Apple’s App Tracking Transparency coming in early spring – TechCrunch Facebook Preps Antitrust Lawsuit Against Apple — The Information Apple's Tim Cook warns of adtech fuelling a 'social catastrophe' as he defends app tracker opt-in The cold war between Facebook and Apple continues, with Apple once again stating its App Transparency tools will soon prompt users about the amount of data being shared within apps.  The Information reports that Facebook has been working on an antitrust complaint against Apple, saying it is violating its own App Store policies by not including these warnings on its own suite of Apps, such as iMessage.  Apple CEO Tim Cook has hit back with harsh rhetoric - and while he didn't name facebook, he said “ad based social media companies” that “rely on constant engagement” are fueling a “Social catastrophe” of misinformation and social division.  Robinhood restricts trading in GameStop, other names involved in frenzy Robinhood Says It Will Reopen GameStop Trading While Wall Street tries to figure out what to do about GameStop’s sudden surge, the app responsible for many of the “retail investors” who’ve bought into the failing game store chain has halted trading of the stock.  Robinhood is a retail investor app, and it has been criticised in the past for using similar tactics of gambling apps, targeting young men with get rich quick promises.  Late last week, Robinhood suspended trading on Gamestop, Blackberry, Blockbuster, and other stocks caught up in the Wallstreetbets buying frenzy.  Angry redditors have flooded the App Store with 1 star reviews, complaining the app is blocking their attempts to throw good money on bad companies, to screw over a bunch of hedge funds.  NAB will buy 86 400 for up to $220 million, leaving Australia's neobank experiment looking shaky The market for neo-banks in Australia has reduced once more, following the news that NAB is buying 86 400, and rolling its technology into its own digital only banking product, UBank. NAB already had an 18% stake in the neobank, and will buy the remaining shares in a deal worth $220 million The deal will still need to be approved by regulators and shareholders.  86 400 is being acquired less than a month after neobank Xinja folded, handing back it’s banking licence and returning customers’ deposits.  If you are an 86 400 customer, day-to-day nothing changes and 86 400 will continue to operate as a separate business from NAB, run by its team in Sydney. Normally a $220 million exit for an Australian start-up would be considered a fantastic result. But this has an air of waving the white flag, and acknowledging that start-ups can’t take on the big four… yet.  https://amp.smh.com.au/business/companies/it-s-a-bad-deal-google-s-offer-to-pay-french-publishers-revealed-20210129-p56xr6.html?__twitter_impression=true And finally, the deal between French publishers and Google has been revealed, and the price sounds great to me, but it’s much less than the media companies in Australia are asking.  Google will be paying French publishers €90 million ($142 million) over three years to participate in Google News Showcase, it’s new bundled news product.  The biggest publishers will be taking a 25 euro cut.  This is a lot less than the $600 million Nine and Fairfax want annually. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp has said Google and Facebook owe them $1 billion annually.  Do you think Nine/Murdoch really expect these figures, or is this just the first over the top bid before bargaining?    See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.