Spotify to suspend political ads in 2020 December 28, 2019 Music streaming service Spotify has said it will pause selling political advertising in early 2020. The world’s most popular music subscription service, which according to latest figures has 141m users listen to its ad-supported platform, said the pause would include its original and exclusive podcasts. It comes as campaigns for the presidential election set for [...]
UK cyber security chief to step down next year December 28, 2019 The head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has announced he will stand down next summer. The government said that Ciaran Martin would leave his post in 2020 on Friday evening, almost four years after founding the organisation. The 45-year-old said it had “been the privilege of a lifetime” and warned the challenge [...]
Softbank board loses dissenting voice as Uniqlo founder leaves December 27, 2019 The founder of clothes company Uniqlo will resign from the board of Softbank after 18 months in the job. Tadashi Yanai, who is chief executive of Uniqlo, will leave the Softbank independent board member post at the end of the month to focus on his fashion business. Read more: Softbank ‘tightening governance’ at firms it [...]
US National Security Advisor warns UK over using Huawei in 5G networks December 24, 2019 Robert O’Brien, the US National Security Advisor, has warned the UK over using Huawei for its 5G networks, saying that using the Chinese firm’s technology would put the UK’s intelligence services at risk. In an interview with the Financial Times, O’Brien said: “They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets, whether they are the [...]
Softbank’s Wework financing talks stall December 23, 2019 Softbank’s attempts to secure $3bn from three Japanese banks have stalled, creating a hurdle for the firm’s $9.5bn rescue plan for Wework. Softbank is now likely to start the new year without the funding for the office sharing company in place, after two of the lenders hit internal lending limits to the firm. Read more: [...]
Broadband speeds are increasing but rural towns lag behind December 20, 2019 Rural areas of the UK are lagging behind cities and towns as Boris Johnson’ government brings the nation’s digital divide into focus. A report by Ofcom, the UK’s telecoms regulator, showed that around 155,000 UK properties can not access decent broadband. These homes will be able to request coverage from BT from March 2020, the [...]
France fines Google €150m over anti-competitive behaviour December 20, 2019 France’s competition authority has fined Google €150m (£123m) for anti-competitive behaviour and mistreating advertisers who bought keyword adverts on its search engine. The search engine giant was accused of “brutal and unjustified” suspension of some advertisers by French authorities, which accused Google of abusing its dominance in the sector. Read more: Amazon, Apple and Google [...]
Uber banned in Germany as bumpy ride continues into 2020 December 19, 2019 A German court banned Uber from operating its ride-hailing services in Germany today for lacking the licence necessary to offer transport services using rental cars. Uber is active in seven German cities and works exclusively with car rental companies and their drivers. It can appeal to a higher court and will continue to drive in [...]
Facebook’s transfer of EU citizen data to US legal, says EU court adviser December 19, 2019 Tools used by hundreds of thousands of companies to transfer EU citizens’ data abroad are legal, an adviser to Europe’s top court has ruled, marking a major win for Facebook in a long-running court case. Austrian privacy campaigner and lawyer Max Schrems had challenged Facebook over its use of standard contractual clauses to move electronic [...]
Facebook Libra’s 2020 launch plan unclear, says board member December 19, 2019 Facebook’s Libra project does not have a solid strategy for how or where it will be introduced next year, a member of the board overseeing the controversial cyptocurreny’s launch has said. Libra is still on track to launch next year, but the scope of the roll out is dependent on progress in talks with regulators, [...]
