Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have agreed to allow outsiders to audit how they handle harmful content such as hate speech following boycotts of their platforms by major advertisers. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced a deal on Wednesday that will see the platforms adopt common definitions and reporting standards for harmful content. The agreement, which has taken more than a year to negotiate, requires social media platforms to undergo an independent audit of how they are categorizing, reporting and eliminating harmful content to ensure it doesn t appear next to advertisements. The goal is to conduct these reviews by the end of the year, or have a plan in place to implement them. The platforms will also be required to develop systems that give advertisers more control over the type of content that their brands appear alongside. "As funders of the online ecosystem, advertisers have a critical role to play in driving positive change and we are pleased to have reached agreement with the platforms on an action plan and timeline," WFA CEO Stephan Loerke said in a statement.Advertisers have complained for years about their ads showing up alongside racist or violent content on social media. Google s (GOOGL)YouTube faced a big walkout by advertisers last year. But concern increased following the killing of George Floyd, and in July, dozens of the world s biggest companies joined a month-long boycott of Facebook (FB) over what campaign organizers described as its repeated failures to address hate speech and misinformation. The deal announced Wednesday was negotiated through the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, which the WFA launched last year as a way to lobby social media platforms to do more to tackle the spread of hate and misinformation online. It covers 11 broad topics, ranging from explicit sexual content and crime to drug use, piracy, arms and ammunition and "sensitive social issues." A brand safety "floor" is established for each area, which details when the content would be unsuitable for adjacent advertising, such as the excessive use of profane language. The areas are then graded according to risk, which could in some cases allow for advertising to appear such as when it relates to news articles or educational material on the topic. Unilever (UL) and Mars, which joined the boycott of Facebook, said that the agreement marks significant progress towards making social media safer, but will depend on the actions taken by platforms to uphold their end of the bargain. "This is not a declaration of victory," global responsible marketing officer at Mars, Jacqui Stephenson said in a statement. "There is much work to be done and we rely on all of our platform partners to follow through on their commitments with the pace and urgency these issues demand." "While change doesn t happen overnight, today marks an important step in the right direction," added Luis Di Como, Unilever s executive vice president for global media.Facebook s vice president for global marketing solutions, Carolyn Everson, on Wednesday described the agreement with advertisers as an "uncommon collaboration" that gives the industry a "unified language to move forward on the fight against hate online." While the boycott of Facebook in July did little to dent its revenue, which is derived mostly from millions of small businesses, it did undermine the company s reputation and force it to address the issue. A spokesperson for Unilever, whose brands include Ben & Jerry s and Dove, said that its previous decision to pull US advertising from Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (TWTR) would remain in place until the end of the year. The news comes a week after celebrities including Kim Kardashian West, Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio boycotted Instagram for a day to protest parent company Facebook s handling of hate and misinformation. The action was led by the same civil rights groups that pushed for the July boycott. One of the groups, the Anti-Defamation League, said that Wednesday s announcement is an "early step" but shows what can be achieved through collective action like the advertising freeze. "These commitments must be followed in a timely and comprehensive manner, to ensure they are not the kind of empty promises that we have seen too often from Facebook," the organization s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

Huawei says it is in survival mode as continuous "attacks" from the United States threaten to choke off the Chinese company s access to key technology. "Huawei is in a difficult situation these days. Nonstop aggression from the US government has put us under significant pressure," the company s rotating chief executive Guo Ping said at a conference on Wednesday. "Right now, survival is the goal," he said. Washington has ramped up pressure on Huawei, issuing fresh sanctions in May and August that further restrict the company s access to the leading edge computer chips it needs to manufacture smartphones, 5G networking gear and other products.Semiconductor companies that use American software and technology to design and manufacture chips can no longer sell to Huawei without first obtaining a license from the US Commerce Department. US regulators say Huawei poses a national security risk, alleging that the Chinese government could use Huawei equipment to spy. The company has repeatedly denied those allegations. Analysts have called the latest US sanctions a "lethal blow" and a "death sentence" for the company. "The United States has been continuously attacking us and [the latest restriction] has posed great challenges to our operations," Guo told reporters. Several analysts estimate that Huawei has stockpiled enough semiconductors to last the company through at least the end of the year. But when asked how long supplies will last at a press conference on Wednesday, Guo said "we re still evaluating more details." He added that Huawei buys hundreds of millions of chipsets for its smartphone business every year, and that the company received its last shipment of chips in mid-September, when the US restrictions announced in May went into effect.Major chipmakers such as Qualcomm (QCOM) and SK Hynix applied for licenses to sell to Huawei, according to Chinese state broadcaster CGTN. China s biggest chipmaker, SMIC, said in a statement that it has also "submitted license applications covering several Huawei products," without going into detail. Some companies have gotten the green light, including Intel (INTC). A spokesman for the US company confirmed that it had received a license from US authorities to continue supplying Huawei, but did not specify what products it could sell. Intel has in the past supplied processors for Huawei laptops. AMD (AMD) may also have obtained licenses to sell to Huawei. Forrest Norrod, senior vice president of AMD, said at a conference last week that "based on the licenses that we ve been able to secure, we don t expect to see a significant impact on our business at this time" because of recent US-China trade tensions. Norrod did not specifically mention Huawei, but Jefferies analyst Edison Lee has pointed out that the California-based chip company supplies Huawei with computer processing units for laptops. AMD obtaining a license "is logical to us, since Huawei s ability to produce notebook computers should not create a national security risk to the United States," Lee wrote in a note on Sunday. Huawei s telecommunications gear is another matter. The Trump administration has been urging countries around the world to ban Huawei equipment from their 5G telecom networks. Several key countries for months resisted cutting off Huawei entirely. But that changed after US restrictions announced in May, barring chip companies from manufacturing chips designed by Huawei affiliate HiSilicon. The United Kingdom in July banned Huawei from its 5G network, reversing a January decision to allow it a limited role in the build out. UK officials cited uncertainty surrounding Huawei s supply chain as the reason for the rapid about-face. Since then, things have only gotten worse for Huawei. The company is facing the likelihood of "a near-total cutoff of semiconductors ... dealing a lethal blow to China s most important global technology company," Paul Triolo, head of geo technology at Eurasia Group, wrote in a research note last month.The US restrictions issued in August are intended to expand the number of chip companies required to apply for licenses to supply to Huawei, "with a presumption of denial," he wrote. SK Hynix s application has already been rejected, according to a Reuters report citing a person familiar with the situation. SK Hynix declined to comment. Huawei indicated on Wednesday that Qualcomm is still awaiting a decision. "Qualcomm has always been an important partner of Huawei," Guo told reporters. "If they get the license, we re willing to procure from them and use their chipsets in our smartphones." Qualcomm and AMD did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of regular working hours. TSMC (TSM), the world s largest contract chip manufacturer, confirmed in July that it would end its relationship with Huawei this month in order to comply with the US regulations.

