preparing for a pro-Trump protest at Twitter’s headquarters, a building which has been essentially abandoned since the start of the pandemic last year, with most Twitter employees working remotely. The potential protest comes days after Twitter banned the president from using its service — his favorite form of communication to millions of followers — following what the company called his continued incitements to violence in the wake of the January 6 assault on the Capitol last week by a mob of his followers.

Can Andrew Yang’s Star Power Carry Him to New York’s City Hall?
Katie Glueck, The New York Times

In the last few months, the man who would be New York’s most famous mayoral candidate acted like anything but one. He spent more time barnstorming Georgia than he did the five boroughs. He openly contemplated cabinet roles and lobbied Washington lawmakers around stimulus relief. And he often made television appearances from his weekend home in the Hudson Valley rather than from his apartment in Hell’s Kitchen.

Intellectual Property and Antitrust

Senator Klobuchar to Write Antitrust Book
Elizabeth A. Harris, The New York Times

Alfred A. Knopf announced on Monday that Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat and former presidential candidate, will write about monopolies and her recommendations for how they should be challenged in a book slated for release in April. The book, “Antitrust: Taking on Monopoly Power From the Gilded Age to the Digital Age,” is a mix of history, law, personal anecdotes and politics, encompassing such companies as John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Amazon and pharmaceutical corporations.

Turkey Starts Antitrust Investigation Into WhatsApp, Facebook
Firat Kozok and Cagan Koc, Bloomberg

Turkey’s antitrust board launched an investigation into Facebook Inc. and its messaging service WhatsApp Inc. over new usage terms that have sparked privacy concerns. Changes to WhatsApp’s terms of service, effective Feb. 8, will allow the messaging app to share data with Facebook. Users will be required to agree to the new terms, which would allow for more targeted advertisements, or lose access to their WhatsApp accounts.

Google Antitrust Judge to Divest Funds That Own Alphabet Stock
David McLaughlin, Bloomberg

The federal judge overseeing the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust case against Google said he will sell his shares of mutual funds that hold stock in the company to avoid the appearance of any conflict in the case. U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington disclosed in a court filing Friday that he recently learned from his financial adviser that mutual funds owned by him and his wife hold two classes of stock in Google parent Alphabet Inc.

Telecom, Wireless and TV

John Legere is considering becoming the Un-Candidate
Ian Carlos Campbell, The Verge

John Legere, former T-Mobile CEO and aspiring Batman, has reacted to the mob that attacked the Capitol like many other political and business leaders by calling for President Donald Trump to step down. But he’s also going a step further by considering a run for political office himself. Legere left his post as CEO and member of T-Mobile’s board after successfully negotiating the merger between the company and Sprint, so he very well could be looking far and wide for his next gig.

NTIA, Pentagon Move to Tackle 5G Interoperability Complexities
Brandi Vincent, Nextgov

The Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration wants feedback on the potential of a new “5G Challenge” it may create to promote interoperability in the burgeoning realm—and support the Defense Department’s ongoing military networking modernization efforts. Accelerating the development of an “open 5G stack ecosystem” to help push forward DOD missions would be the ultimate aim of the challenge activity NTIA is exploring, according to a notice of inquiry set to be published in the Federal Register Monday.

Mobile Technology and Social Media

All the platforms that have banned or restricted Trump so far
Sara Fischer and Ashley Gold, Axios

Platforms are rapidly removing Donald Trump’s account or accounts affiliated with pro-Trump violence and conspiracies, like QAnon and #StoptheSteal.

Twitter bans Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell in QAnon account purge
Ben Collins and Brandy Zadrozny, NBC News

Twitter on Friday removed the accounts of Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell and other high-profile supporters of President Donald Trump who promoted the QAnon conspiracy theory. The permanent bans are among the highest profile that the company has instituted as part of its efforts to crack down on misinformation and calls for violence.

Gab gaining 10,000 users per hour, CEO claims, after Trump’s permanent Twitter suspension
Brie Stimson, Fox Business

Gab, a more conservative-friendly alternative social media platform to Twitter, claimed Saturday it is gaining 10,000 users an hour in the wake of Twitter permanently suspending President Trump’s account. Trump has also been blocked from posting on Facebook and Instagram — at least until his term ends.

Social media and telco companies urged to preserve evidence from Capitol attack
Kim Lyons, The Verge

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia), incoming chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is asking mobile carriers and social media platforms to preserve “content and associated metadata” that may be connected to the attack on the US Capitol. Warner said in a statement Saturday that he contacted the CEOs of AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon, Apple, Facebook, Gab, Google, Parler, Signal, Telegram, and Twitter.

