WEBVTT - BigTech News: Tech Lands in Lawmakers' Crosshairs 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to tex Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:14.880 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:17.800 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:22.560 and how the tech are you. It is March twenty 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.240 twenty two, and I would like to begin this episode 0:00:25.320 --> 0:00:29.840 of tech Stuff News with an apology. This goes out 0:00:29.880 --> 0:00:33.600 to all my Irish listeners out there, and just know 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.360 that the following message is really for all my fellow Americans. 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:43.120 Top of the podcast to yeah and happy St Patrick's day. 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:45.600 Toy to toy to toy. All right, I got that 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:50.959 all the way again, mice. Sincerest. Apologies. Also, you might 0:00:50.960 --> 0:00:54.000 hear a little bit of background noise in this episode 0:00:54.080 --> 0:00:56.400 might sound a little different. That's because I am actually 0:00:56.520 --> 0:00:59.600 in the office recording today. Had to be here for 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.039 some other reasons. And uh, hey, there's folks here. It's 0:01:04.080 --> 0:01:06.760 like I haven't seen people in so long. It's kind 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:10.320 of nice. But let's get to the news. Bleeping Computer 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:14.600 reports that Russia is facing a cloud crunch in the 0:01:14.720 --> 0:01:19.920 near future. According to the Russian news outlet Commercant, the 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.520 country could run out of cloud storage space within as 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:27.319 little as two months now. This is largely because the 0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.880 major cloud storage providers are companies that have pulled out 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:34.160 of Russia in the wake of that country's invasion of Ukraine. 0:01:34.880 --> 0:01:37.640 The news outlet also reported that at a meeting to 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.440 discuss this issue, there was a proposal to convert domestic 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:46.840 services within Russia over to cloud storage services, as well 0:01:46.880 --> 0:01:51.040 as potentially seizing the assets of companies that once operated 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:54.600 within Russia that have since left. In other words, if 0:01:54.640 --> 0:02:00.080 say Amazon was operating a data center in Russia, that 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:04.640 Russia might potentially sees those assets and use them for 0:02:04.720 --> 0:02:09.119 their own kind of an imminent domain thing. Other options 0:02:09.160 --> 0:02:12.880 include cutting off some media streaming services and then reallocating 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:16.440 those assets to cloud storage, which wouldn't necessarily be a 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:20.560 big popular move for Russian citizens. There's also the chance 0:02:20.600 --> 0:02:24.239 that Russia will turn to Chinese cloud services, but that's 0:02:24.280 --> 0:02:27.960 not a guarantee because well, it depends upon China's cooperation. 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.920 Russia has recently been investing heavily in surveillance systems and 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:37.120 facial recognition technology and smart city tech, and all of 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:42.000 those rely upon a robust cloud storage foundation. So we'll 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.880 have to see what Russia does because that clock is ticking. Also, 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.440 since we mentioned China earlier. The US government has sent 0:02:49.560 --> 0:02:53.600 a message to China Telecom, which I'm sure you've gathered 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:58.320 as a telecommunications company from China, and China Telecom currently 0:02:58.360 --> 0:03:01.800 provides services in America. Uh, but we'll have to stop 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:05.839 that within sixty days due to this government order. An 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:09.960 issue here is a concern that a telecommunications company potentially 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.920 has access to a ton of information and represents a 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:17.880 critical component for a country's infrastructure. And China and the 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:22.240 US have had, uh, let's say, a tenuous relationship. And 0:03:22.280 --> 0:03:26.239 also the Chinese Communist government is notoriously hands on when 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:29.919 it comes to you know, companies in China, whether those 0:03:29.960 --> 0:03:33.880 are native companies or companies operating within China. So there 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:36.960 is a legit fear that a Chinese company could act 0:03:37.040 --> 0:03:40.240 like a spy or a general surveillance tool on the 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:44.040 US and pass information along to the Chinese government. There's 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.960 also a worry that should the relationship between US and 0:03:47.040 --> 0:03:50.760 China get worse, that a telecom company from China could 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:54.880 end up causing massive problems in the US as communications infrastructure, 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.760 you know, by cutting off operations or otherwise just inter 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:03.119 hearing with day to day life. And we saw this 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:06.800 happen previously. We saw a very similar approach with Huawei. 