Week in Review
Facebook’s cryptocurrency
- Facebook Inc. formally announced its new cryptocurrency Libra, which will be directly backed by government currencies to provide relative stability to its value and will be available to purchase through a new subsidiary called Calibra. Facebook hopes to launch the program next year with 100 partners, and it currently has 27 partners, including Mastercard Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc.
- House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters requested Facebook halt development of its cryptocurrency until Congress and regulators can “examine these issues and take action.” Waters joins a growing group of lawmakers who are raising concerns about the new project, including Financial Services ranking member Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.)
Regulation
- The Federal Trade Commission has been investigating YouTube, according to four people familiar with the matter, after several consumer groups and privacy advocates complained that the streaming service does not properly protect children or their data. Company executives have since accelerated talks about how to adjust YouTube content feeds for children, a person familiar with the plans said, including possibly retooling the algorithm for recommending videos.
- Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook called for tech companies to take responsibility for the “chaos” they have helped create, saying in his commencement address at Stanford University that the tech industry is now better known for “the belief you can claim credit without accepting responsibility” than innovation amid data breaches, privacy violations and the spread of misinformation online.
Content moderation
- Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill modifying section 230 of the Communications Decency Act to prohibit social media platforms from exhibiting political bias in content moderation or risk losing the immunity that exempts them from liability for the content posted on their sites. Called the “Ending Support for Internet Censorship Act,” the bill would be the first proposed legislation aimed at modifying the section as lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), ramp up criticisms of the protections.
- A Facebook content moderation site in Tampa, Fla., has been struggling to enforce the social media’s community standards amid conditions described by workers such as sexual harassment, verbal and physical fights at the office and theft, according to 12 current and former moderators and managers. Cognizant, the contractor that runs the Tampa site, is coming up for renewal of its contract with Facebook.
Cyber and national security
- The Department of Homeland Security will start using a program housed in Amazon.com Inc.’s cloud services to store the biometric data of more than 250 million people, replacing its Automated Biometric Identification System, according to a request for information released earlier this week. The data, which is collected by several Homeland Security departments, is used to identify potential terrorists, immigration policy violators, criminals and others.
U.S.-China trade relations
- Huawei Technologies Co. Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei said he estimates that the U.S. government’s sanctions will cut his company’s revenue forecast by $30 billion over the next two years, noting that he “didn’t expect the damage to be this serious.” Huawei is also expecting a drop in its international smartphone shipments by 40 million to 60 million this year, according to people familiar with the matter.
- Apple sent a letter to the U.S. Trade Representative calling for a halt to its plans for 25 percent tariffs on certain Chinese imports, which would impact production of several of the tech company’s products such as iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches. Apple warned the administration that the planned tariffs would “tilt the playing field” in favor of its Chinese rivals.
Telecommunications
- The Federal Communications Commission said it will vote at its July meeting on whether it should begin auctioning a band of largely unused 2.5 GHz spectrum that had been reserved for education purposes in an effort to expand fifth-generation wireless networks. Chairman Ajit Pai said the proposal would “allow for more efficient and effective use of the airwaves” and advance the United States’ leadership in 5G.
- Dish Network Corp. is in talks with T-Mobile US Inc. and Sprint Corp. to purchase some of their assets, including wireless spectrum and Sprint’s prepaid brand Boost Mobile, for at least $6 billion, according to people familiar with the matter, as the two carriers seek regulatory approval for their proposed merger. Discussions are ongoing, but Dish could announce the purchase as soon as this week, the people said.
- House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) unveiled a new version of the chairman’s “Stopping Bad Robocalls Act” with bipartisan support — laying out a new requirement for carriers to implement call authentication technology and upping the FCC’s statute of limitations for prosecuting illegal callers from one to three years in most cases. The communications and technology subcommittee plans to hold a markup for the legislation this week, and a committee spokesperson said the committee is hoping for a full markup by the end of the summer.
Alphabet protests
- Alphabet Inc.’s board rejected 13 shareholder proposals, which touched on subjects such as forced arbitration for temporary workers over sexual harassment cases, workplace diversity and the company’s work in China, at its annual shareholder meeting. Outside the meeting, employees and shareholders protested together for the first time to push the company to ditch its nondisclosure agreements and allow for more public venues to discuss harassment and discrimination.
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