Tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Twitter will once again face Congress this week to testify in the Russian election meddling investigation. Daniel Ives, Chief Strategy Officer and Head of Technology Research at GBH Insights and Scott Kessler, Director of Equity Research and Analyst at CFRA join The Long and The Short to discuss which platform will be affected the most from this trial.
Facebook announced a new News Feed where "meaningful content" will take priority over "relevant content." Ives says that this change could actually be good for the company in the long term. He doesn't believe it will impact publishers or user growth as much as people are afraid it will. When it comes to testifying on Capitol Hill, Kessler believes Facebook will be on the defense and take a firm stance on defending its platform.
Plus, Twitter's stock spiked after Facebook announced it was changing its News Feed. Kessler thinks Twitter is the one company that hasn't answered questions from Congress regarding Russian meddling in the election. He talks about Twitter's long road to improve upon certain operations.
Parallel Systems has been selected to receive $4.5 million from the Department of Energy for an advanced testing program of its autonomous, battery-electric rail vehicles. The startup, which has raised more than $53 million to date, was founded by former SpaceX engineers to reimagine the rail system by creating a more efficient, decarbonized freight network. Matt Soule, Co-founder & CEO of Parallel Systems, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss what the company hopes to achieve.
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) aims to tackle the spread of misinformation on social media platforms, as well as the addictive nature of the sites and negative mental health impacts they have on users. The 'Nudge Act' would require studies to find and compile potential interventions that platforms could use to encourage people to think before they share a post, or log off after spending too much time on an app. The FTC would create rules based on these findings, and hold the platforms accountable. But will it work? Jesse Lehrich, co-founder of Accountable Tech, joins Closing Bell to discuss the bill, whether real results and regulations could come from it, and more.
A.I.-based entertainment company, Deedub, recently raised
$20 million in a Series A round, led by Insight Partners. Deepdub uses A.I. technology to automate the dubbing process for foreign-language movies or TV shows, while using actors' original voices. The company says it can take just two to three minutes of data from an actor's voice and transform the voice into a different language. The funding comes as foreign-language films and shows like Netflix's 'Squid Game' have recently become more popular with audiences in the U.S. and around the world. Oz Krakowski, Chief Revenue Officer at Deepdub, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
