James Farrell
Latest from James Farrell
Donald Trump says Google hides positive news about him; Google begs to differ
President Donald Trump has taken another stab at what he believes is a too left-leaning monopoly of tech firms, this time accusing Google LLC of rigging its search results to hide positive news about him. In a series of tweets last week, Trump denounced private tech companies for what he called the unfair “censorship” of ...
YouTube rolls out new features to help users see how much time they spend there
Google LLC-owned YouTube Monday introduced new features in line with “digital wellbeing,” letting users see just how much time they’ve spent watching videos. “Our goal is to provide a better understanding of time spent on YouTube, so you can make informed decisions about how you want YouTube to best fit into your life,” YouTube said ...
Google takes down content it says is related to Iranian misinformation campaign
Google LLC is cracking down on the spread of misinformation, removing 39 YouTube accounts this week that it says were run by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. In a blog post Thursday, Google said bad actors were involved in “hacking and influence campaigns.” The move came days after Facebook Inc. culled hundreds of accounts, pages ...
Walmart launches its own e-book and audio book store
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. launched its own digital bookstore Wednesday, further moving into new markets and ratcheting up competition with fellow retail giant Amazon.com Inc. In January, Walmart partnered with Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten Inc., launching an online grocery delivery service in Japan and also offering e-readers, e-books and audiobooks to American customers. Rakuten bought Canadian ...
As Facebook faces new critiques, it starts to rate its own users’ reputations
Facebook Inc. has come under more fire after a recent study from the University of Warwick has revealed where the platform is being used more, there are more hate crimes. As reported in the New York Times Tuesday, the study looked at 3,335 anti-refugee attacks in Germany over a two-year period. Researchers scrutinized each community ...
Responding to criticism, Apple removes 25,000 apps from China App Store
Apple Inc. has pulled as many as 25,000 apps from the China App Store after the country’s state-run media accused the company of not doing enough to clamp down on illegal apps. According to a report in Bloomberg late Sunday, Chinese media, including China Central Television, said gambling apps were available in the store, some of ...
President Trump vents over social media ‘censorship’
Following the controversial Silicon Valley crackdown on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, President Donald Trump has raised concerns over what he believes is unfair “censorship.” In a series of tweets Saturday, Trump said that such censorship, a term more properly applied to government actions rather than those of private companies, is aimed more at “Republican/Conservative voices” ...
Google discusses move into China with employees following internal discord
Google LLC Chief Executive Sundar Pichai has addressed employees’ concerns over the company developing a censored search engine for China. It lately came to light that the company has for some years been looking at a Chinese-friendly censored website, codenamed “Dragonfly.” This hasn’t gone down well with some Google employees who believe a heavily censored ...
Jack Dorsey is thinking about reinventing Twitter, as he moves closer to tech peers on Alex Jones
Twitter Inc. and Chief Executive Jack Dorsey made headlines this week after finally coming down on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, giving him a seven-day “timeout” when Jones entreated his readers to get their “battle rifles” ready to fight the mainstream media. Unlike some of the big names in Silicon Valley, Twitter’s suspension is not an ...
‘Sour grapes,’ says Tinder parent IAC after lawsuit claiming financial manipulation and sexual misconduct
Former Tinder co-founders and executives are suing parent group IAC/InterActiveCorp. for a reported $2 billion. The lawsuit claims that IAC and one of its business arms, Match Group, cheated employees out of money “by manipulating financial information, undermining Tinder’s valuation and unlawfully stripping away their Tinder stock options.” The 10 plaintiffs include former and current execs ...