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MBS
Is YouTube tracking children?
YouTube collects data on all of its users. Lots of its users are younger than 13, because they like to look at screens and some of them can't read. But tracking children is a little more nefarious than what they do. They are in trouble though with the FTC for this.
Will Facebook's cryptocurrency be a success?
That is a trillion dollar question because quite literally Facebook wants to replace a huge part of the world financial system. It is off to a decent start. People still don't trust Facebook, so, complicated.
Should Slack replace email?
It should certainly replace lots of threads and lots of reply alls that you don't need to go through. There's still a lot of use for email like the long messages and thoughts.
Last. One thing: Be ready for cyber warfare. Tensions with Iran continue to escalate. One way they will retaliate, as weaker nations will do in the future against stronger nations, is through cyberattacks. So, be ready to be phished.
Does the leader of Hong Kong appear weaker withdrawing the extradition bill?
Well as we'd say in Australia, "Is the Pope a Catholic?" Of course. This means that Carrie Lam's authority within the Hong Kong SAR is reduced and her standing in Beijing is reduced as well. But I think the bottom line is that China will resist any efforts to remove her from office, despite local pressure.
Is the US – China trade war coming to an end anytime soon?
Depends Dr. Bremmer on what your definition of "any time soon" happens to be. My prediction is simply this: once they get to the G20 meeting in Osaka Xi Jinping and President Trump will agree to reboot the negotiations process but then it's a question of the substance of the deal. My prediction is A) there will be a deal sometime between now and the end of the year. And secondly, the nature of the deal will be America yielding on the questions of tariffs to the Chinese and China yielding to the Americans on the amount that President Trump expects in the purchasing order of future American goods by the Chinese. That's my bottom line. Both countries need the economic outcome. Both countries therefore have a deep interest in securing a deal. Doesn't mean the end of the economic war however, technology reigns supreme.
Can President Trump bring the Iranians to the negotiating table?
Well certainly better than John Bolton can. Trump is the guy that said that actually it wasn't such a big deal that these two tankers were hit. He's more concerned about the nuclear issue. He would like the Iranians to talk. The Iranians, meanwhile, have to show a little bit of strength before they'd be willing to negotiate. And still they're under a lot of pressure. I think it's possible that they'll start talking but not until they get out of the nuclear deal - they break through the new uranium enrichment.
Is Hong Kong a big thorn in President Xi's side?
No question and the timing is horrible. I mean 2 million people demonstrating making the Chinese government back down on this extradition law and now they've got the G20 meeting and are they going to negotiate or not with President Trump? Harder for the Chinese to look in any way weak or take risks with the Americans because of what's happening right now in Hong Kong. But keep in mind, mainland Chinese are not really aware of these demonstrations.
Will Mohammed Morsi's death lead to protests in Egypt?
On balance, no. But it'll probably lead to more terrorism from Islamic extremists and I think that is the danger. This guy was not given appropriate medical treatment while he was being held and now in court he's dead and there's no question that a lot of his supporters who themselves have been on the more extreme side are really going to be unhappy. So I'd watch out for that.
I'm in Athens for a bit of a different Media in 60 this week. I'm at a media conference where everyone has been reading the same piece of research. The digital news report out of the Reuters Institute in Oxford. Really the biggest piece of media research to come out every year. I recommend you read all 150 pages. However, for now, I'll give you the Cliff Notes in 60 seconds.
First pivot to pay more and more newsrooms are moving to subscription or membership model but the number of people willing to pay for news is actually plateauing and when they do pay it's only for one subscription. So it is a winner takes all model and in a battle between the New York Times subscription and your Netflix, Netflix almost always wins.
Second is pivot to private. So we're seeing declining use of Facebook though people are not giving it up altogether. Increased use of WhatsApp and Instagram which is good for them because it's the exact same company. Those were a couple of really smart acquisitions. We're also seeing more and more sharing and commenting of news in private or semi-private groups rather than in public feeds because probably people just feel safer there.
Third is pivot to audio. Podcast is in. 1 in 3 people have listened to one in the past month 1 in 2 for the under 35 audience and finally trust always a big issue. Trust is down two points to 42% of people saying they generally trust the media less than half of people even trust outlets that they themselves go to for their news. People feel that journalists are better at breaking news than explaining it so hopefully I'm explaining here. And also we're seeing massive news avoidance one in three people just avoiding the news. It's up 11 points in the UK because people are so so fed up with Brexit understandably.
What was the coolest thing Apple unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference?
The neat way of protecting your email address when you join an app. It allows the app developer to send you messages but not to know what your address is, which protects you.
How are the DOJ and FTC deciding which tech companies to investigate?
Well they get together. They meet in a room. They see who has the expertise. The FTC knows a lot about Facebook. Also they probably fight and there's all kinds of weird politics because if you work at one of those organizations it's much better to get a juicy case.
Will Google Stadia be a success?
This is their high-quality online-gaming system. Big new venture for Google. I don't know whether it'll be a success. My guess is this: it won't be a success, but it will change the future of gaming. Google often does that.
Should tech companies become data fiduciaries?
Complicated one. That's a term of art - legal term - saying that tech companies should treat their customers data in a way that is in the customer's interest. Should tech companies do that? Yes they should. Should it be written into law? That's a harder one.
Should you practice what you preach?
I'm actually going to say no, you should do the reverse. I think the danger of practicing what you preach is that you claim a set of values and then you hope that you're going to live up to those values through your actions. And if you do great you've just demonstrated integrity. But if you fall short you become a hypocrite. I think a simpler rule is to only preach things you already practice. And then there's no risk of a gap between your claims and your actions. There was a cultural critic Lionel Trilling who wrote about a distinction between authenticity and sincerity. He said authenticity was closing the gap between your inner thoughts and what you express to the outside world. But sincerity is the opposite. It's starting by paying attention to the person you claim to be and then saying internally I want to become that person. And that kind of sincerity is really easy if you're only preaching the things that you already practice.
Is Australia becoming more hostile to journalists?
Yes. There were two raids this week against ABC and against a journalist's home related to stories published from leaked government documents. Now it's legitimate to investigate a leak. It's usually done on the leak side, not on the journalist's side. It just seemed a massive overreaction in the method. And we've seen similar raids in France this spring in Northern Ireland. I find it concerning that this is coming from liberal democracies and what we're seeing is that as the public discourse against journalists gets more and more hostile the Overton window of what is acceptable behavior from democracies on the press is just shifting further and further away from freedom of the press. I find that concerning.
Should the New York Times allow its reported on opinionated cable shows?
So not according to their leadership. They pulled a reporter from The Rachel Maddow Show this past weekend because they consider it to be too far on the left. Now I appreciate and sympathize with The New York Times desire to maintain their reputation. It just seems in several recent decisions that they think they're in a gentlemen's war with reasonable people - lined up on the field when everyone else is fighting a guerrilla war. So it's honorable but in the end you lose. So I think you know put your reporters on every show that will have them as long as they don't edit your words out of context and then just trust your reporters to share the facts and be truthful.Latest
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