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 streaming platform will give the former president and first lady a global platform to focus on issues important to them. But they need to be mindful of making that content available to communities that don't have access to high-speed internet or Netflix, says Alexander Heffner, the host of "The Open Mind" on PBS.
The food, travel, and lifestyle-focused platform has grown into a global brand with more than 200 million monthly viewers. Most of that expansion can be credited to data, says Oren Katzeff, head of programming.
The scandal over the blood-testing start-up Theranos shows why Silicon Valley investors should be wary of putting too much unchecked power in the hands of young founders, says John Carreyrou, the Wall Street Journal reporter who first raised a red flag about the company. He's out with a new book, "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup."
Google's demo of the A.I powered Duplex voice assistant stunned the world in how it interacted with a real human. But now evidence suggests it may be fake.
Stocks kick off the week with a rally after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the prospect of a trade war was "on hold" following an agreement to suspend tariff threats. Tesla CEO Elon Musk unveils details of the souped-up Model 3. President Trump is going after the FBI. Fortnite is launching on Android phones this summer.
Elon Musk said that offering the $78,000 high-performance version of the Tesla Model 3, equipped with faster acceleration and longer battery range, before the base version was actually ready, would help the electric carmaker meet demand. Tesla has struggled to hit production targets for the mass-market Model 3, advertised as a $35,000 car, but with an actual price closer to $50,000.
Schmidt's Naturals is allowing consumers to buy its deodorants online using Bitcoin, the first Unilever brand to dip its toes into cryptocurrency. So far, up to 10 percent of sales online were made in Bitcoin, says Michael Cammarata, a co-founder and the chief executive of Schmidt's Naturals.
Uber's recently released national TV ad, featuring its new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, attempts to hit refresh for a company that has been hit by years of negative coverage. Meanwhile Facebook's new ad is more reactive to the recent Cambridge Analytica crisis, says Jon Swartz, a senior reporter at Barron's.
The hedge fund is investing $500 million in blockchain technology, focusing on converting traditional paper equity into tokens, a move that could help regulators, says Anthony Pompliano, a partner at Morgan Creek Blockchain Capital.
A deadly school shooting in Texas, and Elon Musk's plans for LA traffic. Plus the CIA gets its first female director, a one-time, online-only bedding store goes brick-and-mortar, and we get ready for the Royal Wedding.
