1. Yelp Takes a Stand Against Google
Google is a dominant force in search engine land, especially since their brand name is officially the online search tool verb in the Oxford English Dictionary. However, Yelp isn’t backing down without a fight. After years of filing an antitrust lawsuit against Google, they are renewing the lawsuit and building an advocacy campaign around targeting Google employees and how their business decisions pull traffic from smaller sites. The campaign states: “The web has a rich, competitive offering of services to help answer such a question, yet Google gives itself exclusive access to the prime real estate of the page. By doing this, users are worse off.” Wonder if they googled that?
(Source: The Hustle & Axios)
2. Trump Gets a Slap on the Wrist
President Donald Trump is officially vetoed from blocking users for their political views on Twitter. According to the First Amendment, Trump isn’t allowed to block critics since everyone has a right to petition. Since Trump’s account is considered a public forum, the White House is technically violating the First Amendment, even though the blocked individuals can still access the president’s tweets. It’s no secret that Trump is vocal on Twitter and lucky for him, his tweets will be preserved by the US National Archives for our great-great-great grandchildren to see.
(Source: NBC News)
3. Netflix Worth More than Disney
Yesterday, Netflix was worth more than Disney. Its market value reached an all-time high of $152.6B, while Disney’s stock fell 1% and now has a market value of $151.8B. Disney has been trying to compete in online video marketing, with their ESPN+ rollout last month and intent to launch a Disney-branded streaming service next year. However, Netflix is still in its early stages of becoming the front-runner. “Netflix will face varying levels of competition… but its content scale should allow it to become the dominant streaming player in virtually all markets,” said Bank of America Director Nat Schindler.
(Source: CNBC)
Monday is Memorial Day! Some of us will be celebrating this weekend and the rest of us will contribute to Netflix’s net worth. See you Wednesday!
