National

From the Valley to D.C., Big Tech players like Facebook, Google and Amazon are under more scrutiny than ever as new technology develops and privacy and antitrust concerns grow in lockstep with companies’ ambitions.

Technology

Cannabis retailer Tokyo Smoke and Uber Canada are partnering to streamline the process for ordering cannabis in Ontario, the companies announced Monday.

Why it matters: Tokyo Smoke is the first cannabis merchant to be listed on Uber Eats across all of Uber's global markets, Uber Canada said.

Driving the news: Uber Eats now has a section in its digital marketplace for Tokyo Smoke's virtual stores. Consumers will be able to place orders on the app and pick them up at their respective store locations.

The companies say the partnership will help combat the underground illegal market, which accounts for over 40% of all nonmedical cannabis sales in Canada, according to data from the government.

What they're saying: "Tokyo Smoke is thrilled to partner with Uber Canada on this innovative offering for our customers, bringing them high quality products and the very best customer experience," said Mark Hillard, Tokyo Smoke's vice president of operations, in a statement. 

"As a market leader in innovation and a platform used by so many Canadians, we believe this is the ideal next offering that can be done safely and conveniently on the Uber Eats app." 

"By combining a streamlined ordering process through the Uber Eats app with Tokyo Smoke's in-person pickup service, we're creating a new end-to-end experience for responsible cannabis ordering across the province," added Lola Kassim, general manager of Uber Eats Canada. 

What to watch: Cannabis delivery looks like the next horizon. 

"When Canadian cannabis laws evolve to include delivery, options like Uber Eats are expected to help decrease impaired driving and improve safety on the road," Uber Canada said in its release.

Cannabis orders are now available on Uber Eats in Ontario

Tokyo Smoke is the first cannabis merchant to be listed on Uber Eats across all of Uber's global markets.

Photo of a storefront showing "Tokyo Smoke" on the right and "High Variety on the left"

Cannabis shops High Variety and Tokyo Smoke in Toronto, Canada. Photo: Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images

Uber

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday said it had approved Verizon's $6 billion purchase of wireless company TracFone, after the companies agreed to conditions meant to protect consumers.

Why it matters: The FCC was the last regulatory hurdle for Verizon, which expects to close the transaction in the coming days.

Catch up quick: Public interest groups had opposed the deal over concerns it could reduce access to affordable phone service. They withdrew their objections this summer after Verizon committed to continuing to offer TracFone's current services to low-income customers via the government's Lifeline program.

The Lifeline program, administered by the FCC, provides a $9.25 monthly subsidy to companies that provide phone or broadband service to low-income consumers, generally at no out-of-pocket cost to the customer.

Driving the news: The FCC said Verizon made several commitments to secure agency approval, including:

Offering TracFone's Lifeline services for at least seven years.

Offering a 5G plan and cost-effective 5G devices to existing and new Lifeline customers.

Submitting publicly available reports with information on Lifeline and non-Lifeline customers for seven years.

Between the lines: TracFone has a large Lifeline customer base, but Verizon has not been a major player in the program.

Verizon's move into the prepaid market with TracFone will position it to compete against AT&T's Cricket and T-Mobile's MetroPCS.

What they're saying: "The deal will provide customers with the best of both worlds: more choices, better services and new features thanks to Verizon’s investment and innovation," Kathy Grillo, Verizon senior vice president of public policy and government affairs, said in a statement.

FCC approves Verizon's $6B purchase of TracFone

Groups had initially opposed the deal over concerns it could reduce access to affordable phone service.

A photo illustration of a smartphone with the Verizon logo on the screen.

Photo illustration: Mateusz Slodkowski via Getty Images

Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Axios Pro Rata

Elizabeth Holmes today continued testifying in her criminal fraud trial, after unexpectedly taking the stand in her own defense on Friday. 

The latest: The former Theranos CEO sought to undermine prosecutor claims that she lied to prospective investors about the blood testing company's work with drug makers.

Her basic message seems to be: I had at least some reason to believe what I was sharing was true, even if it wasn't actually true.

The stakes: Holmes, who once was the toast of Silicon Valley, could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. 

The scene: Today's hearing was abbreviated after beginning late for undisclosed reasons, even though Holmes was at the San Jose, Calif. courthouse on time, and she'll still be on the stand when proceedings resume on Tuesday.

The bottom line: The defense is rolling some big dice by putting their client on the stand. Either they believe Holmes can come across as more credible than prosecution witnesses, thus winning over the jury, or they feel they have no other choice. 

