U.S. Launches Probe against Tech Giants
U.S. Department of Justice's anti-trust department is probing whether tech giants such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook have used their market domination to stifle competition and innovation related to search engine technology, research and other capabilities, including the ones on their social media platform, according to reports carried on July 23, 2019 by The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. The top DOJ official at the anti-trust division, Makan Delrahim, said that without the "discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands".
U.S. Department of Justice's anti-trust department is probing whether tech giants such as Google, Apple, Amazon and Facebook have used their market domination to stifle competition and innovation related to search engine technology, research and other capabilities, including the ones on their social media platform, according to reports carried on July 23, 2019 by The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. The top DOJ official at the anti-trust division, Makan Delrahim, said that without the "discipline of meaningful market-based competition, digital platforms may act in ways that are not responsive to consumer demands".
Section
230: Focus of Social Media Regulation Fight
As The
Dallas Morning News has reported in a front-page article on October 24,
2020 that both the Left and Right want to see more oversight on the powers
of social media companies such as Facebook and Twitter on what goes published
or what goes purged out, they will be better advised to focus on Section 230
of the Communications Decency Act passed in 1996, aimed at promoting
a sustainable and faster development of an internet whose future, at that time,
has been unknown to lawmakers or policymakers. In order to preserve the
opportunity for the internet to reach its potential, the Section 230 states:
“We’re going to give the internet more favorable treatment than the other
media so that it can do things it’s capable of”. Social media platforms are
using this “Good Samaritan” clause to not only host the content, but
also content-moderate without any legal ramification.
Russia: Record Fines Slapped on Tech Giants
A Russian court on December 24, 2021 imposed $98.4 million fine on Google for failing to remove banned content. The Tagansky District Court also ordered the parent company of Facebook, Meta, a fine of $27.2 million for the same kind of dereliction of responsibility. Russian state communication watchdog, Roskomnadzor, blamed Meta and Google for purveying extremist ideology, insults to religious belief and harmful content.
5G Rollout Around Airport Delayed
AT&T, Verizon and other providers of 5G services on January 18, 2022 announced, to the much relief of FAA and airlines, that it would delay its rollout, scheduled for January 19, 2022, of 5G services around nation's airports, providing some sort of reprieve to the ensuing battle over the past two years among airlines, airport, FAA, policymakers, regulators and telecom companies. The crisis started right after the federal government had auctioned $80 billion in C-band Spectrum to cellular networks. Airline industry said that telecom companies' use of the coveted frequency would compromise with sensitive aircraft equipment. Many of the international airlines already cancelled flights to U.S. airports on the eve of January 19, 2022, planned 5G rollout. There is a fear that 5G spectrum-based signal may interfere with the radio wave altimeter installed in the aircraft. AT&T spent $27.4 billion for its share of C-band Spectrum.
Tech Giants Seek Supreme Court Intervention
Texas became only the second state in the Republic after Florida to pass and enact a bill to enjoin tech firms from viewpoint-based censoring. While a federal court issued a temporary injunction against the Florida law, Texas HB 20 became a law. Last week, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state. Tech companies do believe that the H.B. 20 curbs their First Amendment rights, which allows them to censor harmful viewpoint on a private platform. Texas argue that Tech companies have become common-carrier utilities more like telephone and telegram of the past century and, thus, require regulatory oversight. Tech companies on May 18, 2022 filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, HB 20 is mute as Tech companies get authorities for content-based moderation under the Section 230 of Communication Decency Act that shields the social media and tech entities from the liability of the third-party content on their platforms. Section 230 also gives the tech companies the authority for content-based censoring on their platform. The demarcation line between viewpoint-based censoring and content-based censoring is thin.
Appeals Court Rejects Florida Law
That the GOP-led states' efforts at curbing the powers of social media and tech companies to rein in conservative views are heading to Supreme Court is becoming clear as days have passed by and the nation's lower courts are issuing contradictory verdicts. A week after the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the state of Texas, a three-judge panel of the Atlanta-based 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a Florida law that Governor Ron DeSantis had signed to bar tech companies from censoring conservative views on their platforms. Writing for the three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Kevin Newsom, a Donald Trump-appointee, said that "put simply, with minor exceptions, the government can't tell a private person or entity what to say or how to say it" because that right was accorded by the First Amendment of the Constitution.
Biden Admin Unveils AI "Bill of Rights"
Biden administration, after months of consultation with industry experts, privacy rights advocates and civil leaders, on October 4, 2022 unveiled a blueprint to protect the privacy rights of consumers. Under the white paper issued by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, many of the hurtful practices such as application of facial recognition technology will be limited.
Bellwether Case Begins in California
A first of a kind case involving a pair of social media giants has begun on February 9, 2026 at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Although a 19-year-old identified with the initials "KGM" and two others are plaintiffs in this case, experts are closely studying the case as any positive verdict in favor of plaintiffs will open the floodgate for additional lawsuits, or a jumbo class-action lawsuit consolidating individual cases.
Judge Carolyn B. Kuhl didn't restrict the jurors from using their social media, but instructed them not to change their settings. At the heart of the lawsuit is the "addiction" logic, accusing the two defendants--Meta and Google's YouTube--of offering services which are highly addictive. Two other defendants, TikTok and Snap, settled the case on terms not shared with the public.
Meta, YouTube Found Guilty
A Los Angeles jury on March 25, 2026 found Meta and YouTube liable in a landmark case that accused social media companies of harming the young minds. For years, Big Tech avoided the wrath of regulation by seeking shelter under the umbrella of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 that did provide an near-absolute immunity for the content posted on their platforms. The L.A. case instead focuses on the design of the platform and how infinite scroll, auto-play and constant notifications are damaging the mental health of young users.
************************************ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE **************************
Biden Signs Executive Order
President Joe Biden on October 30, 2023 signed an executive order to provide necessary guardrails against the harmful effects of the evolving technology while empowering companies and consumers to have balanced access to the unlimited potential and benefits offered by it. White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients said that "we can't move at normal government pace" as "we have to move as fast, if not faster, than the technology itself".
Altman Fired, Reinstated in Five Days
Sam Altman, founder and CEO of ChatGPT maker OpenAI, was fired on November 17, 2023. The board's action shocked and surprised employees, investors and AI world. On November 19, 2023, reports pointed that Sam Altman would join Microsoft. On November 20, 2023, about 770 employees of OpenAI, almost all of the employees, signed a petition to reinstate Altman or they would resign too. On November 22, 2023, Sam Altman is back at the helms of OpenAI.
Paxton Investigating AI Chatbot Platforms
The Dallas Morning News in its August 23, 2025, editorial stressed on the adverse effect of young people's and minors' increasing reliance on several readily available AI Companion tools. Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton, The Dallas Morning News has reported, is investigating the Artificial Intelligence chatbots from 14 tech companies such as Meta AI Studio and Character.AI whether these tools are violating the Lone Star State's SCOPE [Securing Children Online Through Parental Online] Act and TDPSA [Texas Data Privacy and Security Act].
What's concerning is that Character.AI offers its mental health therapy service through user-created chatbot called the Psychologist, an unregulated tool, rightfully or wrongfully, accused of being partly responsible for a 14-year old's suicide. Several minors engage with Character.AI's Psychologist bot. Although Meta AI Studio doesn't offer psychological counseling, but still many users use this chatbot for therapeutic purpose.
The recently enacted App Store Accountability Act is a step in the right direction as Google and Apple are now required to have age verification before downloading any app from their stores, but it's not only the responsibility of app store operators, but the tech firms and platforms can't eschew their own responsibility.
