As Netflix continues to expand its presence around the globe, it is increasingly investing in the production and distribution of localized, foreign-language content designed to woo international audiences.
Why it matters: Hollywood has long been seen as the global cultural force, shipping both American values and the English language worldwide. Now, Netflix's household ubiquity and deep pockets are pushing back on that stranglehold, granting users easy access to foreign content that they may have never considered in the past.
Attorneys general of 50 states and territories on Monday formally announced a joint, bipartisan antitrust investigation into Google, the Washington Post reports.
Why it matters: The move by the states and territories represents a new, wide-ranging front in the government-led assault on Google's power. It also means that even if parallel probes by the Department of Justice and Congress fizzle out, some even more aggressive state prosecutors could carry on the fight.
MIT is under fire after revelations that it's Media Lab had deeper ties to convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein than it had previously admitted. Dan digs in with Axios' Felix Salmon, who thinks there are more big shoes to drop.
A glitch in software designed by Netflix in 2013, used in early versions of Google Chromecast and installed in several mid-decade televisions and other devices would allow an attacker to crash a TV, according to new research from security firm ForAllSecure.
The big picture: Netflix's DIAL software allowed people to broadcast video from a phone or computer onto their television and was an early component of Chromecast until Google moved that software in a different direction. Though the software is now obsolete, many TVs came preinstalled with DIAL.
Background: These are separate from ongoing investigations by the Justice Department and the FTC, which have been looking into the 2 mega companies since last year, plus ongoing inquiries from the FBI and SEC.
Why it matters: Big tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon are now facing numerous state and federal probes into their practices. These companies have historically enjoyed wide regulatory freedom in the U.S., but lawmakers and regulators want to change that — and antitrust law gives government its most powerful tools to penalize, regulate or even break up American corporations.
Instagram could become a new platform for the sharing of disinformation around the 2020 election because of the way propagandists are relying on images and proxy accounts to create and circulate fake content, leading social intelligence experts tell Axios.
The big picture: "Disinformation is increasingly based on images as opposed to text," said Paul Barrett, the author of an NYU report that's prompted a renewed look at the problem."Instagram is obviously well-suited for that kind of meme-based activity."
/2019/09/09/1568067098984.gif?w=3840)
