From Marhart where Innovation, Money and power Collie in Silicon.
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This is Bloomberg Technology with Caroline Hyde and Ed loved Love.
I'm Caroline Heidel Bloomberg's world headquarters in New York, and I'm d Love Loo in San Francisco.
This is Bloomberg Technology.
Coming up Biden. He heads to the picket line. We go live d Wayne County, Michigan, where the President joins UAW workers on strike and discuss what it means for the EV industry.
And we'll have the latest on big texts, antitrust battles as the FTC prepares to sue Amazon, while Google's trial continues.
More ahead las Apple's biggest start of the year. No, not its iPhone, of course, but it's its case being panned by customers. Will have more on the product mis far ahead. Now, let's get out to someone who knows a thing or two about all to make has Ford in particular and indeed, well how all of this affects the EV transition. Just A Dawson, and I'm pleased to say is with us, and we are awaiting the president for well, I mean, in long as living memory, we
haven't seen a President join the picket line. How important is this in terms of aligning himself with the UAW and what that means for ongoing negotiations.
Well, that remains unclear. I mean, it's something that that Biden is doing at the invitation of UAW head Sean Fain, and he's clearly you know, casting his lot with labor. We've seen a summer of a lot of labor unrested activity, and it does feel like labor is a bit on the upswing and this is clearly something the President feels, you know, kind of dovetails with his message about better
wages for workers. It remains to be seen, however, if there's any breakthrough in the talks, because the automakers and the union seem to be at loggerheads over any number of issues, including wages.
Chester Ford has been from the expansion of the strike, you know, the UAW focus a little more in STILLANTIS and GM. But yesterday evening the union was upset with Ford about idling plants.
What is the latest tension there?
Yeah, that's right.
Ed Ford had said that it's going to hit the pause button on an expected expansion of its electric vehicle you know, production capacity at a new plant that was to be built in Western Message, again with some key support from a leading Chinese battery maker, c L. So the reasoning for that is a little unclear, but it comes a very delicate time with the EAZWAYW talks. So it's something THEW has objected to. They see it as kind of a preemptive strike by Forward to prevent the
unionization of those workers, among other things. So it just shows you how volatile this whole mix is. That plant was announced, you know, quite a while ago, and yet here we are it looks like there's gonna be no shovels the ground for the time being.
Ultimately, this is all sort of precarious balancing app not only for corporate America, but also for the administration trying to push companies to invest in a transition and at the same time as having to share what have been some decent profits with workers as well. Just what's the investor reaction been, like? Have they been okay with the idea that basically, for the short term, maybe these automakers do need to realign where some of the money goes.
Well, yes, that's a very good question. The certainly public opinion seems aligned with the workers. Where investors stand is a little unclear. I mean, you know, these the stocks of say GM and Ford in particular have kind of been you know, under a microscope really dating back to the start of these negotiations in Midsummer. So there is a big question about how much they can afford and
still make all the investments they need. On the other hand, there does seem to be some recognition that they're going to have to compromise. Maybe they given on things like no more share of buybacks. I mean that certainly seems to be something that investors might be okay with the dividend, that's another matter.
All right, Blombos Chester Dawson, who leads our industrials and allt to make a coverage out of Detroit, thank you so much. Look at the core of this is the electrification of an entire industry, and what we're talking about is where the money should go. Joining us now is arkdisos In, our founder and CEO at Free Wire Technology
is a charging infrastructure company, energy solutions company. And the union's argument is that lots of public money is going into the infrastructure, it's going into the production capacity, but the labor is not going with it. Your argument is that those jobs on the assembly line can be reallocated to your industry for an example.
That's right.
I think this is going to be a redistribution of jobs. It's clear that the number of labor that it takes to produce an electric vehicle is forty percent lower than that of a combustion vehicle. Jim Farrelly has said this. But the fact of the matter is of your at the industry today. Three years ago, we have two battery manufacturing plants across the US. Today we have thirty either live or plan to go live over the next four years.
