News of tech

China limits children's online gaming to three hours a week

30-08-2021 13:20 China on Monday announced a drastic cut to children's online gaming time to just three hours a week during term time, the latest move in a broad crackdown on tech giants in the world's biggest gaming market.

spyware scandal

Reports: Private Israeli malware Pegasus used to spy on journalists, activists

19-07-2021 11:46 Activists, journalists and politicians around the world have been spied on using mobile phone malware developed by a private Israeli firm, reports said over the weekend.

Covid-19 vaccines

Government signs agreement with Moderna for 20 million Covid vaccines

12-07-2021 15:02 Health Ministry confirms Argentina has signed an agreement with US laboratory Moderna to purchase 20 million vaccine doses. Shots set to arrive in first quarter of 2022.

BIG TECH

Is Facebook a monopoly? A few ideas to help the FTC out…

10-07-2021 08:20 For anyone operating in the same digital ecosystem as Facebook, it is painstakingly clear that Zuckerberg’s creation has excessive market power and uses it to its own benefit. The same can be said about Google and a few other Silicon Valley giants.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

TECH GIANTS

Facebook wins US antitrust dismissal, surges to US$1-trillion value

28-06-2021 19:23 A judge of the of the US District Court dismissed cases filed in December by the Federal Trade Commission and more than 40 states, which could have impeded Facebook's acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp.

BIG TECH, MASSIVE PROFITS

Amazon caps blockbuster Big Tech earnings reports

29-04-2021 12:15 A week of blockbuster earnings reports from Big Tech culminated Thursday with Amazon crushing forecasts of how much money it would rake in from pandemic-revved online shopping and growing reliance on internet-hosted services.

Bloomberg

MercadoLibre plans to double workforce with 16,000 new jobs

06-04-2021 14:26 Latin American e-commerce powerhouse will double its workforce across the region to handle the surge in online purchases, according to company staff.

Bloomberg

MercadoLibre to invest record US$1.8 billion in Brazil

01-03-2021 22:01 Latin American e-commerce powerhouse MercadoLibre Inc. is more than doubling its Brazilian investment this year, planning to deploy in 2021 the same amount it spent in the past four years combined.

AS I SEE IT

Censorship is on the march

16-01-2021 09:05 Once upon a time, progressives, or “liberals” as North Americans call them, agreed that censorship was bad. They would have been appalled by the notion that the richest men on Earth were entitled to prevent the sitting US president, however obnoxious many thought him, from communicating with his followers.

by James Neilson

Bloomberg

Argentina expands tech companies’ incentives amid recovery push

10-10-2020 20:35 Government expands benefits to its burgeoning tech sector in an effort to boost much-needed foreign investment and exports.

Bloomberg

Google will pay publishers for news content to avoid regulation

01-10-2020 15:24 Alphabet Inc.’s Google will start paying select media outlets to display curated content on its news app in a concession to the industry which has accused the search engine and other tech giants of unfairly using content for years.

Coronanomics

Zoom stock surges, market value tops Boeing, Starbucks

01-09-2020 22:26 Zoom's market value is now higher than US$129 billion. The company reported explosive growth during the second quarter as more people paid for subscriptions, giving them more control over virtual meetings.

E-commerce

MercadoLibre eyes more cross-border shipping in land of red tape

24-08-2020 07:00 Already Latin America’s biggest company by market value, e-commerce giant is embarking on a new strategy to look across borders and boost international sales.

E-commerce boom

Pandemic proves beneficial for Mercado Libre as profits soar

17-08-2020 15:44 Mercado Libre doubled its sales (volume and invoicing alike) during the second quarter this year as the coronavirus pandemic arrived, sending profits soaring and pushing the Argentine firm's valuation up to around US$55 billion.

TECH WARS

US adds sanctions on China's Huawei to limit technology access

17-08-2020 15:16 United States expandes sanctions on China's Huawei, a move aimed at further limiting the tech giant's access to computer chips and other technology. Measures will affect Chinese firm's affiliate in Argentina.

ANTITRUST AND REGULATION

Big Tech’s Funday in Congress

01-08-2020 10:18 Amazon, Facebook, Google, and Apple have become some of the most powerful organisations in the world – and the global coronavirus pandemic has only made their dominant position even stronger.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

TECH GIANT

Spotify CEO sees an US$18-billion opportunity in selling ads

06-05-2020 11:09 Spotify Technology SA built the world’s largest audio-streaming service by convincing millions of people around the world to pay for music. Founder and Chief Executive Officer Daniel Ek now sees an even bigger opportunity in advertising.

TEch giant

US trade office adds Amazon, Argentina, Chile to 'notorious markets' list

01-05-2020 12:50 US adds five of Amazon’s overseas operations, Chile and Argentina to its list of “notorious markets’’ where pirated goods are sold. E-commerce giant dismissed the move as part of the Trump administration's “personal vendetta'' against it.

TAX TALKS

France, United States agree to expand discussions on digital tax

21-01-2020 15:32 Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Donald Trump agree to extend till the end of the year negotiations on a dispute over a French tax targeting online giants, postponing Washington's threat of sanctions.

Bloomberg

Argentina’s Ualá app gets US$1-billion valuation in new financing round

26-11-2019 11:47 The mobile payments startup plans to use the funds to triple its team to over 500 employees by the end of next year, expand its loans product, and develop new business units.

ARGENTINE PONTIFF

Pope demands tech companies prevent kids from viewing porn

14-11-2019 12:45 Pope says tech companies should assume a moral responsibility to protect young people from what he said were the ruinous effects of pornography on their emotional and sexual development.