Court Rejects Musk's Suit against OpenAI
After a three-week jury trial, a court on May 18, 2026 rejected Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI on the ground of expiration of the statute of limitation. A nine-member jury gave their non-binding verdict to U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of Oakland, California and the federal judge accepted the verdict.
Elon Musk was the co-founder of OpenAI in 2015 and invested about $38 million over the years. Elon Musk subsequently left the company after accusing Sam Altman and his deputy of working behind his back and trying to dismantle the non-profit governing structure of ChatGPT founder. OpenAI is currently valued more than $850 billion and expected to enter the equity market in near future.
TASAA: Supreme Court Rejects Appeal to Lower Court Ruling, Age Verification Law Upheld
Justice Samuel Alito on July 6, 2026 turned down a hearing request appealing the three-judge panel of the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court's ruling that had overturned a lower court's verdict against the Texas App Store Accountability Act, or TASAA, passed by the Texas legislature, requiring user's age verification. Plaintiffs include Computer and Communications Industry Association and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas.
****************** ANTHROPIC
Anthropic Suspends Access to Top-Tier AI Model after U.S. Directive
Anthropic on June 12, 2026 blocked access to its most advanced AI models after the U.S. government sent a control export directive, asking the AI firm to block access of Fable 5 and Mythos 5 to all foreigners, including U.S.-based technology workers. The Trump administration wrote in the directive that users could "bypass", or "jailbreak", the guardrails to explore software vulnerabilities.
****************** ANTHROPIC
Chinese Start-up Causes Sweating of California AI Behemoths
The Dallas Morning News reported in its July 19, 2026, edition that a Chinese AI start-up, Moonshot, startled and surprised the California AI behemoths such as OpenAI and Anthropic after it released its latest open-source AI model, Kimi K3 Model, on July 17, 2026. Kimi K3 Model is as powerful and capable as Claude from Anthropic and OpenAI's ChatGPT, but at a fraction of cost of the closed models offered by the California firms.
Kimi K3 is a compelling product because of its front-end coding capabilities, a measure of an AI large language model's performance.
Moonshot's introduction of Kimi K3 has happened on the first day of a four-day conference [July 17-20], World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The release of open-source Kimi K3 followed last month's release of GLM-5.2 by another Chinese file (ZHIPU).
Two Advanced AI Models of OpenAI Carry out Cyberattack on Another AI Firm
ChatGPT maker OpenAI said on July 21, 2026 that it was investigating into a recent incident in which two of its advanced AI models had broken out of testing environment to launch attacks on another AI firm, Hugging Face.
************************************ ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE **************************
AMAZON
FTC, 17 States Sue Amazon for Anti-competitive Practices
On September 26, 2023, Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed a lawsuit against online behemoth Amazon to force third-party sellers to exclusively sell on its platform, use its fulfillment service, Fulfillment by Amazon, and follow its anti-competitive, monopolistic rules inimical to fostering innovation and free market competition.
Amazon Workers Resort to Strikes
In the run-up to the holiday season, labor unrest at one of the most iconic and impactful retailers is roiling through the retail landscape. Teamsters workers at select Amazon fulfillment centers and other sites began their picket and strike on December 21, 2024. On December 23, 2024, only fulfillment center in the New York City joined the strike. JFK8 fulfillment center that employs 5,500 workers, is the largest site to join the work action to date.
APPLE
ITC's Ruling Stands, Apple Watch out of Market
The U.S. International Trade Commission on October 26, 2023 ruled that Apple Watches equipped with blood oxygen measurement infringed on two patents owned by two U.S. firms--Masimo Corporation and Cercacor Laboratories. After a 60-day review, ITC's ruling went into effect on December 26, 2023. U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai let the ITC's decision stand. The Office of the U.S.T.R. issued a statement on December 26, 2023 that after careful consideration, "Ambassador Tai decided not to reverse" the decision of the U.S. ITC. On December 26, 2023, Apple filed an emergency certiorari to reverse the U.S. ITC's decision. Apple is expected to lose circa $300 million to $400 million in revenue in the Holidays period, a few drops in the bucket as the technology behemoth is expected to bring in $120 billion in revenue in the Q4 2023. Apple stopped selling the Apple Watch equipped with blood oxygen measurement in-store and online starting from on-the-eve of Christmas Holidays.
Justice Files Antitrust Lawsuit
In a sweeping case against Apple, the U.S. Justice Department on March 21, 2024 filed a lawsuit at a federal court in New Jersey, accusing the technology behemoth of using its iPhone monopoly to squelch competition in areas such as messaging, streaming and digital payment services. The suit doubled down on Apple's business practices for carving out exclusive contracts to charge developers and content creators hefty amounts for developing and selling products and services in its App Store.
Although the U.S. target of Apple's monopolistic behavior is a recent one, the company is a long-time target of the EU's competition agency. Spotify, a prime competitor of Apple Music, complained to the European Commission, EU's executive arm and chief antitrust body, on Apple's effort to prevent consumers from streaming its music seamlessly. The European Commission ordered Apple to stop such anti-competitive behavior and fined $2 billion as a future deterrent. European Union's Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager called Apple's behavior "illegal" and added that the tech company's behavior prevented millions of European consumers from making a "free choice as where, how and at what price to buy music streaming subscriptions". In a separate antitrust case, European Commission complained in 2022 that Apple was inhibiting rival digital payment options from functioning smoothly, including Apple Store's preferred, or default, payment option favoring Apple Pay. Apple has offered concessions to the European Commission, which is still considering the tech giant's offer. EU's Digital Markets Act, or DMA, is designed to mitigate the adverse effect of tech firms' "Walled Garden" business model.
Apple Share Rises to Record High Fueled by AI Enablement
The Dallas Morning News reported on July 16, 2024 that the Apple share rose to record high the previous day (April 15, 2024) as analysts, including Morgan Stanley, had put a premium on its stock and many forecast as high as $300 as share price. Apple recently announced unveiling its new phone models with Artificial Intelligence capability, opening the floodgates of potential consumer upgrades. Apple Intelligence is likely to push the technology behemoth to an enviable position of Gen AI "base camp" just like it has once held in the domain of digital content (IPOD) and Social Media (IPHONE)
ATT
ATT's Futile Merger Bid of T-Mobile
ATT Inc. on March 20, 2011 stunned the telecommunications world by announcing its plan to buy T-Mobile USA Inc. from its parent Deutsche Telekom AG for about $39 billion. AT&T plans to test its next generation 4-G network from this summer, based on a tecnology called the Long-Term Evolution (LTE). Currently both AT&T and T-Mobile brand their latest service as 4-G although the technology is based on revamped 3-G called HSPA+.
The U.S. Justice Department filed the antitrust complaint against the merger in late August 2011, and was quickly joined by SprintNextel and Cellular South. The trial will start on February 13, 2011. If the merger doesn't go through, AT&T will pay a $3 billion break-up fee and other associated costs.
On November 22, 2011, the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked the other commissioners to grant for a rare administrative hearings as the proposed $39 billion merger might have adverse impact on jobs and investment. In addition, Genachowski asked the commissioners to approve $1.9 billion spectrum purchase, announced by AT&T in December 2011, from Qualcomm.
A day after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked other commissioners to approve a rare hearing before an administrative law judge, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, parent of T-Mobile, on November 23, 2011 requested FCC for an extreme measure of withdrawing the merger license. It is up to FCC to oblige such a request. On November 24, 2011, AT&T said that it would take a pre-tax charge of $4 billion in the fourth quarter.
On November 29, 2011, FCC allowed AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile USA, to withdraw the merger license.
On December 19, 2011, AT&T formally ended the $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile USA.