By the end of the decade, we have twenty times the battery manufacturing capacity that we did in this country at the start of at the start of the decade. The fact is the redistribution of jobs will happen. It won't impact everyone the same way. But going from jobs that pay today eighteen to thirty two dollars an hour to jobs that will invariably pay more in the battery
manufacturing sector, that's fundamentally what's happening. And the UAW strike against the automobile OEMs is not fundamentally about their employees or their labor it's fundamentally about the UAW because those they will not be there to support battery manufacturing as well as chip and semiconductor production.
You have hundreds of fast charges here in North America. You're active in Europe as well. Are you in a position where you're like, okay, the money's coming from the Inflation Reduction Act?
Are you in a position to.
Offer jobs to those that are currently working on the assembly line are worried about their future.
We have jobs that are available for UAW workers today that are displaced, but the fact of the matter is we won't be able to take all of the demands that these OEMs have to give up. So there are hundreds of companies in the space, from battery manufacturing to
charger technologies that are absorbing many of these jobs. And similar to what happens in the transition from fuels to solar, a lot of the jobs went into the solar industry, high paying, distributed, dispersed jobs that are seeing great result right now.
Oh god, it's interesting you bring up solar. So there's another industry that was highly dependent on China, really and you're seeing that same issue here at play with battery making here in the United States. We're just hearing from Justin Dawson about Ford being blasted by the UAW itself at the moment for putting on ice that three and a half billion dollar battery plant because it was going to be working with coatl. How much are you having
to get supply chain from China? How much do you think jobs in the US are dependent on an ongoing somewhat friendly relationship.
That's right, Carolyn.
I think there is a concern that some of the battery production and as well as chips and semiconductors charging infrastructure will come from the Chinese market. But unlike solar, I think the Biden administration has taken a good look at that ahead of the blossoming of this industry. We've already put certain tariffs in place on battery cells coming in from China, and we've incentivized US domestic manufacturing of chips,
semi conductors, charging instructure, and batteries all across. That is, so we expect this market to play out a little bit differently than it did in the solar industry free Wire, particularly because of the incentives that are in place. We've transitioned all production out of China. In fact, we only have one single supplier left from China for a small inconsequential part. The vast majority of our other suppliers are coming from the US and European markets, and more.
Broadly, therefore, you have seen incentives with which to do this. Can the industry eventually be standing on its own two feet without the necessary sort of help with an ILRA or indeed ensuring that well you're getting the right labor at the right time without the incentive process there.
Yes, I think so, and you can see that corollaria happening in Europe.
Whereas in the US we use the.
Carrot via the incentives, in Europe they really use the stick and said, by twenty thirty you're unable to drive electric or you're going to pay twenty five pounds by going into the city of London if unless you have an electric vehicle.
And the business model there works.
You can see that as adoption ramps up in the US, seven percent of all new vehicles sold last quarter, we're fully electric. In the US twenty five percent of new vehicle sold in California, we're fully electric. As adoption happens, the business models start to turn and work. So I am encouraged to see that while we do need incentives to get through the next two to three years while adoption is still low, we won't need them by the end of the decade.
Well, it's your assessment, Arkada, of the lasting or near term impact of this. You're hopeful, of course that more people by electric vehicles and use your charges, But do you see that this temporary halt talks between the UAW and the OEMs is going to impact production for the next year eighteen months and therefore the availability of EV models right now?
That's right, but I think a lot of the demand will shift to the to Tesla. Frankly speaking, they're still one of the largest adopters, still one of the large producers of electric vehicles. This is only going to solidify their market dominance, and so while you will see fewer makes and models of vehicles from the traditional big three OEMs, there's still plenty of supply and capacity available for consumers to pick up.
Wow, we're going to be combining all of those stories with a discussion on Tesla's effect, well with EU subsidies as well. Our codecersn't have absolutely great to speak with you.
Thank you.
