An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Earlier this week, an advertising agency emerged with a video bragging about an ad-campaign concept: We’ll invade gaming-filled Twitch chat rooms and post ads for your brand for cheap. The attached video was exactly the kind of cringe you might expect from “brand engages with video game culture,” with edgy yet inoffensive…
Tag: Federal Trade Commission
A Third of TikTok’s US Users May Be 14 or Under, Raising Safety Questions
If Microsoft or another company buys TikTok before President Trump bans the Chinese-owned video app on national security grounds, it will acquire a giant community of devoted fans and a lucrative platform for selling ads. It might be buying something else, too: a big population of users ages 14 and under. The minimum age for using TikTok is 13. From a…
Qualcomm Wins US Antitrust Lawsuit Appeal Over Chip Licensing
A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday reversed a lower court ruling against chip supplier Qualcomm in an antitrust lawsuit brought by the Federal Trade Commission. From a report: The United States Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals also vacated an injunction that would have required Qualcomm to change its intellectual property licensing practices. The decision amounted to a near complete victory for…
California Investigating Google For Potential Antitrust Violations
California has opened its own antitrust probe into Google, leaving just one state that has yet to do so. “In September, attorneys general from 48 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia announced an antitrust investigation into Google focused on the company’s dominance of the advertising technology market,” reports Politico. “Over the past 10 months, that investigation — led by…
Trump Signs Executive Order Targeting Protections For Social Media Platforms
President Trump signed an executive order on Thursday designed to limit the legal protections that shield social media companies from liability for the content users post on their platforms. Axios reports: “Currently, social media giants like Twitter received unprecedented viability shield based on the theory that they are a neutral platform, which they are not,” Trump said in the Oval Office….
NASA Astronaut’s Estranged Wife Charged With Lying About Space Crime Allegation
Last August, Slashdot reader bobstreo tipped us off to an interesting story where an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, in what may have been the first allegation of a crime committed in space. We have now learned that the spouse has been indicted on charges of lying to federal authorities. USA Today…
Meet the Man Being Sued By the FTC Over His Kickstarter Campaign for a High-Tech Backpack
The Verge takes a 5,000-word look at a Kickstarter campaign “that raised more than half a million dollars, only to never ship and leave behind thousands of angry backers.” “The difference in this story, however, is that for only the second time, the Federal Trade Commission is coming for the creator.”
The agency claims Doug Monahan took his backpack funds and spent…
American Lawmakers Launch Investigations Into Ring’s Police Deals
A U.S. Congressional subcommittee is now “pursuing a deeper understanding of how Ring’s partnerships with local and state law enforcement agencies mesh with the constitutional protections Americans enjoy against unbridled police surveillance,” reports Gizmodo: Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform subcommittee on economic and consumer policy, is seeking to learn why, in more than 700 jurisdictions, police…
Qualcomm Makes Case To Appeals Court That It Didn’t Hurt Competition
Qualcomm is making the case for why it didn’t hurt competition in the smartphone chip business. “The company, represented by attorney Thomas Goldstein of the firm Goldstein & Russell, on Thursday appeared before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in downtown San Francisco,” reports CNET. “Qualcomm is hoping the appeals court will overturn a ruling by a district…
Justice Department Is Meeting State AG Offices Tuesday To Discuss If Google Broke Antitrust Law
Justice Department officials will meet on Tuesday with representatives of state attorneys general to discuss their investigations of Google and whether the company broke antitrust law. “The probes focus on search bias, advertising and management of Google’s Android operating system,” adds Reuters. From the report: The meeting is in the afternoon, according to one source, and will include officials from six…