ATT Storyline: A History of Birth, Break-up and Re-Birth of a Telecommunication Giant
Telecommunication giant ATT at its present size and shape is the outcome of a classic corporate evolution story over the past three decades of shifts in regulatory landscape, explosion in technological innovation, ever stronger appetite for acquisition and successful integration of disparate units to boost operational efficiency and economy of scale. Significant impact of regulatory reach in telecommunication industry was first felt three decades ago in 1984 when the then-ATT was forced to break up into seven Baby Bells and the parent company was allowed to retain the long-distance services, manufacturing divisions and Research-and-Development units. Seven regional behemoths created out of parent company were Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell, and USWEST, respectively.
In 1993, Southwestern Bell moved its headquarters from St. Louis to San Antonio, and acquired cable TV operations in Maryland and Virginia. Two years later, the company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc., and positioned itself for a growth spurt that is continuing until today. The year 1996 marked the year of transformation in telecommunication industry as a major legislative revamp in more than 60 years led the industry to a new competitive landscape where anyone would be allowed to enter any communication business and any communication business would be allowed to enter any market. Two months after the law passed and signed by the then-President Bill Clinton, SBC Communications Inc. and another Baby Bell Pacific Telesis announced merger. In 1997, SBC Communications Inc. completed the $16.5 billion in acquisition of Pac Tel while departing the cable markets in Maryland and Virginia. Next year (1998), SBC loaded its portfolio with another acquisition, this time buying Southern New England Telecommunication (SNET) for $4.4 billion. Noting the planned future acquisition spree, Edward Whitacre Jr., the then-CEO of SBC Communications Inc., said that his company would strive toward becoming "one of the successful operators".
In 1999, SBC added its portfolio by acquiring another Baby Bell, Ameritech, for $62 billion, and complemented its telephone asset with mobile asset by buying Comcast Cellular for $1.7 billion. Following year (2000), SBC and BellSouth pooled their wireless operation with stakes 60 percent-to-40 percent ratio to create Cingular Wireless. In 2004, Cingular acquired ATT Wireless for $41 billion.
In 2005, Edward Whitacre Jr. pulled the most significant acquisition by acquiring the mother company (ATT) and 20th century American technological icon for $22 billion, and changed the corporate name of the combined company to ATT Inc.. At the time of merger, Whitacre commented: "The brand we associate with the invention of the telecommunication industry is the brand that will soon represent the reinvention of communications and entertainment". In 2006, ATT acquired former Baby Bell BellSouth for $90 billion. In 2007, ATT rebranded both BellSouth and Cingular, and acquired Dobson Communications Corp. for $5 billion.
In 2008, ATT moved its headquarters to Dallas.
After a failed bid to acquire T-Mobile in 2011, ATT acquired Leap Wireless International for $4 billion in 2014. Also in May 2014, ATT plunged into video universe by announcing its acquisition of DirecTV.
ATT
ATT's Futile Merger Bid of T-Mobile
ATT Inc. on March 20, 2011 stunned the telecommunications world by announcing its plan to buy T-Mobile USA Inc. from its parent Deutsche Telekom AG for about $39 billion. AT&T plans to test its next generation 4-G network from this summer, based on a tecnology called the Long-Term Evolution (LTE). Currently both AT&T and T-Mobile brand their latest service as 4-G although the technology is based on revamped 3-G called HSPA+.
The U.S. Justice Department filed the antitrust complaint against the merger in late August 2011, and was quickly joined by SprintNextel and Cellular South. The trial will start on February 13, 2011. If the merger doesn't go through, AT&T will pay a $3 billion break-up fee and other associated costs.
On November 22, 2011, the FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked the other commissioners to grant for a rare administrative hearings as the proposed $39 billion merger might have adverse impact on jobs and investment. In addition, Genachowski asked the commissioners to approve $1.9 billion spectrum purchase, announced by AT&T in December 2011, from Qualcomm.
A day after FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski asked other commissioners to approve a rare hearing before an administrative law judge, AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, parent of T-Mobile, on November 23, 2011 requested FCC for an extreme measure of withdrawing the merger license. It is up to FCC to oblige such a request. On November 24, 2011, AT&T said that it would take a pre-tax charge of $4 billion in the fourth quarter.
On November 29, 2011, FCC allowed AT&T and Deutsche Telekom, owner of T-Mobile USA, to withdraw the merger license.
On December 19, 2011, AT&T formally ended the $39 billion deal to acquire T-Mobile USA.
ATT Storyline: A History of Birth, Break-up and Re-Birth of a Telecommunication Giant
Telecommunication giant ATT at its present size and shape is the outcome of a classic corporate evolution story over the past three decades of shifts in regulatory landscape, explosion in technological innovation, ever stronger appetite for acquisition and successful integration of disparate units to boost operational efficiency and economy of scale. Significant impact of regulatory reach in telecommunication industry was first felt three decades ago in 1984 when the then-ATT was forced to break up into seven Baby Bells and the parent company was allowed to retain the long-distance services, manufacturing divisions and Research-and-Development units. Seven regional behemoths created out of parent company were Ameritech, Bell Atlantic, BellSouth, NYNEX, Pacific Telesis, Southwestern Bell, and USWEST, respectively.
In 1993, Southwestern Bell moved its headquarters from St. Louis to San Antonio, and acquired cable TV operations in Maryland and Virginia. Two years later, the company changed its name to SBC Communications Inc., and positioned itself for a growth spurt that is continuing until today. The year 1996 marked the year of transformation in telecommunication industry as a major legislative revamp in more than 60 years led the industry to a new competitive landscape where anyone would be allowed to enter any communication business and any communication business would be allowed to enter any market. Two months after the law passed and signed by the then-President Bill Clinton, SBC Communications Inc. and another Baby Bell Pacific Telesis announced merger. In 1997, SBC Communications Inc. completed the $16.5 billion in acquisition of Pac Tel while departing the cable markets in Maryland and Virginia. Next year (1998), SBC loaded its portfolio with another acquisition, this time buying Southern New England Telecommunication (SNET) for $4.4 billion. Noting the planned future acquisition spree, Edward Whitacre Jr., the then-CEO of SBC Communications Inc., said that his company would strive toward becoming "one of the successful operators".
In 1999, SBC added its portfolio by acquiring another Baby Bell, Ameritech, for $62 billion, and complemented its telephone asset with mobile asset by buying Comcast Cellular for $1.7 billion. Following year (2000), SBC and BellSouth pooled their wireless operation with stakes 60 percent-to-40 percent ratio to create Cingular Wireless. In 2004, Cingular acquired ATT Wireless for $41 billion.
In 2005, Edward Whitacre Jr. pulled the most significant acquisition by acquiring the mother company (ATT) and 20th century American technological icon for $22 billion, and changed the corporate name of the combined company to ATT Inc.. At the time of merger, Whitacre commented: "The brand we associate with the invention of the telecommunication industry is the brand that will soon represent the reinvention of communications and entertainment". In 2006, ATT acquired former Baby Bell BellSouth for $90 billion. In 2007, ATT rebranded both BellSouth and Cingular, and acquired Dobson Communications Corp. for $5 billion.
In 2008, ATT moved its headquarters to Dallas.
After a failed bid to acquire T-Mobile in 2011, ATT acquired Leap Wireless International for $4 billion in 2014. Also in May 2014, ATT plunged into video universe by announcing its acquisition of DirecTV.
Hours-long AT&T Outage Probed by Feds
Millions of AT&T customers on February 22, 2024 woke up to network disruptions, failing to place calls, send texts, connect to work portals and carry out basic necessities of life taken as granted such as paying parking fees with the press of a button. Hundreds of thousands of customers from across the U.S., including from some of the major metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Dallas and New York City, reported outages on the Downdetector.com website. AT&T's first responders and emergency communication network, FirstNet, was impacted too. FirstNet is used by circa 27,500 public services agencies. Customers of the largest two wireless carriers--Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile--had encountered difficulties in communicating with customers on the affected network. Both Verizon and T-Mobile said that their own networks were not affected. Nation's third-largest wireless carrier, AT&T, said in a statement that "keeping our customers connected remains our top priority".
