Dear Studio Fam,
As we approach the spiritual end of summer, tech news continues to revolve around legal challenges to Big Tech. Our first story involves the first major arrest of a prominent technology leader for failing to cooperate with the government. Our second story involves another court loss for TikTok that might also spell doom for other social media companies. We’ve also got coverage of a conflict between NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX, and a summary of obstacles Amazon has faced in bringing gen AI features to Alexa.
Feedback? hello@buildwithstudio.com
Telegram Founder Arrested In France
Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging app Telegram, was arrested and charged by French authorities for failing to prevent thousands of instances of criminal activity on the Telegram app. The charges revolve around Durov’s refusal to assist French authorities’ to access the messages of suspected drug and sex traffickers, among other criminals. Telegram has refused to “register its encryption services with the state,” which some security analysts equate with granting “backdoor access” to Telegram’s systems. A French warrant for Durov’s arrest was outstanding for months yet the CEO still chose to go to France, indicating he has a plan to defend the charges.
TikTok Loses Section 230 Defense Argument
The success of the Internet is often attributed to an obscure section of a 1996 law, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which shields tech companies from liability for the content created by their users. As the lines between communication, broadcast, and editorial were blurred by social media and algorithmic content recommendations, Courts have generally sided with big tech companies when interpreting Section 230, until now. The case involves a young girl who died after reenacting a dangerous video she was repeatedly recommended to watch by TikTok. Her parents’ are free to pursue a wrongful death lawsuit against TikTok, the judge ruled, because using an algorithm to recommend content is not third-party speech. If the decision is upheld, it could have far reaching implications for YouTube, Instagram, and any other social media product that uses algorithms to recommend content.
NASA Selects SpaceX To Rescue Stranded Astronauts
Once upon a time, astronauts stranded in space was a big news story. Unfortunately for the two astronauts stuck on the International Space Station, the news has mostly been about the company responsible for stranding them there, Boeing. Due to malfunctions in the Boeing Starliner capsule, NASA decided to strand astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams on the ISS for months until Boeing rival SpaceX could ready its more reliable Dragon capsule to retrieve them. The decision is not sitting well with Boeing engineers, who claim their Starliner capsule is safe and that NASA is being overly cautious.
Claude To Power Amazon Alexa AI
Amazon previewed the next version of Alexa last year, promising an upgrade to its conversational abilities powered by generative AI. However due to problems scaling its own proprietary models, Amazon decided to power the new Alexa AI assistant with the Claude model from Anthropic. Reuters reports Amazon hopes to launch the new version of Alexa this October (no doubt to follow Apple’s introduction of the AI-enhanced Siri coming next month) and using Anthropic’s technology was the only way to meet the deadline.