Free Wire technologies on all thing uaw here in the US. I mean, while speaking of strikes, look voice actors performers who work in video games. They voted to authorize a
strike ahead of their contract negotiations this week. Like the SAG after strikes, the concern for video game makers involved how artificial intelligence can be used to recreate the actor's voice and images at the moment that the vote only authorizes a strike, and we're going to rebring you any updates sis to whether they actually action on that authorization.
Ed All right, coming up, We're going to go from what's happening on the ground with strikes, what's happening in Capitol Hill.
Amazon versus the FTC.
We'll talk about the impact of the FTC's lawsuit on the future of Amazon, but also big tech anti trust at large. That's coming up next. This is Bloomberg Technology. It's official the FTC is suing Amazon. FTC investigators and Lina Khan's office have been working on the complaint for months, which accuses the e commerce giant of monopolizing online marketplace services by degrading quality for shoppers and then overcharging the sellers.
That's bringing Bloomberg's editing out of Seattle for more. And this is the fourth suit that the FTC is put in front of Amazon. Give us the specifics this time around of what they're claiming.
Yeah, this is the big one that we've been waiting for. The other three complaints were focused on the consumer protection issues at the FTC say with Amazon, and this is the big anti trust case. So, like you said, this case focuses on two different aspects of Amazon's business, both the way that the e commerce giant sells to customers and also the way that sellers use the website to reach their own customers.
We've been anticipating it. Amazon too had been anticipating it. And we get the response from the company criticizing the FTC lawsuit, saying it's wrong on facts on law, and they said they look forward to making the case in court. In fact, Amazon really says the FTC has quote radically departed from consumer mission. From that perspective, this isn't This isn't a realignment of how the FTC ces big tech,
isn't it. It's not just look what gets the consumer that this price, but the way in which they go about doing it.
So the sellers too, that's.
Absolutely right, and that's one reason why this case is so interesting. You know, Lena Khan, the chair of the FTC, as a law student at Yale, wrote her most famous law review paper about Amazon's business practices and why current anti trust law is inadequate to address that kind of
anti competitive measure. And this case is really going to be the test of some of those theories whether or not you can fit a different kind of business like Amazon that didn't exist back when our current anti trust statutes were written a century ago, whether you can fit that kind of case into current anti trust law. So this will be a really important case both to test Lena Khan's legal theory and also Amazon's defense.
You know, Amazon's come out quickly in response to this.
Cara outlined their response that merchants on the site have had this complaint against Amazon for a really long time, that it's a one sided relationship. The FTC suit is also conjunction with seventeen other states. How does it play out from here? Anna, you know, is this can be law long and drawn out and protracted or do we expect sort of some quick decision to be made in the courts.
Yeah, the solar aspect of This is really interesting because for these third party merchants, Amazon is both a competitor and a business partner. So that's one reason why these merchants have long complained that Amazon has too much power over their relationship with their customers. So we'll see how this plays out in federal court. Like I said, this is going to be an important test of this kind of legal theory, and we do expect this to be,
you know, a long process. There will be plenty of appeals, and Amazon had asked for Lena Khan to accuse herself from this case because of kind of the past history writing about and investigating the company. So you know, we'll see what kind of defense they present in court. But they also have been waiting for this for a long time and they're definitely prepared to make their case.
Important times for you to be out there in Seattle. We thank you, Anna Egeton.
SEC Chair Gary Gensler appearing before the House Financial Services Committee tomorrow to testify about regulation of the crypto industry of conversation that has.
Been ongoing for a little while.
Now joining us in the program Bloomberg Shnali Basset, but also Caracalbot coinbase head of US policy.
Chanali, take it away.
Kara, thank you for joining us ahead of this pretty critical hearing. The reality of the situation, though, is the SEC has a lot on its agenda, crypto being just one part of it. The lawmakers themselves also facing a potential government shut down, a lot going going on. How do you win the attention over to the needs that you have for the crypto industry when there are so many distractions.
