Archive – 2019

Margrethe Vestager to Remain an EU Commissioner

Story from Politico

Key Insight – The incoming Prime Minister of Denmark has announced that current Denmark Commissioner to the EU, Margrethe Vestager, will be nominated to another 5-year post on the European Commission.  As background, each country in the EU appoints one of the 28 commissioners to the European Commission, which is one of the three branches of the European Government.  Vestager has served in recent years as the head of the European Competition Authority and is noteworthy for, among other things, leading investigations of major US-based technology platforms, including Google, Amazon, Apple and Facebook for a range of tax and business practices.  She is also reported to be in the running to become President of the European Commission. She has often been criticized by President Trump.

Reigning In Tech Giants a Topic In First Democratic Presidential Debate

Story from Bloomberg

Key Insight – Aggressive action to reduce the size and influence of the largest digital platform businesses, with Amazon, Google and Facebook often the headline targets, has been a part of the policy discussion during the first months of the Democratic Presidential nomination race, so no surprise it was raised in the first 10-candidate debate, which featured Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the candidate most outspoken about concrete action, including unwinding past mergers and prohibiting large platform businesses from also offering services on their platforms. In related news, Mark Zuckerberg defended the value to consumers and competition of the WhatsApp and Instagram acquisitions by Facebook, which are often referenced in discussions of anti-competitive acquisitions that should be unwound.

Facebook Agrees to Share User Data with French Courts on Hate Speech

Story from Reuters

Key Insight – Consistent with Facebook’s recent public initiatives to establish more formalized regulatory cooperation with governments to police objectionable online user content and communications, the company is reported to have agreed to expansive user information sharing with French courts related to hate speech investigations.  This is in line with Facebook proposals to impose greater restrictions on political and electoral advertising in Europe and Canada.

Senators Warner and Hawley Propose Reporting on Value of User Data

Story from CNBC

Key Insight – Senators Mark Warner (D-VA) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) are sponsoring S. 1951, which they call the DASHBOARD Act, proposing that large digital companies, those with over 100 million unique monthly users in the United States, be required to regularly report to all users on the type and value of the personalized data that they collect and process in the context of their operations.  The complex regulatory formulation would be developed by the Security and Exchange Commission. The Senators are also partnering on Internet company Do Not Track legislation.

Dark Patterns on Web Sites Draw Media and Congressional Attention

Story from the New York Times

Key Insight – Web-based businesses use sneaky tactics, some say deceptive and underhanded, to spur users to take actions, including to buy things, share data and sign up for marketing and related program, according to the author of the article and a Princeton graduate student studying “dark patterns” on Internet sites. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has authored S. 1084, a bill cosponsored by Sen. Deb Fisher (R-NE), that prohibits digital firms with more than 100 million users to create user interfaces “with the purpose or substantial effect of obscuring, subverting, or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice to obtain consent or user data.”

Online Video Regulatory Proposal of Broadcasting Authority of Ireland Draws Criticism

Story from the Irish Times

Key Insight – Dublin-based regulatory compliance firm, Data Compliance Europe, reacted negatively to the proposal from the Broadcast Authority of Ireland, the nation’s TV and radio regulatory authority, to gain new oversight authority over online content platforms.  “It is a completely different communication,” said Simon McGarr. “They have taken the concept of regulating broadcast and applied it to communications between individuals.”

Diva Limo vs. Uber Brings Platform Classification Fight to Competition Policy

Story from Competition Policy International

Key Insight – A federal district court judge in California has ruled that an unfair competition suit filed by Diva Limousine, a Los Angeles-based limousine business, accusing Uber of misclassifying drivers and using the resulting pay differential compared to employee drivers as an unfair trade practice, could proceed, rejecting a motion to dismiss from Uber.  The suit filed initially last fall brings together two major platform economy policy threads, the competition law concerns aimed at the largest digital platforms, with the worker classification debate surrounding the digital platforms enabling users to engage in driving, delivery and project-based work as independent workers.

Most Non-US Retail Is Not Avoiding US State Sales Tax Obligations

Story from Bloomberg Tax

Key Insight – Despite initial fears that non-US retail businesses would gain advantage by selling into US states without sales tax following last year’s landmark South Dakota v. Wayfair decision impacting sales tax duties of remote, Internet-enabled retailers, state tax analysts do not see that happening.  The key state tax collection strategy appears to be to impose the sales tax collection responsibilities on the major Internet marketplace businesses that most remote retailers use, especially foreign retail businesses with no presence in the United States, in order to avoid potentially tricky issues related to international tax implications of the retailers not having any permanent establishment in the country.