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security are investigating into whether the outage has stemmed from any cyberattack, according to the February 23, 2024, edition of The Dallas Morning News. Federal Communications Commission is also in touch with the impacted carrier to carry its fact-finding mission.
AT&T: Telecom Giant's Second Breach This Year Compromises 100 million Customers
The year 2024 didn't augur well for AT&T, especially in the all important field of data security. The telecom behemoth's first data breach occurred roughly a month before the firm became aware about the second data breach. In the first data breach, the names and social security numbers of approximately 73 million customers of AT&T and its former companies were spilled out on the dark web.
No sooner had the fallout from the first breach subsided than the Dallas-based telecom firm was roiled by another breach, this time affecting 100 million customers. The Dallas Morning News ran a front-page cover story in its July 13, 2024, edition that the firm came to know on April 19, 2024 of a "threat actor" having "unlawfully accessed and copied call logs", according to the firm's filing with the Security and Exchange Commission. The malicious actor gradually siphoned the data from an AT&T workspace through a "third-party cloud platform" between April 14, 2024 and April 25, 2024. The identity and other private information may not be compromised, only the content of the call. However, "threat actor" may connect the dots to figure out identities of the callers. The calls and texts pertain to the timeframe between May 1 through October 31, 2022 and January 2, 2023, respectively.
Class-Action Lawsuit Filed against AT&T over Data Breach
A 15-year-old plaintiff, Dina Winger, filed a class-action lawsuit against telecom behemoth AT&T on July 17, 2024 at a federal court, accusing the firm of not being transparent over the scale and scope of the data breach reported by The Dallas Morning News days ago. Houston lawyer Patrick Yarborough filed the class-action suit on behalf of the plaintiff.
Meanwhile, Wired reported on July 14, 2024 that AT&T paid $300,000 in bitcoin to one of the hackers in May 2024 to delete the stolen data. The hacker obtained the data by breaking into one of the AT&T's cloud storage accounts hosted by Snowflake.
DIRECTV
DirecTV-Disney Spat to End Soon
DirecTV and Disney agreed to a deal, thus ending almost three weeks of blackout of ESPN, ABC content and National Geographic for millions of DirecTV subscribers, according to The Associated Press' September 14, 2024, report.
The disruption of services began in the Labor Day Weekend three weeks ago over carriage fees and flexibility.
FACEBOOK/META
Facebook Settles FTC Case for $5 billion
Federal Trade Commission on July 24, 2019 imposed largest ever fine in the agency's history on Facebook as part of a settlement to an investigation that it had launched last year over the social media giant's privacy policies related to data harvesting of 87 million Facebook users by the British data mining company Cambridge Analytica. In addition to $5 billion settlement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to personally vouch for user privacy mechanism in quarterly reports, thus creating in some way accountability of executives reaching at the topmost level. Although three Republican commissioners voted supporting the $5 billion settlement, two Democratic commissioners opposed it on the ground that a company with annual revenue of $56 billion was let off the hook on pennies for a dollar's worth of violation. In addition to July 24, 2019, FTC-Facebook settlement, Facebook will pay an additional $100 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over misstating its user data privacy.
FACEBOOK/META
Facebook Settles FTC Case for $5 billion
Federal Trade Commission on July 24, 2019 imposed largest ever fine in the agency's history on Facebook as part of a settlement to an investigation that it had launched last year over the social media giant's privacy policies related to data harvesting of 87 million Facebook users by the British data mining company Cambridge Analytica. In addition to $5 billion settlement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has to personally vouch for user privacy mechanism in quarterly reports, thus creating in some way accountability of executives reaching at the topmost level. Although three Republican commissioners voted supporting the $5 billion settlement, two Democratic commissioners opposed it on the ground that a company with annual revenue of $56 billion was let off the hook on pennies for a dollar's worth of violation. In addition to July 24, 2019, FTC-Facebook settlement, Facebook will pay an additional $100 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit over misstating its user data privacy.
********************************** FTC VS. META **********************************
U.S., State and Local Authorities File Anti-trust Suit against Facebook
Federal Trade Commission and 48 states and local authorities on December 9, 2020 filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Facebook, holding the social media behemoth responsible for crushing the smaller competitors. The plaintiffs may seek relief by dividing the Facebook and selling off WhatsApp and Instagram. One of the plaintiffs, New York Attorney-General Leticia James, said that Facebook "used its monopoly power to crush smaller rivals and snuff out competition". In July 2019, FTC imposed a $5 billion fine on Facebook, largest fine against any tech company, and some restrictions and oversight of the social media's business practices. Facebook called the anti-trust lawsuit as a "revisionist history".
Judge Tosses anti-Trust Complaint
A federal judge on June 28, 2021 dismissed Federal Trade Commission's and 48 states' and local authorities' lawsuits against Facebook, dealing a setback to federal and state authorities' efforts to rein in the social media giant. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg said in his ruling that the FTC lawsuit was "legally insufficient", but gave the agency leeway to refile the case within the next 30 days. Judge Boasberg took exception to how the Federal Trade Commission had arrived at the conclusion of Facebook controlling the 60% market share in the social networking market. Judge James Boasberg opined: "Because this defect could conceivably be overcome by repleading, however, the Court will dismiss only the Complaint, not the entire case". The judge also dismissed a similar lawsuit brought by 48 states and districts that accused the social media giant of showing anti-competitive behavior following its acquisition of Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014 and sought redress by demanding curbing of powers of Facebook, including breaking up the social media behemoth. U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg ruled that states and local authorities had waited too long to file this lawsuit. Facebook has welcomed the verdict which will make efforts by the administration's new FTC head, Lina Khan, to push measures to curb the powers of tech giants all the more difficult.
FTC's Refiled Case against Meta to Go Forward to Trial
After the dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission's initial case, the government attorneys refiled their case. Meta asked U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to dismiss the government filing this time too. On November 13, 2024, Judge Boasberg granted the case to go to trial on whether Meta, formerly known as Facebook, quelched the nascent competition, instead of innovating, by buying Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014, thus handing a setback to Mark Zuckerberg. The judge, though, dismissed another component of the government complaint that the tech giant had demonstrated the anti-competitive behavior by making the third-party Apps developers to access to and sell their products on the Meta platform more difficult unless they agreed to the conditions of not competing with the social media giant's core services.
********************************** FTC VS. META **********************************
Facebook Whistleblower Urges Senators to Regulate Her Former Employer
A former Facebook employee appeared before a Senate subcommittee on October 5, 2021, denouncing Facebook's policies that harmed kids, especially young girls, stoked political divisions and put profit over safety of its users. Frances Haugen, 37, on October 5, 2021 testified before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection. The subcommittee is investigating into Facebook's suppression of its own internal findings, including evidence that Instagram causes severe mental problems among many girls, including suicidal thought process. The Wall Street Journal last month published the company's internal research that showed, among others, clear harm to young people by Facebook's photo-sharing platform, Instagram. The Wall Street Journal received the ream of information from Frances Haugen. The subcommittee Chairman Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, called Facebook's action as "a Big Tobacco moment", referring to Tobacco industry's knowledge of what its internal research [that the smoking was harmful] had found, but yet the industry chose to stay silent.