0:04:07.480 --> 0:04:09.840 That's a company that had provided a lot of networking 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:13.560 components to telecom companies throughout the United States, and then 0:04:13.800 --> 0:04:16.599 the US government said get rid of all those and 0:04:16.680 --> 0:04:18.320 we're kind of in that process now. A lot of 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:19.960 the smaller I s p s have a little bit 0:04:19.960 --> 0:04:24.480 more time to get rid of those those components and 0:04:24.520 --> 0:04:28.000 replace them with stuff from other companies. We've also seen 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:31.120 similar pushback on TikTok, which of course is owned by 0:04:31.160 --> 0:04:35.960 a Chinese conglomerate called byte Dance. Anyway, China Telecom released 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.760 a statement saying that the company plans to quote pursue 0:04:38.800 --> 0:04:43.279 all available options while continuing to serve our customers end quote. 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.120 So we'll have to see where this goes. U S 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:50.680 Senator Elizabeth Warren and US House Representative Mandare Jones have 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:55.240 introduced legislation in their respective Houses of Congress, and it's 0:04:55.240 --> 0:05:00.240 called the Prohibiting Anti Competitive Mergers Act or HAMMA p 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:06.159 A m A. And while this isn't explicitly about tech companies, 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:09.839 Warren has said that she was really keeping those companies 0:05:09.839 --> 0:05:14.360 in mind in particular while drafting the legislation. Essentially, if 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:17.880 this is signed into law, the act would ban any 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.840 massive mergers that were worth more than five billion dollars 0:05:22.560 --> 0:05:26.360 or that would provide market shares beyond for employers or 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:31.839 thirty three for sellers. So it's meant to encourage a 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:36.400 more competitive marketplace and prevent companies from consolidating power. And 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.440 it's also meant to beef up regulator powers when reviewing 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:43.680 proposed mergers and to expand on reasons that regulators might 0:05:43.800 --> 0:05:47.559 prevent such mergers should they represent any kind of anti 0:05:47.600 --> 0:05:51.279 competitive practices. Not only that, but it would also allow 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:56.680 for retroactive review and the reversal of acquisitions and mergers. 0:05:56.760 --> 0:06:00.960 So not only would this give regulators more authority moving forward, 0:06:01.320 --> 0:06:05.160 they could actually look back on pre existing deals and 0:06:05.240 --> 0:06:09.400 force companies to divest themselves of certain acquisitions. So immediately 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:13.480 I think about companies like Google and Meta, with Meta 0:06:13.560 --> 0:06:16.840 positively leaping to mind because that company has a long 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:21.360 history of acquiring other social platforms and services that we're 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:24.839 seen as threats to Meta's claim on our free time. 0:06:25.000 --> 0:06:28.800 I mean, like that, that's pretty widely known that the 0:06:28.880 --> 0:06:32.000 reason why Meta, which at the time was you know, Facebook, 0:06:32.480 --> 0:06:36.360 purchased Instagram. It was because Instagram was taking up a 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.560 lot of people's time and Facebook just couldn't compete, so 0:06:39.800 --> 0:06:43.400 rather than compete, they bought it. Now, this act has 0:06:43.440 --> 0:06:46.240 got a pretty broad reach, and it's one that I 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.000 imagine is going to get a lot of resistance before 0:06:49.360 --> 0:06:52.760 it moves any further through the system. It's likely going 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:55.080 to be an uphill battle to pass this bill in 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:59.720 the Senate. And there's also no conservative co sponsors on 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:03.680 either version of this bill, so no Republicans have co 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:06.920 sponsored it. That's kind of an indication that we're probably 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:10.320 gonna see some resistance here. If somehow this does pass 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:14.000 into law, it would obviously change things dramatically, not just 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.760 for tech but for all industry. It's just we probably 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.920 see it very acutely in the tech space. For one thing, 0:07:22.360 --> 0:07:25.720 we would see stuff like Microsoft's planned