Roundup – Facebook bites back; Premier League says yes to NFTs

Biden stops US exports to Huawei, reports say

The US government has limited American export licenses for ‘most’ items to Chinese technology giant Huawei, according to the Financial Times. The move comes as President Joe Biden seeks to reduce exports of US tech to China. Washington has previously accused the telecoms company of being a threat to US national security, and of working with the Chinese Communist Party. Huawei has repeatedly denied the allegations.

“…we continually assess our policies and regulations and communicate regularly with external stakeholders,” a US Commerce Department spokesperson told the BBC. They said that the government do not comment on conversations about specific companies. Huawei declined to comment on the reports.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64461877

$3.7 billion lawsuit over market dominance is “entirely without merit”, says Facebook

Facebook has asked a London tribunal to block a collective lawsuit valued around £3 billion over allegations that the social media giant abused its dominant position to exploit users’ personal data. The social media giant is currently facing mass action brought on behalf of around 45 million Facebook users in Britain, after legal academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, who is bringing the case, said users were not properly compensated for the value of personal data that they had to provide to use the platform, which they should have received if Facebook was not in a dominant position. Facebook parent Meta said the lawsuit was “entirely without merit” and should not be allowed to proceed.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-01-30/facebook-seeks-to-block-3-7-billion-uk-mass-action-over-market-dominance

Premier League signs NFT deal with SoftBank-backed Sorare

$4.3 billion fantasy football game Sorare has signed a multi-year deal with the English Premier League allowing it to license official player cards. Players of the game will be able to purchase and use official Premier League-licensed NFTs under the exclusive multi-year agreement.

Sorare said it had been in talks with the Premier League about launching NFTs since last autumn. According to Sky News, the deal was worth £30 million, and the news comes despite a sharp fall in NFT trading activity.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/30/premier-league-signs-deal-with-nft-based-fantasy-soccer-game-sorare.html#:~:text=The%20Sorare%20NFT%20soccer%20trading,a%20multi%2Dyear%20licensing%20agreement.&text=Sorare%2C%20the%20%244.3%20billion%20fantasy,league%20license%20official%20player%20cards.

Crypto hackers steal record $3.8 billion in 2022

Last year, cryptocurrency attacks were the highest on record with attackers stealing just under $4 billion. Reports suggest these attacks were led by groups linked to North Korea, with “huge spikes” in March and October – the latter was the biggest single month ever for cryptocurrency hacking with $775.7 million stolen in 32 separate attacks.

The North Korea-linked hackers namely those in the cybercriminal syndicate Lazarus Group have been by far the most prolific hackers in the market, stealing around $1.7 bn in multiple attacks last year. North Korea has denied allegations of hacking or other cyberattacks.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2023-02-01/crypto-hacks-stole-record-3-8-billion-in-2022-led-by-north-korea-groups-report