Jan 6 Insurrection Forces Facebook to Scurry for Cover
Based on the document provided by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen to the Security and Exchange Commission and a redacted version shared with the Congress and a consortium of media companies, The Dallas Morning News published an article on October 24, 2021 that described a crisis-like situation erupting in California on January 6, 2021 as the insurrection by Trump supporters was ongoing in the Capitol Hill. Thousands of engineers were struggling to bring down the hateful and violent pages down at the height of insurrection. Many Facebook employees had expressed frustration over why the social media giant had loosened the control or constraint after the 2020 Presidential Election. One Facebook employee even wrote on the internal message board: "we are fueling this fire for long time".
*************** Facebook Papers
Series of Mistakes, Probable Willful Negligence Chronicled in Facebook Papers
Facebook Papers refer to a collection of document that former Facebook Data Scientist and whistleblower Frances Haugen has handed over to the Securities and Exchange Commission. A redacted version of those papers were shared with Congress by Haugen's attorneys. A consortium of 17 media organizations, including The Associated Press, have also received copies of those redacted papers shared with Congress. The consortium is in the midst of publishing articles encompassing many explosive information with political, religious and electoral implications in various regions of the world.
An article published by The Dallas Morning News on October 25, 2021 puts a spotlight on how lack of adequate control and oversight in Hindi and Bengali language posts have led to spiraling of fake, and often violent, news in various pages on the Facebook in India, leading to bloodshed, attacks on Muslims, riots and killings.
Facebook Slow to Scuttle COVID Vaccine-related Misinformation Flow
The Dallas Morning News carried an article in its October 27, 2021, edition that, during the height of vaccine rollout in March 2021, there was flood of misinformation-driven posts against COVID-19 vaccines and users had seen them as part of their feed because the engagement-based ranking model had ranked those debunked content on the top. Engagement-based ranking allocates higher ranks based on likes, shares and comments, putting many of the fake news on the top. According to a redacted version of the document shared by former Facebook Data Scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen, social media giant's internal researchers have recommended more intervention-based ranking instead of engagement-based ranking to screen out the false feeds. Their study findings, according to internal memos, were very encouraging: 12% decrease in content debunked by fact-checkers and 8% increase in feed-streams based on WHO and other trusted news sources. Facebook delayed a month to implement those changes, and many employees internally raised serious questions why their employer was delaying rolling out those changes.
*************** Facebook Papers
Facebook Changing Its Corporate Name, Ticker Symbol
Facebook Changing Its Corporate Name, Ticker Symbol
Facebook is changing its name to Metaverse, according to the October 29, 2021, business edition of The Dallas Morning News. Its Facebook App, Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp will remain the same. The ticker symbol under which Facebook will begin trading on December 1, 2021 will be MVRS.
EU Fines Meta 1.2 billion Euros
In the largest fine since Europe's strict data privacy laws and provisions came into existence five years ago, European Union on May 22, 2023 slapped 1.2 billion Euros, or $1.3 billion, against Meta, and ordered the parent of Facebook to stop sending the user data across the Atlantic. The fine exceeds the 2021 fine of 746 Euros slapped on Amazon for violations to data protection laws. Data protections and privacy are always twin concerns to European policymakers and sore points with American authorities. The genesis of stricter data privacy has roots in 2013 revelations that National Security Agency has been scooping user information as detailed by leaks from Edward Snowden. An Austrian lawyer, Max Schrems, filed a suit, complaining that Facebook was handing over European user information to U.S. intel agencies. European Union subsequently crafted a privacy law, Privacy Shield, to regulate data flow like the ones in Meta across the Atlantic, but an European Court shot it down on the ground that the law didn't go far enough to guard the user privacy. Washington and Brussels have signed a revised Privacy Shield last year, but the revised draft is pending European lawmakers' approval.
Meta Settles with Texas for $1.4 billion over Biometric Info
The Dallas Morning News reported on July 31, 2024 that Texas had reached a settlement with Meta for $1.4 billion over the social media giant's gathering and selling of biometric information without prior consent from its users. Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton said on July 30, 2024 that his office would hold the biggest technology companies accountable for mishandling and misuse of privacy information. This marks the largest biometric privacy information-related settlement, eclipsing the prior $650 million that a judge has approved in 2021 between Meta and Illinois. Paxton filed the privacy-related lawsuits against Meta and Google in 2022. The lawsuit against Google is ongoing.
Supreme Court Rejects Meta's Appeal against Vermont's Apex Court's "Go-ahead" to Trial
The U.S. Supreme Court on May 26, 2026, without comments, turned away Meta Platforms Inc.'s appeal against Vermont Supreme Court's recent ruling to allow a lawsuit, filed in 2023 by the state's attorney general against Facebook and Instagram, to move forward. The U.S. Supreme Court's procedural decision came after court setbacks of Meta and Google in California and New Mexico.
GOOGLE
E.U. Slaps $1.7 billion in Fine against Google
European Union on March 20, 2019 imposed a fine of $1.7 billion on Google for its business practices in ad sales space. The March 20, 2019, sanction was the third in two years, and brought the total fine to the tune of $10 billion. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, announcing the fine, said that the search engine's action likely yielded to "higher prices that would be passed on to consumers". The business practice in question is related to ad sales on a website that runs google search and google ads appear on the top because of the exclusivity agreement between the website operators and the search engine. As a results any ads similar to Google-carried ads are suppressed.
Paxton Leads Lawsuit against Google
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton announced a landmark lawsuit being filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 50 states and territories against Google's monopolistic business practices. Standing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton alleged on September 9, 2019 that Google "dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet". This year alone, Google will rake in $48 billion in digital ad revenue. The digital giant has 75% of the market share of overall spends of all search advertisements.
E.U. Slaps $1.7 billion in Fine against Google
European Union on March 20, 2019 imposed a fine of $1.7 billion on Google for its business practices in ad sales space. The March 20, 2019, sanction was the third in two years, and brought the total fine to the tune of $10 billion. European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, announcing the fine, said that the search engine's action likely yielded to "higher prices that would be passed on to consumers". The business practice in question is related to ad sales on a website that runs google search and google ads appear on the top because of the exclusivity agreement between the website operators and the search engine. As a results any ads similar to Google-carried ads are suppressed.
Paxton Leads Lawsuit against Google
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton announced a landmark lawsuit being filed at the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of 50 states and territories against Google's monopolistic business practices. Standing on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, Paxton alleged on September 9, 2019 that Google "dominates all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet". This year alone, Google will rake in $48 billion in digital ad revenue. The digital giant has 75% of the market share of overall spends of all search advertisements.
******************************* ANTI-TRUST LAWSUIT
Trump
Administration Files Antitrust Suit against Google
In
the largest and most consequential antitrust case since Clinton administration’s
lawsuit against Microsoft in 1998, Trump administration on October
20, 2020 filed an antitrust case against technology giant Google,
accusing the search giant of violating the antitrust laws and stifling
innovation by monopolizing the search and advertising domains.
This is a clear deviation from Trump administration’s more laissez faire
attitude to corporate monopoly. U.S. Deputy Attorney-General Jeff Rosen,
unveiling the antitrust lawsuit, said that Google “has maintained its monopoly
power through extraordinary practices that are harmful to competition”. Google
has used billions of dollars from the revenue of its advertising business to
give subsidies to phone manufacturers to let its browser become the default
search tool, according to the lawsuit. 11 states, including Texas, have joined
the DOJ lawsuit. Attorney generals of all 11 states are Republicans.
Trial Begins in Anti-Trust Lawsuit
The antitrust trial against Google filed by Trump administration three years ago began on September 12, 2023. The trial is expected to last for the next 10 days. However, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta is not expected to rule in this case before early 2024. On September 12, 2023, the lead DOJ prosecutor, Kenneth Dintzer, argued that Google leveraged its dominance in search domain to smother innovation and lock out competitors. Dintzer also accused Google of using exclusive agreements and "$10 billion per year" to ensure that it remained the default search engine in technology platforms, especially the mobile devices, protecting its "privileged positions".
