| | | | | | | Presented By Axonius | | | | Axios Login | | By Ina Fried · Jun 14, 2022 | | I'm on the East Coast, which means one thing is certain: staying up late to watch sports. ⚡️ Situational awareness: In a blog post, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that the company would reduce its headcount by 18%. Today's newsletter is 1,150 words, a 4 1/2-minute read. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Antitrust-bill fight moves to media battleground |  | | | Photo courtesy of HBO | | | | As a tough antitrust bill aimed at clipping Big Tech's wings gains headway in Congress, supporters and opponents are battling in the media, hoping to sway the public, Ashley Gold reports. Driving the news: John Oliver devoted an entire segment to Big Tech and pending antitrust bills in Congress Sunday night on his HBO show, "Last Week Tonight." - A YouTube video of Oliver's antitrust segment has so far drawn 1.7 million views.
- That follows a $25 million TV ad blitz by tech lobbyists urging Americans not to support the bills.
What they're saying: In Oliver's signature style, he made an impassioned argument in favor of two bills, saying they would "crack open innovation." - Oliver used talking points and research long touted by pro-antitrust advocates to urge people to support the American Innovation and Choice Online Act and the Open App Markets Act.
- "The problem with letting a few companies control whole sectors of our economy is that it limits what is possible by startups," Oliver said. "An innovative app or website or startup may never get off the ground because it could be surcharged to death, buried in search results or ripped off completely."
How it works: The Innovation and Choice Online bill would ban Big Tech companies from favoring their own services in an anticompetitive way. - Under it, Amazon could not preference its in-house label products over third-party sellers and Google could not surface its reviews over others in search results. Apple would have to loosen its grip on the App Store.
- Tech companies have long maintained that their services, platforms and app stores are open, fair and designed to protect users' privacy and security.
Why it matters: As antitrust-bill supporters reached a mainstream HBO audience, defenders of Big Tech say their media campaign has made a difference among voters. - TV advertising against the Innovation and Choice bill has changed minds, according to research from the Don't Break What Works campaign shared exclusively with Axios.
- That campaign, funded by the Computer & Communications Industry Association, warns people of a future where Amazon Prime is no longer available and cellphones are riddled with security holes.
- A mid-March phone survey of 2,000 people in Georgia, Arizona, New Hampshire and Nevada, taken before and after CCIA's $25 million campaign launched, showed support for the Innovation and Choice bill dropped among voters 8 points since the ads launched, and opposition increased 7 points.
Flashback: Antitrust advocates were quick to draw comparisons between Oliver's Sunday segment and celebrated shows he presented on net neutrality in 2014 and 2017. - Those spurred people to contact the Federal Communications Commission about passing rules to enshrine the concept into law.
- That was a turning point, advocates argue, and they're hoping history repeats itself for antitrust.
Yes, but: That was a long time ago, and the media landscape has changed. What to watch: Of several tech-related bills under consideration in Congress, the Innovation and Choice Online Act is widely viewed as having the best chance of success, and could see a floor vote in the next couple of weeks, Axios previously reported. - Its future is dim if it isn't passed soon and lawmakers turn their attention to the approaching midterm elections.
|     | | | | | | 2. Congress takes another swing at online privacy rules |  | | | Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios | | | | Lawmakers are making a major push on passing privacy legislation as the clock ticks down toward the midterms, Margaret Harding McGill reports. Why it matters: Congress has remained stalled on crafting privacy protections, but the latest effort comes from key lawmakers who have the power to push a bill forward. Driving the news: The House Energy & Commerce Committee will debate privacy legislation — including the draft bill from Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), ranking member Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), and Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) — at a hearing Tuesday. - The trio's draft American Data Privacy and Protection Act would allow consumers to opt out of targeted advertising and require companies to minimize the data they collect, among other measures.
- Separately, Senate Commerce Committee Chairwoman Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has her own draft privacy bill.
Catch up, quick: Cantwell and Wicker negotiated for months on privacy legislation but ended 2019 with dueling privacy bills. - The latest effort is the first time lawmakers have reached a bipartisan, bicameral agreement on a comprehensive privacy proposal.
What they're saying: Apple CEO Tim Cook offered his support for a comprehensive federal privacy law in a letter to the lawmakers Friday, urging them to advance something. - "We recognize that there are outstanding issues to be resolved, but the areas of agreement appear to far outweigh the differences," Cook wrote in the letter. "Your drafts would provide substantial protections for consumers, and we write to offer our strong support towards achieving this shared goal."
The other side: Cook's show of support came after the U.S. Chamber of Commerce circulated a draft letter opposing the bill, calling it "unworkable." The draft letter has not been finalized or sent. | | | | | | | | 3. Great crypto meltdown gets even hotter |  | | | Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios | | | | According to CoinMarketCap, the overall market cap of the cryptocurrency market has fallen below a trillion dollars, Axios Crypto's Brady Dale writes. Flashback: When Axios Crypto launched on April 4, the market cap was $2.1 trillion. Driving the news: The recent numbers seem to correspond to a general move to shed risk in light of brutal inflation numbers. - Bitcoin's previous all-time high was $69,044.77 on November 10, according to CoinGecko. As of this writing, it's down 66%.
- Ether's previous all-time high was $4,878.26, on the same day. It's down 75% as of today.
The rest of the market follows these two, and basically every coin that's not a stablecoin is down right now. Monday's drops were heralded by a Sunday night announcement by crypto lender Celsius that it was pausing all "withdrawals, Swap, and transfers between accounts," citing extreme market conditions, as Axios' Ryan Lawler and Lucinda Shen of Axios Pro Fintech Deals report (sign up). Why it matters: It's a harsh reminder that with many new crypto service providers, there's no assurance that assets will remain safe even as they use familiar terms like "lender." Between the lines: Celsius — along with the rest of the crypto lending industry — was already under watch by the SEC, and this event is likely to draw more scrutiny. Read the rest | | | | | | | | A message from Axonius | | How to navigate the complexity of SaaS management | | |  | | | | SaaS adoption is skyrocketing. Okay, but: With all the benefits of SaaS come challenges, too. Gaining visibility, monitoring spend and managing licenses can feel complicated — impossible, even. A modern approach to SaaS management can help. Here's how. | | | | | | 4. Take note | | Trading Places - Digital infrastructure company Equinix named Hewlett Packard Enterprise CTO Fidelma Russo and Cisco executive VP Jeetu Patel to its board of directors.
- Netflix has hired longtime Electronic Arts finance executive Ken Barker to be its principal accounting officer. Those duties had been handled previously by Spencer Neumann, who remains Netflix's chief financial officer.
ICYMI - Microsoft and the Communications Workers of America announced a neutrality pact allowing employees to decide without interference whether they wish to form a union. With the agreement, the CWA now supports Microsoft's planned Activision Blizzard acquisition. (Axios)
| | | | | | | | 5. After you Login | | Hat's off to Pip Kay, who insisted on having a slide installed when she rebuilt her New Zealand home. | | | | | | | | A message from Axonius | | It's time to rethink how we approach SaaS management | | |  | | | | SaaS adoption is growing like crazy, and it's creating more complexity for IT and security teams. What this means: Our existing approaches that SaaS management struggle to solve are becoming even more complicated. The best path forward? Take a new, more modern approach. Learn how. | | |  | It's called Smart Brevity®. Over 200 orgs use it — in a tool called Axios HQ — to drive productivity with clearer workplace communications. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. If you're interested in advertising, learn more here.
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