Ex-Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes testifies in her own defense

The former Theranos CEO sought to undermine prosecutor claims that she lied to prospective investors.

Photo illustration: Aïda Amer. Photo: Taylor Hill/FilmMagic via Getty Images.

Theranos

New York game state

According to a new study from the Mayor's Office, New York "serves as an incubator" for the growth of creative game communities.

Photo: Fabian Sommer/picture alliance via Getty Images

New York

Gaming

Facebook researchers last year assembled a study of the "worst of the worst" hate speech content on the company's platform and made recommendations for how to curtail it, according to a Washington Post report published on Sunday.

But Facebook officials, afraid "the new system would tilt the scales by protecting some vulnerable groups over others" and concerned about  "the potential for backlash from 'conservative partners,'" decided against implementing those recommendations, according to the Post.

Details: The researchers asked thousands of Facebook users in 2019 to rank a series of abusive posts, and respondents, even white conservatives, consistently found those aimed at minority groups to be the most harmful.

Examples of the "worst of the worst" postings included obscene sexist and racist comments aimed at the progressive Democratic representatives known as "the Squad." 

Yet, the report found, Facebook's automated hate-speech detection algorithm tended to "aggressively [detect] comments denigrating white people more than attacks on every other group," per the Post.

The researchers recommended retuning the system to flag and delete hate speech targeted at Black, Jewish, LGBTQ, Muslim and mixed-race people, since the survey found those posts to be "the worst of the worst." 

Yes, but: Facebook leadership rejected the plan and stuck to the company's "politically neutral" stance.

In a statement to the Post, Facebook spokesman Andy Stone said the company had implemented parts of the report's recommendations, but after a rigorous internal discussion about these difficult questions, we did not implement all parts as doing so would have actually meant fewer automated removals of hate speech."

The big picture: Facebook's content moderation policies have been in the media spotlight after a trove of documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen chronicled a variety of harms to users.

Report: Facebook sidelined hate speech study

Concerned about "potential for backlash from 'conservative partners,'" Facebook rejected some of the study's recommendations.

The Meta and Facebook logos. Photo: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Facebook

Big Tech

The 17,000+ cryptocurrency enthusiasts who collectively funded a losing $40 million bid to purchase a copy of the U.S. Constitution last week face a new hurdle in getting their money back: transaction fees.

How it works: The ConstitutionDAO group used Ethereum to build its war chest, and contributors paid "gas fees" — essentially, network transaction costs — that observers estimated to run about $50 per transaction.

That didn't mean much to big-ticket participants, but took a big bite out of smaller contributors. The median contribution size was a little over $200, according to the ConstitutionDAO site. 

Participants in the bid collectively spent nearly $1 million on the gas fees, according to one estimate.

The catch: Organizers announced over the weekend that they'd be returning contributors' Ether contributions, but each participant would have to pony up another gas fee for this new transaction.

Between the lines: Transaction costs have long been the bane of all sorts of currency and payment innovations and are one reason that micropayments have never taken off.

Crypto supporters point out that credit card systems still take a hefty 2% to 3% per transaction.

What's next: Ethereum has plans to streamline its system in ways that might reduce transaction costs, while a slew of new systems are competing to take its place with more efficiently-tooled blockchain systems that cost less to run.

Crypto group tries to claw back fees after failed Constitution bid

Fees now hamstring the crypto enthusiasts who funded a losing bid to buy a copy of the Constitution.

A meta photo of people taking photos of the U.S. Constitution.

Photo: Yuki Iwamura/AFP via Getty Images 

Cryptocurrencies

Two Fox News contributors announced Sunday that they've resigned from the network in the wake of host Tucker Carlson's special on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Why it matters: Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg had regularly appeared on Fox News since 2009. Their brand of conservatism has "fallen out of fashion" amid former President Trump's grip on the Republican Party, per the New York Times, which first reported on the resignations.

Driving the news: Hayes and Goldberg wrote in an article published by The Dispatch Sunday that Carlson's three-part series on the insurrection, titled "Patriot Purge," represented "a collection of incoherent conspiracy-mongering, riddled with factual inaccuracies, half-truths, deceptive imagery, and damning omissions."

This included the false notion that the U.S. government was "targeting patriotic Americans in the same manner — and with the same tools — that it used to target al Qaeda," they added on the site that they co-founded with Toby Stock.

