Big Tech, Digital Economy Archives

Meta Platforms Settle Massive State AGs’ Lawsuit

26Aug

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Types of News: Brief

Meta Platforms Settle Massive State AGs’ Lawsuit

Consent Agreement (Full-Text PDF) Includes $18 Billion Pay-Out and Policy Changes August 26, 2026—In a groundbreaking consent judgment with 52 attorneys general for U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia, Meta Platforms, Inc. has agreed to voluntarily pay states $18 billion over a ten-year period.The agreement effectively brings to a close Meta’s part in an industry-wide lawsuit launched in 2022 over “adolescent addiction/personal injury” in regards to using social media. META Platform State AGs Consent Judgment 8.26.26Download ‘Entice, Engage, and Ensare’ The Plaintiffs alleged that Meta violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). Furthermore, they argued that Meta used Facebook and Instagram “to entice, engage, and ultimately ensare youth an...

AI Reshaping the Corporate Credit Market

15Apr

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Finance, Banks, Cryptocurrency, Metals, Types of News: Brief

AI Reshaping the Corporate Credit Market

April 15, 2026—The momentum to infuse artificial intelligence throughout the economy is likely to reshape not only the job market, but also power centers and credit markets. Many observers refer to this as the “AI revolution”—the transformational, massive adoption of AI and machine learning to automate tasks. It’s a movement that represents a sea change in the workplace, business models, and the credit markets. Already, the AI disruption is impacting corporate credit, according to a new analysis by Moody’s Analytics Asset Management Research. The firm is adjusting its modeling for evaluating corporate credit risks and signaling that “a tipping point” is near. The report, Falling defaults, rising fragility, projects that U.S. corporate default rates are likely to decline through 20...

What is a K-Shaped Economy? And Why Does It Matter?

28Dec

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Domestic Politics: United States, Global Economics, Types of News: Analysis

What is a K-Shaped Economy? And Why Does It Matter?

The U.S. Economy Produces Winners and Losers The K-shaped economy produces winners and losers. A K-shaped economy emerges when the economy as a whole grows but different segments of the population experience the growth with vastly different outcomes. It depicts a point in time when economic inequality grows. Those with high incomes and savings make more money while those who have limited savings and have moderate to low incomes face economic hardship, such as high debt and higher costs of health care, housing, and groceries. Meanwhile, those who are not invested in the stock market—somewhere between 37 percent (Gallop) or 57.2 percent (Philadelphia Federal Reserve)—do not benefit from gains in the market. Economic Growth as Both a Reality and an Illusion The reason for notic...

U.S. Phones, Telecom Companies Still Subject to Spying

4Dec

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Domestic Politics: United States, Sanctions, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Phones, Telecom Companies Still Subject to Spying

Trump Scraps Proposed Sanctions on China’s Spy Agency December 4, 2025—A year after it became known that the Chinese government hacked into the U.S. telecommunications systems, gaining access to millions of phones, the systems remain vulnerable to spying, according to senators, a panel of experts, and officials at the Federal Communications Commission. “Our nation’s communications networks are facing rapidly evolving threats ranging from fraud and espionage to sabotage,” said Sen. Deb Fischer at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Tuesday. In late 2024, U.S. officials became aware of a Chinese government cyberespionage operation targeting global telecommunications systems. That became known as the “Salt Typhoon” attack, the worst telecommunications compromise in the nation’...

Musk Pushes Robotics After Winning Tesla $1 Trillion Pay Plan

7Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Finance, Banks, Cryptocurrency, Metals, Types of News: Brief

Musk Pushes Robotics After Winning Tesla $1 Trillion Pay Plan

Why the GER is covering this story: This story cuts to the heart of corporate responsibility, the ability of shareholders to influence corporate decisions, the evolving role of AI in the workplace and human relations, and inequality. November 7, 2025—Tesla’s board and CEO Elon Musk have won their proposal to pay Musk $1 trillion via stock options over the next decade with over 75 percent support from shareholders. Shortly after the company announced the results, Musk took the stage and emphasized a focus on robots. He said robots “are the future” for everything from health care and criminology. He added, however, that “things get wild from an economic point of view.” “Every human on Earth is going to want to have their own personal R2-D2 or C-3PO,” Musk said. “So who wouldn’t...