removed roughly 100 million videos from its platform through the first half of 2020 for breaking its rules. More than a third of them were in India alone. The company took down nearly 37.7 million videos in the country, TikTok said in a transparency report released on Tuesday. The report covers the first six months of the year, just before TikTok was banned in India as tensions rose between New Delhi and Beijing. TikTok is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company. More TikTok videos were removed in India than any other market. The United States was second, with nearly 10 million videos removed. Videos removed globally accounted for less than 1% of the total uploaded to the platform, TikTok said. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, TikTok said it "relied more heavily on technology to detect and automatically remove violating content" in India and other countries. India also topped the list in the second half of 2019, the first time TikTok reported details on video removals.India was a huge market for TikTok before the government banned it and several other well-known Chinese apps in late June, citing a "threat to sovereignty and integrity." The move followed a border clash between the two countries earlier in the month that left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead. The India ban was a big blow to TikTok, whose global ambitions have also been hobbled by President Donald Trump s threat to ban the app unless ByteDance sells it. ByteDance, Oracle (ORCL), Walmart (WMT) and others are now trying to hammer out a deal that can save TikTok s US operations. India had been the biggest driver of new TikTok downloads, generating close to 660 million installs since its launch in 2017, according to analytics firm Sensor Tower. ByteDance had forecast over $1 billion in advertising revenue from India this year, most of it generated by TikTok, according to estimates from consulting firm R3. In its transparency report, TikTok said that of the roughly 105 million videos it removed worldwide in the first half of this year, 31% were taken down for containing "adult nudity and sexual activities" and 22% were removed for "minor safety," according to the report.Like other popular social media platforms, TikTok doesn t allow sexually explicit content on its app. The company also noted that "overtly sexual content can be offensive within certain cultures." Last year, TikTok was blocked in India for about a month after an Indian court ruled that it could expose children to sexual predators, pornographic content and cyberbullying. The court reversed its decision following an appeal by ByteDance, which said at the time that it would continue to enhance safety features. TikTok has not been so lucky this time around. The company said in July it is working with the Indian government to try to allay its concerns. "We have not shared any information of our users in India with any foreign governments, nor have we used such data in any manner that would compromise the integrity of India," Nikhil Gandhi, head of TikTok in India, wrote in a blog post. But the app remains banned in the world s second most populous country, and rivals are moving in to scoop up Indian TikTokers as they scramble to find alternative platforms. YouTube announced last week that it will launch Shorts, a TikTok copycat, in India first. Instagram has also entered the market with its own video-sharing feature called Reels. Facebook (FB), Instagram s parent company, began testing Reels in India in July.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he has approved a deal between TikTok s parent company, ByteDance, and Oracle (ORCL), temporarily averting a ban on TikTok in US app stores. The Commerce Department confirmed in a statement Saturday evening that it would delay — by one week — restrictions that were originally to take effect on Sunday. ByteDance will continue to be majority owner of TikTok under the agreement Trump said he approved, according to a person familiar with the matter. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he approved the deal "in concept." "I have given the deal my blessing," Trump said. "If they get it done, that s great. If they don t, that s okay, too."The deal will also include Wal-Mart (WMT), Trump said, adding that "the security will be 100 percent. They ll be using separate clouds and very, very powerful security." Trump said the deal will also include a $5 billion fund for US education, though he did not say which companies would be making the payment. Trump had previously expressed a desire for the companies to make a payment to the US Treasury, but was surprised when he was told such an arrangement would be illegal. Trump s blessing comes hours before restrictions from the Commerce Department were set to take effect that would remove TikTok from US app stores, including those operated by Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOGL). The White House declined to comment. ByteDance will continue to be majority owner of TikTok under the agreement Trump said he approved, the person said. That contradicts Trump s claim to reporters on Saturday that TikTok would be "totally controlled" by Wal-Mart and Oracle, who will have up to a 20% share in TikTok, the person said. TikTok confirmed in a statement that Oracle and Walmart will together hold up to a 20% share. "As part of this proposal, Oracle will become our trusted technology provider, responsible for hosting all US user data and securing associated computer systems to ensure US national security requirements are fully satisfied," TikTok said. "We are currently working with Wal-Mart on a commercial partnership as well. Both companies will take part in a TikTok Global pre-IPO financing round in which they can take up to a 20% cumulative stake in the company. We will also maintain and expand TikTok Global s headquarters in the US, while bringing 25,000 jobs across the country." Trump also said that TikTok would be incorporated in Texas as a new company. Oracle CEO Safra Catz said in a statement: "As a part of this agreement, TikTok will run on the Oracle Cloud and Oracle will bezcome a minority investor in TikTok Global," said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. "Oracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok s American users, and users throughout the world. This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders." Walmart said that it plans to take a 7.5% stake in the new company, and that Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon would serve on its five-member board. "We are excited about our potential investment in and commercial agreements with TikTok Global," Wal-Mart said in a statement, adding it will also "enter into commercial agreements to provide our ecommerce, fulfillment, payments and other omnichannel services to TikTok Global." Speaking to reporters, Trump offered high praise to Walmart and Oracle executives, including Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, a close political ally. "You have the combination of the Wal-Mart, that s obvious, and the high tech of Oracle, and the genius of the two leaders of those companies, okay?" Trump said.

President Donald Trump said Saturday he has approved a deal between TikTok s parent company, ByteDance, and Oracle (ORCL), temporarily averting a ban on TikTok in US app stores. The Commerce Department confirmed in a statement Saturday evening that it would delay — by one week — restrictions that were originally to take effect on Sunday. ByteDance will continue to be majority owner of TikTok under the agreement Trump said he approved, according to a person familiar with the matter. Speaking to reporters, Trump said he approved the deal "in concept." Content By BMW From the circus to the catwalk, the story of a superstar photographer Photographer Ellen von Unwerth’s unique style has captivated the world for decades. This is how she turned her passion into a successful career. "I have given the deal my blessing," Trump said. "If they get it done, that s great. If they don t, that s okay, too." The deal will also include Wal-Mart (WMT), Trump said, adding that "the security will be 100 percent. They ll be using separate clouds and very, very powerful security." Trump said the deal will also include a $5 billion fund for US education, though he did not say which companies would be making the payment. Trump had previously expressed a desire for the companies to make a payment to the US Treasury, but was surprised when he was told such an arrangement would be illegal. Trump s blessing comes hours before restrictions from the Commerce Department were set to take effect that would remove TikTok from US app stores, including those operated by Apple and Google. The White House declined to comment. ByteDance will continue to be majority owner of TikTok under the agreement Trump said he approved, the person said. That contradicts Trump s claim to reporters on Saturday that TikTok would be "totally controlled" by Wal-Mart and Oracle, who will have up to a 20% share in TikTok, the person said. TikTok confirmed in a statement that Oracle and Walmart will together hold up to a 20% share. "As part of this proposal, Oracle will become our trusted technology provider, responsible for hosting all US user data and securing associated computer systems to ensure US national security requirements are fully satisfied," TikTok said. "We are currently working with Wal-Mart on a commercial partnership as well. Both companies will take part in a TikTok Global pre-IPO financing round in which they can take up to a 20% cumulative stake in the company. We will also maintain and expand TikTok Global s headquarters in the US, while bringing 25,000 jobs across the country." Trump also said that TikTok would be incorporated in Texas as a new company. Oracle CEO Safra Catz said in a statement: "As a part of this agreement, TikTok will run on the Oracle Cloud and Oracle will become a minority investor in TikTok Global," said Oracle CEO Safra Catz. "Oracle will quickly deploy, rapidly scale, and operate TikTok systems in the Oracle Cloud. We are a hundred percent confident in our ability to deliver a highly secure environment to TikTok and ensure data privacy to TikTok s American users, and users throughout the world. This greatly improved security and guaranteed privacy will enable the continued rapid growth of the TikTok user community to benefit all stakeholders." Walmart said that it plans to take a 7.5% stake in the new company, and that Wal-Mart CEO Doug McMillon would serve on its five-member board. "We are excited about our potential investment in and commercial agreements with TikTok Global," Wal-Mart said in a statement, adding it will also "enter into commercial agreements to provide our ecommerce, fulfillment, payments and other omnichannel services to TikTok Global." Speaking to reporters, Trump offered high praise to Walmart and Oracle executives, including Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, a close political ally. "You have the combination of the Wal-Mart, that s obvious, and the high tech of Oracle, and the genius of the two leaders of those companies, okay?" Trump said.

