Ownership

Apple's exclusive market for selling iPhone apps came under fire at the Supreme Court, as justices considered whether consumers should be allowed to proceed with a lawsuit alleging the company has an illegal monopoly that produces higher prices. The plaintiffs are a group of consumers pursuing a class-action lawsuit seeking damages on behalf of people who have purchased iPhone apps. They argue that prices are higher than they would be in a competitive market because Apple requires that all software for its phones be sold and purchased through its App Store.

Google (Alphabet) had a whopping 91% share of the $59.7 billion market (revenue) for search engines in 2017. In the social media category, Facebook had 72% of the $25.6 billion share of revenue from social networking sites. In e-commerce, Amazon had a 49% share of the $525.9 billion revenue pie, followed by eBay at 7%. 

Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg admitted that she had received information about the company’s work with Definers, the Republican-affiliated consultancy that conducted opposition research into Facebook’s critics. Her comments, written in a blog post the night before Thanksgiving, appeared to walk back her statements from the week of Nov 12 in which she said she did “not know” Facebook had hired Definers.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has declined to testify at a rare joint hearing with lawmakers from seven countries, representing more than 368 million people. Instead, Facebook will dispatch Richard Allan, the company’s vice president of policy solutions, to answer questions at a Nov 27 hearing featuring top policymakers from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Latvia, Singapore and the United Kingdom.

UK Parliament has used its legal powers to seize internal Facebook documents in an extraordinary attempt to hold the US social media giant to account after chief executive Mark Zuckerberg repeatedly refused to answer MPs’ questions. The cache of documents is alleged to contain significant revelations about Facebook decisions on data and privacy controls that led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. It is claimed they include confidential emails between senior executives, and correspondence with Zuckerberg.

On Nov 14, the New York Times detailed Facebook’s multi-pronged campaign to “delay, deny and deflect” efforts to hold the company accountable. This is far from the first time we’ve read disturbing accounts of Facebook’s unethical behavior, but this week the Times peeled back the curtain on the company’s crisis management techniques, public relations tactics, efforts to influence lawmakers, and aggressive lobbying. The peak at these practices helps explain why the social media giant has been so successful at avoiding meaningful regulation.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced that the following items are tentatively on the agenda for the Open Commission Meeting scheduled for Wednesday, December 12, 2018:

T-Mobile is offering a revised rationale for buying Sprint, a turn that critics say is a sign the carrier’s earlier arguments weren’t winning over US officials who can bless or kill the deal. T-Mobile told the Federal Communications Commission in a filing earlier in Nov that it needs the Sprint merger to help it compete more vigorously against giants AT&T and Verizon. In Sept, the company focused on how the tie-up would give it an edge in quickly building an advanced wireless network known as 5G, a goal of the Trump administration.

What will wake America up from its Thanksgiving day food coma? Here's the Federal Communications Commission’s December 2018 open meeting agenda:

A three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld a California District Court ruling that Byron Allen's Entertainment Studios Networks (ESN) was not barred from suing Charter over its allegation the cable operator's decision not to carry his programming was racially motivated. The panel rejected Charter's motion to dismiss the suit and remanded it back to the US District Court for the Central District of California for further proceedings, which likely means a trial on its merits unless the parties settle.