acquisition of Activision 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:28.760 Blizzard that would get nixed right away because that deal 0:07:28.840 --> 0:07:32.600 is valued at nearly sixty nine billion dollars. That's well 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:35.400 over the five billion dollar threshold. But we'll have to 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.920 wait and see where this goes from here. One other 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:42.600 acquisition that the PAMA legislation would have prevented is Amazon's 0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:47.760 acquisition of MGM, the movie and television studio. That deal 0:07:48.000 --> 0:07:52.320 is worth more than eight billion Smackaroo's, so again above 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:57.680 that five billion threshold. However, the FTC did not make 0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.120 a public response about the deal, like there was an 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.600 a period open for that to happen, and the FTC 0:08:05.800 --> 0:08:10.240 took no action. Also, in the EU, the Antitrust Commission 0:08:10.360 --> 0:08:13.400 already approved the acquisition, So in the EU it got 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:17.320 the green light, and it looks like Amazon now owns MGM. Now, 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:20.320 this could be one of those deals that the proposed 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:25.880 legislation would later reverse, right like, if that proposed PAMMA 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:31.560 Act passes, then presumably even with this deal going through now, 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:37.839 later on regulators could force Amazon to divest itself of MGM. 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.200 But again, I would be surprised if that PAMMA bill 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.800 actually does become law. The EU Commission said that there 0:08:43.920 --> 0:08:48.079 was very limited overlap between Amazon and MGM, so saying 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:51.439 that the acquisition would not be anti competitive because it's 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.560 not like they were actually reducing the number of companies 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:57.840 that are in the same market. The acquisition will mean 0:08:57.880 --> 0:09:01.240 that Amazon gets a big boost in content, though not 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:04.520 all the content ever created by MGM. That story gets 0:09:04.520 --> 0:09:09.320 super complicated because different parties have acquired different sections of 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:13.720 MGMs library over the years. Uh, but it would include 0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:18.000 stuff like the James Bond franchise, which obviously very valuable. 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.480 I might do a series about the history and evolution 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.480 of MGM in the future. It's pretty complicated, but I've 0:09:24.480 --> 0:09:28.080 done similar episodes about Warner Brothers and some other studios, 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.520 and MGM obviously is another important one. Anyway, this is 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:36.080 a continuation of a trend of consolidation of media, and 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:39.280 now Amazon Prime Video will have tons of MGM content 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:42.440 on it, while Discovery and Warner Media are in the 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:46.600 process emerging and bringing all their content together. So maybe 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.920 you could argue that this specific example isn't inherently anti competitive, 0:09:52.040 --> 0:09:56.040 but the general trend I think perhaps is Okay, We've 0:09:56.080 --> 0:09:58.400 got a lot more stories to go through, but before 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:08.960 we get to that, let's take a quick break now 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.280 to talk about an acquisition that's on a smaller scale. 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:16.600 Google is buying a company called Raxium, which produces micro 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:19.559 l e d s for displays. L E d s 0:10:19.559 --> 0:10:22.439 are light emitting diodes, and the micro l e ED 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:27.839 space is kind of positioned to compete against the predominant 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:32.840 standard bearer, which is oh LED technology. Reportedly, Google's interest 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.880 in micro l e d S is related to the 0:10:35.920 --> 0:10:40.280 development of augmented reality technology. Google has a long history 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:43.880 dabbling in a R, the Google Glass project being a 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:49.000 very early example of that. But presumably whatever Google has 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.440 in mind is going to be more robust and a 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:54.760 more immersive approach to a R in the future, and 0:10:54.800 --> 0:10:57.440 it appears that this micro led tech will play a 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.600 part in that in some form of display most likely. 