TikTok s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, will continue to be a majority shareholder in the short-form video app under a proposed deal with Oracle being reviewed by the Trump administration this week, according to a person familiar with the matter. If the US government approves the deal, TikTok would become a global company with headquarters in the United States, the person said, while Oracle will host TikTok s user data and review TikTok s code for security. Walmart may still have a role to play in the deal as a possible minority investor and e-commerce partner, the person said, but no final decision has been made. Under the proposal, the US government would approve members of TikTok s board; one board member is to be an expert in data security and would hold a top-secret security clearance, according to the person. That appointee would also be responsible for chairing a security committee whose members would be US citizens individually approved by the US government, the person said. The global company is expected to file for an IPO in about 12 months, the person said, with plans to be listed on a US stock exchange. NBC News was first to report the details of the board structure. The structure of the deal reflects a revised term sheet that the US government sent to ByteDance and Oracle late Wednesday, which the companies have accepted, the person said. Bloomberg first reported the revised terms. The terms of the agreement could provoke pushback from President Donald Trump. At a White House press briefing on Wednesday, Trump indicated that he was opposed to the prospect of ByteDance retaining a majority share in TikTok. "Conceptually, I can tell you I don t like that," he said. "If that s the case, I m not going to be happy with that." The deal must still be approved by Trump, who is expected to receive a briefing on the details Thursday. Trump s cabinet officials were briefed on the deal Wednesday, the person said. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr appeared to be supportive of the proposal, according to the person, while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was described as "neutral" on the deal and requested more details on how TikTok data would be protected. Pompeo later expressed his support for the deal to Trump in a meeting on Thursday, the person said. Meanwhile a raft of lawmakers have weighed in on the proposal, with Sen. Josh Hawley — a vocal critic of TikTok remaining under ByteDance s control — urging that it be rejected. "The available evidence compels only one cotnclusion: ByteDance has no intention whatsoever of relinquishing ultimate control of TikTok," Hawley wrote in a letter to Mnuchin on Monday. "That is precisely the problem that the President s action sought to solve, and it is that same problem that the proposed Oracle partnership leaves fully intact. In short, the proposal violates the President s executive order." Sen. Marco Rubio said Thursday he had received a briefing on the deal from Oracle and the Treasury Department, calling it "informative." "The only thing that matters is whether we are protecting the personal & consumer data of Americans from being collected by &/or diverted to #China," he tweeted.

Kim Kardashian West, who has one of the biggest Instagram followings in the world, said Tuesday that she would be joining other high-profile users in a protest against Instagram s parent company Facebook and its handlng of misinformation and hate. Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Orlando Bloom, Kerry Washington and Sacha Baron Cohen are among those also taking part in the protest, which is slated to take place on Wednesday. "I love that I can connect directly with you through Instagram and Facebook, but I can t sit by and stay silent while these platforms continue to allow the spreading of hate, propaganda and misinformation," Kardashian West wrote in a post published to multiple social media accounts Tuesday. She added, "Misinformation shared on social media has a serious impact on our elections and undermines our democracy. Please join me tomorrow when I will be freezing my Instagram and FB account to tell Facebook to #StopHateForProfit." The coalition of civil rights groups that organized July s Facebook ad boycott announced on Monday it was calling on companies and celebrities to stop posting on Instagram for a day on Wednesday to protest Facebook s handling of hate on its platform and to call on the company to stop allowing politicians to lie in political ads. The organizers, including the ADL and NAACP, pointed to Facebook s failure to shut down the page of a Kenosha militia group as one reason to protest. Asked about Kardashian West s announcement, a Facebook spokesperson declined to comment.

President Donald Trump last month used his office to ignite an international business crisis that s plunged into doubt the future of one of the world s most popular social media platforms — a decision that s now led to the apparent benefit of a major political backer. As Oracle seeks US approval for a landmark partnership with the short-form video app TikTok, experts say questions will intensify over Trump s political relationship with Oracle chairman and co-founder Larry Ellison. One of the richest men in the world, Ellison has built extensive bridges with Trump. He has vocally expressed support for the President and reportedly hosted a major fundraiser for him this year where donors who paid $100,000 were offered a chance to golf with Trump. Nor will the scrutiny be limited to Ellison; Oracle CEO Safra Catz shares close ties with Trump as well. She has donated more than $130,000 to Trump s reelection efforts this year, according to Federal Election Commission data. Catz served on Trump s presidential transition team in 2016 and was at one point considered for a position inside the administration. Both Catz and Ellison have served on Trump s industry working groups devoted to economic revival. Oracle didn t respond to requests for comment. The White House declined to comment. Trump raised eyebrows last month when he publicly supported the prospect of a deal involving TikTok and Oracle. At the time, Oracle and Microsoft had been competing to acquire TikTok, with Microsoft viewed widely as the frontrunner. Oracle, experts said, lacked experience in consumer services and offers no products in the social media sphere. But on Sunday evening, sources told CNN that TikTok s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, had sided with Oracle over Microsoft. Oracle and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed the proposed deal on Monday. In a statement, TikTok said it believed the proposal would "resolve the Administration s security concerns." Administration officials have complained for months that TikTok represents a risk to national security, due to its current ownership by a Chinese firm. TikTok has rejected those claims, saying it stores all US users data outside of China and that the information isn t subject to Chinese law; cybersecurity experts have said there is no evidence that TikTok has been compromised by Chinese intelligence. Oracle s proposed partnership with TikTok must still be reviewed by the US government. And it remains unclear if those discussions will be resolved before a Trump administration ban against TikTok takes effect on Sept. 20, though Mnuchin said the government will be studying the deal this week. Asked directly whether Ellison s ties with Trump were a factor in the proposed deal talks, a person familiar with the negotiations insisted that it was "a business decision, not a political one." But outside analysts said it is impossible to disentangle one from the other, given Trump s personality. Trump has a track record of injecting himself into ostensibly neutral public policy processes. For example, Trump appeared to intervene in a multi-billion-dollar cloud contract decision many expected Amazon to win; ultimately, and after a quiet pressure campaign by Oracle, the Pentagon awarded the deal to Microsoft. In another closely scrutinized case, Trump vowed to block AT&T s acquisition of Time Warner (which is now WarnerMedia, CNN s parent company). The announcement took experts by surprise because antitrust reviews of mergers are expected to occur independently of presidential influence. As the Oracle-TikTok negotiations progressed, some reports highlighted how Microsoft has savvily built its own relationships with the Trump administration. Yet Microsoft s connections were no match for Ellison s, said Eric Schiffer, chairman of the Patriarch Organization, a tech-focused private equity firm. "Microsoft has done everything they could possibly do except show up at a rally with a MAGA hat to win this," Schiffer said. "There s no question that the conventional wisdom was that Microsoft was strategically positioned, having made great political inroads into the administration and having played the politics with Trump fairly well compared to most corporations. But not as well as Larry." Other experts said that while Ellison s ties to Trump may have given Oracle an edge, the proposal at the end of the day must still adequately resolve the US government s national security concerns. Sources have described the proposal as stopping short of an outright sale of TikTok to Oracle, a detail that could conflict with Trump s Aug. 14 executive order that called for a full divestiture, said Harry Broadman, a partner at Berkeley Research Group and former member of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, the government body that vets certain deals that could give a foreign investor control of a US business. "Yes, Larry Ellison is friends with Trump, and maybe that will mean something, I don t know," Broadman said. "But there are executive orders out there, and people will be looking to see how this comports with what the executive orders say." Whether the Oracle deal passes security muster depends heavily on the specifics of the agreement, said Alex Stamos, the former chief security officer at Facebook. "A deal where Oracle takes over hosting [of TikTok s data] without source code and significant operational changes would not address any of the legitimate concerns about TikTok, and the White House accepting such a deal would demonstrate that this exercise was pure grift," Stamos tweeted.