Judge Rules Google an Illegal Monopoly
On August 5, 2024, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in a 277-page ruling that Google was an illegal monopoly in search engine domain, with the tech and search behemoth grabbing 89.2% market share in general search and almost 94.9% in online search. Google continues its monopoly by spending billions of dollars in exclusive agreements to lock in the status of default search engine. According to a recent study released by the investment firm BOND, Google's search engine processes an estimated 8.5 billion queries per day worldwide. Judge Mehta said in the ruling that Google spent $26 billion in 2021 alone to remain the default search engine, a point the federal judge mentioned as highly correlated with search volume and, as a result, yielding to more digital advertising revenue.
The judge scheduled September 6, 2024 for a follow-up hearing, including beginning a remedial action plan.
******************************* ANTI-TRUST LAWSUIT
Paxton to File anti-Competitive Ad Lawsuit against Google
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton on December 16, 2020 announced that he and several other Republican attorney generals would file a lawsuit against Google for its "monopolistic" behavior in online advertisement, helping the tech giant to get bigger and bigger pie of online ad sales and crush competition. Paxton and attorney generals of rest of the 50 states in September 2019 launched an investigation into Google's domination of "all aspects of advertising on the internet and searching on the internet". Through the first nine months of 2020, Google's ad sales revenue totaled $101 billion, 86% of the tech giant's total revenue.
Google Settles Privacy Lawsuit over Location Data for $392 million
Search giant Google reached a settlement for $391.5 million with 40 states, according to attorneys general who announced the deal on November 14, 2022.
Paxton, Google Settle on Tech Giant Deceptive Advertisement Practice
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton announced in May 2023 an $8 million settlement with Google over tech giant's deceptive trade practices. Google was accused of using the Dallas-Forth Worth area radio DJs to disseminate positive advertisement for Google Pixel 4 smartphone, but failed to give one to them for use.
Texas, Other States Secure $700 million Settlement with Google on Anticompetitive Conduct
Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton and other attorneys general in December 2023 announced a $700 million settlement with Google on the tech giant's anticompetitive conduct, especially over Google Play Store.
Paxton Settles with Google Two Cases and Three Claims
In the largest settlement sum among states, Texas Attorney-General Ken Paxton secured $1.375 billion settlement with Google, covering two cases and three claims on wrongful use of Google's Incognito mode, location history and biometric data. Paxton announced the settlement on May 9, 2025. An appeals court dismissed the state's case against the tech giant in January 2025, leading to the state's filing to the Texas Supreme Court in February 2025. Both parties began settlement talks in March 2025. An abatement motion was filed with the state supreme court in April 2025 to grant the parties to reach an out of court settlement. Texas Supreme Court granted the motion on May 9, 2025.
EU Slaps 890 million Euro Fine on Google
On July 23, 2026, EU slapped 890 million euro, or $1 billion, fine on Google for corralling consumers toward its Google Play and ubiquitous search engine, throttling the businesses of other companies.
HUAWEI
OMB Chief Asks for Huawei Ban-related Delay
Director of White House Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and nine members of Congress, asking for a two-year extension of a proposed ban on U.S. telecom companies to do business with Huawei. The proposed ban, to be effective in 1 year and 1 month, will go into effect in 3 years and one month if approved by the Trump administration. World's largest telecom company has U.S. headquarters in Plano and employs about 1,100 people. The letter was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on June 9, 2019. The ban in question is one of the three bans that Trump administration has slapped on Huawei. The other two are:
* In 2018, Donald Trump signed a defense spending bill banning U.S. government agencies and all government contractors from doing business with Chinese telecommunication companies, including Huawei, on national security ground
* In May 2019, Commerce Department has imposed penalties on Huawei that will make U.S. companies do business with the Chinese telecom behemoth all but impossible, triggering appeals from U.S. companies to seek waivers
Trump Administration not to Extend Reprieve
President Donald Trump told reporters at Morristown, New Jersey on August 18, 2019 that his administration would most likely not to extend another reprieve to Huawei. The context behind Trump's comment dated back to May 2019 when the president had directed the Commerce Department to put the Chinese telecom behemoth in the so called "Entity List", all but making it impossible for any U.S. company to do business with Huawei. Days later, the Commerce Department gave a 90-day reprieve to the Chinese firm, effective May 20, 2019.
HUAWEI
OMB Chief Asks for Huawei Ban-related Delay
Director of White House Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought sent a letter to Vice President Mike Pence and nine members of Congress, asking for a two-year extension of a proposed ban on U.S. telecom companies to do business with Huawei. The proposed ban, to be effective in 1 year and 1 month, will go into effect in 3 years and one month if approved by the Trump administration. World's largest telecom company has U.S. headquarters in Plano and employs about 1,100 people. The letter was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on June 9, 2019. The ban in question is one of the three bans that Trump administration has slapped on Huawei. The other two are:
* In 2018, Donald Trump signed a defense spending bill banning U.S. government agencies and all government contractors from doing business with Chinese telecommunication companies, including Huawei, on national security ground
* In May 2019, Commerce Department has imposed penalties on Huawei that will make U.S. companies do business with the Chinese telecom behemoth all but impossible, triggering appeals from U.S. companies to seek waivers
Trump Administration not to Extend Reprieve
President Donald Trump told reporters at Morristown, New Jersey on August 18, 2019 that his administration would most likely not to extend another reprieve to Huawei. The context behind Trump's comment dated back to May 2019 when the president had directed the Commerce Department to put the Chinese telecom behemoth in the so called "Entity List", all but making it impossible for any U.S. company to do business with Huawei. Days later, the Commerce Department gave a 90-day reprieve to the Chinese firm, effective May 20, 2019.
********************** HUAWEI CFO'S ARREST BY CANADA ********************
TWITTER/X
Huawei CFO Detained at Vancouver
The same day Presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping signed a 90-day trade truce at the G-20 summit at Buenos Aires, the CFO of the Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei, Meng Wanzhou, was detained at Vancouver over a U.S. arrest warrant for skirting the Iran sanctions. Meng's December 1, 2018, arrest during layover at Vancouver en route to Mexico from Hong Kong opened another front of political and trade tension between world's two strongest economic powers and sucked Canada deep into controversy.
Prosecutor Asks Judge to Deny Bail to Meng
A prosecutor on behalf of Canadian authority on December 7, 2018 urged a judge to deny bail to Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who had been arrested during her layover at Vancouver as she was en route to Mexico. John Gibbs-Carsley told a Vancouver judge that Meng was a flight-risk and she had the wherewithal to flee Canada. John Gibbs-Carsley, the Canadian prosecutor, told the judge that Meng was aware of the U.S. arrest warrant that had been issued on August 22, 2018 at New York City, and she had been avoiding U.S. since then although her teenage son went to school in Boston. Meng Wanzhou was accused of lying to U.S. financial institutions in 2013 that Huawei had nothing to do with Hong Kong-based former subsidiary Skycom that it had sold in 2009. At the time Meng misled the U.S. financial institutions, Skycom was violating the U.S. sanctions on Iran by selling the U.S.-manufactured gears to Teheran. Meng's lawyer, David Martin, dismissed the prosecution argument, saying that Meng was an honorable business executive and she would put two of her Vancouver homes as collateral in addition to wearing an electronic anklet.
