A Michican company is suing Apple claiming the technology used to measure heart rate in the latest Apple Watches infringes on its patented technology.
Why it matters: In the suit, Omni MedSci says it met with Apple from 2014 until 2016 but ultimately the company broke off discussions about a partnership, then introduced technology using its approach.
Facebook said Friday it was supporting a bill that increases disclosure requirements for online political ads.
Why it matters: It’s the first time the company has endorsed a specific form of regulation of its platform, and it comes as founder Mark Zuckerberg prepares to face irate lawmakers on Capitol Hill next week. As recently as last week, company officials were dodging whether they supported the bill.
Facebook plans to let all Messenger users "unsend" messages, after TechCrunch reported the company had reached into users' inboxes to delete old messages from Mark Zuckerberg.
Why it matters: You don't imagine the operator of your messaging service is messing with your private messages, even when they come from its CEO.
It's not just Cambridge Analytica.Facebook can’t escape a tide of criticism over the way it harvests user data, even as it looks to mitigate the scandal that started it all.
Why it matters: The company is preparing for two high-stakes hearings next week where CEO Mark Zuckerberg will be grilled by lawmakers who think he didn’t properly handle abuse of the platform.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told NBC's Savannah Guthrie that she expects Facebook will discover additional breaches in personal information when conducting audits of other third-party data providers, prompted by Cambrdige Analytica's misuse.
I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re not going to find more because we are.
Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg admitted Friday that the Cambridge Analytica data breach came to Facebook's attention two and a half years ago, in December of 2015, but the company failed to take the same security steps they are now.
"We could've done this two and a half years ago," Sandberg admitted. "We thought the data had been deleted and we should have checked. They gave us assurances and it wasn't until other people told us it wasn't true ... We had legal assurances from them that they deleted it. What we didn't do is the next step of an audit and we're trying to do that now"
— Sheryl Sandberg during an interview on NBC's TODAY show with Savannah Guthrie
A sneak peek for Axios readers at a comment Apple CEO Tim Cook makes on “Revolution: Apple Changing the World,” premiering at 8 tonight on MSNBC:
"To me, it’s creepy when I look at something and all of a sudden it’s chasing me all the way across the web. I don’t like that... [MSNBC's Chris Hayes interjects: "Particularly when I bought it!"]... "So, I think what has to be done is the type of information has to be looked at that companies can hold. I think the connection and sources of data have to be looked at — when you own many different properties, ... and I can take the information I’ve learned about you from this property, add it to what I learned about you here and here and here. And there’s no reasonable alternative for people. ... This is not good."
Users would have to pay a fee if they wished to avoid all user data-targeted ads, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg told NBC Thursday, in an interview that will air Friday.
Why it matters: Users get free access to Facebook in exchange for being served ads based off of their data. If users don't want to see those ads, Facebook is saying they would need to pay for access to its technology in some other way.
"They have a tremendous lobbying effort, in addition to having the Washington Post," President Trump told reporters today as he was traveling back from West Virginia on Air Force One, according to the pool report.
Asked whether he's looking at taking action on Amazon: "We’ll see what happens. The Post Office is not doing well with Amazon... we’re going to see what happens. The playing field has to be leveled... I’m going to study it and we’re going to take a pretty serious look."
Why it matters: Bloomberg reported earlier this week that the White House isn't considering any action on Amazon.
A handful of advertisers have paused their campaigns on Facebook, COO Sheryl Sandberg told Bloomberg in an interview Thursday.
Why it matters: Sandberg is confirming that chaos around user privacy is having an impact on Facebook's roughly $40 billion business, which is driven mostly by advertising. The impact, however, is probably very small. CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters Wednesday that the controversies have had no meaningful impact on the company's bottom line.
Facebook explored a data-sharing project with hospitals, now on hold, to profile patients anonymously in order to provide better care, according to CNBC.
Why it matters: Though it promised that no data would identify individual patients by name, Facebook's plan raises a lot of concerns about patient and user privacy. The company has been in hot water in recent weeks after it was discovered that its third-party app tools allowed a researcher to capture user data which was then passed to Cambridge Analytica.
Apple has confirmed to TechCrunch that a new high-end desktop Mac won't be released until next year. In a briefing with Axios and other reporters last year, it had said the redesigned Mac Pro wouldn't arrive in 2017 but stopped short of promising it would come this year either.
Why it matters: Apple doesn't usually signal when new products are coming, but in this case it wants its most loyal customers to be able to plan their purchases.
The Media Ratings Council (MRC,) which has for decades acted as the de facto watchdog for the media and advertising industries, announced accreditation for the first of three rounds of audits that Facebook has committed to. This audit focused on its ability to report impressions served on Facebook and Instagram.
Why it matters: There's been mounting pressure for the "walled gardens" or major tech platforms to be audited by the MRC, the same way other major players in the advertising ecosystem, like Nielsen, comScore and many of the big TV networks are audited. Social networks like Facebook, Google and Twitter are finally beginning to come around to such audits, in an attempt to build better rapport with marketers looking for transparency.
Twitter said Thursday it had permanently suspended roughly 1.2 million accounts for "violations related to the promotion of terrorism" between August 2015 and December 2017. More than 270,000 were suspended in the second half of last year.
Why it matters: Terrorist content is just one of the many ills facing online platforms such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.
Facebook is conducting a press blitz that's unprecedented for the company as it prepares for CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s debut appearance before Congress next week. The once media-shy Zuckerberg has given numerous interviews and took an hour-long Q&A with reporters Wednesday. Top lieutenant Sheryl Sandberg is all over television, and the company has been flooding reporters’ inboxes with new privacy-centric changes.
Why it matters: By rolling out privacy updates and interviews with apologetic executives, the company is trying to give Zuckerberg material he can use to save himself when he faces fired-up lawmakers. But the new revelations about the scale of Facebook’s privacy scandals are giving critics on Capitol Hill more to work with, too.
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg will testify before a joint hearing of the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees on Tuesday, April 10.
Why it matters: Zuckerberg's Senate appearance will come one day before he testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He'll face tough questions about data privacy and Facebook's role in democracy in both sessions.