TikTok is making the corporate technology company Oracle its business partner in the United States. It s a deal that would tick a lot of boxes for the beleaguered short-form video app, including what is potentially its biggest hurdle of all: getting President Donald Trump on its side. There are still a lot of unknowns about the agreement. TikTok declined to comment about the deal, while Oracle (ORCL) and TikTok s Chinese parent company ByteDance have not responded to requests for comment. A source familiar with the matter told CNN Business that the partnership was meant to satisfy the Trump administration s national security concerns about TikTok — Trump has demanded the app be sold, or else shut down in the United States — and it was not described as an outright sale. But California-based Oracle is a notable partner, given cofounder Larry Ellison s ties to the Trump administration. He s one of the few Silicon Valley tech moguls to back Trump. The billionaire hosted a campaign fundraiser for Trump in February and in April joined a White House advisory group working to revive America s economy. The US president has already indicated he would support a deal between Oracle and TikTok. "I think Oracle is a great company and I think its owner is a tremendous guy, a tremendous person," Trump said late last month after the Financial Times reported that Ellison was "seriously considering" a deal with TikTok. "I think that Oracle would be certainly somebody that could handle it." Political considerations TikTok resorted to Oracle "mainly out of political considerations," said Shirley Yu, visiting fellow at the London School of Economics and founder of an eponymous company that assesses strategy, business, and political risk for companies working in China. "Oracle s Ellison is a much closer ally to President Trump than Microsoft [cofounder] Bill Gates. In order for a no-sale option to be considered by the White House, Oracle stands the best chance," she said. James Lewis, a senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, pushed back against the notion that Oracle s apparent victory was driven by Ellison s cozy ties to Trump. (The frontrunner, Microsoft (MSFT), said Sunday that it lost its bid for the app.) "Oracle has done a good job lobbying the White House on cloud and their record in security. That probably helped them. I don t think it s Trump rewarding his friends," said Lewis. Instead, Oracle might win by default. The deal on the table does not appear to involve TikTok s coveted artificial intelligence algorithm, according to Chinese state-run media CGTN, who cited anonymous sources saying that ByteDance will not give the app s "source code" to any US buyers. The broadcaster also pointedly mentioned that ByteDance was not selling TikTok s US operations. ByteDance s ability to retain the app s technology could make the tie-up more palatable to Beijing regulators, according to Cameron Johnson, adjunct faculty instructor at New York University in Shanghai and partner at consulting firm Tidal Wave Solutions. But that may have killed the Microsoft deal, according to Dan Ives, analyst at Wedbush Securities. "We believe Microsoft would only buy TikTok with its core algorithm which the Chinese government and ByteDance was not willing to budge," he said in a note to investors Monday morning.Last month, Beijing introduced new rules governing the sale of certain kinds of technology to foreign buyers. Government officials updated an export control list to include data processing, speech and text recognition — the kind of tech that is used by TikTok. China might see the Oracle partnership "as a win-win," said Johnson. "They won t give up the key ingredients [of TikTok], they re not forced to give everything away and they get an infusion of cash for a big Chinese tech company." Hosting TikTok s US data Like Microsoft, TikTok could be a big get for Oracle, depending on how the terms of the partnership shake out. "Microsoft, they have games and LinkedIn, but Oracle has nothing in the social space," Johnson said. Oracle s chops when it comes data and cloud security could also help allay fears in Washington. The 43-year-old company is a major player in cloud infrastructure and data storage solutions. Cloud services accounted for 74% of the company s $9.4 billion in revenue for the three months that ended in August. The Trump administration alleges that TikTok poses a national security concern because it gathers vast swaths of data from American users, which could be accessed by the Chinese Communist Party. TikTok has denied those allegations. The company has said its data centers are located outside of China and that none of that data is subject to Chinese law. Reporting suggests that Oracle won t be able to buy TikTok outright, but given its expertise in data and cloud security, it could become the US host of TikTok data. "Oracle has incredible data and cloud security," said Johnson, so the US national security establishment may determine that "as long as [US data] is here, it s fine." "Based on early reports and how they are characterizing this as not an outright sale and calling Oracle a trusted tech partner, this has likely turned into a deal about Oracle s cloud, and storing US-based TikTok users data in Oracle s data center," said Brad Haller, a director in the mergers and acquisitions practice at national consulting firm West Monroe. The deal still needs to gain approval from the Trump administration.

Nintendo is leaning hard into nostalgia this year, and its latest retro gadget takes it all the way back to 1980. The Japanese gaming company announced it would re-release Game & Watch, the handheld sensation that put Nintendo on the map 40 years ago. First introduced in 1980 and produced until 1991, Game & Watch was a series of handheld games -- 59 in all -- that Nintendo sold before the Game Boy took over the world. Unlike the Game Boy, the black-and-white Game & Watch games could only play a single game each.The new Game & Watch, made to look like the original with all its 80s styling, is decidedly more modern -- it has a color LCD screen and a rechargeable battery with a USB-C connector. It will play three games: "Super Mario Bros.," "Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels" and "Ball (the Mario version)." Like every Game & Watch device that came out after 1981, the new one can also become an alarm clock with the tap of a button. This time, the clock features 35 different screen-saver scenes of Mario interacting with the clock.Although Game & Watch wasn t Nintendo s first video game attempt, it was its first successful one, paving the way for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 and the Game Boy in 1989. The Game & Watch isn t as celebrated as some of Nintendo s other game systems, but it was the first system to feature the + shaped directional pad, first found on the 1982 "Donkey Kong" Game & Watch. Its success also gave some legitimacy to handheld gaming, which was a niche that video game manufacturers were unsure of in the 1970s. Nintendo has dipped into the Game & Watch nostalgia bucket before by releasing a version last decade and putting Mr. Game & Watch -- the anonymous character who appears in many of the early Game & Watch games -- into its "Super Smash Bros." games. The company has been on a re-release tear lately. In recent years, it sold classic versions of the NES and Super Nintendo, complete with a couple dozen games and the original controllers. Now, Nintendo is in full celebration mode: It s the 35th anniversary of Mario. The company announced a ton of Mario fun, including a new battle royale game and the re-release of "Super Mario 64," "Super Mario Galaxy" and" Super Mario Sunshine." Now it s Game & Watch s turn in the spotlight. The 40th anniversary edition of the Game & Watch will go on sale November 13 for a limited time.

