Cecilia Kang

For Facebook, April 10, 2018 is being seen as a kind of dreaded final exam. That’s when Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s chief executive, will swap out his trademark gray T-shirts for a suit and tie, and embark on a two-day marathon of testimony on Capitol Hill. His goal? To apologize for Facebook’s missteps, reassure Congress that Facebook intends to stop foreign powers from using its service to meddle in American elections and detail the company’s plans to better protect its users’ privacy.

The head of Turner Broadcasting pushed back against one of the central arguments of the government’s case to block the AT&T and Time Warner merger, saying that his company’s channels would not be used as a weapon against rivals if the deal went through. The Justice Department has argued that Turner, which is owned by Time Warner, owns “must-have” channels like CNN and TNT that the merged company would use as leverage in negotiations with other cable and satellite TV operators.

Would the combination of AT&T and Time Warner hurt consumers or help them? 

Politics have been at the center of the public debate about the Justice Department’s lawsuit to block AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of Time Warner. But the trial itself, starting later in March, is shaping up to be a fight focused on classic issues in antitrust law.  In court filings on March 9, the Justice Department and AT&T laid out the arguments that they plan to make in the trial. Regulators will argue that the deal will hurt competition and lead to higher prices.

As the United States and China look to protect their national security needs and economic interests, the fight between the two financial superpowers is increasingly focused on a single area: technology. The fight over technology is redefining the rules of engagement in an era when national security and economic power are closely intertwined. China, under President Xi Jinping, has launched an ambitious plan to dominate mobile technology, supercomputers, artificial intelligence and other cutting-edge industries, putting huge resources behind an effort that it considers crucial to the country’

Being at the forefront of a new technology often provides a strategic advantage. That helps explain why there is so much scrapping now by companies and countries over a next wave of wireless technology known as 5G.

Sinclair remains locked in a prolonged battle with Justice Department antitrust officials over how many stations it must sell to get their approval to buy Tribune Media. It is latest cloud over Sinclair’s $3.9 billion deal, coinciding with an internal investigation underway at the Federal Communications Commission into the agency’s relationship with the company. At issue is how much power Sinclair, the country’s largest broadcaster, will have over local media markets and national television audiences.

AT&T is seeking to put the head of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division on its witness list in a trial over the government’s decision to block the phone giant’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner. The company is requesting that the antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, testify in the trial, which is scheduled to begin March 19. AT&T has also asked for internal communications between the Delrahim’s office and Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to two people with knowledge about company’s demands.

Tech policy officials from the Obama administration and from Hillary Clinton’s campaign, as well as prominent Democrats in Congress, are demanding changes from companies they had long viewed as too important and nimble for regulations.  “Democrats and progressives still strongly feel that there are shared values with Silicon Valley, but there is also a real concern over the industry’s increasingly concentrated wealth and power,” said Daniel Sepulveda, an ambassador and deputy assistant secretary at the State Department for the Obama administration.

A false alert sent to cellphones across Hawaii on Saturday warning of an incoming ballistic missile is calling attention to an emergency notification system that government officials at all levels say needs major improvements. The Federal Communications Commission said it was opening a “full investigation into what happened.” Sen Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) praised FCC Chairman Ajit Pai for moving swiftly to address the mistake. FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel also expressed concern about the system’s failure.