Cook roasts free apps
This week in industry self-governance: Facebook wants to sue Apple over their unfair practices—on behalf of small businesses of course; Redditors upend the stock market to defend Gamestop’s honor—and Robinhood becomes the villain of its own story; Zuck announces product tweaks to “turn down the temperature”—glad they did that before anything got out of hand!
COOK ROASTS FREE APPS
The feud between Facebook and Apple is escalating. Not since the fight between two Instagram influencers who both named their babies “Baby” have we been so interested in a public battle for moral superiority.
To catch you up real quick, Facebook was *so outraged* when Apple announced last year they’d begin requiring 3rd party apps (like Facebook) to ask users for consent before surveilling them, they launched a whole campaign claiming to be standing up to Apple on behalf of small biz. Even Facebook employees were like, aren’t we just doing this cuz it’s self-serving, tho?
And in case you were wondering whether Facebook could be any less self-aware, there is new reporting that they planned to file an antitrust lawsuit against Apple for their anti-competitive practices in its App Store. Don’t get me wrong, the App Store is anti-competitive, but read the room, Facebook – I mean, you’re currently being sued by 48 AGs and the FTC!
Anyways, Apple CEO Tim Cook just fired back, roasting companies that offer 'free' apps and services at great societal cost. Hmm... who could he be referring to?
Tim Cook: “If a business is built on misleading users, on data exploitation, on choices that are no choices at all, then it does not deserve our praise—it deserves reform… It is long past time to stop pretending that this approach doesn’t come with a cost of polarization, of lost trust, and yes, of violence. A social dilemma cannot be allowed to become a social catastrophe.”
WIRED: “In his comments at the privacy panel, Tim Cook billed Apple’s privacy shift as a blow against the forces undermining democracy. “At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms, we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement—the longer the better—and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible,” he said.”
New York Times: Facebook Said to Consider Suing Apple Over App Store Practices
NBC News: Apple v. Facebook: After years of tension, a legal battle looms
ROBINHOOD, CHAMPION FOR...WALL STREET?
In the kind of ironic twist you just can’t make up, financial tech platform Robinhood flexed its big, unregulated muscles against the market power of America’s ruling class: Reddit users.
As internet normies vengefully pumped up Gamestop’s value this week just to stick it to the gaming non-believers at Melvin Capital, Robinhood banned new GameStop stock purchases on its platform. Worth mentioning: Robinhood’s biggest client? Melvin Capital’s hedge fund overlord, Citadel. There may not be a clearer case in modern history for ending ineffective industry self-governance (or more accurately, self-preservation) in favor of, you know, actual federal regulation.
We’re not Raven Baxter, but it is looking extremely likely that the federal regulatory powers-that-be will investigate this Wall Street-Robinhood debacle. And, whatever happens is likely to impact the Big Tech platforms like Facebook and Google running similarly amok. It’s almost like unregulated industry leads to toxic business models which in turn lead to widespread chaos.
Platformer: Reddit roils Wall Street
VICE: Robinhood’s Customers Are Hedge Funds Like Citadel, Its Users Are the Product
NO GROUPLOVE AT FACEBOOK
This week, Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook would stop recommending political groups to users in an attempt to “turn down the temperature” – though arguably the time to turn down the temperature was before an attempted coup was plotted on the platform. Just a thought.
We do support Facebook curtailing group recommendations – we called for stopping them months ago – but enforcement will be key, as Zuck previously made the same commitment under oath and they just… never stopped recommending them. Oops!
POLITICO: Facebook to stop recommending political groups in bid to 'turn down the temperature'
Mashable: Facebook claims it won't recommend political groups anymore (we'll see)
The Hill: Markey questions Facebook on 'failed commitment' to stop recommending political groups
POTPOURRI
Vox: Poll: Most Americans want to break up Big Tech
TIME: Big Tech's Business Model Is a Threat to Democracy. Here's How to Build a Fairer Digital Future
Mozilla: Internet Health Report
Reuters: Explainer: Google, Facebook battle Australia over proposed revenue-sharing law
Media Matters: Marjorie Taylor Greene endorsed a deranged conspiracy theory about Democrats and satanic child murder
CNET: YouTube says it's removed 500,000 COVID-19 misinformation videos
The New York Times: Three Weeks Inside a Pro-Trump QAnon Chat Room
AP News: Twitter launches crowd-sourced fact-checking project
The New York Times: Facebook Posts a 53 Percent Jump in Profit
Washington Post: Tech experts overwhelmingly approve of Trump suspensions from social media