Conservative Senator Sponsors Bill Mandating Neutral Moderation

Story from Broadcastingcable.com

Key Insight – Josh Hawley (R), freshman Senator from Missouri and conservative critic of the largest digital platforms, followed up on S. 1578, his Internet “Do Not Track” bill, with a politically charged piece of digital platform legislation, S. 1914, aimed at forcing large digital communications platforms to moderate user content in a politically neutral manner as determined by the Federal Trade Commission, under threat of losing Section 230 liability protection.  Unlike his “Do Not Track” bill, which garnered two Democratic cosponsors, the viewpoint neutrality bill was introduced with no cosponsors and bipartisan support seems less likely. Public Knowledge, a progressive think tank, provided a thoughtful critique on the use of Section 230 for the purpose of spurring limits on content moderation, while conservatives questioned the wisdom of looking to government to police political neutrality.

A Short History Primer on U.S. Antitrust Law to Prep for Digital Giants Debate

Story from the New York Times

Key Insight – The New York Times did a nice, readable, not overly-long historical review of the antitrust movement in the US, with a particular emphasis on the decades before the current Bork Era when the “Consumer Welfare” standard became dominant.  (And yes, it is more complicated than that.)  A key message is that the giant tech platforms should be concerned, although probably not quite petrified. An excellent primer to the summer cocktail party season.

Decentralized Crypto Currency Businesses Wary of Largest Platforms

Story from Cointelegraph.com

Key Insight – While the big news in crypto currencies is the announcement of Libra, the Facebook-led currency consortium featuring many of the largest digital and payments businesses, this report reveals longstanding concerns from many small, independent players in the crypto currency space about the power of the largest search and digital platforms to influence online traffic and therefore their business success. Speaking of Libra, here’s a nice summary of the nascent service and a report on the range of government leaders expressing concerns.

Uber & Lyft CEOs Call for Ability to Provide Benefits to Independent Workers

Opinion in the San Francisco Chronicle

Key Insight – In response to the progress of legislation AB 5 in the California state legislature, which is aimed at reclassifying many people who use independent work platforms to be employees of the platform, requiring the application of a number of labor and benefits laws, the CEOs of Uber and Lyft have called for legislation that would allow such platforms to provide various employee-like benefits to users without requiring the recipient to be an employee, as they claim many users do not want to be employees.  With traditional tax and labor laws being challenged by independent work platforms globally, here is an update on “gig economy” employment taxes from the UK and benefit mandates from Australia.

The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Social Media Content Moderation

Analysis from Scroll.In

Key Insight – This is a thoughtful and balanced overview by a lecturer at London University of the challenge of delegating much of the initial scrutiny of hate speech and objectionable user-posted content to the algorithms and processing of the largest digital platforms, in particular in the context of extreme social, historical and legal differences globally.

GDPR Appears to be Benefiting Largest Platforms for Digital Ad Spend

Story from the Wall Street Journal

Key Insight – The contention that the landmark European privacy and data regulation, the General Data Protection Regulation, would likely benefit the largest digital businesses due to their greater compliance capabilities, is reportedly being seen in the digital advertising market. Despite the public perception that the largest digital platforms like Google and Facebook are most under the gun of regulatory scrutiny during the first year of GDPR operations, digital advertising insiders report that smaller enterprises appear less able to develop the appropriate level of customer relationships to compete as effectively for advertising funds.

Early Uber Investor Lauds Benefits of Work Flexibility for Many People

Story and Video from CNBC

Key Insight – Since well before the Internet or digital work platforms, flexibility and autonomy have been valued by people engaged in independent work, a fact highlighted in a 2016 McKinsey Global Institute report.  Bill Gurley, venture capital investor and one-time Uber Board Member, provides a concise 90-second defense of the concrete value many people assign to the extreme flexibility provided by on-demand independent work platforms, which leads many to choose platform-enabled work options over traditional corporate jobs offering other benefits. 

Many College Graduates Report They Will Continue “Side Gigs” Even With Full-Time Jobs

Story from Benefits Pro

Key Insight – Providing further evidence that platform-enabled “Side Gigs” represent more than just additional income-earning opportunities to some participants, a poll of 2019 college graduates commissioned by Monster reveals that 30% of those who had “side gigs” as full-time students plan to remain engaged in that activity even after accepting a full-time job.