Today a bit more clarification of recent events at Facebook puts COO Sheryl Sandberg back in the limelight. Not that she was ever out - Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and Facebook head of communications and policy Elliot Schrage have been at the center of recent controversy since well before Thanksgiving. Todays news has to do with George Soros and a speech he made at Davos in January of 2018.
Today we've run through a set of facts revealed by Facebook in an article published by outgoing Facebook Head of Communications and Policy Elliot Schrage. This is just the most recent piece of work published after the New York Times article published on November 14th, 2018. This NYT article went by the name "Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook's Leaders Fought Through Crisis."
It may have not been able to deal Huawei the same almost fatal blow it gave ZTE but the US government is ramping up its efforts to make sure the Chinese company will have no place to run soon. It has already made it illegal to use Huawei and ZTE equipment in government and now reports are claiming that the US is doing what it can to urge other countries, particularly its allies, to also shun Huawei-made networking equipment in light of the upcoming 5G transition.
Japan is famous for a lot of things, from sakura blossoms in Spring to its unique cuisine to, of course, anime and manga. There is also this perception of the country being a technological superpower, especially in the fields of manufacturing, robotics, and computing. Those perceptions, however, may have been based partly on fantasy and romanticized fiction as the country is slowly proving itself to be lagging behind its peers, especially in the computing industry where cybersecurity has not only become an important topic, it has sometimes become a matter of life or death for both businesses and governments.
It seems that ZTE can finally put the nightmarish few months behind it. Somewhat. Although the company and US President Trump’s administration just recently signed a deal that lifted what would have been a fatal seven-year ban, senators from both sides of the political fence wanted to block that deal by sneaking it into an upcoming law. Now it seems that the deal will be left in place after Republican senators decided to withdraw that clause in exchange for some other stipulation that both political parties could agree on.
Yesterday, the European Commission hit Google with a record-breaking $5 billion fine for antitrust violations. There are actually a few different angles to the Commission's complaint, but to boil it down, it essentially claimed that Google used Android to cement its search dominance. Google, obviously, argued against the fine and announced its intent to appeal the ruling, and today the company finds itself with an unlikely ally: President Trump.
ZTE’s nightmares may finally be coming to an end. Of course, it will still have to recoup its losses from both paying the US’ penalties and months of stopping operations but at least it will have a chance to. That is, if it gets off the ground at all. The US government just announced that ZTE has signed an agreement to pay an escrow and install a monitor. Once that’s done, the company will finally be free, sort of.
ZTE is a Chinese company but it has found itself in the unfortunate position to need the US government’s permission before it can start operating again. That authorization has just been provided, allowing ZTE to breathe just a little bit. It is, however, a very small reprieve that will run only until August 1 as ZTE awaits the ultimate fate of its compromise with the Trump administration that is being blocked even by the US presidents’ allies in Congress.
While not everything is Facebook’s fault, its recent high-profile scandal opened a can of worms and opened the doors for increased government scrutiny and pressure on social networks in general. This time, however, it might be those social media giants that are getting a taste of injustice as Uganda starts to impose a social media tax that is being painted as a not so subtle attempt by the ruling government to curtail citizens’ freedom of speech.
Apple is adding a 2018 Midterm Elections section to Apple News, promising curated updates and exclusive highlights about the upcoming US elections. The news app will get a brand new segment and a banner highlighting it in the For You tab, the Top Stories tab, and the Spotlight tab.
While ZTE is fighting for survival in the US, fellow Chinese company Huawei is also struggling in Australia. While the consequences of losing this battle is less likely to make Huawei fold, it is still a slippery slope that could see Huawei’s foothold in more markets around the world. Just like in the US, Australia’s rivaling political parties seem to be in agreement that allowing Huawei to participate in building the country’s 5G infrastructure would be tantamount to giving China backdoor access to it.
It may have been painted as ZTE’s lifesaver but the $1 billion deal it signed with the US government may prove to be even more trouble. The agreement would naturally incur a lot of changes on ZTE’s part, but that is if it will actually push through. The US Senate has just voted 85 to 10 to pass an annual defense policy bill that, among other things, included a provision that would block the Trump administration’s deal with ZTE in the interests of national security.