Silicon Valley Tech News Roundup – January 29th
Meta to lift Trump’s Facebook and Instagram bans – 1/26
In a statement released this week, Meta announced it will end the ban it imposed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts. Meta banned Trump for two years following the Capitol riots in January 2021.
Nick Clegg (President of Meta’s global affairs) said: “The public should be able to hear what their politicians are saying… The suspension was an extraordinary decision taken in extraordinary circumstances.” Clegg also stated Meta conducted a review and concluded Trump’s accounts no longer present a risk to public safety. However, because of previous infractions, in case Trump commits any future offenses he would face higher penalties.
Oversight Board (Meta’s body that oversees moderation rulings) stated Meta decided to lift the ban, and the Board played no part in the decision.
Meanwhile, Trump reacted to the news on Truth Social by saying Facebook lost billions because it banned “your favorite president, me.”
TikTok ramps up its lobbying efforts in Washington – 1/26
A report published on Lawfare (a security blog) on Thursday reveals TikTok ramped up its lobbying efforts in Washington, D.C., last week. The company’s senior executives and lobbyists met with members of Congress, think tanks, various academic researchers, and others. They are promoting Project Texas, a $1.5 billion project, that wants to address security concerns people have over the app and its Chinese ownership.
Last month Congress voted on banning TikTok from federal government devices, and some governors banned the app from state computer networks. Recent reports also included alleged news about China-based employees accessing the U. S. user data and employees surveilling Forbes journalists.
Some details of Project Texas include TikTok’s intention to appoint a board of directors to oversee a new subsidiary focused on the U. S. data security. TikTok would nominate the directors, while the U. S. government officials would review the names. It is a part of the company’s strategy as it negotiates with the Biden administration on a potential security agreement.
Department of Justice believes Sam Bankman-Fried tried to influence witnesses – 1/27
On Friday, the Department of Justice filed a letter at Manhattan court. The federal prosecutors believe Sam Bankman-Fried (former CEO of FTX) tried to influence witnesses via an encrypted messaging app Signal. They want him banned from using it.
The federal prosecutors claim Bankman-Fried contacted Ryne Miller (General Counsel of FTX US) via the Signal app. Miller may be a witness in the trial. Bankman-Fried allegedly told Miller: “I would really love to reconnect and see if there’s a way for us to have a constructive relationship, use each other as resources when possible, or at least vet things with each other.” Bankman-Fried contacted Miller a few days after bankruptcy officials disclosed they managed to recover over $5 billion in assets. The federal authorities believe this could constitute witness tampering. Bankman-Fried also contacted several former FTX employees via the Signal app.
The federal authorities want to ban Bankman-Fried from using the app to “prevent obstruction of justice.”
In the letter, federal prosecutors disclosed testimony by Caroline Ellison (former CEO of Alameda Research). In it, she claims Bankman-Fried indicated: “many legal cases turn on documentation, and it is more difficult to build a legal case if the information is not written down or preserved.” Ellison pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and is cooperating with the authorities.
The U. S. comes to an agreement with Japan and Netherlands to limit China’s access to chipmaking machinery – 1/28
According to a report published by Bloomberg, the U. S. government came to an agreement with Japan and Netherlands to limit China’s access to chipmaking machinery. On Friday, the two countries agreed to implement some of the export controls used by the U. S. government. The export controls would be imposed on companies that produce lithography systems (like Nikon and ASML).
The implementation will take months, as each country has to put together the legal details. Mark Rutte (the Dutch Prime Minister) replied to a question about negotiations on Friday and said: “Talks are ongoing, for a long time already, but we don’t communicate about this. And if something would come out of this, it is questionable if this will be made very visible.” According to Bloomberg, the countries do not plan to announce the agreement publicly.
The agreement would cover ASLM’s immersion lithography machines. ASLM is the only company in the world producing extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) machines. The chip production companies need these to make 3nm and 5nm semiconductors used in the latest computers and smartphones.
