Pressure on Facebook Grows

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes wrote a long opinion piece in the New York Times calling for Facebook to be broken into smaller, separate companies. Hughes is far from the first to do so. Presidential candidate Senator Elizabeth Warren also has a proposal for breaking up Facebook, Google and Amazon for anti-trust reasons that has been attracting praise and attention. The fact that a co-founder is now adding his voice for ending Facebook’s monopoly shocked many in the tech industry. Hughes provides historical context, solid reasons for why and ideas as to how to do it.

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Instagram Adds In-App Checkout for Brands

Instagram has added a “Checkout on Instagram” button on the product page for certain retailers, allowing customers to purchase items without ever leaving the Instagram app. Checkout is currently being viewed as an attempt to challenge Amazon, which is taking a larger share of the digital advertising market.

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Facebook Sets Its Sights on Washington, D.C.

Facebook is on a hiring spree in the nation’s capital and it appears to be directly geared to fighting off privacy legislation, and possible fines and antitrust actions against the company. Facebook is hiring Beltway insiders with deep knowledge of and influence within the nation’s capital.

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Facetime Bug Lets People Eavesdrop on Friends

A bug in iOS 12.1 allows people to hear and possibly even see the people they call on Facetime even if the recipient doesn’t accept the call. The recipient has no indication that the caller can hear or see them. The bug affects both iPhones and iPads running iOS 12.1 and Apple computers running macOS Mojave.

The bug was found by 9to5Mac and replicated by everyone using iOS 12.1, including several CNN Business staff members. Apple said it has a fix or the problem and will release a software update later this week to address it. In the meantime, Apple has disabled Group FaceTime for all users.

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