FTI Consulting News Bytes – 25 February 2022

This week’s news

Is it time for Truth?

Following the ban of Donald Trump from Facebook, Twitter and YouTube earlier last year, the former president launched his own social media platform, Truth Social. The new platform which debuted in the US on Sunday night reportedly topped mobile downloads in Apple’s App Store. According to The Daily Mail, their attempt to open an account on Tuesday showed at least 372,378 places in line as users were being put on ‘waitlists’ to join the new social network. Despite numerous technical problems the app exhibited on the day, Truth Social describes itself as “America’s “Big Tent” social media platform that encourages an open, free, and honest global conversation without discriminating against political ideology.” It remains to be seen whether Mr Trump’s social media venture will live up to its promise, or fall into the trap of becoming yet another echo chamber platform.

TikTok maker’s recipe for success

ByteDance has become the most valuable start-up in the world and shattered records for growth. In 2021, with 1.9 billion monthly active users in 150 countries, the company recorded $58 billion in revenues. The company is mostly known by its hit short-video app TikTok, but ByteDance has other successful products including Toutiao, the most popular news app in China, and Douyin, a short-video app that preceded TikTok. An important contributing factor, Harvard Business Review argue, is its innovation strategy, which relies on a shared-service platform (SSP). It allowed the company to incubate rapidly and broadly and to scale efficiently. ByteDance is now exploring other product categories and is refining its strategy to be more suitable for its evolving organisational model and processes, but Harvard Business Review believe that its SSP-based innovation strategy is sure to play an important role.

The dark side of metaverse

An investigation by the BBC News sparked a new conversation about child safety online. Jess Sherwood, the BBC’s researcher who posed as a 13-year-old girl, was exposed to explicit content, grooming and sexual materials as she “entered” a virtual strip club on the VRChat app. As companies continue to chase what is coined to be the future of the Internet, recent regulatory developments remind that there is no room for oversight and neglect. The imminent Online Safety Bill is the latest effort to govern the Internet in the UK, calling for greater security and accountability. As the world’s quest for immersive virtual experiences continues, the BBC’s experience is a reminder that online safety is of vital importance.

Lack of AI standards

European governments are concerned by the lack of standards for artificial intelligence (AI) systems, which are needed to qualify whether tools meet market entry requirements, under a draft AI regulatory framework seen by MLex. The European Commission’s draft AI Act, presented last April, aims to impose tighter market-entry rules on what it calls high-risk applications, such as biometric systems. Systems would have to comply with certain standards on topics such as product safety. In comments gathered last month by French officials chairing inter-governmental talks, seen by MLex, national representatives asked whether such standards could be drafted on time. Delegates from Belgium believe that “it will take considerable effort for these to be finalized at the time of the entry into force of the regulation,” with Hungry echoing the concerns stating that “a timely working plan should be made available.” Other countries including Bulgaria, Slovenia and Poland asked for the participation of small and medium-sized companies in the consultation process to ensure that the standards for compliance will also be workable in practice for them.

EU’s take on Big Data

On Wednesday, the European Commission published its draft Data Act, outlining a set of new rules for data sharing. As the EU evolves its digital rulebook, the new proposed legislation will focus on commercial and industrial data, and “ensure that industrial data is shared, stored and processed in full respect of European rules.” The Data Act will also impact the way that European data is transferred to companies outside the EU’s jurisdiction, including the US and China. While the move might be seen as protectionist at its core, the European Commission hopes to foster innovation and empower consumers, with an estimated €270bn of additional GDP by 2028 for the EU27 generated by these new rules.

Top Tweets of the Week

• Phil Stewart, Military & Intelligence Correspondent at Reuters – Biden administration has prepared export controls to hit Russian companies with alleged military ties and deny Russians access to global technology, including electronics and computers.
• The New York Times – Who’s behind QAnon? Computer scientists say they have identified two men as its likely authors — including one of the first online commentators to call attention to the messages that shaped the viral movement.

Number of the Week

3bn – downloads of TikTok app globally

What’s happening next week?

• 28 February: Zoom Q4 results
• 28 February – 3 March: MWC Barcelona 2022
• 3 March: ITV FY results, LSEG FY results

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