Airbnb’s Section 230 Use Underscores Law’s Reach Beyond Facebook
Heather Somerville, The Wall Street Journal

As lawmakers and tech executives prepare for a major battle over an internet liability shield this year, a look at Airbnb Inc.’s use of the law shows that the stakes go well beyond social-media giants such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. The home-rental site isn’t usually mentioned in the heated discourse over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the 25-year-old legislation that has shielded internet companies from liability for what users post on their platforms.

Cybersecurity and Privacy

The facial-recognition app Clearview sees a spike in use after Capitol attack.
Kashmir Hill, The New York Times

After the Capitol riot, Clearview AI, a facial-recognition app used by law enforcement, has seen a spike in use, said the company’s chief executive, Hoan Ton-That. “There was a 26 percent increase of searches over our usual weekday search volume,” Mr. Ton-That said.

Former election cybersecurity chief: Trump can redeem himself by resigning
Kelsey Tamborrino, Politico

Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency chief Chris Krebs said Sunday President Donald Trump has a chance to redeem himself for the deadly siege by his supporters on the Capitol last week: He could resign. “The president’s legacy is a heap of ashes. There’s nothing redeemable at this point, given the fact that he incited this attempt to overturn democracy, a fair and free election,” Krebs said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

He Created the Web. Now He’s Out to Remake the Digital World.
Steve Lohr, The New York Times

Tim Berners-Lee wants to put people in control of their personal data. He has technology and a start-up pursuing that goal. Can he succeed?

Cleaning up SolarWinds hack may cost as much as $100 billion
Gopal Rotnam, Roll Call

American businesses and government agencies could be spending upward of $100 billion over many months to contain and fix the damage from the Russian hack against the SolarWinds software used by so many Fortune 500 companies and U.S. government departments. “Unlike good wine, this case continues to get worse with age,” said Frank Cilluffo, director of Auburn University’s McCrary Institute for Cyber and Critical Infrastructure Security. “For a lot of folks, the more they dig, the worse the picture looks.”

Biden transition fills some top cybersecurity personnel spots
Tim Starks, CyberScoop

The incoming Biden administration has spent the week heralding some of its cybersecurity-related personnel decisions, even as a couple key jobs remain a question mark. The Biden transition on Friday announced a slew of National Security Council picks.

Opinions, Editorials and Perspectives

Thierry Breton: Capitol Hill — the 9/11 moment of social media
Thierry Breton, Politico

We are all still shocked by the images of protesters storming the U.S. Congress to halt the certification of the next U.S. president. The attack on the U.S. Capitol — a symbol of democracy — feels like a direct assault on all of us. Just as 9/11 marked a paradigm shift for global security, 20 years later we are witnessing a before-and-after in the role of digital platforms in our democracy.

The Progressive Purge Begins
The Editorial Board, The Wall Street Journal

Can right-wing populist sentiment be banished from American life by the brute force of social-media censorship? We’re about to find out. After Wednesday’s mob invasion of the Capitol that disrupted the counting of electoral votes, big tech firms have moved, aggressively and in unison, against Donald Trump and his supporters. 

Can Donald Trump Survive Without Twitter?
Charlie Warzel, The New York Times

On Friday, Twitter permanently suspended Donald Trump’s account. According to the company, one of the tweets that sealed the deal was “President Trump’s statement that he will not be attending the inauguration” and its implication that the results of the 2020 election were not legitimate. After years of using the platform to spread lies and conspiracies, after countless tweets amplifying white supremacists and QAnon believers, and after attempting to provoke both North Korea and Iran, the justification feels a bit like getting Al Capone on tax evasion. And yet the damage is irrefutable.

The Capitol Attack Doesn’t Justify Expanding Surveillance
Albert Fox Cahn, Wired

The security state that failed to keep DC safe doesn’t need invasive technology to meet this moment—it needs more civilian oversight.

Research Reports

Facebook put a pause on Trump’s account. The balance of content is already shifting.
Kayla Gogarty and Sharon Kann, Media Matters for America

President Donald Trump has spent years using Facebook to spread misinformation and foment hostility toward his perceived political enemies, benefiting directly from the platform’s algorithm, inconsistent rule enforcement, and many exceptions for political content. After a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Facebook finally took action against the president’s account by suspending its ability to post — temporarily.

Morning Consult