Risk and Rewards of Bank Deregulation in Trump 2.0

3Nov

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Domestic Politics: United States, Finance, Banks, Cryptocurrency, Metals, Types of News: Brief

Risk and Rewards of Bank Deregulation in Trump 2.0

Trump’s Changes Boost Big Banks and AI Carry Market Risks November 3, 2025—Deregulation of industry is a significant feature of Trump 2.0. In his second term, President Donald Trump is signing executive orders and presidential memoranda that require agencies to pause, review, or repeal rules affecting energy production, air quality, environmental protection, and banking. In the financial sector, the Trump administration is: Reducing the amount of cash banks need to hold (a.k.a. capital requirements). Cutting certain exam requirements for small, community banks effective Jan. 1, 2026. These relate to the National Flood Insurance Program, fair lending risk assessments, and other regulatory requirements. (See the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, https://occ.gov/news-issuances/...

DOGE Whistleblower Cites Breach of Sensitive U.S. Business Data

16Apr

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Corruption, Bribes, Illicit Finance & Money Laundering, Domestic Politics: United States, Types of News: Brief

DOGE Whistleblower Cites Breach of Sensitive U.S. Business Data

NLRB Breach Impacts Labor Cases, Proprietary Information April 16, 2025—A U.S. federal worker came forward this week as a whistleblower against the Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, the broad-reaching initiative President Trump created with an executive order on his first day of office. The whistleblower, Daniel Berulis, is an IT worker at the National Labor Relations Board. NLRB is a small, independent government agency tasked with ensuring that private-sector workers have rights such as collective bargaining in their workplaces. Berulis asserts that DOGE employees not only overrode standard security procedures to protect sensitive data, but they also made the system vulnerable to disclosure to a foreign adversary. A federal IT worker Daniel Berulis has informed Congr...

U.S. Government Sues Amazon.com In Massive Lawsuit

26Sep

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Types of News: Brief

U.S. Government Sues Amazon.com In Massive Lawsuit

FTC Says Firm Uses 'Illegal Monopoly' Practices To Inflate Prices, Cheapen Products And Stifle Innovation Amazon.com corporate headquarters in Seattle, Washington. September 26, 2023—The U.S. government came out swinging hard today against one of the world's largest tech companies. In a lawsuit filed today, the Federal Trade Commission and 17 state attorney generals accuse Amazon.com ofusing illegal strategies to "inflate prices, degrade quality, and stifle innovation for consumers and businesses." Massive Lawsuit It's an extensive lawsuit in its scope of accusations of monopolistic power. "With its amassed power across both the online superstore market and online marketplace services market, Amazon extracts enormous monopoly rents from everyone within its reach," the FTC s...

Tax Prep Software Shared Data With Big Tech

2Aug

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Types of News: Brief

Tax Prep Software Shared Data With Big Tech

Meta Pixel Collects Massive Amounts Of Information August 2, 2023—Several tax-preparation companies used a computer code known as pixels to share millions of data about users with Meta and Google, according to a congressional investigation. The companies TaxAct, TaxSlayer, and H&R Block confirmed to Senate investigators that they used Meta Pixel on their websites and a similar code for Google Analytics. The Meta Pixel is a piece of code used to track website visitors and their actions offsite. According to Meta, the parent company of Facebook, it is used for advertising and ad-targeting purposes. But the congressional report reveals that pixels contain "massive amounts of user data." Data Shared The report indicates that taxpayers who used the company websites to file th...

Tech Leaders Call For Pause In A.I. Experiments

30Mar

By Patti MohrNo Comments

Big Tech, Digital Economy, Types of News: Brief

Tech Leaders Call For Pause In A.I. Experiments

Artificial Intelligence Poses 'Profound Risks to Society And Humanity' March 30, 2023—As computer scientists race to advance artificial intelligence technologies, tech and academic leaders are calling on AI laboratories to pause experiments on all products greater than one called GPT-4. Furthermore, they called on governments to intervene to force a stop if labs do not impose one. A nonprofit organization called Future of Life published the letter on Wednesday. It warned: "AI systems with human-competitive intelligence can pose profound risks to society and humanity, as shown by extensive research[1] and acknowledged by top AI labs," the letter says. "As stated in the widely-endorsed Asilomar AI Principles, Advanced AI could represent a profound change in the history of life on E...