Huawei has announced plans to pre-install its own Harmony operating system on its smartphones from next year. The Chinese company said it would also offer the software to other manufacturers to use as an alternative to Android. Huawei is currently the world s second bestselling handset-maker, after a brief time in the top spot. But others have tried and failed to challenge Google and Apple s dominance. Google s Android accounted for 85.4% of smartphones shipped last year, according to research company IDC, and Apple s iOS the remaining 14.6%. And those figures reflect the fact Samsung s Tizen, Amazon s FireOS, Microsoft s Windows Phone, and Canonical s Ubuntu have all failed to make headway on handsets. Huawei s move has been prompted by the fact it can no longer offer Google s apps and services on its latest devices, because of a US trade ban - although the restriction does not prevent it from offering Android itself. Within China - where consumers do not use the Google Play store and many of Google s services are blocked - this limitation has not caused Huawei problems. But in other countries, demand for its most recent phones has been weak because Google s tools are popular. One expert said the fate of the new operating system might depend on how many other technology companies Huawei convinced to come on board. "This move will be supported by the Chinese government because it fits into its wider Made In China 2025 strategy," Marta Pinto, from IDC, said. "But it will only take off elsewhere if other Chinese vendors, such as Xiaomi and Oppo, adopt it. "Even then, it will still be a challenge in geographies like Western Europe and Latin America, where so many people and businesses rely on Google s products." Two systems Huawei announced its plan at the start of a three-day developer conference near the city of Shenzhen. The original version of Harmony OS was unveiled a year ago, when it was pitched for use in smartwatches, TVs and other smart home gadgets. But the company now intends to release a fresh version - Harmony OS 2.0 - that can be tested on handsets from December, ahead of a formal launch in October 2021. In parallel, it will shortly release EMUI 11 - a version of its mobile phone user interface based on Android 11. After October, some of its smartphone models will be offered with Harmony OS. But it will continue to offer EMUI as an alternative. Recode apps Part of Huawei s challenge is it will need developers to code their apps specifically for Harmony if the software is to run natively and thus get the best performance. The company has indicated it will be relatively easy to recode apps already written for Android. But this has proved a sticking point for other failed operating-system challengers. Developers either decided the extra work was not worth it or did not make it a priority, meaning the apps typically lacked the latest features available on Android and iOS. Added catalyst "Huawei has the engineering talent, the ambition, and a home market advantage," Ben Wood, from the consultancy CCS Insight, said. "And if the Chinese government got fully behind Harmony and made support for it a condition for other companies to offer their products and services in the country, that would provide an added catalyst for Huawei to establish a third smartphone platform. "But in terms of global aspirations, history shows it s still a very difficult thing to achieve." Huawei faces other immediate concerns. From 15 September, the company will be unable to get more of its Kirin processor chips manufactured, because of further US trade restrictions. Samsung and SK Hynix will no longer be able to to sell it memory chips. And it has been reported Samsung and LG will be unable to continue selling it OLED displays for its smartphone screens. Huawei has indicated it has built up stockpiles of components to get through the immediate future. But the fate of its consumer division may rest on Washington changing its position after the US presidential election.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A tiny baby gorilla has been born at the zoo in New Orleans. Keepers don’t yet know the sex of the critically endangered western lowland gorilla born Friday to 13-year-old Tumani and father Okpara, Audubon Zoo spokeswoman Katie Smith said in an email. “Tumani is demonstrating excellent mothering behaviors and the entire troop is doing exceptionally well,” Smith said. She said keepers first saw the baby during their morning check Friday. Gorilla babies weigh about four pounds (1.8 kilograms) at birth, and photos and video from the zoo show 13-year-old mom Tumani cuddling her tiny newborn. Photos show the baby held in her arms without using her hands. “All gorilla mothers vary on how they carry their infants. Some even carry football style,” Smith wrote. “In the beginning, she was keeping it close to her mouth … to clean. She is carrying it differently now. She is supporting it more on its backside and keeping it low so that it can nurse.” Although the birth was about two weeks after what the zoo had put as the last likely due date, keepers weren’t worried, Smith said, since the dates were based on observed matings. Once keepers knew Tumani was pregnant, she was trained to carry a baby using a “doll” made from firehose canvas. Native to central Africa, western lowland gorillas were declared critically endangered in 2007 because of habitat loss as well as deaths caused by the Ebola virus and hunters who killed them illegally for their meat. The baby is at least the fourth western lowland gorilla born at a US zoo this year. A female was born Jan. 18 at the Los Angeles Zoo. The Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle announced the birth of a male in March, and the Toledo Zoo announced another male’s birth in August. It’s Audubon’s first gorilla birth in nearly 25 years. The zoo’s firstborn gorilla is Praline, who is 24 years old and still at the zoo, where the troop also includes a third female, Alafia. The zoo says its entire primate area will be closed while Tumani and the entire troop bonds with the baby. The zoo says the white patch helps mother gorillas keep track of infants and helps other gorillas recognize it as a baby. The patch will fade when the great ape is three to four years old, according to the zoo’s news release.

Apple has announced that it will hold an event next week, where many expect it could reveal the design of the latest iPhone or other new products. The event will be streamed on its website next Tuesday, September 15. Apple typically holds its new product launch event in early September at its headquarters. The company s Worldwide Developer Conference in June was also held online-only because of the coronavirus pandemic. Apple (AAPL) did not immediately return a request for comment. The company has been widely expected to unveil an iPhone 12 with 5G capabilities this fall — the first iPhone to connect to the new, ultra-fast wireless network. Analysts expect the 5G iPhone to generate a "supercycle" of device upgrades, potentially prompting millions of people to buy the new device. But iPhone fans may not want to get their hopes up too high for next week. There have been questions for months about whether supply chain issues caused by the pandemic would delay the release of the new iPhone. Apple has already said new iPhones will be shipped slightly later than usual this year. "Last year, we started selling iPhones in late September," Apple CFO Luca Maestri said during the company s most recent earnings call. "This year, we project supply to be available a few weeks later." Wedbush analyst Dan Ives said he expects the iPhone 12 reveal to come later this month or in early October, with four versions of the iPhone 12 hitting shelves by mid-October. That suggests the company may take the somewhat unusual step of announcing the new iPhone and other new products in two separate events, and that customers may have to wait a bit longer than a week to see the latest phone. The company s September product event typically also includes the latest designs for other products, such as the iPad and the Apple Watch. Last year, Apple also revealed details on its Apple TV+ and Apple Arcade services. "We believe [the September 15] event will primarily be focused on the next Apple Watch models and potentially a new lineup of iPads," Ives said in an email to CNN Business. Apple may also unveil at the event both lower- and higher-end Apple Watches, a smaller HomePod speaker and the first-ever Apple branded over-the-ear headphones, according to Synovus Trust Company senior portfolio manager Daniel Morgan.

