This Month
‘What choice do they have?’: US CEOs bend the knee to Trump
From Hollywood to Silicon Valley and Wall Street, senior executives have been bending over backwards to meet Donald Trump since he won the election.
- James Politi and James Fontanella-Khan
Publishers prepare to take on TikTok over news
News publishers have successfully campaigned to have TikTok-owner ByteDance included in the government’s revised media bargaining rules.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Big tech should not be above the law of the land
In general, the last thing Australia needs is a new tax. But Meta’s thumbing its nose at Australia’s pioneering regulation justifies Labor’s attempt to lay down the law to the tech giants.
- The AFR View
- Updated
- Social media
Media groups to push Meta for payment after Labor announces TikTok tax
Apple and Microsoft could also be caught by the policy with their Apple News and LinkedIn products if they meet the $250 million Australian turnover threshold.
- Ronald Mizen and Amelia McGuire
Cut surcharges by divorcing debit and credit, Westpac tells RBA
Blended pricing structures charge retailers a flat fee no matter the card, and lead to debit card users subsidising benefits for credit card users.
- Lucas Baird and James Eyers
Tech giants to be punished if they don’t pay for news
The big stick approach set to be announced on Thursday would force recalcitrant platforms to the negotiating table or risk being hit with penalties.
- Ronald Mizen
- Analysis
- Explainers
Google announces quantum computing breakthrough. Should we be excited?
Google has built a quantum processor called “Willow” that can solve a problem in five minutes that regular supercomputers would take longer than the lifetime of the universe.
- John Davidson
TikTok owner ByteDance takes early lead in race to capitalise on AI
The company has purchased enough cutting-edge Nvidia graphics processing units to build advanced AI models, according to numerous sources.
- Eleanor Olcott
What’s next for Google’s search monopoly?
Judge Amit Mehta’s ruling could cause enormous ripple effects, potentially reshaping the internet.
- David McCabe and Nico Grant
Labor targets Meta, Apple, Amazon and Google with tough new rules
Global tech giants face tough new rules and hefty fines as the government moves to stop digital giants unfairly pushing their own products onto consumers.
- Tom McIlroy and Michael Read
‘Dad has never done a deal like this’: Ben Weiss’ wartime buyout
The son of famed corporate raider Gary Weiss has just pulled off a deal to take an AI company private in Tel Aviv. It nearly didn’t happen.
- Paul Smith
November
Google reviews ruined Ed’s company. Now he’s making $15m fighting back
Ed Butcher and Ed Godfrey set up a no win, no fee online review removal company called RepSpert in 2020. It’s grown by 300 per cent each year.
- Sam Buckingham-Jones
Force big tech to pay for AI training data: Senate committee
A Senate committee has recommended the government force tech companies to pay publishers, authors and artists for content used to train their bots.
- Tess Bennett
Start-up stars: what’s happened to tech’s Class of 2021
VC firms that wrote huge cheques on very generous valuations in 2021 are now nervously watching Australia’s most heavily backed start-ups. How are they going now?
- Tess Bennett
Big tech’s warning on rushing teen ban on social media
The government’s proposed ban allowed the industry just a day to make fresh submissions in response to a bill introduced to parliament last week.
- Max Mason
‘Nanny state’: Top techies slate rushed social media laws
Australia’s tech sector was stunned at being given only 24 hours to respond to new social media laws, and warns they are ill-defined and risk unintended consequences.
- Paul Smith
Meta gains steam to push age verification upon app store giants
As Australia investigates age verification methods, the social media company wants the responsibility to fall upon the likes of Apple and Google rather than individual providers.
- Cristiano Lima-Strong, Cat Zakrzewski and Andrea Jiménez
US regulators seek to break up Google, force Chrome sale
The US government wants to break up the tech behemoth and make it sell its industry-leading Chrome web browser, to stop an abusive monopoly.
- Michael Liedtke
HESTA forced to repay; More Jones charges; Why Australia’s stuck
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
Google may be forced to sell off Chrome
The US Department of Justice will ask a judge to force Alphabet’s Google to sell off its Chrome browser.
- Updated
- Leah Nylen and Josh Sisco