Huawei Executive Granted Bail
After three days of hearings, a British-Columbia judge on December 11, 2018 granted bail to Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in lieu of $10 million Canadian, requiring her to wear an ankle bracelet, surrendering her passport, confining her movement to Vancouver and surrounding areas and ordering her to stay overnight from 11PM to 6AM at one of her two Vancouver homes. Upon hearing her bail, a strong crowd of her supporters from the Vancouver's Chinese community erupted in applause. At the courthouse, her husband, Liu Xiaozong, was also present.
China Detains a Former Canadian Diplomat
In what could be a tit-for-tat diplomacy, China on December 11, 2018 morning took a former Canadian diplomat, Michael Kovrig, to custody. Michael Kovrig has been a Canadian diplomat to China, Hong Kong and the U.N., and has gone to China as part of his current work as a North East Asia adviser for the International Crisis Group.
A Second Canadian Taken to Custody
A day after former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig's detention, a second Canadian, Michael Spavor, was detained by Chinese authorities on December 12, 2018 on charges of "activities that jeopardize China's national security". Michael Spavor runs a North Korea cultural exchange program. Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed deep concern over the detention of two Canadians in a span of 24 hours.
Kovrig's, Spavor's Cases Handled Separately, China Says
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on December 13, 2018 that Michael Kovrig's case was being handled by Beijing bureau of the country's national intelligence agency while the case of Michael Spavor was being handled by the agency's local bureau in the city of Dandong, where Spavor was detained.
A Third Canadian Arrested Released and Returned Home
As the political theatrics and troubles hobbled the Sino-Canadian relations over the arrest of a Huawei executive on an American arrest warrant, Canadian government spokesman Richard Walker said on December 28, 2018 that Sarah McIver, an Albertan teacher, who had been recently arrested in China over security related issues tied to her teaching job, had been subsequently released by Chinese authorities and McIver was already back in Canada.
Canada Worried about Death Sentence Imposed by China on One of Its Citizens
Canadian premier, Justin Trudeau, on January 14, 2019 expressed dismay, "extreme concern" and worry over the renewed sentencing imposed on a jailed Canadian by a Chinese court. The defendant, a 36-year-old Canadian citizen, Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, was detained in 2014 by Chinese authorities for smuggling methamphetamine, and later sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment. The case went unnoticed for the most part until a Chinese court had re-opened the case days after a Huawei executive had been arrested in Vancouver on an American arrest warrant, precipitating a political crisis between Ottawa and Beijing, and resentenced Schellenberg to death. Many see the re-opening the case and re-sentencing Schellenberg to death a political move to settle score with Ottawa.
Two Canadians Charges on Spying
Two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, on June 19, 2020 were charged on spying by Chinese authorities. While Michael Kovrig was charged in Beijing, Spavor was charged in Dandong, near the border with North Korea, with similar counts related to state secrets. Many diplomats think this as the latest strategy of Beijing to put pressure on Justin Trudeau administration to free Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou, who is fighting extradition to the US.
Three-way Deal Frees Huawei Executive, Two Canadians
In a three-way swap agreed by Canada, U.S. and China, Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has been flown to Beijing, and two Canadians detained in China--Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor--have been brought back to Canada on September 25, 2021. Under the deal, U.S. withdrew the case against Meng.
********************** HUAWEI CFO'S ARREST BY CANADA ********************
SPACE X
Musk Becomes World's First Trillionaire after Space X IPO
Elon Musk is the world's first trillionaire as his net worth has zoomed past $1 trillion mark to reach close to $1.1 trillion after Space X has debuted in the stock market on June 12, 2026. Space X has started the day at $150 per share and rose as high as $168 before ending the day at $161, giving a market capitalization of $2.1 trillion, sixth-largest U.S. stock-traded firm.
Its $75 IPO is a record, surpassing Saudi Aramco's IPO in 2019.
TELEGRAM
Telegram Founder Detained
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, a dual French-Russian citizen, 39, was detained at Paris' Le Bourget Airport on August 24, 2024 upon arrival from Azerbaijan on an arrest warrant alleging the platform for money laundering, trafficking, fraud, drug offenses and other acts of malfeasance.
Telegram Founder's Detention Extended
A French investigative judge on August 26, 2024 extended the detention of Pavel Durov for another 48 hours. If French authorities fail to file charges against Durov, he has to be released. Pavel Durov is a multination citizen from Russia to UAE to France to Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis. Pavel Durov is likely to face 12 charges of violation, ranging from child sexual abuse material on Telegram to drug trafficking, fraud, abetting organized crimes and failure to share information with law enforcement authorities upon request.
Pavel Durov sold his stake in VKontakte, a popular Russian networking site that had become an epicenter of the Russian opposition during opposition protests in 2011 and 2012 as well as during the 2013 opposition protest in Ukraine against a pro-Russian leader, in 2013. Telegram came also under Russian attack in 2018 when the Kremlin tried to block it, only to withdraw the effort in 2020. Now, Russian authorities are shedding the crocodile's tears over Durov's arrest.
Telegram Founder Slapped with Preliminary Charges
French investigative judges on August 28, 2024 filed preliminary charges against Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram. Pavel Durov was released on a 5-million-euro bond and ordered from leaving France. Durov is to report to law enforcement authorities twice a week.
TIKTOK
TikTok Facing Gargantuan Headwind from Lawmakers
Already banned from official devices by many state and federal agencies, TikTok is facing epiphanous resistance by lawmakers and policymakers in the U.S. as it is seen as one of biggest threats to the U.S. national security. Under law, Chinese government can force TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, to turn over user and other information, including behavioral patterns, to the government. Also, critics accuse Chinese authorities of using TikTok to spread propaganda among its 150 million U.S.-based users. On March 15, 2023, Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States issued almost a warning to ByteDance: sell TikTok or face a ban.
On March 22, 2023, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew faced an unfriendly Congressional hearing where he tried his best for six hours to dispel doubt of the lawmakers about any potential national security threat, and forcefully repudiated that the platform had ever turned over any information to the Chinese government.
House Pushes Bill to Ban TikTok if Its Chinese Owner Doesn't Divest
The U.S. House of Representatives on March 13, 2024 passed a bill, Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, giving an ultimatum to ByteDance: either sell TikTok or see it banned. Although the PAFACA Act is much broader and doesn't point out TikTok in particular, but the language of the bill is amply clear that it targets, among others, the app that's available to 150 million Americans, half of the nation. The bill is expansive in scope and scale as the president may impose similar sanctions on entities owned by companies in North Korea, Russia and Iran.
TikTok Files Lawsuit against Its Potential Ban
TikTok on June 20, 2024 launched its first volley of legal attacks on the U.S. Justice Department, blasting Biden administration's and Congress' political demagoguery. The law President Joe Biden signed early this year will ban TikTok if its owner ByteDance fails to sell its U.S. assets by January 19, 2025.
Federal Government Sues TikTok for Violating COPPA
The U.S. Department of Justice on August 2, 2024 filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its Chinese parent company for allowing minors younger than 13 to easily create an account on the popular social media platform and then collecting their private information, a massive breach of Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
Appellate Court Upholds TikTok Ban
The U.S. Court of Appeals on December 6, 2024 upheld the TikTok ban. The three-judge panel heard arguments in September 2024, and December 6, 2024 was the verdict day.
Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban
After TikTok appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court against the December 6, 2024, appeals court ruling, Donald Trump in a very unusual move requested the apex court to give his incoming administration some time to work out on a deal. However, on January 17, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld the ban on the platform that had 120.5 million U.S. users and 1 million U.S. content creators, including nearly 100,000 who depended on the platform for the primary source of income.
Biden administration said that it would not immediately implement the ban and Trump administration would most likely try to work out on a compromise.
