Fines, bans and directors liable: Government plans Big Tech crackdown December 15, 2020 The government is set to announce sweeping new measures for social media companies, as part of a crackdown on big tech. Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden and Home Secretary Priti Patel will today propose plans to hand Ofcom considerable powers over social media firms. Ofcom handed new powers The regulator will be able to fine companies [...]
Exclusive: Tech Nation’s top London startups revealed December 15, 2020 Tech Nation has announced London’s top five early stage tech companies as part of its Rising Stars competition. In what has been a difficult year for small firms, Tech Nation has picked some of the most innovative startups from the capital. In its third year, the Rising Stars programme is a national competition for innovative [...]
Chinese regulator fines Alibaba and Tencent under antitrust laws December 14, 2020 The Chinese markets regulator has fined Alibaba and Tencent for a string of deals in its latest bid to clamp down on tech companies. The State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Monday it had fined Alibaba, Tencent-backed China Literature and Shenzhen Hive Box Technology 500,000 yuan. It comes after the regulator published draft regulations [...]
Google accounts back up again after global outage December 14, 2020 Google’s UK accounts appear to be up and running again after multiple services including Gmail and Youtube all experienced outages. There was a huge downtime spike for Google’s services at around 11.30am GMT according to outage site Down Detector. Google’s Play Store, Drive and Calendar were also all reportedly down. Problems have mainly been reported [...]
Astrazeneca to buy US drugs firm Alexion for $39bn December 12, 2020 Astrazeneca has agreed to buy US drugmaker Alexion in a $39bn (£29.5bn) cash and share deal, as the British pharmaceuticals giant bolsters its presence in the immunology field. The Cambridge-headquartered firm, which is currently one of the frontrunners in the Covid vaccine arena, announced this afternoon that Alexion shareholders would receive $60 in cash and [...]
Disney Plus ups target after Netflix-rival surpasses 86m subscribers December 11, 2020 Disney Plus has announced plans to increase its subscriber target by 2024 to between 300-350m overall subscriptions. It follows a strong debut year in which the Netflix-rival surpassed 86m total subscribers. Comparatively at the end of 2019, Netflix had 167m subscribers world-wide. However, Netflix began its streaming service back in 2007, having a 13-year head [...]
Google to provide Covid vaccine information panels December 11, 2020 Google have announced a new feature on Search to provide users with official information about Covid vaccines.
Exclusive: Tech guru Harry Destecroix launches new disruptive investment vehicle December 11, 2020 Well-known tech scientist and entrepreneur Dr Harry Destecroix is bringing a new deep tech ecosystem to the market, which includes an investment fund and a network of partners to nurture science and engineering start-ups and spin-outs, as he puts it. In an exclusive interview with City A.M., the founder of Ziylo – which he sold for nearly [...]
Astrazeneca to test combining Covid-19 vaccine with Russia’s Sputnik jab December 11, 2020 Astrazeneca has announced it will experiment with combining its Covid-19 vaccine with Russia’s Sputnik V jab, in a move that scientists believe could significantly boost efficacy. In its statement this morning, Astrazeneca said it was considering assessing combinations of different vaccines, and would soon begin exploring with Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed Sputnik V. Peer-reviewed [...]
Competition watchdog refers O2-Virgin merger for in-depth investigation December 11, 2020 The UK competition regulator has referred the £31bn O2-Virgin merger for in-depth investigation. Liberty Global and Telefonica, the respective owners of Virgin Media and O2, struck a deal to merge their UK operations back in May. Last month the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched its phase one investigation into the mega-merger, arguing the potential [...]