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:05.840 And Apple has done similar things that actually acquired a 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.960 different micro led company. In fact, I think that happened 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.480 way back in As to when we might actually see 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:17.400 products from Google that incorporate this technology, that's probably gonna 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:21.160 take a while, And considering Google's track record with hardware, 0:11:21.880 --> 0:11:24.400 it might take even longer for folks to feel comfortable 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:28.559 adopting it because Google has a long history of introducing products, 0:11:28.559 --> 0:11:32.080 only too in support for those products, like a year 0:11:32.160 --> 0:11:36.760 or two later. Uh. It's hard to get behind the 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:42.400 idea of buying hardware from Google simply because there is 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.520 this long history of Google saying that didn't work, let's 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:48.160 just stop supporting it. And then you've got this very 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.000 expensive paper weight that you know, over time can do 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:56.560 less and less because of that lack of support. Over 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.600 in Europe, a French cloud services company called O v 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.800 A Cloud has filed a complaint alleging that Microsoft is 0:12:03.840 --> 0:12:08.040 in violation of antitrust measures in the EU. Now, according 0:12:08.080 --> 0:12:12.000 to the complaint, Microsoft charges a different rate for its 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.360 Office suite of products if you use a different cloud 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:20.680 platform then Microsoft's own Azure. So in other words, if 0:12:21.040 --> 0:12:23.559 you have a customer that wants to use say O 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:27.560 v H Cloud for its cloud platform, but still needs 0:12:27.600 --> 0:12:31.920 to rely on Microsoft Office products for productivity software, then 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.079 it would have to pay more for that office software 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:38.000 suite than it would if they just went all in 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.839 with Microsoft. Oh v H Cloud says this practice is 0:12:41.880 --> 0:12:45.600 anti competitive and it's meant to discourage customers from seeking 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.360 out any alternatives from Microsoft. And on the one hand, 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.920 you might say, you know, bundled services have kind of 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.839 always been a thing and typically you pay less would 0:12:56.840 --> 0:13:00.160 you bundle things together. But on the other hand, you 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:02.480 have to keep in mind that there are some companies 0:13:02.480 --> 0:13:06.959 that only provide a subset of those services, like a 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:10.319 cloud platform. So you know, O v H Cloud doesn't 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:14.160 necessarily have a productivity suite, so they can't compete on 0:13:14.320 --> 0:13:17.920 apples to apples with Microsoft, and so you might really 0:13:18.360 --> 0:13:21.679 love o v H clouds product, you might love their 0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:25.800 customer service. You might think that's the superior cloud platform. 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.680 But you know, you probably also need a productivity suite. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:31.640 So you as a customer might be more inclined to 0:13:31.679 --> 0:13:34.439 just go all in with Microsoft because it's cheaper and easier. 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:39.359 And that doesn't mean that Microsoft is providing a better experience. 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:43.720 It's just, you know, it's it's giving you an incentive anyway. 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.680 Ov H cloud has filed the complaint, but there's no 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.440 word as of yet on what happens next or whether 0:13:49.520 --> 0:13:52.640 Microsoft has even received a formal notice of the complaint yet. 0:13:53.960 --> 0:13:57.800 Over in California, state lawmakers have proposed new legislation that 0:13:57.840 --> 0:14:01.839 would give parents the opportunity to sue social networking platforms 0:14:02.120 --> 0:14:06.720 for getting their kids addicted to social media. And this 0:14:06.800 --> 0:14:09.079 is a pretty complicated issue, and I can actually view 0:14:09.160 --> 0:14:12.479 it from a couple of different perspectives. So one perspective 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.720 is that I could see someone saying it's really the 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:20.240 responsibility of parents and schools to monitor kids and to 0:14:20.320 --> 0:14:25.400 teach them and to help them arm themselves with knowledge 0:14:25.680 --> 0:14:28.160 and prevent them from getting addicted in the first place, 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:31.480 So why would we hold companies accountable for things that 0:14:31.560 --> 0:14:36.080 parents and school should be doing. And there's some merit 