UK Government Lays Out Plans to Protect Users Online

By:  BBC May 12, 2021 Social media firms will have to remove harmful content quickly or potentially face multi-billion-pound fines under new legislation.   The government’s Online Safety Bill, announced in the Queen’s Speech, comes with a promise of protecting debate. It is “especially” geared at keeping children safe and says “democratically important” content should […]

Army of Fake Fans Boosts China’s Messaging on Twitter

By:  AP News May 12, 2021   BRUSSELS (AP) — China’s ruling Communist Party has opened a new front in its long, ambitious war to shape global public opinion: Western social media.   Liu Xiaoming, who recently stepped down as China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, is one of the party’s most successful foot soldiers […]

Low-Skill Workers Aren’t a Problem to Be Fixed

By:  The Atlantic April 23, 2021   Recently, I was mesmerized by a prep cook. At a strip-mall Korean restaurant, I caught a glimpse of the kitchen and stood dumbfounded for a few minutes, watching a guy slicing garnishes, expending half the energy I would if I were doing the same at home and at […]

CEOs Are Hugely Expensive – So Why Not Automate Them?

By:  Financial Review April 28, 2021   Over the next two weeks, the boards of BAE Systems, AstraZeneca, Glencore,  Flutter Entertainment and the London Stock Exchangeall face the possibility of shareholder revolts over executive pay at their forthcoming annual general meetings (AGMs). As the AGM season begins, there is a particular focus on pay.   […]

UK Ministers Urged to Make Tech Giants Responsible for Scams

By:  The Guardian May 7, 2021   A coalition of organisations including City of London police and the consumer body Which? is demanding the government make tech giants such as Google and Facebook legally responsible for fake and fraudulent adverts.   In a joint letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, the 17 organisations have […]

How Should Multinationals Be Taxed?

By:  The Economist May 10, 2021   FOR YEARS governments have grumbled, simmered and raged as multinational companies have shifted profits out of tax collectors’ grasp and into low-tax havens. The OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, estimated in 2015 that avoidance robs public coffers of $100bn-240bn, or 4-10% of global corporation-tax revenues a […]