Shares in Chinese chipmaker SMIC plummeted nearly 23% in Hong Kong on Monday on fears that it could become the latest casualty of the US-China tech war. The US Department of Defense and other US agencies are reportedly considering banning exports to Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp., according to Reuters and other news outlets. The chipmaker could be added to a list of companies that the US government considers to be undermining American interests. SMIC s relationship to the Chinese military is under scrutiny, according to the Reuters report, which cited an unnamed US official and two former officials briefed on the matter. The plunge in SMIC stock wiped 31 billion Hong Kong dollars ($4 billion) off its market value. Companies on the US list face significant challenges obtaining vital technology because American firms are banned from selling to them without first obtaining a license to do so. Escalating restrictions on Chinese tech firm Huawei, which was added to the list last year, threaten to cripple its global business, for example.The Department of Defense declined to comment on the reports. SMIC, China s biggest semiconductor maker, said on Monday that it was "in complete shock." The company "manufactures semiconductors and provides services solely for civilian and commercial end-users and end-uses," SMIC said in a statement filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. "We have no relationship with the Chinese military." SMIC added that it is "open to sincere and transparent communication" with US government agencies "in hope of resolving potential misunderstandings." Sanctions against SMIC would be the latest move in an ongoing battle between Washington and Beijing over who controls the technologies of the future. In recent weeks, President Donald Trump has threatened to ban popular Chinese apps like TikTok, owned by ByteDance, and WeChat, owned by Tencent (TCEHY), from operating in the United States. He has ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok and suggested that the Treasury Department should get a cut of the deal. China responded by introducing new rules that could allow Beijing to veto any such deal. In May, Washington restricted the ability of Huawei s chip design company to work with Taiwanese firm TSMC, the world s biggest contract manufacturer of semiconductors. Last month, it further cut off Huawei s access to other chipmaking companies. Most major semiconductor manufacturing companies, including TSMC and SMIC, rely on US machines and technology. Beijing pushed back on the restrictions, characterizing the United States as a "bully" that is abusing national power.Sanctions on SMIC would hurt China s chipmaking ambitions. The country wants to build a cutting edge semiconductor manufacturing industry, but that takes a lot of time and a lot of money. Adding SMIC to the trade blacklist would throw up "significant new barriers to China s semiconductor development," Paul Triolo, head of geotechnology at Eurasia Group, wrote in a note last week. China has earmarked more than $200 billion trying to get the country s chip manufacturing industry to develop faster and more advanced semiconductors, according to Triolo. "Yet it has so far achieved limited results," he said, adding that SMIC "remains three to five years behind industry leaders Intel (INTC), Samsung (SSNLF), and TSMC (TSM)." The global supply chain of semiconductors means that restrictions against Chinese companies often end up hurting US firms as well. Sanctioning SMIC, for example, would also "further undercut the revenue of US semiconductor manufacturing equipment companies that supply Chinese manufacturers, sapping the funds available to be reinvested into the [research and development] necessary to develop subsequent generations of semiconductors and related manufacturing equipment," Triolo said.In July, SMIC raised nearly $7 billion in a secondary listing on Shanghai s Star Market, China s answer to the Nasdaq. Shares popped more than 200% in their Shanghai debut, indicating Chinese investors were eager to buy into the country s leading chipmaker. On Monday, shares in SMIC were hammered both in Hong Kong, where they plunged nearly 23%, and in Shanghai, where they fell more than 11%. SMIC s Hong Kong-traded shares are still up more than 50% for the year. Shares in TSMC closed down 0.7% in Taiwan. Samsung stock rose 1.6% in Seoul.

Facebook has prevented a French man with an incurable illness from streaming his own death on the social media site, according to a company statement. Alain Cocq, 57, from Dijon in eastern France, has a rare incurable medical condition that causes his arteries to stick together. He estimates he will only have days to live after stopping all medication, food and drink, which he planned to do on Friday evening. Cocq had intended to broadcast his dying days on the platform, to raise awareness about France s laws on assisted dying. In a statement Saturday Facebook said the live stream was prevented to avoid promoting self-harm. "Our hearts go out to Alain Cocq for what he s going through in this sad situation and everyone who is personally affected by it," the company said in the statement. "While we respect Alain s decision to draw attention to this important issue, we are preventing live broadcasts on his account based on the advice of experts that the depiction of suicide attempts could be triggering and promote more self-harm." Cocq previously lobbied President Emmanuel Macron to allow him to die by "active medical assistance" but was unsuccessful. Euthanasia is illegal in France. French law also dictates that deep and continuous sedation, which can hasten a person s death and render them unconscious until they die, is not legal unless under specific circumstances set out by the 2016 Claeys-Leonetti Law, which also requires a person s death to be imminent. But French citizens do have the right to stop medical care, and under French law there is no prosecution for suicide.Cocq, who is confined to a wheelchair and founded an organization to improve the lives of disabled people, wrote a letter to Macron dated July 20 asking the President to allow him to die "with dignity," describing his "extremely violent suffering." "I would like to make it clear to you that on this day I find myself in a situation of having on sound mind, confined in a dysfunctional body, crippled by suffering," he wrote in the letter, which has been seen by CNN. "Would you withstand, Mr President, having your intestines emptied into a pouch, having your bladder emptied into a pouch and that you are fed by a pouch, that a third party must bathe you, to be crippled by unbearable pain?" Cocq wrote in the letter. Cocq urged Macron to review French laws that prevent health care professionals from hastening the deaths of their dying patients with medicine. "I simply ask to leave with dignity, with active medical assistance, because my dysfunctional body prevents me from doing so surrounded by my family and my friends," he wrote. "Some use the term active euthanasia or assisted suicide, but for me the term most suitable is end of life with dignity with active medical assistance, " he wrote. Writing in response, President Macron said he was "moved" by Cocq s letter and admired the "remarkable willpower" he had shown in fighting "incessant battles" with the illness. However, he said he could not comply with the request because he is "not situated above the law" and could not ask someone "to overstep our present legal framework."In an interview with CNN on Friday, Cocq said that he expected Macron would not be able to comply with his request but that he appreciated the "compassion" he had shown him in his letter. "Today, I am full of plenitude. I took the decision to end my life on June 26, which is when I asked my medical assistant to type the letter I later sent to the President." "It was a brutal decision, but I can tell you I haven t felt that good in a long time," he told CNN. "I know I am about to endure pain like I ve never endured before, for about five to seven days," he said. Of the attempt to live-stream his death via video he said on Friday: "I am not doing this for voyeurism. I want to inform people about something we all know but refuse to talk about. Pain." "I chose to show this pain," he said. "The basis of a democracy is that citizens have a free choice. Death should be democratic." Cocq also said that, as a Christian, he did not believe what he was doing was anti-religious. "God is love, and God will not let his people suffer unnecessarily," he said. It s unclear whether anyone assisting him would be prosecuted or whether authorities are planning to intervene. CNN has reached out to the Elysee and the health ministry for comment. Sophie Medjeberg, vice president of "Handi mais pas que!" (More than just disabled), is a friend of Cocq. She told CNN she believed French people were "ready" for a debate about assisted dying. "He started talking about it about two years ago. It took me time to understand it, to accept it. I am also ill, as I am myself suffering from multiple sclerosis," she said. "I cried yesterday, but Alain is the one who cheered me up. He is very serene in his initiative," Medjeberg said. Speaking to CNN, Philippe Lohéac, executive director of the French association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD), criticized France s assisting dying laws, claiming they do not "take into consideration sick people whose life has become a nightmare, whose life has become nothing but survival." He said the law needed to be changed so people could choose how they died.