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:38.720 to that argument, I would say. But another view that 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:42.480 I can see, and I also find merit in, is 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:46.120 that companies like say Meta, devote an awful lot of 0:14:46.160 --> 0:14:49.560 time coming up with ways to entice people to come 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.920 to and then stay on their platforms. In fact, almost 0:14:54.000 --> 0:14:58.840 all of Meta's business hinges on attracting and retaining users 0:14:58.960 --> 0:15:02.080 for as much of their time as is possible. In 0:15:02.080 --> 0:15:06.160 other words, companies like Meta have built their business around 0:15:06.480 --> 0:15:11.160 creating addictive experiences. So from that perspective, Meta and other 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:15.160 companies like it absolutely bear some of the responsibility for 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:19.120 kids getting addicted to social media. So the reality is 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.560 a complex one, and I think there's actually a plenty 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.120 of accountability to go around. I don't think we can 0:15:25.360 --> 0:15:28.600 assign it all to just one party anyway. This proposed 0:15:28.680 --> 0:15:31.920 law would allow parents to file class action lawsuits against 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:36.560 companies that provided services that their children subsequently became addicted to, 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:40.840 and the fine would be about a thousand dollars per 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.360 child UH or twenty five dollars per child in the 0:15:44.400 --> 0:15:48.520 case of civil penalty cases. Uh, the legislation does allow 0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:52.720 for some safe harbor protections if companies meet certain requirements 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:56.520 that indicate they are taking quote basic steps to avoid 0:15:56.600 --> 0:15:59.520 addicting children in quote. So in other words, if a 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:01.680 company could show that it's at least doing the bare 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.760 minimum to try and prevent kids from being hooked on 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:08.800 their services, then they should be in the clear. Also, UH, 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.080 companies that generate less than one million dollars in revenue 0:16:12.080 --> 0:16:16.160 per year would be excluded, and that I find really interesting. 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.880 I mean, I get the risk of big tech because 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.280 I mean, we we've all heard the stories, like we've 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:26.800 seen the internal documents from Meta, and you know, the 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.600 fact is that companies like Meta really are a major issue, 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.320 a major concern. However, to me, it's a little strange 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.520 to say, if you happen to create experiences that are 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.960 meant to be addictive to children, but you make less 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.360 than a hundred million dollars a year, you're to it's 0:16:43.360 --> 0:16:47.440 okay that that doesn't sit well with me. But maybe 0:16:47.480 --> 0:16:52.280 I'm just interpreting this incorrectly. Three years after getting into 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:55.920 the VR space, Facebook or I really should say, Meta 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.480 says it's going to roll out parental supervision controls for 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:04.040 VR experiences. Now, that's definitely important because we've already seen 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:08.040 several reports about how abusive folks in VR environments can 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:11.760 be amazingly awful to other people, and they could be 0:17:11.760 --> 0:17:15.439 a really traumatic experience. There's a legit concern for the 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.640 health and safety of children and VR spaces like Meta's 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:25.560 Horizon Worlds, where again we've already seen evidence of predatory behaviors, 0:17:25.560 --> 0:17:28.640 something you definitely don't want kids to be exposed to. Now, 0:17:28.680 --> 0:17:31.399 I should add that Meta has stated that the Quest 0:17:31.560 --> 0:17:36.080 It's it's main VR product, is intended for users who 0:17:36.080 --> 0:17:39.800 are a thirteen or older, but that doesn't mean younger 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.160 kids aren't still using it. In fact, there's no real 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:47.240 way to prevent that from happening, and heck, thirteen, I 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:51.320 would argue, it's still pretty freaking young, and the potential 0:17:51.359 --> 0:17:54.520 harm that we're talking about can be significant. So I 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.800 think that rolling out these parental controls is an important step. 0:17:59.119 --> 0:18:02.720 I also think it's well overdue. Uh. I have an 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:05.040 issue with Meta in general because I feel like the 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:08.680 