⚖️ The Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust Legislation

Plus: SpaceX fires employees who wrote open letter complaining about Elon Musk, Latin America's vicious circle is a warning to the West, and more…

Today’s pick

The Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust Legislation. Opponents of the antitrust push targeting Big Tech have lobbed all kinds of arguments to try to weaken support for new legislation. They may finally have found one that sticks. This week, a group of four Democratic senators led by Brian Schatz, of… (Gilad Edelman / WIRED)

Gilad Edelman @GiladEdelman

Yesterday a group of Democratic senators asked Amy Klobuchar to tweak the self-preferencing bill yet again, arguing that in its current form it could prevent platforms from doing content moderation. Here's why I'm still not persuaded by the argument:

wired.comThe Weak Argument Jeopardizing Tech Antitrust LegislationDemocrats are pumping the brakes on an ambitious Senate bill over long-shot concerns about content moderation.

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SpaceX fires employees who wrote open letter complaining about Elon Musk: report. SpaceX has fired a number of employees who wrote and shared a letter criticizing the behavior of CEO Elon Musk, reports The New York Times. The open letter, first reported by The Verge, described Musk's behavior as “a frequent source of… (James Vincent and Loren Grush / The Verge)

Loren Grush @lorengrush

Dangerous to sleep on this job. SpaceX has swiftly retaliated against some of the letter writers we first reported on yesterday

The Verge @verge

SpaceX fires employees who wrote open letter complaining about Elon Musk: report https://t.co/ZyghkCj79G https://t.co/MZMTCQuTwL

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Latin America's vicious circle is a warning to the West. When they vote in a presidential run-off election this weekend Colombians face a grim choice between two ill-qualified populists. On the left, Gustavo Petro has still not wholly shaken off his long-standing sympathy for Hugo Chávez, the… (The Economist)

The Economist @TheEconomist

Not so long ago, Latin America’s future looked bright. No longer. Its vicious circle is a warning to the West econ.st/3mR8F8G

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Fintech Giant Klarna Slashes Fundraising Ambition. Klarna Bank AB is considering raising fresh funds at a significantly lower valuation than it achieved a year ago, according to people familiar with the situation, a sign of the punishing environment for tech companies. The Swedish payments firm is… (Julie Steinberg / Wall Street Journal)

Julie Steinberg @JBSteins

Our scoop from last night: In a sign the tech rout has spread to private markets, fintech giant Klarna slashed its fundraising ambition to around $15 billion, well below last year’s nearly $46 billion valuation wsj.com/articles/finte…

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TikTok exec: We're not a social network like Facebook, we're an entertainment platform. Facebook is openly copying TikTok, and calling it out as a significant competitor. But Blake Chandlee, TikTok's head of global business solutions, says his company specializes is entertainment, not social media. TikTok hasn't seen an advertising… (Alex Sherman / CNBC)

Alex Sherman @sherman4949

I spoke with TikTok’s head of biz solutions Blake Chandlee — who used to work at Facebook (for 12 years). He says if Facebook is trying to be more like TikTok, it risks running away from the thing it’s good at. And what it’s good at isn’t being TikTok.

cnb.cxTikTok exec: We’re not a social network like Facebook, we’re an entertainment platformAs Facebook looks to copy more features from TikTok, the popular short video service says it’s not a social network

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