The maker of Ben & Jerry’s and Dove had stopped U.S. advertising on platforms in June due to concerns about hate speech and divisive content, which led to a sharp drop in Facebook and Twitter shares.
Unilever was Facebook’s 30th largest investor in advertising in 2019 and invested more than $ 42 million in the platform, according to estimates by advertising intelligence firm Pathmatics.
The boycott was expected to last at least by the end of 2020. On Thursday, Unilever said it would resume advertising on the platforms next month because they had “committed to taking concrete steps to further manage harmful content,” including independent audits.
“We will be closely evaluating the results of the platforms in relation to their terms and commitments, as well as the polarization in the social media news environment after the election as the year progresses,” Unilever said.
Of course, this good news may be useless to lift spirits in Silicon Valley, which have been warned this week by regulators on both sides of the Atlantic in ways that are impossible to ignore.
As many as 38 state attorneys general filed another antitrust lawsuit against Google on Thursday. The lawsuit alleges that the company has operated an illegal monopoly in the online search and search advertising markets.
It reflects an antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department and 11 states this fall claiming that Google uses anti-competitive deals to secure a dominant position for its search engine on smartphones.
But it also goes further, addressing additional complaints that Google moved to block or relegate search engine results that specialize in travel, home improvements, and entertainment.
Google responded to the latest demand in a blog post, arguing that the changes demanded by state attorneys general would harm the quality of search results and be at the expense of businesses.
Texas and nine other states sued Google on Wednesday, alleging the company has stifled competition and enjoys “monopolistic power.” So for those you track at home, Google now faces three antitrust lawsuits in the United States.
The downpour of legal action comes when EU regulators introduce new legislation that would give them new powers to reach Big Tech, threatening huge fines and increasing the possibility of breaches or bans for repeat offenders.
Leading industry players face new obligations to remove illegal and harmful content from their platforms under the draft EU legislation called the Digital Services Act. A second proposal called the Digital Markets Act would subject companies to strict rules designed to avoid unfair competition.
Companies that do not comply with the proposed content policies in the EU could receive a fine of up to 6% of global revenue and repeat offenders could be temporarily banned from their platforms. Powers to collect antitrust fines of up to 10% of global revenue will be extended to more areas, and in the future, offenders could be forced to sell parts of their business if they continue to breach the rules.
It could be years before new EU rules or US lawsuits have a big effect on Big Tech, but this could be seen as a pivotal week in the evolution of the Internet and how societies control the behavior of Big Tech. technology companies.
America is under attack
Microsoft said Thursday that dozens of its customers were targeted by the attack, which was carried out by sophisticated hackers who obtained entry by planting malicious software into third-party software produced by SolarWinds.
As many as 18,000 SolarWinds customers – out of a total of 300,000 – may have been running software that contained the vulnerability, SolarWinds reported in an investor presentation this week.
According to Microsoft, the installation of malware “created an opportunity for attackers to track and choose from these customers the organizations that wanted to attack even more.”
The company said more than 40 Microsoft customers were “more accurate and committed targets through additional and sophisticated measures.” Of these, 80% were in the United States. Microsoft said organizations in Canada, Mexico, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel and the United Arab Emirates were also targeted.
Microsoft said approximately 44% of the victims belonged to the information technology sector, while 27% were government targets or contractors. Another 18% were think tanks or non-governmental organizations.
It could take months or years to determine the full extent of the damage caused by the attack. “It is certain that the number and location of the victims will continue to grow,” Microsoft President Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.
“It is critical that we take a step back and assess the importance of these attacks in their full context,” Smith added. “This is not ‘habitual espionage,’ not even in the digital age. On the contrary, it represents an act of recklessness that created a serious technological vulnerability for the United States and for the world.”
The moment of truth for Brexit
Treat or no treatment?
The months of negotiations between the UK and the European Union are about to come to a conclusion.
“It’s time for the truth. We have very little time left, just a few hours to work on these negotiations in a useful way,” EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier said on Friday.
The pound weakened 0.4% to $ 1.35 on Friday as both sides went on to say there were big differences to resolve and that there was little time left for lawmakers to approve an agreement before the deal. deadline of January 1st.
Analysts have warned that the pound could fall below $ 1.20 if negotiations fail and the UK is forced to negotiate with its largest export market under the terms of the World Trade Organization in the year coming. This would place great importance on the relationships of a relationship worth almost a trillion dollars and would mean a discount of $ 40 billion of UK GDP next year.
“This end could lead to a sweet confirmation or a rude shock to the markets,” said Han Tan, FXTM market analyst.
Until next time
Darden Restaurants and Winnebago report the results before the US markets open.
Also today: Nike’s profits increase after markets close
Very soon: trade negotiations on Brexit could conclude soon. On Monday, Tesla debuts at the S&P 500.