Make America Transparent Again

Twitter disclosed its suspension for some of the 201 accounts linked to Russian-backed Facebook pages during the 2016 presidential election. The site also received over $274K in ad revenue from Russian broadcaster RT. Although this provides some answers to the questions surrounding the election, lawmakers are still pushing for greater transparency from internet platforms. Similar to Facebook, Twitter has been criticized for its role in the election. Twitter’s public policy team wrote that they “welcome the opportunity to work with the FEC and leaders in Congress to review and strengthen guidelines for political advertising on social media.” (Source: Wall Street Journal & Variety)

 

Canada: A Netflix Original

Yesterday, Netflix announced its plan for the company’s first permanent partnership outside the U.S. This $400 million investment will encourage innovation in the digital realm and offer English as well as French productions. “[This] announcement affirms there’s more to come as Netflix launches Netflix Canada, our permanent production presence in Canada,” Netflix’s chief content officer, Ted Sarandos, said. “We look forward to continuing our work with Canadian talent, producers, broadcaster, and other local partners to create Netflix originals in Canada for many years to come.” Talk aboot a game changer, eh? Oui. (Source: The Verge)

 

Back to Black

BlackBerry is back and better than ever. Under the direction of CEO John Chen, BlackBerry has resurfaced as a software company focused on security. While BlackBerry may have tanked as a phone company, its last quarterly earnings reported $249 million in revenue, shocking analysts. Chen told CNBC that there could be bumps along the road, but one thing’s for sure: BlackBerry has redefined itself as a software guru, and its future is looking more sweet than sour. (Source: TechCrunch)