Here’s a surprise: European Union anti-trust regulators are attacking a tech giant that isn’t Google, Facebook, or Amazon. The regulators are studying whether Microsoft’s cloud service business has continued anti-competitive practices that earned it €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) in fines in the past, or maybe has found some new ones.
Canadian marketing solutions vendor Wishpond has acquired London-based referral collection system Viral Loops for US$2.3 million. It’s Wishpond’s fifth acquisition since going public in 2020. The company is pulling together components of a small business marketing suite.
The US State Department yesterday announced the debut of the thoughtfully named Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy. We are happy to learn that their CDP bureau will address issues related to national security, digital technology, and digital policy – and not a moment too soon! Looking forward to working in tandem to help inform on privacy and digital data issues.
The U.S. Senate has passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok in the U.S. if its Chinese owner, ByteDance, does not sell its holdings within a year. The bill now goes to the President Biden, who has said he will sign it. Court challenges are likely to follow.