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Big Tech companies made headlines this week as they not only provided updates to investors, but also appeared in Senate hearings where they were forced to discuss their failure to protect children online.
In a Senate hearing, Mark Zuckerberg, a key figure at Meta, was singled out for his company’s lax stance on protecting children online. Sen. Lindsey Graham, the committee’s top Republican, accused Zach of having “blood on his hands” for Mehta’s inability to protect young people.
During the hearing, Mr. Zuckerberg went off script and directly apologized to the families of children who were victims of sexual exploitation on social media platforms. It remains to be seen whether that will be enough to prevent U.S. politicians from taking decisive action against Facebook’s parent company and its competitors.
It’s been a busy week on Wall Street, with many of America’s largest companies reporting fourth-quarter results, including Microsoft and Google.
After staying in big tech for a while, Amazon has scrapped a €1.4 billion deal to acquire iRobot, the company behind the Roomba, amid a clash with EU regulators.
Separately, a lawsuit brought against the social media platform by a senior Twitter employee based in Dublin has been settled, the High Court heard on Thursday.
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It marked the end of an era for businessman Dennis O’Brien, who has finally stepped down from Digicel this week after completing a reorganization.
Ireland is now the fastest growing market for Bank, as the Dutch neobank announced a profit of €53.1 million in 2023. The fintech, which owns Irish specialist finance company Capital Flow, said it had reached a profit for the first time and that Irish savers were saving an astonishing amount. That’s 1 million euros per day.
VisionR, an Irish startup that uses AI to provide brick-and-mortar retailers with the same data analytics as e-commerce companies, currently tracks more than 300 million consumers annually around the world. The company has confirmed that it has secured an additional €900,000 from existing investors.
This week, mobility software company CitySwift and e-bike startup Moby also announced pay increases. Elsewhere, Irish life sciences VC firm Serova announced the final close of its latest fund at €123 million.
Northern Ireland family-run IT support and logistics company EOS IT Solutions has announced it will create up to 100 jobs over the next two years after securing a $100 million credit guarantee.
Irish consumers were defrauded of €8.6 million by criminals operating fraudulent websites in the first half of last year, new figures reveal.
PayPal announced Thursday that it has proposed cutting more than 200 jobs from its Irish workforce in its latest round of global job cuts. HR tech company Personio is also laying off a number of staff locally.
And finally. Hug Swiftie tightly! TikTok remains at odds with Universal Music Group, the world’s largest record label, after contract negotiations over a new licensing deal broke down. As a result, UMG has removed music from its platform, with Taylor Swift among the artists whose songs have been removed. Let’s hope the situation is resolved soon. Otherwise, it will be a brutal summer for everyone.
all the best,
charlie
Apple Pro is amazing, but who will buy it? (New York Times)
Inside Taylor Swift’s deepfake scandal (The Guardian)