House lawmakers last week introduced a series of five bipartisan bills designed to curb the power of Big Tech, targeting Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google in all but name.
Axios Re:Cap speaks with Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), chair of the House antitrust committee and a sponsor on most of the bills, to learn how he plans to get these measures over the finish line. The congressman from Rhode Island also faces a slate of other priorities and in the wake of a spending package to bolster the U.S. tech sector’s ability to compete with China.
"Grand Theft Auto Online" will join a growing list of obsolete games on older platforms this December when Rockstar Game shuts down the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game.
Why it matters:Video game preservation is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to video games, physical or otherwise.
"Madden" maker Electronic Arts granted CEO Andrew Wilson $30 million in stock last year, but now tells shareholders it gets the message about offering large bonuses.
Why it matters: EA stockholders' unusual non-binding "no" vote on the company compensation last summer demanded some sort of reaction, but it's not quite stopped EA's leaders from raking it in.
ID.me, a private company founded to make it as easy as possible for individuals to prove who they say they are, was most recently valued at $1.5 billion. It has emerged over the course of the pandemic as the leading provider of anti-fraud software for state unemployment offices.
How it works: The company says it does not directly profit from fraud. Quite the opposite: CEO Blake Hall tells Axios that it costs his company $7 for each video chat session, and makes $0.50 for every applicant who goes through the system without needing to talk to one of his employees.
There's virtual reality as a place to have fun playing games. There's VR as a place to experience otherwise out-of-reach environments. There's VR as a place to interact with others in virtual space. And now, there's VR as a place to be bombarded by sponsors' messages.
Driving the news: Facebook announced Wednesday it would begin testing ad placement inside games and apps for its Oculus Quest VR system.
When the pandemic shut down indoor dining and kept people at home for more than a year, food delivery apps like UberEats, DoorDash and GrubHub boomed. Now with COVID-19 curbed in the U.S., those companies are hoping that growth is more than a bubble.
Why it matters: The app surge has reallocated a vast amount of money and jobs to the delivery economy. If food delivery continues to grow, that means restaurants will have to keep forking cash over to the platforms and gig work will become even more common.
Automation technology has been the primary driver in U.S. income inequality over the past 40 years, according to a new paper by two prominent economists in the field.
Why it matters: Offshoring, the decline of unions, and corporate concentration have all played a part in widening the gap between lower-skilled and higher-skilled workers, but automation is the single most significant factor, and will likely grow even more important in the years ahead.
The Biden administration Thursday unveiled a new mapping tool that shows much greater gaps in use of high-speed internet service across the U.S. than the government's previous maps reported.
Why it matters: The White House is pushing for big spending to provide more, better broadband service to underserved areas after the pandemic made Americans more dependent than ever on their internet connections.
Tech giants like Facebook, Spotify and Twitter are racing to build and acquire new tools that will help them compete with smaller upstarts for the attention of individual creators.
Why it matters: The attention economy shifted significantly during the pandemic towards individual creators who make content for niche groups of fans. Now that brands and consumers are catching on, Big Tech firms want in.
The World Bank has rejected the government of El Salvador's request to help the country implement Bitcoin as legal tender, Reuters first reported late Wednesday.
Why it matters: The international lender's rejection could hamper the government's goal of making the digital currency accepted across the country within three months.
The Republicans' House campaign arm will begin accepting contributions in cryptocurrency, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The National Republican Congressional Committee is the first national party committee to solicit crypto donations. That puts it at the forefront of a disruptive financial technology that could test campaign finance rules.
