Roundup – Investors doubt Zuckerberg and Google bows to US compliance reforms

India orders Google to accept third-party payments

According to India’s antitrust body, The Competition Commission of India (CCI), Google should not prevent app developers from using third-party billing or payment processing services in the country. The CCI said that Google used its “dominant position” to force app developers to use its in-app payment system, stating the sale of in-app digital goods is intended for developers to monetise their work.

“By keeping costs low, our model has powered India’s digital transformation and expanded access for hundreds of millions of Indians,” a Google spokesperson told Reuters. “We remain committed to our users and developers and are reviewing the decision to evaluate the next steps.”

Google can appeal the orders in an Indian tribunal.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/india-fines-google-113-million-second-antitrust-penalty-this-month-2022-10-25/

US and EU launch talks to discuss conflict over EV subsidies

US and European Union officials will come together next week to discuss new American laws that Europeans fear will discriminate against foreign electric car makers, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The talks come as Biden’s $430 billion “Inflation Reduction Act” enacted in August sparked fury among auto manufacturers. The Act will aim to roll back climate change and make Washington a “world leader” in the electric vehicle (EV) market, Reuters said. The law also ends subsidies to other EV models and requires a percentage of critical minerals used in those cars’ batteries to come from the US or an American free-trade partner.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-eu-launch-formal-group-discuss-conflict-over-ev-subsidies-2022-10-26/

Investors hesitant after Meta’s fourth quarterly profit loss

Investors are growing tired of Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg’s experimental bets on his metaverse project. They reportedly rushed to dump Meta Platforms stocks just hours after the company posted its fourth straight decline in quarterly profit – falling 20% and wiping $67 billion off its market value. One Meta shareholder had recently expressed concerns over the company’s investments calling them “super-sized and terrifying”.

On a post-earnings conference call Zuckerberg said, “…we’re doing leading work that will become… eventually mature products at different cadences in different periods of time over the next five to 10 years.”

Meta shareholder Altimeter Capital Management has called on Meta to streamline by cutting jobs and capital expenditure.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/investors-punish-zuckerberg-costly-metaverse-pitch-falls-flat-2022-10-27/

Google bows to compliance reforms to prevent search warrant data loss

The US Justice Department has reached an agreement with Alphabet’s Google resolving a dispute with the search engine over the loss of data responsive to a 2016 search warrant. According to the government, it is a “first-of-its-kind resolution” that will result in Google reforming “its legal process compliance program to ensure timely and complete responses to legal process such as subpoenas and search warrants.”

Google said it had a “long track record of protecting our users’ privacy, including pushing back against overbroad government demands for user data, and this agreement in no way changes our ability or our commitment to continue doing so.”

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-strikes-deal-with-google-over-search-warrant-data-loss-2022-10-25/