The indictment of 13 Russians for interfering with the Presidential election has intensified the pressure put on Facebook, which uncovered about three-thousand Russian-linked ads on its platforms before and after November 2016. Cheddar Senior Reporter, Alex Heath, breaks down the the latest developments.
Facebook's Vice President for ads, Rob Goldman, tweeted about Russia's disinformation effort. President Trump then cited him. Facebook did not intend for Goldman’s tweets to be quoted by Trump. They thought the tweets would only be seen by a contextually-aware audience of techies and media types who follow Goldman.
Heath believes that the tweeting from Goldman and other execs is part of a carefully orchestrated PR campaign by Facebook to make itself appear more transparent and relate-able through engaged spokespeople on Twitter.
The Chinese smartphone giant couldn’t live up to the hype in its Hong Kong market debut, with shares down more than a percent. “Investors are really confused about whether to position this company as a hardware company or just a services company,” says Tarun Pathak, a telecom analyst at Counterpoint Research.
The platform aggregates top stories through high-profile curators, which increases the "chance of bringing in the best content that's obviously not fake," says CEO Ian Myers. NewsPicks is owned by a Japanese media company that also acquired Quartz last week.
Twitter suspended 70 million fake accounts in May and June, and some wonder if this will result in a decline in users in Q2. However, this could work in Twitter's favor because many of these accounts aren’t actual users and just end up distorting those numbers, says Matt Binder, tech reporter for Mashable.
The Swiss start-up paid $12 million to obtain the domain name, Cheddar has learned. Previous owner Matt Blaze, a cryptology researcher and professor at the University of Pennsylvania, originally registered the domain in 1993. Cheddar’s Tanaya Macheel gives us the details.
The dockless bike sharing company is partnering with the department of transportation to launch a pilot program in a city that is plagued with bike theft. But Lime's focus on hiring locally and working with communities will help it survive Manhattan, says Caen Contee, vice president of marketing, business development, and expansion.
The landscape for IPOs this year has evolved and "it seems like the investors right now are clamoring for anything tech-ish,” says Maureen Farrell, reporter at the Wall Street Journal. The smart speaker company filed for a $100 million IPO on the NASDAQ.
Business, tech and finance headlines exclusively for Hulu subscribers from Cheddar. Today's highlights include Amazon, bitcoin prices and net neutrality.
The U.S. tariffs on Chinese products that kicked in on Friday are specifically targeted at high-tech goods, an attempt to crack down on alleged intellectual property theft. But they could end up raising the cost of products like e-cigarettes, e-bikes, and smart home devices that are overwhelmingly used by millennials, says Axios reporter Erica Pandey.
Qualcomm shares are rising after reports that Apple is dropping chipmaker Intel. By 2020, Apple will stop using Intel's 5G modems in its new iPhones. This comes as Qualcomm is looking to dominate the 5G market.
The smart home speaker company filed for its public offering on Friday. Sonos is looking to list on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol "SONO." Cheddar's Kristen Scholer and Nora Ali give us the latest.
