Shopify crosses $1 billion in sales, Apple successfully overturns jury verdict on a patent dispute, the FTC condemns Facebook over blocking researchers.
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It’s all the tech news that’s trending right now, welcome to Hashtag Trending. It’s Monday, August 9, and I’m your host, Tom Li.
Canadian e-commerce company Shopify crossed the $1 billion sales mark last quarter. The company, born in Ottawa, saw a 57 per cent increase in sales year-over-year. Shopify saw explosive growth during the COVID-19 pandemic when shops transitioned to selling online. But now that countries are easing restrictions, Shopify saw another boost in sales as its solutions also help manage in-person shopping. The recent announcement marks Shopify’s fifth consecutive profitable quarter.
Up next, Apple successfully persuaded a federal judge to throw out a $308 million suit it lost over a patent dispute. The tech giant was locked in a legal battle with Personalized Media Communications LLC, a privately-held licensing firm that alleged an iTunes feature infringed upon its patents. Although the jury sided with the PMC, further investigation confirmed that PMC had deliberately delayed its patent filing, which is a tactic to get a bigger payout.
Finally, in a previous episode of Hashtag Trending, we talked about how Facebook blocked researchers from New York University for allegedly violating its terms of service. Facebook said that the researchers collected user data without their consent for a political ad study, citing a privacy consent agreement by the Federal Trade Commission. Now, the FTC has rebuffed the claim. In an email to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the FTC wrote that “its consent decree does not bar Facebook from creating exceptions for good faith research.” Moreover, the FTC said it supports efforts to shed light on “opaque business practices” around “surveillance-based advertising.”
That’s all the tech news that’s trending right now. Hashtag Trending is a part of the ITWC Podcast network. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home daily briefing. Make sure to sign up for our Daily IT Wire Newsletter to get all the news that matters directly in your inbox every day. Also, catch the next episode of Hashtag Tendances, our weekly Hashtag Trending episode in French, which drops every Friday at 3 pm. Thanks for listening, I’m Tom Li.