Telegram user numbers surge after Whatsapp privacy update January 12, 2021 Messaging app Telegram has seen its user numbers balloon amid a backlash over changes to Whatsapp’s privacy policy. Telegram, which offers encrypted chat services, today said 25m new users had signed up in the last 72 hours alone. This is compared to the 1.5m daily additions it averaged last year, while the app’s total user [...]
Trump brands social media ban ‘catastrophic mistake’ and defends pre-riot speech January 12, 2021 Donald Trump has branded his social media ban a “catastrophic mistake” as he refused to take responsibility for inciting riots at the Capitol last week. The outgoing president, who has been accused of inciting violence and is facing a second impeachment, today played down his role in the riots and attempted to blame Silicon Valley. [...]
EU joins UK in rolling out sweeping new fines for tech giants December 15, 2020 US tech giants could face fines of up to 10 per cent of their revenue under new draft EU rules set to be unveiled today. The regulations, the most serious attempt at reining it companies such as Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Apple yet made by the bloc, come amid intense worldwide scrutiny on the role [...]
UK to regulate social media firms such as Facebook and Twitter over content removal December 11, 2020 The UK government will announce plans for a new law next week under which social media companies will have a duty to be impartial and be barred from “arbitrarily” removing comments because they are controversial, according to a report in The Times today. UK ministers will announce plans on Tuesday for a statutory duty of [...]
Facebook facing multiple lawsuits that could splinter the tech firm and render acquisitions illegal December 9, 2020 The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and nearly every US state have sued Facebook today, saying that it broke antitrust law and should potentially be broken up. In its complaint, the coalition of 46 states, Washington, D.C. and Guam also asked for Facebook’s acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp to be judged to be illegal. The [...]
The CMA sets out new regime for tech giants such as Google and Facebook December 8, 2020 The CMA sets out new regime for tech giants such as Google and Facebook
Screenshot: Can social media win the anti-vax war? December 4, 2020 A weekly column from City A.M. bringing you all the biggest stories and trends in technology, media and telecoms This week **Media Moment of the Week: A very British scandal **Social media gears up for the vaccine information war **How data dominates financial markets Media Moment of the Week It was quite possibly the most [...]
Facebook to pay UK news publishers for use of articles December 1, 2020 Facebook will pay UK news publishers to use some of their articles as the tech giant looks to fend off the looming threat of regulation. From January the site will launch a dedicated news section with a selection of articles from top publishing groups. The companies behind the Guardian, the Independent and the Evening Standard [...]
Biden urged to take on Big Tech amid lobbying fears November 30, 2020 US president-elect Joe Biden has been urged to confront Big Tech amid concerns about the number of tech executives linked to the incoming administration. Thirty-two advocacy groups today penned a letter to Biden urging him to hold companies such as Google, Facebook and Amazon to account, arguing that their business practices harmed American consumers and [...]
Facebook snaps up chatbot startup Kustomer for ecommerce push November 30, 2020 Facebook has agreed terms to buy customer service startup Kustomer as the social media platform prepares to expand further into ecommerce. Financial details were not disclosed but the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the deal, said the terms valued Kustomer at $1bn (£750m). Kustomer, which was founded in 2015, allows businesses to combine customer [...]