Absolutely, well, thank you so much for having me today. It's a really pivotal moment here in Washington. And I think how we are doing this is we are bringing the faces the voices the Americans who own and care about crypto and they are coming to Washington for the first ever Stand with Crypto Day tomorrow. So we have more than fifty companies represented, representing more than thousands and
thousands of jobs across the United States. They are coming to meet with their members of Congress to talk about why they care about crypto policy. And that is historic. And it just so happens that it's on the exact same day that Chairman Gensler is testifying in front of the House Financial Services Committee.
Well, what does this mean for the constituents that you're bringing down to Washington when they're having conversations with lawmakers.
Are they mostly.
Preparing those lawmakers to grill Gary Gensler tomorrow or are they trying to win back lawmakers that are not yet on their side.
I think they're trying to educate, but I think it's also really trying to help people understand why crypto matters to the fifty two million Americans who own it today in the United States, and that is something that there are so many lawmakers that understand why YPTO is important, but are there are a few outliers, and there are some that are saying, including mister Gensler, that this industry
is rife with corruption and fraud. And these folks are coming to Washington today to say, this is my job. You're talking about my family, my economic situation, your state. That really needs to consider how this industry as a whole is influencing the country, is influencing the future of the country and innovation.
Car I appreciate the education argument.
What is the end goal though, Is it sort of specific oversight from a legislation perspective that you're looking for at the end of the road.
Absolutely, I think Congress, is it an opportunity, has an opportunity to pass legislation that will create a comprehensive framework for crypto. It's what Americans are asking for. It's about consumer protection, it's about enabling innovation, and really about US competitiveness.
As a whole.
And so what we're here to talk about both as Coinbase and I think from the rest of the founders, as we've had discussions across the country, they want to see legislation, whether it's the Financial Innovation and Technology Act for the twenty first Century, if it's the stable Coin Bill that has been worked on in a biparisan fashion over the course of the last year to eighteen months. There is legislation on the table that I think Congress
really needs to consider and vote to pass. A vote in November for this legislation is a vote for consumer protection and for Americans who want to own and use crypto. A vote against this legislation is really a vote against the future innovation, jobs, economics. That is what is going to carry a lot of these members through through twenty twenty four.
Cara.
A few weeks ago, the Ripple co founder Chris last And joined me on the program, and he said that above Gary Gensler at the administration level, the Biden administration has chosen to drive the crypto and blockchain industries offshore. Is that a position that Coinbase share.
It is certainly having an impact.
Yes, there have been studies done where two percent of developers are going overseas. That means a million jobs by twenty thirty. And if you think about technology, I've been working in technology for twenty years. You see startups, they have knock on effects four to six jobs per small startup. That means four to six million jobs that are going overseas by twenty thirty.
So yes, it's having a very real.
Impact where unelected bureaucrats are making decisions that I think Americans really rely on elected officials to do. And so I think the administration and others really need to think carefully about how they proceed in the next six to eighteen months.
There's a lot at stake from Coinbase obviously as well. When you think about your own suit when it comes to the SEC what are you most looking for Congress to tackle First? You have now a new stake in circle, so that puts stable coins on the table more dramatically and there's also the staking issue.
What do you prioritize.
All of it?
Honestly, I think the comprehensive nature of the legislation is really important because at this point digital assets is not a one size fit all ecosystem. We have commodities, we have stable coins, and then we have what is I think a fledgling industry right now with digital asset securities, because there's no pathway to registration for the sec so we really need a comprehensive approach. So by that nature, we're really pushing for pieces of legislation in all three of those areas.
All right, caracalvet Coinbase, Head of US Policy and of course our own Shinali Bassett, Welcome back to Member Technology.
Ed Louvelow here in San Francisco.
And Caroline hid in New York. You have some pictures we want to be brought up.
Yeah.