TikTok Restores Service
After going black for several hours, TikTok restored services for its U.S.-based users on January 19, 2025, the first day of the ban upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court, after a ray of hope emerged that incoming President Donald Trump would work towards a compromise that would enable U.S.-based content creators and users to continue to leverage the tremendous potential of the video-sharing platform. Apple and Google during the day cut off the application's access in their respective App stores.
TikTok Back to Apple and Google App Stores
President Donald Trump on January 20, 2025 signed an executive order, instructing his attorney general "not to take any action to enforce the act for a period of 75 days" to explore alternative options for TikTok. U.S. Attorney-General Pam Bondi assured Apple and Alphabet Group in a letter that no enforcement action was coming. By February 13, 2025 evening, TikTok returned to Google Play store and Apple App Store.
Trump to Extend the Decision Timeline by An Additional 75 Days
President Donald Trump said on April 4, 2025 that he would sign an Executive Order to extend the lease of life to TikTok another 75 days as his administration made a decision on TikTok's future, which Congress had mandated to be brought under an American [company's] ownership.
Trump's Third Executive Order to Keep TikTok Floating
President Donald Trump, who has amassed more than 15 million followers since his joining of the platform last year, on June 19, 2025 has signed his third Executive Order that will give a lease of life to this popular platform for additional 90 days.
Trump Unveils Names of American "Billionaires" who Will Control TikTok
Days after signing another extension of TikTok's American operation, President Donald Trump had a lengthy conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping on September 19, 2025 on the future of the popular app. On September 20, 2025, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Oracle would control the popular app's data and security and Americans would take 6 of the 7 seats in the new board of directors. This implied that the platform's underlying algorithm would be owned by American enterprises, allaying the widespread fear that the Chinese Communist Party would manipulate the algorithm through ByteDance.
President Donald Trump's interview with the Fox News, recorded on September 19, 2025 and aired on September 21, 2025, spilled some more names in addition to Larry Ellison who would have some controlling stakes in TikTok. Trump mentioned the names of "patriots" such as Michael Dell and Rupert Murdoch.
TikTok's New U.S. Owner Unveiled
After four Presidential Executive Orders (right after Donald Trump's second term started in January 2025, April 2025, June 2025 and September 2025) that had extended the operation temporarily, the ray of hope emerged for the long-term solution for TikTok.
The Associated Press reported on December 18, 2025 that a consortium of Oracle, Silver Lake and Emirati investment MGX would each own 15%. ByteDance will own 19.9% of the new app, and 30.1% will be owned by affiliates of existing ByteDance investors. The remaining investors are yet to be identified.
TikTok's 170 million U.S. users are a reliable market for many small businesses and mom-and-pop businesses. TikTok is the largest news source for people younger than 30 (43%), eclipsing other social media platforms such as Facebook, X and YouTube.
TikTok Sale Goes Through
Bloomberg News reported on January 23, 2026 that TikTok's operation and governance would now be handled by the U.S. owners--Oracle, Silver Lake and UAE-based MGX--with a controlling stake of 50% and content moderation coming under the conglomeration's purview.
Twitter's Entry into Equity Market Marked with Interest, Soaring Stock
Twitter made a strong debut in the New York Stock Exchange on November 7, 2013 avoiding the mishaps that had stalked the debut of Facebook last year. The IPO price of the ticker symbol TWTR was $26 a share, but when trading started on November 7, it began right at $45.10, then jumping as high as $50.09, and eventually closing at $44.90, 73 percent above the IPO price set on November 6, but slightly lower than the opening price ($45.10). What was different in Twitter debut were the phalanx of stars who rang the opening bell ranging from actor Patrick Stewart; 9-year-old Vivienne Harr, who opened a lemonade stand to end child slavery; and Cheryl Fiandaca, head of Boston Police Department's public information office, while the company executives--CEO Dick Costollo; CFO Mike Gupta; and co-founders Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams and Biz Stone--and lead Goldman Sachs banker Anthony Noto standing on the trading floor.
Twitter's Former Cybersecurity Chief Accuses the Company of Dereliction, Falsehood
Twitter's ex-cybersecurity chief sought whistleblower protection as Peiter Zatko brought complaints against his former employer to the attention of Federal Trade Commission, Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice last month, accusing the social media giant of neglecting customer privacy and confidentiality, according to The Dallas Morning News's August 24, 2022, edition. Peiter Zatko, who is known by hacker handler "Mudge", is a respected cybersecurity expert and has worked for Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Agency and Google before joining Twitter in late 2020 at the urging of then-CEO Jack Dorsey. Peiter Zatko, who was fired earlier this year, also slammed his former employer for allowing fake accounts to flourish. Elon Musk is trying to get out of a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter and he cited the social media platform's refusal of sharing with him the number of fake accounts as a reason for calling off the transaction. Another point of contention that Peiter Zatko raised with the regulators was a willful violation of the social media platform to a 2011 agreement on customer privacy with the FTC.
Twitter's Ex-Security Chief Testifies before Senate
Twitter's former cybersecurity head, Peiter Zatko, on September 13, 2022 appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, and accused the social media giant of prioritizing "profit over security". Zatko added that Twitter knowingly hired Chinese and Indian agents in its payroll.
Trump's Twitter Account Restored
Days after taking over the helms of affairs of Twitter, Elon Musk conducted a poll on Twitter on whether to return Former President Donald Trump, who had been banned from the platform for lifetime for instigating violence, to the platform. Based on 52%-to-48% verdict on the online poll, Musk on November 19, 2022 restored Trump's Twitter account. However, the former president reiterated that he would stay on his new social media platform TRUTH SOCIAL.
Blue Bird Logo to be Dropped by Musk
Since the $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in October 2022, one thing that billionaire Elon Musk has brought into regular cadence to drive Twitter to profitability and retore customer base is the constant change. On July 23, 2023, Musk propagated the idea of the most gargantuan change to day, replacing the blue bird logo with X, but soliciting which color to pick: Black or White. He also favored dropping the name of Twitter eventually.
X Banned in Brazil
The monthslong feud between X and one of Brazil's Supreme Court justices, Alexandre de Moraes, eventually led to the ban of Elon Musk's landmark social media platform. Moraes is spearheading efforts to block dissemination of antisemitic, antidemocratic and racist content propagated on X. Elon Musk closed the firm's office in Brazil early August 2024. Justice Alexandre de Moraes on August 28, 2024 ordered the company its legal representative by August 29, 2024. After X failed to name a legal representative in due time, Justice Alexandre de Moraes ordered the platform to be banned, according to the August 31, 2024, edition of The Dallas Morning News.
Supreme Court Panel Unanimously Upholds Ban Decision
It's not a rogue justice who has hit back X on his activist zeal. It's a thoughtful and deliberative verdict. On September 2, 2024, a panel of Brazilian Supreme Court Justices unanimously upheld the verdict issued on August 30, 2024 by Justice Alexandre de Moraes. The five-justice panel includes Justice Moraes. There are a total of 11 Justices in Brazil's top court.
YAHOO
Yahoo to Spin off Internet Business
Yahoo on December 9, 2015 threw its CEO Marissa Mayer's initial proposal to sell the internet company's stake in Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba, valued to be around $32 billion, to cold water as proposition to sell the stake in Alibaba into a different holding company, Aabaco, ran into trouble as Internal Revenue Service didn't assure the transaction to be tax exempt, a selling point that Mayer had put forward as a rationale for going ahead with her proposal. Instead, the board meeting on December 9, 2015 took a different approach on Yahoo's re-org plan by deciding to shed its internet, digital advertising and mobile application into a separate holding company, and then wait for a suitor such as AT-and-T, Verizon and IAC/InterActiveCorp to gobble up its internet asset. After the re-organization, Yahoo will look more like a company that has only stake in Alibaba as significant asset.