company treats the general public like guinea pigs. It will 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:12.800 roll out services on a really broad scale and then 0:18:13.440 --> 0:18:16.320 look to see if they're harmful or not, and then 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:19.480 make changes. I feel like it's a little reckless to 0:18:19.600 --> 0:18:22.840 go that direction. I feel there needs to be maybe 0:18:22.920 --> 0:18:26.639 more QA and R and D work before you start 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.080 rolling stuff out to actual human beings out there. But 0:18:30.760 --> 0:18:34.200 maybe I'm just being too conservative in that case. Anyway, 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:37.479 the parental controls will include alerts whenever a kid has 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:40.600 made a purchase within VR apps, and will also include 0:18:40.600 --> 0:18:43.480 a dashboard listing off all the apps that the kid 0:18:43.640 --> 0:18:47.160 has access to UH as well as how much time 0:18:47.200 --> 0:18:51.720 they're spending in those VR environments, and parents will presumably 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:55.639 have some control over all of that. Meta is bringing 0:18:55.680 --> 0:18:59.119 similar control features and educational material to its other platforms 0:18:59.119 --> 0:19:03.600 as well, including Instagram. The company is pretty clearly been 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:07.640 on the defensive since Francis Hogan brought forward concerning internal 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:11.240 documents indicating Meta's research into its products effects on younger users, 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.440 which seemed to indicate that, you know, they're fairly negative. 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:19.400 And we've also been concerned obviously about the company's intention 0:19:19.480 --> 0:19:23.760 to build out products that are specifically targeting younger demographics. 0:19:23.800 --> 0:19:27.960 So I feel like this is Meta's approach to addressing 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:34.320 those concerns. Hopefully, uh, those methods that Meta takes will 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:37.960 be sufficient. But of course we've got more bad news 0:19:38.080 --> 0:19:41.520 for Meta, and in this case, it's that Congress is 0:19:41.560 --> 0:19:44.280 calling on Meta to answer for a failure that could 0:19:44.280 --> 0:19:49.959 harm kids. That failure centers on Facebook Marketplace, the platforms 0:19:50.040 --> 0:19:54.480 online commerce tool where users can buy and sell various stuff, 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:56.760 and at the heart of the matter is the issue 0:19:56.800 --> 0:20:00.480 of recalled products. UH. The United States CA Gris says 0:20:00.520 --> 0:20:03.520 that Meta has failed to prevent the sale of recalled 0:20:03.520 --> 0:20:07.560 products it could be harmful and have been harmful to children, 0:20:08.000 --> 0:20:11.640 and said that the failure is a quote remarkable dereliction 0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:15.040 of duty by your company on behalf of your users 0:20:15.200 --> 0:20:17.879 end quote. And this is not the first time that 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:21.880 Congress has sent a letter to Facebook urging the company 0:20:21.920 --> 0:20:26.040 to take action on this very subject. In fact, lawmakers 0:20:26.080 --> 0:20:29.320 have been saying this to Meta leadership for for a 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:32.760 few years now, and according to those lawmakers, the company 0:20:32.920 --> 0:20:36.439 has appeared to do little, if anything about it. USA 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:40.640 Today investigated the issue and found instances of several recalled 0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.040 products appearing on Facebook Marketplace, and these were products that 0:20:44.040 --> 0:20:46.560 were associated with the deaths of more than one hundred 0:20:46.680 --> 0:20:51.760 children collectively, which is truly awful to think about, and 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:55.480 they're still occasionally being bought and sold on the Facebook 0:20:55.520 --> 0:21:00.000 marketplace platform. And this is despite the availability of tools 0:21:00.240 --> 0:21:04.800 text and image recognition that could identify those kinds of 0:21:04.880 --> 0:21:09.240 listings and at least allow Facebook to block them. So, 0:21:09.280 --> 0:21:11.840 in other words, it is entirely possible for Meta to 0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:15.639 log and subsequently remove these posts, and yet the company 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:19.200 fails to do so. However, let's talk about the law 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.560 for a second. So currently in the United States, it 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:26.960 is illegal to sell recalled products, Like if there's been 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:30.160 a toy that's been recalled because it turns out it's 0:21:30.200 --> 0:21:33.200 toxic and kids could get sick if they were playing 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.440 with it. Um, it is illegal to sell that. However, 0:21:36.880 --> 0:21:42.760 Facebook isn't actually selling anything in Facebook Marketplace. It is 0:21:43.119 --> 0:21:48.280 an online platform. It's facilitating sales, so it gives people 0:21:48.320 --> 0:21:52.119 a place where they can post and shop for stuff. 