President Biden has touched down at Detroit Metropolitan Airport, Wayne County, Michigan. As we know, Caroline is going to later meeting with UAW representatives. Joining the picket line at the invitation of UAW right now meeting with local representatives ahead of that, and the talks ongoing between the UAW principally GM and STILLANTIS the sticking point. Ford was spared from the expanded strike, but there are issues over it, pausing plans for new
battery facilities in that state. President Brighten on the ground there in Wayne County, Michigan.
Yeah. Meanwhile, let's get a quick check on the markets, as we will discuss what's happening with autos, but more brawly, as we see what's happening in the technology field. I just want to be looking at the NASDAQ one hundred still underwater. We're worried about consumer sentiment today, economic environment, and we're rarely what the rowing costs are happening. Two year yield we're getting actually a two year debata auction later today. Two basis points on the highest side, still
above that five percentage point levels. Meanwhile, Bitcoin is on the downside. The story of dollar strength, interestingly, even as we've perhaps see some slightly weaker economic data, but that dollar strength has really been a narrative that we've seen in the last few training days. Move on, let's have a look at what's happening on individual names. Bring you t Mobile. It's one of the key out performers from a point perspective, we're up eight tens of percent. They're
fighting Dish in court. They want new airwaves to be sold. In particular, there seems to be a delay on the three and a half billion dollars of airways purchase that Dish is going to be doing from T Mobile. I'm looking at Amazon on the downside, as we know, the FTC making clear its intentions and deciding to of course lay the focus on competition when it comes to Amazon. Today we see the same with Alphabet and of course we understand that Edieq is going to be giving evidence
over the Google trial as well. Today, let's get back to Capitol Hill where Apple is testifying at the Google anti trust trial to defend what is a lucrative deal that made Google search engine. We understand the default option on the iPhone, the DOJ alleging that Google has paid billions of dollars to maintain a monopoly over the search
market via agreements with tech rivals like Apple. Let's bring in many shirts for more now at the moment, and we have I understand Eddieq actually currently talking at the trial being that well, he just says it's a better product and that's why they've taken payment and made it the default search.
Yeah. Basically, what he's saying is, look, if we at Apple could have made a better product, we would have done it ourselves, like they do compete with Google on other products like maps and on iPhone software. So Apple's saying, we are happy to use Google as a default because it's clearly a better product.
Can you outline just how many billions Google is paid because is this just oh yes, here have a billion or so, or is this actually take a percentage of our advertising revenue? And that's actually something that's happening with the competitive tute.
So these are being kept as confidential numbers. But what we do know from some of the early court proceedings was that by twenty twenty, Google was paying Apple four to seven billion dollars for these for these for these agreements, and overall they get about ten billion dollars annually in these to be default, to be the default on web
and phone browsers. So it is significant chunk for them, and then clearly companies like Apple, they get a cut of the revenue that is generated in those search results.
Molly, good to see you if you're coming to this story cold you'd be a bit confused, right, Okay, this is about Google is decision by Apple to use Google Search, But there's a much broader Google antitrust story. What are the other battles that Alphabet, the parent of Google faces.
Well, the main battle really is about search obviously. For right now we're talking about Search and Apple because of Apple's iPhone. And but obviously you know Search and Google Search is available on web browsers and on Android phones and on lots of other you know products as well, and it's not illegal for them to be dominant or
even to have a monopoly. But the problem is, and what the what the DOJ is looking at is whether you know, what kinds of agreements did they strike to maintain that monopoly and did they harm their competitors like Microsoft being and Duck dot Go that have been big complainants in this case, did they harm them in the process.
All Right, Bloomberg's Molly Schuetz, thank you so much. Let's keep the conversation going, and Brian Lee Hepner, legal counsel of the American Economic Liberties Project, for more not just on this specific specific focus on Google Search and iPhone, but also of course we had the headlines from Amazon and the FTC, and that's where I want to start lead. The FTC has done what we expected, filed its suit
in federal courts against Amazon. Your reaction, but also thoughts on the likelihood that the FTC wins in this case.
