Twitter Abandons Policy to Prevent Covid Misinformation; China Creates Consortium to Design New Semiconductor Chips

by Hannah Dillon on 30th Nov 2022 in News

In today's ExchangeWire news digest: Twitter quietly abandons its policy to prevent the spread of Covid misinformation; China enlists tech giants Alibaba and Tencent to develop new semiconductor designs against US chip sanctions; and Google and iHeartMedia agree to pay USD$9.4m (~£7.8m) to settle deceptive endorsement claims.

Twitter drops policy preventing Covid misinformation

Twitter has quietly abandoned its policy to prevent the posting of false or misleading content about Covid-19 on the platform.

The policy had meant that tweets containing incorrect information about the virus could be labelled and have corrective information attached to them. It also meant that tweets including misinformation deemed to be dangerous could be deleted and the posters’ Twitter account temporarily suspended.

China calls on Alibaba and Tencent to produce semiconductor chips

Tech giants Alibaba and Tencent have been enlisted by Chinese authorities to design semiconductor chips as the country prepares for additional sanctions from the US.

The Chinese government has created a consortium of companies, which also includes the Chinese Academy of Science, who are tasked with developing new chip technology. The move falls under broader attempts from Beijing to reduce its dependence on SoftBank-owned Arm, whose technology is utilised by the majority of semiconductors globally.

Google and iHeartMedia settle deceptive endorsement claims

Google and iHeartMedia have agreed to pay out USD$9.4m (~£7.8m) to settle allegations the companies used misleading endorsements from radio personalities to promote Google’s Pixel 4 phones.

The allegations were brought against the two firms by the US Federal Trade Commission and seven state attorney generals, who have also prohibited Google and iHeartMedia from making similar misrepresentations in the future.