Slack’s earnings were fine, but lacked the explosive growth their valuation needed. Understanding Slack’s past and future product-market fit explains why. Then, the real problem with the FTC’s fine of YouTube is a lack of transparency.
Why Cloudflare Matters, The Absence of Gatekeepers, Promotion Versus Moderation
More on moderation, including why Cloudflare is important systematically, a reminder that there are no more gatekeepers, which means moderation is always reactive, and why Facebook and YouTube still deserve the most scrutiny.
Google’s Earnings, Amazon’s Earnings
Google’s earnings came with the usual dearth of information, although it appears that Google Cloud is growing more than expected. AWS growth, meanwhile, is definitely slowing as Amazon’s business broadly is running out of low-hanging fruit.
Delrahim’s Speech on Tech and Antitrust; Tech and Antitrust, Updated; YouTube and Instagram’s Scale Defense
The Department of Justice antitrust chief gave a speech yesterday that should make tech nervous, particularly Google and Facebook. Then, why Google and Facebook’s scale defense is not sufficient.
Tech and Antitrust
A review of the potential antitrust cases against Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon suggests that only Google is vulnerable.
Google Fights Back
At Google I/O, Google was the opposite of defensive: the company set out to make the case that its approach made for better products that makes people’s lives better
Disney and the Future of TV
TV is moving from a world where distribution dictates business models to one where business models need to fit the jobs consumers want done. That is the best way to understand Disney’s latest announcement.
A Regulatory Framework for the Internet
Regulators need to stop blindly regulating “the Internet” and instead understand that every part of the Internet stack is different, and only one part is suffering from market failure.
The Wall Street Journal and Apple News, The Problem with Regulating Content, Australia’s Terrible New Law
Why the Wall Street Journals’ deal with Apple isn’t so bad, and how that applies to YouTube. Plus, why content regulation isn’t workable, and a review of Section 230. Then, Australia passes a truly terrible law.
YouTube and Toxic Videos, YouTube’s Problematic Incentives, Sins of Omission and Commission
YouTube is undergoing the same scrutiny as Facebook, and is arguably even more to blame. The problem is not simply sins of omission (not finding bad content) but sins of commission (actively promoting it).