Yeah, and first of all, thank you so much for having me. I'm glad we're starting off with FTC versus Amazon. This is a case that a lot of people have been waiting for. It's certainly been part of why cherolen Na Khan has risen to prominence and become such a leader of the Federal Trade Commission. You know, this is a case where the FTC is alleging, really that Amazon has viol the law not by being big, but by preventing other rivals from getting big enough to challenge it.
It uses its vast market power to implement several strategies simultaneously designed to keep rivals from gaining the number of sellers and buyers that they need to compete to actively compete with Amazon. One of those pieces that I think we've heard a little a bit about earlier in your program is the fee that they charge to small businesses
who sell on Amazon. That fee has risen dramatically over the years and is now estimated at some fifty percent of every item that you purchase on Amazon goes to Amazon itself. Furthermore, those small businesses are prevented from raising their prices on other platforms, meaning that they are just losing that money. These are small businesses bunched by Amazon, and that's really what this is about.
These are, though also perhaps beneficial for consumers in some way if they're keeping prices low. That's what we heard Amazon articulate, in particular the lawyer coming out and saying, look, this could mean fewer products, this could mean higher prices. And ultimately Amazon claims the SEC has radically departed from consumer focused mission. What do you think the argument to count that is at the momently right.
Well, first of all, Amazon has been able to raise its price for Amazon Prime multiple times over the past several years. Usually when the price goes up, consumers take their business elsewhere. If Amazon is not losing market share even though they are raising prices, that's indicative of monopoly power. Customers are being hurt in other ways though, too, and we are dealing with a new type of monopolist where
price isn't the only thing that matters. When you lose things like innovation use, you lose things like product quality. When you lose the ecosystem of small businesses that are out there trying to innovate and create better products, that's a real cost to the consumer too. There are costs to workers who are being injured in Amazon warehouses. I think when we start to think more broadly about the external costs of what Amazon's business model entails, it's not
just about price. It's about the societal costs that ripple out from Amazon's business model.
And let's therefore tie together what we were just discussing when it comes to Google and Apple trying to vindicate the payments that it takes to keep it as its
key search. But the argument goes is that look with Google as a pretty dominant force, but a good dominant force in terms of actually user interaction with search, but ultimately it's stifling innovation because it hasn't allowed the others, the competitors, such as being induct Dog, to be able to access the data needed to become a better product. How much is Search lost out because of that?
Do you think, yeah, it's a relevant comparison I mean Google is a free product. People intuitively like Google Search. I think the problem is compared to what there's no real credible alternative to Google Search. They command ninety percent of this market, and we're learning today with EDDIEQ on the stand, your last speaker spoke a little bit about what he was going to be testifying to really the way that Google is able to degrade privacy protections and
to scrape information about users of Google Search. So anybody who thinks that Google is providing a truly free product is mistaken. They are gathering information from you and selling it to advertisers who they are then abusing on the other side of the market. So Google is a really apt comparison of something that appears free but really has a lot of costs, and we're learning about those details in this trial right now.
When we had the Microsoft Activision deal, there were all kinds of questions posed that had the FTC one, Lena Kahan would go after many other tech companies and she would have momentum.
In the end.
Activision Microsoft were able to proceed in this jurisdiction. There was a feeling that Lena Khan was picking battles that she couldn't win, and yet their proceeding this federal case against Amazon. I say all of that to ask you how strong is this FTC is a regulator? How much likelihood does it have of being successful in the in the actions it's choosing to take.
Well, let me start with just saying that the FTC is appealing the decision in the Microsoft Activision case. That case is not dead in the water, though Microsoft Activision has prevailed in many jurisdictions.
You know, these are cases that.
Are difficult to bring.