"This is not happening. And we think it's dangerous to pretend it is," Hayes and Goldberg wrote. "If a person with such a platform shares such misinformation loud enough and long enough, there are Americans who will believe — and act upon — it."

"Over the past five years, some of Fox's top opinion hosts amplified the false claims and bizarre narratives of Donald Trump or offered up their own in his service. In this sense, the release of Patriot Purge wasn't an isolated incident, it was merely the most egregious example of a longstanding trend. Patriot Purge creates an alternative history of January 6, contradicted not just by common sense, not just by the testimony and on-the-record statements of many participants, but by the reporting of the news division of Fox News itself. "

Yes, but: Hayes and Goldberg stressed that the news side of Fox "routinely does what it is supposed to do: It reports the truth."

The other side: Fox News spokesperson Irena Briganti declined to comment on the resignations "but sent data showing that independents watch Fox," the NYT notes.

Representatives for Fox News did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.

Go deeper: Rupert Murdoch criticizes Trump for staying "focused on the past"

Fox News commentators resign over Tucker Carlson Jan. 6 series

It's the "most egregious example of a longstanding trend" to amplify Trump's claims, Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg write in the Dispatch.

Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium (MCC) Feszt on August 7, 2021 in Esztergom, Hungary. 

Tucker Carlson speaks during the Mathias Corvinus Collegium  Feszt on in Esztergom, Hungary, in August. Photo: Janos Kummer/Getty Images

Fox News

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Axios Media Trends

Data: Axios Research; Chart: Will Chase/Axios

The creator economy has produced thousands of social media entrepreneurs who have built mega-audiences in the millions — larger than many media companies. Often, they operate in parallel universes, with little overlap between platforms.

Why it matters: What differentiates social platforms is no longer their features, but their values and communities. What makes one person popular on one platform may not make them remotely interesting or influential on another.

For example: Mr. Bean, a fictional British sitcom character, is the 4th most popular page on Facebook, with 129 million followers. He has just 215,000 followers on Twitter.

TikTok star Bella Poarch has 85 million followers on TikTok, and less than 1 million on Twitter.

Kim Kardashian West has 263 million followers on Instagram, but only 1.88 million subscribers to her YouTube channel.

Driving the news: According to an Axios analysis of the top 50 most-followed accounts on each platform, TikTok is especially unique in minting its own stars who don't blow up on other platforms.

The top five most-followed accounts on TikTok — Charli D'Amelio, Khaby Lame, Addison Rae, Bella Poarch and Zach King — do not rank in the top 50 of any other social media network. 

Collectively, those five stars have 480 million followers on TikTok, but less than half of that amount of followers across Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Facebook combined. 

Top TikTok personalities have been able to land massive Hollywood deals across film, TV and podcasts, without building audiences on other platforms. 

The personalities of each platform are illustrated by the 50 biggest accounts:

TikTok favors individual creators that built their presence on the platform, rather than heavily resourced entertainment organizations. Outsized success of dancing and lip-syncing accounts stems from its origin as Musical.ly.

On YouTube, the top accounts are bigger music and entertainment operations, often international. Among the 20 most-followed accounts: six are from India, four from the U.S., three from South Korea, two from Russia. 

Facebook gives an edge to brands thanks to its design, which encourages users to 'like' any type of page, whether or not it produces content. Chinese news organizations are four of the 21 biggest accounts, and accounts from China don't appear on the top 50 list of any of the other platforms.

Instagram is the place to be a celebrity — it offers the opportunity to show off your lifestyle and be a tastemaker. The followings on Instagram are higher than any other platform.

Twitter also rewards celebrity, but on a smaller scale than Instagram. People known for their ideas can also build a following: It is the only platform with politicians and business leaders in the top 50.

The big picture: While there is some overlap across each platform, the very top performers tend to be widely different. 

Sports stars and actors shine on Facebook and Instagram, while musicians do better on YouTube and TikTok, naturally.

The only accounts to appear in the top 10 of more than one platform are Cristiano Ronaldo (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter), Ariana Grande (Instagram, Twitter) and Will Smith (Facebook, TikTok).

The big picture: About half (123) of the top 50 accounts across all five platforms measured originate from the United States. 

The next-largest country of origin for top accounts is India with 29, followed by the U.K. with 12, South Korea with 9 and Canada and Spain with 8 each. 

Editor's note: This story was originally published with a different graphic on Tuesday, Nov. 16.

How to hit the top on each social media platform

The creator economy has built accounts with mega-audiences — larger than many media companies.

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