Internally displaced Rohingya peoples at a market area in the Baw Du Pha IDP Camp in Myanmar. Photo: STR/AFP via Getty Images
Rohingya refugees accused Facebook in a $150 million lawsuit filed Monday of amplifying hate speech against the persecuted minority Muslims in Myanmar via algorithms and failing to take down inflammatory posts.
Why it matters: Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have been killed in Myanmar in what the UN deemed a genocidal campaign. Tens of thousands of others have been displaced, notably following a massacre by Myanmar's military in 2017.
Image: Nvidia
The Federal Trade Commission sued to block the chip supplier Nvidia's $40 billion acquisition of U.K. chip designer Arm, arguing the deal would give Nvidia too much control over the technology and designs its competitors rely on.
Why it matters: Arm's chip designs are used in phones, tablets, game consoles and by companies including Apple, Samsung and Qualcomm.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The U.K.'s move to unwind Facebook's Giphy acquisition raises the prospect of a new world in which many different international regulators can block tech deals.
Why it matters: It's the first time a foreign competition authority has ordered a Big Tech company to sell off an asset.
Facebook's corporate headquarters campus in Menlo Park, California. Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images
Meta announced Wednesday it has removed over 600 Facebook and Instagram accounts linked to a Chinese influence operation that claimed the U.S. was pressuring the World Health Organization (WHO) to blame COVID on China.
Why it matters: Though Meta said the network was unsuccessful, it marks yet another COVID disinformation campaign instigated by China in an effort to discredit the U.S.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey is exiting the company he helped build at a time when its future has never been so uncertain.
Why it matters: The person who controls Twitter controls the de facto public square — with implications for politics, media and free speech.
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Jack Dorsey is stepping down as CEO of Twitter, the company announced Monday. He will be succeeded by CTO Parag Agrawal, effective immediately.
The big picture: Dorsey is also the CEO of financial payments company Square, which he co-founded in 2009, and has become a crypto evangelist in recent years.
Photo: Budrul Chukrut/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Apple filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Israeli cyber intelligence companies NSO Group and its parent company to "hold it accountable for the surveillance and targeting of Apple users," the company announced.
Details: Apple is also seeking a permanent injunction to ban NSO Group from using Apple devices, software, or services, per a press release.
Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios
While China's sweeping new data privacy laws have left tech companies confused about how to comply, they also put the U.S. even further behind in the global race to set digital standards.
What's happening: China enacted its Personal Information Privacy Law earlier this month, following Europe as the second major international player to have its own sweeping data privacy regulations.
The Meta and Facebook logos. Photo: Nikolas Kokovlis/NurPhoto via Getty Images
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.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
Big Tech giants and their adversaries are both trying to enlist a powerful constituency in their battle over looming antitrust legislation: small businesses.
Why it matters: Small businesses can have outsize sway with Washington lawmakers, and the fight for their support will shape the fate of Congress' crusade to limit tech power.