James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Trump nominates Gail Slater to lead antitrust at DOJ and crypto backer Paul Atkins for head of SEC
President-elect Donald Trump today picked Big Tech critic Gail Slater to become the assistant attorney general for the Antitrust Division at the Department of Justice in a slew of nominations that also included crypto-friendly Paul Atkins as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. Slater served Trump during his first presidential term as a tech ...
Biden administration hits out at China’s chip industry with export controls
The Biden administration today announced new restrictions on advanced chip technology that can be exported to China in a further effort to curb the country’s ambitions in artificial intelligence and the development of high-end military technology. According to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security, the new export controls will see over 100 Chinese ...
Australian Senate bill means under 16s will be banned from using social media
Australian lawmakers today approved a landmark ban on social media for children under 16 in an attempt to address the negative impact of various apps on young people’s physical and mental health. The world-first ban will affect most major platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, X, TikTok, Snapchat and Reddit, although Google LLC-owned YouTube hasn’t made the ...
TikTok to block beauty filters over mental health concerns among the young
The embattled Chinese social media app TikTok has said that over the coming weeks it will start blocking beauty filters after growing research showing that transforming one’s face from its reality causes anxiety and issues with self-esteem, adding to the mental health crisis affecting the young. It’s long been known – and let’s face it, ...
X claims ownership of all X accounts in battle for The Onion to acquire Alex Jones’ Infowars
Who actually owns your social media account came into question on Monday after lawyers for Elon Musk’s X Corp. argued that the accounts belonging to Alex Jones’ bankrupt InfoWars site were its exclusive property. The Onion’s bid to buy the website through auction was recently put on hold after Jones and one of the losing ...
Meta takes down millions of accounts related to ‘pig-butchering’ scams
To thwart one of the fastest-growing and most sophisticated online scam industries, Meta Platforms Inc. today said it has removed about 2 million accounts related to investment scams known as “pig-butchering.” The name refers to taking a pig — the human victim — to the slaughter after a period of online grooming when the scammer ...
Meta is now letting users tinker with Instagram’s algorithm recommendation system
In a move that will please some of Instagram’s critics, the company will now allow users to reset the recommendation system that powers what they see in their feeds. For years now, Instagram has been in the sights of child health experts who believe apps such as Instagram are addictive and perhaps harmful in part ...
Accused of violating labor rights, Amazon and SpaceX attack US labor board in court
Attorneys for Amazon.com Inc. and Elon Musk’s SpaceX Corp. today argued in a federal appeals court that the National Labor Relations Board is unconstitutional. In separate cases, attorneys for the two companies told a panel of judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals that the labor agency, created in 1935, has unchecked power and ...
Waymo’s fleet of robotaxis is now available to anyone in LA
Alphabet Inc.-owned Waymo LLC announced today that its autonomous ride-hailing service, Waymo One, is now available to everyone in Los Angeles. With a $5.6 billion funding round last month, Waymo is hoping to improve its autonomous driving system, Waymo Driver, while expanding to the more cities around the U.S. Some of those include Buffalo, New ...
Amazon reportedly mulls another multibillion-dollar investment in Anthropic – but with an added twist
Amazon.com Inc. is ready for another hefty investment in the San Francisco-based generative artificial intelligence startup Anthropic PBC, one of the main rivals of OpenAI. The report today in The Information follows a report in late September in the same publication that Anthropic was looking to raise a round at a $40 billion valuation. The company has raised $9.7 ...