Apple will delay the implementation of new privacy controls that curb advertisers ability to track its device users across the internet. The privacy controls, part of Apple s iOS 14 software update, will not be mandatory for developers until 2021, the company said Thursday. They require apps to obtain permission from users before collecting data to better serve them targeted ads. "We want to give developers the time they need to make the necessary changes, and as a result, the requirement to use this tracking permission will go into effect early next year," Apple said in a statement. The ability to seek user permission will be available to developers before then but not mandatory, the company said. Apple first announced iOS 14 in June, with a full rollout of the new operating system expected this fall.The new privacy requirements threaten to upend parts of the online ad ecosystem, with Facebook warning last month that its advertising business would take a hit once iOS 14 is implemented. It said at the time that the update may render one of its services "so ineffective on iOS 14 that it may not make sense to offer it on iOS 14 in the future." Facebook declined to comment on Apple s decision to delay the new changes. Apple has made user privacy a key feature of its marketing in recent years, even releasing an ad earlier on Thursday that touted the iPhone s privacy protections.

Would you fork over $1,999 for a smartphone? Samsung hopes many people will. The South Korean smartphone maker s latest device, the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 2, is the most expensive smartphone in Samsung s current lineup and will go on sale Sept. 18, the company said Tuesday. The folding smartphone will be available for pre-order starting Sept. 2. The Z Fold 2, first revealed in August, is Samsung s newest device with a foldable display — a 6.2-inch front screen and a 7.6-inch inner screen when the device is unfolded. The company is touting its "ultra-thin glass" and upgrades to the hinge mechanism between the two displays that it claims will make the phone more durable. Samsung is also adding new VIP benefits to help make the Z Fold 2 s hefty price tag a bit more palatable, giving customers who buy the phone access to Michelin star restaurants as well as several golf and country clubs around the United States. Samsung s first iteration of the folding smartphone, the $1,980 Galaxy Fold, was delayed by several months last year after early reviewers flagged that it constantly flickered and the folding screen broke too easily. The phone finally launched last fall. "We closely listened to user feedback to ensure we were bringing meaningful improvements to the hardware, while also developing new innovations to enhance the user experience," TM Roh, Samsung s president and head of mobile communications, said in a statement Tuesday. The Z Fold 2 s glass display is a step up from the original flexible display that Samsung debuted with the Galaxy Fold, and the plastic screens on previous folding devices such as Motorola s much-maligned RAZR smartphone. It also has more screen space in general — the first Galaxy Fold had a 4.6-inch front screen and a 7.3-inch screen when open. The folding displays on the Z Fold 2 will be coupled with software features introduced in previous models that Samsung says enable users to multitask more effectively, including the ability to have multiple apps — or multiple files from the same app — open simultaneously. Users can, for instance, have a video on one half of the folded screen while scrolling through email on the other. They can also drag and drop text between multiple open apps. Google s Android operating system, which all Samsung smartphones use, has adapted much of its functionality to the folding devices. The screen on the front of the device also adds new camera capabilities, such as the ability to see a photo someone is taking of you. A new feature that lets the Z Fold 2 record hands-free video while it s set up on a flat surface appears to be geared towards popular short-form video apps like TikTok, with Samsung saying it s for users "jumping in on the latest social dance or showing off your cooking skills." Not all apps will immediately be optimized for the folding screen, though several popular ones such as YouTube and Outlook are, thanks to partnerships with Google (GOOGL) and Microsoft (MSFT). Samsung says it is working with app developers to ensure more services can be adjusted to the flexible display. The original Galaxy Fold also required apps to be tailored to its display, with Samsung saying at the time it had worked with Android developers to "optimize hundreds of apps for the device." The company is also offering "one-time device protection." If the folding smartphone s display is damaged within a year of purchase, customer s can purchase a replacement display for $149. Samsung hopes that the Z Fold 2, along with its new Note 20 series and other devices it revealed last month, will be enough to propel it back to the top of the global smartphone market — a distinction it lost to Chinese rival Huawei earlier this year.

Facebook (FB) is warning its users in Australia that it will prevent them from sharing local and international news if the country moves forward with new legislation that would force the company to pay media outlets for the use of their news content. "This is not our first choice — it is our last," Will Easton, managing director of Facebook Australia and New Zealand, wrote in a blog post Monday. "But it is the only way to protect against an outcome that defies logic and will hurt, not help, the long-term vibrancy of Australia s news and media sector." The move marks another dramatic escalation of tension in Australia over the proposed law, which was announced in July. Last month, Google (GOOGL) also expressed its opposition to the legislation, using its search engine homepage in Australia to warn local users that it would harm their ability to search and lead to "consequences" for YouTube users.The proposal would allow certain media outlets to bargain either individually or collectively with Facebook and Google — and to enter arbitration if the parties can t reach an agreement within three months, according to regulators. That process would involve an independent arbitrator looking at offers from both sides and settling the matter within 45 business days. Both tech firms argue that the legislation is unfairly skewed toward publishers, and would force them to pay news companies while the tech firms contend they already do plenty to support them. Easton, for example, said that Facebook s decision this week came after it had already tried to work with regulators on ways to work more closely with media outlets. "We already invest millions of dollars in Australian news businesses and, during discussions over this legislation, we offered to invest millions more," he wrote. "We had also hoped to bring Facebook News to Australia, a feature on our platform exclusively for news, where we pay publishers for their content." Those proposals were "overlooked," he said. Regulators, on the other hand, say the move is needed to level the playing field for the news media in Australia. Since January 2019, more than 200 newsrooms across the country have reduced service, closed temporarily or permanently shut down, according to estimates from the Australian Newsroom Mapping Project, which is run by the Public Interest Journalism Initiative, a local nonprofit group. Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg responded to Facebook s announcement Tuesday, saying the reforms would help "create a more sustainable media landscape." "Australia makes laws that advance our national interest. We don t respond to coercion or heavy handed threats wherever they come from," he said in a statement. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also fired back at Facebook s latest announcement, saying in a statement that "Facebook s threat today to prevent any sharing of news on its services in Australia is ill-timed and misconceived." For now, Google and Facebook are the only tech companies that would be subject to the new regulation. But other platforms may be added in the future, according to regulators.The outcome of the proposal is likely to be closely watched across the globe. Other countries have previously passed legislation to try and force internet giants to pay publishers — albeit with limited effect. Easton said Monday that "the proposed law is unprecedented in its reach and seeks to regulate every aspect of how tech companies do business with news publishers." "We are left with a choice of either removing news entirely or accepting a system that lets publishers charge us for as much content as they want at a price with no clear limits," said Easton. "Unfortunately, no business can operate that way." If Facebook goes ahead with its decision to restrict news on its platforms, it will not affect the company s other offerings for users in Australia, he added. The legislation went through a public consultation phase last month. It will next have to be finalized and put forward to parliament, where lawmakers will vote on whether to pass it.