0:21:52.760 --> 0:21:56.840 But Facebook itself isn't the merchant. So just as websites 0:21:57.280 --> 0:22:00.080 shouldn't be held responsible for the stuff that used or 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:04.840 is post to those websites, Facebook shouldn't be held liable 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:09.400 for illegal products sold on marketplace because again, it's not 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:12.560 like Facebook's the vendor that says the law stands now, 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:15.440 there are some lawmakers in the US who are looking 0:22:15.480 --> 0:22:18.680 to draft legislation that would require online stores to take 0:22:19.000 --> 0:22:22.720 greater steps to prevent illegal sales. In the future, I 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.160 imagine that Facebook and lots of other online store companies 0:22:26.200 --> 0:22:28.760 will take a few steps to address issues like this 0:22:29.400 --> 0:22:33.480 before that goes much further, because generally speaking, we typically 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:37.920 see businesses and industries tackle these issues themselves before regulations 0:22:37.960 --> 0:22:41.000 get involved. And wrapping up on our let's dump on 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:45.960 meta segment, let's have a somewhat goofy news item. Instagram 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:50.560 issued a twenty four hour ban on Kanye West because 0:22:50.960 --> 0:22:55.800 something he posted violated Instagram's policies. Now, the specific post 0:22:56.359 --> 0:23:01.199 wasn't singled out, however, general consists of says that was 0:23:01.400 --> 0:23:04.879 likely to do with a post Kanye made about Trevor Noah, 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:08.320 the host of The Daily Show. Trevor Noah had made 0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:12.639 some humorous commentary about the ongoing drama between Kanye West, 0:23:13.280 --> 0:23:17.840 Kanye West's ex wife Kim Kardashian, and Kim Kardashian's boyfriend 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:22.080 Pete Davidson, and y'all, I'm old and I'm out of touch, 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:24.119 so I am not the best person to give a 0:23:24.160 --> 0:23:26.880 full rundown on all the drama that's gone on here. 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:30.240 I'm aware of it, but I haven't really been following it. However, 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:32.600 I do think that, based on my limited knowledge of 0:23:32.680 --> 0:23:37.360 Kanye West, this was a very Kanye thing to have happened. 0:23:38.000 --> 0:23:41.080 All right, We've got more news items to get through 0:23:41.280 --> 0:23:43.560 before we get to that. Let's take another quick break. 0:23:51.560 --> 0:23:55.879 We're back the site Fast Company has a really interesting article. 0:23:56.359 --> 0:23:59.879 It has the headline to fight Disinformation, Follow the Money 0:24:00.160 --> 0:24:03.520 and the Ads, and it was written by Rob Peggararro. 0:24:04.400 --> 0:24:07.719 It's about an organization called check my Ads and it 0:24:07.760 --> 0:24:12.000 was founded by Nandini Jummy and Claire Atkin. The focus 0:24:12.040 --> 0:24:17.480 of this organization is to defund disinformation, and the two 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:22.000 co founders made the case that disinformation campaigns are funded. 0:24:22.200 --> 0:24:26.639 They make money, not by just posting on social networks 0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:30.520 like that's not really where money comes in to these organizations. 0:24:30.560 --> 0:24:33.840 If if that were hill they depended upon revenue, they 0:24:33.840 --> 0:24:36.920 would fade away because they don't make enough that way. Instead, 0:24:37.600 --> 0:24:43.080 it's attracting people to owned and operated websites that heavily 0:24:43.160 --> 0:24:46.560 feature advertising and you know web ads. That's the basic 0:24:46.600 --> 0:24:50.080 revenue plan we see across the web, and in many 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:53.679 of these cases, companies that use certain ad exchanges, that is, 0:24:54.520 --> 0:24:58.040 a company that broker's ads right like it takes in 0:24:58.240 --> 0:25:02.600 orders from cli ants and then places those ads on 0:25:02.680 --> 0:25:07.520 websites well, certain add exchanges might end up running ads 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:13.040 against content that their clients would rather not be associated with. Uh. 0:25:13.119 --> 0:25:15.000 There have been lots of cases with this. In fact, 0:25:15.040 --> 0:25:19.000 the Sleeping Giants organization, which is related in a way 0:25:19.080 --> 0:25:24.080 at least it's it's connected to check my Ads, has 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:28.159 long been pointing out how ads for certain companies have 0:25:28.240 --> 0:25:34.240 appeared on let's say, controversial sites with the question of hey, 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:38.320 are you okay with your ad being posted against this article, 0:25:38.920 --> 0:25:43.240 and that has often resulted in various companies pulling their 0:25:43.280 --> 0:25:47.520 ads from those companies and telling ad exchanges, hey, we 0:25:47.600 --> 0:25:50.679 don't want you to place our ads on sites like 0:25:50.760 --> 0:25:52.920 this one. So that's kind of what checked my Ads 0:25:53.000 --> 0:25:58.359 is all about, is like helping identify where these instances 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:03.640 are happening in an effort to defund those websites and 0:26:03.760 --> 0:26:07.679 take away the money that allows these disinformation campaigns to 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:10.879