You know, these are antitrust laws that were crafted over a century ago to treat a different type of monopolist. They have been eroded dramatically over the fifty years to focus on things that are solely about consumer price, for instance, while you know, completely ignoring other issues around the benefits of competition and innovation in markets, and the value of
small businesses and the dignity of workers. So I don't think this is as much about the FTC as it is about the law itself and the way that it's been cod by the courts. So, you know, these cases are not easy to bring. The FTC is going to have an uphill battle with Amazon as it did with Microsoft Activision. I don't think that's a reason not to bring cases about understewed monopolists in our economy.
A Lee.
I think what's interesting, though, is we actually have got competition in the world of search and it's chat ChiPT. Suddenly we have seen innovation although golgunctuan scale in artificial intelligence and generative AI. So is that not some sort of argument about the fact that, no, it hasn't stifled innovation, this sort of well product that everyone really likes.
Well, I love this example, and we talked about this a lot that AI is going to shake up Google Search, It's going to shake up all these different parts of our economy. I think when you look at the analyses that are being conducted right now, you see that that's actually not the case. Microsoft had a lead with AI on its search engine and was not able to disrupt
Google's market share at all. I think what you'll see with AI is that this new technology that is supposed to spring a new innovation is just being grafted onto the market structures of today. The monopolists are going to control development of that technology. That's what the FTC or that's what the case the DOJ's case against Google searches right now is about how AI gets to develop over the next quarter century. Is Google going to have a stranglehold on that development.
Of the many actions the FTC has taken league quickly, which do you think it legally has the best chance of success against which company?
Well, I'm really excited about the Amazon case. I mean, they've been laying the foundation for this for quite some time. They've been methodically researching this. Many cases have been brought in state courts that they are building on. I don't think the FTC would be bringing this landmark case that it filed this morning if it didn't think it had a good opportunity to win. You can look at any of the other successes that the FTC has already had.
Though.
This is actually remarkably effective commission. Despite a couple of high profile court glasses, the FTC is doing a darn good job, and I'm excited to see this Amazon case proceed.
Hepner, legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project. We thank you for your time.
All right, time for talking tech.
First up can now Network Technology is officially filing for its Hong Kong initial public offering the logistics unit of Aali barber can Now would be the first of its spinoff units to go public. Initial reports said the firm was home and arrays at least one billion dollars. City CITEC Securities and JP Morgan are the sponsors, and Roku and Samsung are getting hit with a lawsuit targeting tech
companies for how they advertise. Both companies sell ads that leverage automatic content recognition or ACR to collect user data based on individual interests. The two investors behind the suit say the methods use to collect the data violate six of their patents plus. The European Union is urging social
media platforms to boost their efforts fighting disinformation. X formerly known as Twitter, was cited as the biggest outlet for pedlars of disinformation pertaining to Russia and pro Kremlin narratives. European Commissioned Vice President Vera Jarova said platforms should act swiftly ahead of elections over the next year.
Caroline, meanwhile, look the new material for Apple's eco friendly iPhone cases, drawn some criticism from consumers. One review when as far as calling it one of the worst accessories Apples produced. Who Impag's mark German pretty sure is all over it. And what is it that people don't like? Apart from perhaps a slightly pricing point.
Well, I'm using a ClearCase, so no impact to me. I had a feeling that the fine Wilbur case wasn't going to be so hot, so I decided to get a plastic case this year. In the past I used the leather cases fine Wilbur. It is picking up stains when you leave it on a table. If you go into an our store like many of us did over the weekend and you saw the fine woven cases on display, a lot of them are scratched up.
I think people are taking their nails.
And scratching on it and pretending that it's like an old school vinyl record.
Right.
It makes a similar sound, though it feels a little bit like Swede and it feels a little bit like a record. So clearly people are unhappy with the dirt and the oil and anything from your fingers that it may pick up. They don't like the feel of the material. It just doesn't feel premium compared to leather, and it's coming in at about the same price.
It's very understandable why Apple made this move, right.
They wanted to transition away from leather and all their accessories, so they came up with a new material to do that. I and many others just don't think that they landed on that right material with fine woven. Perhaps there's other materials they can use, like some of the materials and fake leather as many car makers are using. So clearly there may be an alternative that Apple we need to switch.