Cloudflare, a internet service that is supposed to keep websites up and running, was down itself Sunday, taking dozens of websites and online services along with it. Hulu, the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Feedly, Discord, and dozens of other services reported connectivity problems Sunday morning. Cloudflare said the problem was with a third-party "transit provider," and its service was becoming increasingly stable over the course of the day.which displays reports of internet and service outages, showed that reports of internet connectivity came in across the United States and Europe Sunday morning. Services like Cloudflare are designed to prevent direct denial of service attacks, in which massive networks of computers send malicious traffic to websites to take them offline. The services also help keep sites running smoothly when traffic spikes during shopping seasons or when a site hosts a viral video. Cloudflare did not respond to a request for comment.

TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer has quit as the Chinese-owned video sharing app faces enormous backlash from President Donald Trump. "In recent weeks, as the political environment has sharply changed, I have done significant reflection on what the corporate structural changes will require, and what it means for the global role I signed up for," Mayer said in a memo to employees that was obtained by CNN Business. "Against this backdrop, and as we expect to reach a resolution very soon, it is with a heavy heart that I wanted to let you all know that I have decided to leave the company."TikTok hired Mayer, a former top Disney executive, less than four months ago to run the app, which is the first owned by a Chinese company to gain significant traction in western countries. In addition to his CEO responsibilities, Mayer became chief operating officer of ByteDance, TikTok s parent company. Since then, though, TikTok has come under fire from the US government, and Trump has threatened to ban the app if it isn t sold by ByteDance. "We appreciate that the political dynamics of the last few months have significantly changed what the scope of Kevin s role would be going forward, and fully respect his decision," a TikTok spokesperson said in a statement. Even before Trump issued executive orders calling for TikTok s ban, the company was rethinking its corporate structure. The Wall Street Journal reported in early July that ByteDance was considering establishing a headquarters for the video app outside of China or a new management board to distance the service from the country. A TikTok spokesperson told CNN Business at the time that it was "evaluating changes." Mayer s departure is a "huge setback for the company," said Edith Yeung, who spent years investing in Chinese companies with venture capital firm 500 Startups. She is a partner with Race Capital, investing mostly in US firms. "[A] leader cannot jump ship in the most critical time for a company," she added. According to Trump s executive orders, TikTok poses a national security threat because the app collects a lot of data on users, which "threatens to allow the Chinese Communist Party access to Americans personal and proprietary information." The move against TikTok is part of an escalating US-China tech war that has already ensnared other Chinese apps and tech firms, such as Tencent-owned WeChat and Huawei.TikTok has sued the Trump administration over the initial executive order, calling it "heavily politicized." The company said Trump s order illegally rests on emergency powers law in ways that do not apply to TikTok. The company has also said that it stores data on its US users in the United States and in Singapore, and that it would refuse any request by the Chinese government for US user data. TikTok has 100 million users in the United States. The company has explored selling its US business, which industry experts say is worth between $40 billion and $50 billion, to Microsoft and reportedly to Oracle as well. Microsoft said it is exploring a deal to buy TikTok s operations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the US business. "The role that I signed up for — including running TikTok globally -— will look very different as a result of the US Administration s action to push for a sell off of the US business," Mayer said in the memo to employees. "I ve always been globally focused in my work, and leading a global team that includes TikTok US was a big draw for me." ByteDance launched the Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin, in 2016. The international version debuted the following year and has grown to become one of the most popular social media apps in the world. As of July, TikTok said it had nearly 690 million global monthly active users. That still trails Facebook s 2.7 billion monthly active users, but the app is also considerably younger than its US rival. By August 2020, TikTok said it had surpassed two billion global downloads. Vanessa Pappas, the former YouTube executive who joined TikTok last year to become general manager of North America, Australia and New Zealand, will serve as interim head for TikTok globally, according to Mayer s memo. If Mayer had stuck it out, "he would be running one of the biggest social media companies in the world," Yeung said, though she added that "no American would blame him for quitting." "I wish he would hang in there," she said. "He could change the course of China-US tech history. Oh well."

Chinese billionaire Jack Ma could be about to pull off a record-breaking IPO for the second time. Ant Group, the financial affiliate of Ma s e-commerce company Alibaba (BABA), filed this week to list its shares in Hong Kong and on Shanghai s Star Market, China s Nasdaq-like tech board. The company is reportedly seeking to raise $30 billion, according to the Financial Times and Reuters, citing people close to the process or with knowledge of the matter. Ant Group did not disclose how much it hoped to raise, and a spokesperson declined to comment on the matter. But the company could be worth more than $200 billion, according to analysts at brokerage firm Bernstein, and if it rakes in $30 billion, it would become the largest IPO in history. Alibaba, which has a 33% stake in Ant, raised a record $25 billion when it debuted on Wall Street in 2014. That number has only been surpassed by Saudi Aramco, which raised $29.4 billion in its Riyadh IPO in December 2019.The documents Ant filed to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Tuesday did not mention the price range of the new shares, nor the expected date of the IPO. But they did offer a look under the hood at one of the world s most valuable tech companies. The company reported revenue of 72.5 billion yuan ($10.5 billion) for the six months ended in June, up 38% from the same period a year earlier. Profit for the period was 21.9 billion yuan ($3.2 billion). Ant owns Alipay, one of the most popular payment apps in China, and also offers online financial services such as loans, investments and credit scoring systems. Alipay has 711 million monthly active users, Ant reported, and processed some 118 trillion yuan ($17 trillion) worth of transactions in the 12 months ended in June. The Hangzhou-based company s decision to IPO in Hong Kong and Shanghai comes as relations between the United States and China are rapidly deteriorating.An escalating tech war between Washington and Beijing has resulted in sanctions and threats against big Chinese tech companies. President Donald Trump recently issued executive orders that would ban transactions with TikTok and WeChat, apps owned by Chinese companies ByteDance and Tencent. Trump also ordered ByteDance to sell TikTok s operations in the United States. TikTok has sued the Trump administration over the threatened ban, calling the order "heavily politicized." Tencent has said it is reviewing the WeChat order. The Trump administration has also indicated that it could even go after Alibaba. Ant Group cited the executive orders and the potential for more US sanctions as risks to its business. Restrictions that may be imposed by the United States in the future "may materially and adversely affect our ability to acquire or use technologies, systems, devices or components that may be critical" to Ant Group s business, the company warned. Recent US sanctions against Huawei, for example, have cut off the Chinese tech firm s access to semiconductors and advanced chips. Analysts called the move a "lethal blow" and a "death sentence" for Huawei.