To in the future.
The problem mark is that during the one the last event, they really emphasize the accessories moving away from leather to sustainability of the new materials. But this strategy has not gone down well with the consumer. It's part of basically bigger picture sustainabilities and carbon reduction goals.
Right, Yeah, it's a long term thing.
So you know, if this fine woven ends up being the failure that I think it is and then they end up having to move away from fine woven, there are alternatives. They can make a fake leather, they can source a fake leather that feels like real leather. They can improve this material significantly, Right, but what about all the people who've already bought this case. I saw people saying the best thing you can do with the fine
woven case. If you bought one is leverage the Apple two week return policy and bring it back to the store, ship ef back to the online store and get a different type of case. Now, Apple does still sell the silicon cases.
I have used those. I think they're pretty good.
The problem is if you are wearing tight jeans, the case could really get stuck in your pocket. It picks up lint very easily.
But they are quite protective.
And of course there's a pretty marketplace of cases. I've already seen and used plenty of third party cases on the fifteen. They're pretty good alternatives up there.
All right, Bloomberg's chief Apple correspondent with the show and tell there, Mark German, thank you very much. Now coming up here on Mania technology social media at Visco has got a new CEO or conversation with Eric Whitman on his vision for the.
Future of that platform. That conversation.
Next, this is Bloomberg Technology.
French billionaire Xavier Neil is investing two hundred million euros. That's about two hundred twelve million dollars in you guessed at artificial intelligence. He was the law top French AI engineers back to their home country some of this investment it's going to be for a few research labs relocated in Paris, and I remember he's one of the people behind stati on f in Paris as well a big
incubator there. Plus there's also going to be slack cloud supercomputing capabilities powered by Invidio hardware, while the rest we understand it's going to go for funding. Some of those startups interesting with Mistral.
Yeah, one startup we've been talking to recently is Visco, the photo and video editor tool that went viral a few years ago on the back of the Visco girl trend. Recently announced, of course, the appointment of a new CEO, Eric Whitman, who was the president of the company up until that point. I got up with him last week to discuss the content create a battleground that counts the likes of YouTube and x in the contestants, and how he intends on growing Visco in that market. Have a listen.
It's a fairly dynamic landscape. Things are changing quite often. I think if you take a step back and think about creators first, which is very much our ethos, and what their needs are, I think what you're going to find that creators really want tools to help them make
things more quickly, more efficiently. They want a really healthy community that isn't being manipulated by algorithms or advertisements, and they want to be discovered by prospective clients or be able to more efficiently manage their businesses and have great relationships with their clients. So the platform that really does all three of those things very well, I think that's going to be the platform that wins, and that's very much our mission and what we're trying to do here at Visco.
In October twenty twenty one, The New York Times reports that Pintrst is considering buying Visco. I think about some similar properties Instagram and where it sits within Meta's portfolio. The CEO now, strategically, would you be open to a sale to a bigger platform to help Visco grow and help is technology be more used?
Yeah, I think at the end of the day, if it benefits our creators and if it helps us pursue this bigger, more ambitious strategy and vision that we have, then that's something that we would have a conversation with our border beout and make sure it's the right decision for us.
How does Visco culturally grow? You know, Visco Girl was what people said and kind of the peak of Visco's use. How do you position it culturally to give it traction like TikTok, frankly has had at such a high level here in the United States for a long time.
Yeah.
So for us, it's really about again focusing on creators and their needs. And because we are a subscription business, we were not trying to drive a different type of engagement that's really promoting more ad driven business models, and that gives us a lot of freedom to actually make sure that we are actually paying attention to what their
needs are and their needs continue to change. We're hearing more and more from creators today that they don't feel that a company really has their back, that's really supporting them first, and that's really going to continue to be our focus.
Visco CEO that Eric Whitman. Meanwhile, look, that does it to this edition of Bloomberg Technology yet?
Yeah.
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