Marketplace Tech With Molly Wood

On the show today, Epic Games won its antitrust lawsuit against Google this week. What it means for the players and why the rest of Big Tech is watching. Plus, Netflix releases viewing data for its entire streaming catalog for the first time. What did we all watch? But first, it took 37 hours of negotiations for the European Union to pass what’s being called the world’s most ambitious law regulating artificial intelligence. Now the hard part: hashing out the details. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali is joined by Maria Curi, tech policy reporter at Axios, for her take on these stories.

Warning: This episode includes sensitive content about the sexualization of children. For several months now, reporters at The Wall Street Journal have been looking at the algorithms that recommend content on Meta’s platforms, specifically Facebook and Instagram. They’ve found that those algorithms promote child sexual abuse on a mass scale to users who show sexual interest in kids. Meta argues that it uses sophisticated technology, hires child-safety experts and reports content to help root predators out. But the problem persists, according to Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Blunt. She told Marketplace’s Lily Jamali what she learned by setting up test accounts, including some that followed young influencers on Instagram.

In software development, bugs in the code are inevitable. That’s why companies push out software updates so often. But there is a specific kind of bug that is especially worrisome, something called a “zero day.” It’s a bug no one knows about — not even the software company — so it hasn’t been patched and is vulnerable to hackers. Dina Temple-Raston, host of the podcast “Click Here,” has more on this story.

Since 1974, an international standard has governed the assignment of two-letter identification codes to every country and territory on Earth. When the internet came along, those codes were used in website domain names, and it didn’t take long before outside companies started using them too,  paying premiums for some particularly marketable codes. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with journalist Amy Thorpe about the profitable domain name marketplace.

Remember Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign from 2006? They featured actor Justin Long as the hip Mac computer personified in conversation with a noticeably less cool John Hodgman playing a PC. Seventeen years and plenty of tech releases later, it seems the stereotypes in those ads never really went away. Take, for example, a recent TikTok trend in which women respond to the question, “He’s a 10, but he has an Android phone. What’s his new rating?” For some, the answer is 1 or 0. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Brian Chen, personal tech columnist at The New York Times, about “green bubble shaming.”

On today’s Tech Bytes: Google launches its AI tool Gemini into the public arena — finally. Plus, ousted congressman George Santos becomes a star on Cameo. But first, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek said the music streaming giant is cutting 17% of its workforce. Here’s the thing, though: The size of Spotify’s user base is actually growing right now. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali is joined by Anita Ramaswamy, columnist at Reuters Breakingviews, for her take on these stories.

If you use the internet, you have undoubtedly been asked to consent to cookies. They remember our log-in information and also track things like what we’re reading and buying. Trying to avoid cookies can feel pretty pointless and exhausting to the point where privacy experts have named the phenomenon “consent fatigue.” Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke to Matt Schwartz, policy analyst for Consumer Reports, about how we got here.

For years, Facebook, now renamed Meta, has offered a code called pixel to businesses. By embedding pixel on their websites, those businesses can collect information on users, then target them with ads on Meta’s social media platforms. The investigative news website The Markup has been looking into how some of the personal information pixel gathers is shared back with the tech giant. Meta says its policies make clear that advertisers should not send sensitive information about customers through its business tools. But Colin Lecher, co-author of a new Markup investigation, is reporting that students are among those the pixel code tracks.

Last week, a Virgin Atlantic passenger jet traveled from London to New York powered 100% by sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF.  The low-carbon fuel came from feedstock that included used cooking oil and waste animal fats. Critics call the flight a gimmick, and to be clear, right now SAF makes up a tiny slice of the fuels airlines use to get us places. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Louise Burke, an energy analyst and vice president of business development at Argus Media, who says that could change.

When Section 702 became law in 2008, the intelligence community argued collecting phone calls, texts, and emails of people outside of the U.S. could protect against terrorism. But the communications of many Americans have also been collected, all without the required warrants. Now, Section 702 is set to expire at the end of the month. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of liberty and national security at the Brennan Center for Justice, about what members of Congress are considering as they decide whether to extend Section 702.

On today’s Tech Bytes: apologies, profanity and accusations of blackmail. It’s just another week in the life of Elon Musk. Plus, ultra-fast-fashion retailer Shein confidentially files for an IPO and seems to be trying to bolster its image.  But first, one year ago this week, OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public for the first time. Within five days of its launch, ChatGPT already had one million users. From writing holiday menus to college essays to wedding vows, ChatGPT has been there.  Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Natasha Mascarenhas, reporter for The Information, for her take on the week’s tech news.

This time of year, companies tend to open their wallets and choose where they choose to advertise. Those ad dollars are the lifeblood of X, the former Twitter. In the last quarter of 2021, almost 90% of Twitter’s revenue came from ads. That business model was already showing signs of wear after when Elon Musk took over. Now, as the Israel-Hamas war rages on, a new controversial post by Musk has accelerated the flight of advertisers. New York Times journalist Ryan Mac spoke with Marketplace’s Lily Jamali about how the fallout of fleeing advertisers could affect the platform.

This week, TikTok parent ByteDance said it’s retreating from mainstream video games altogether. Earlier this year, Epic Games, the maker of Fortnite, a game that has had more than 400 million “unique registered users” since its 2017 launch, announced hundreds of layoffs as well. They’re just some examples of the wave of layoffs hitting game companies around the globe. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Los Angeles Times reporter Sarah Parvini, who covers the video game sector. In a piece just last week, she wrote that the industry is deep in downsizing mode.

From being your own boss to doing work you actually like, the perks of influencer life have drawn in plenty of creators to an industry valued at $250 billion. Take Sid Raskind, whose goofy lifehacks have earned him millions of followers on TikTok and Instagram. Still, Yanely Espinal, host of the podcast “Financially Inclined,” told Marketplace’s Lily Jamali that younger would-be creators should understand what it takes to make it.

Despite half the world’s population being female, there are still few technologies on the market to help manage the symptoms of menopause. Why is there a reluctance to invest in “menotech,” and is that changing? The BBC’s Elizabeth Hotson looked into the menotech products on the market and how the industry is evolving.

This week, the shakeups and confusion at OpenAI have come to a conclusion. Sam Altman returns to his position as CEO at OpenAI after its board fired him, which upset most of the company’s staff as well as others invested in OpenAI’s work in the generative artificial intelligence sector. Plus, Ryan Vogt resigned as CEO of the driverless tech startup Cruise, following a series of traffic collisions and accidents. On top of all that, Changpeng Zhao, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Binance, pleaded guilty to money laundering violations. What do venture capitalists think about all these disruptions and where will their money go now? Marketplace’s Lily Jamali is joined by Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital, for her take on those stories.

For the most part, it’s not too hard to get access to movies from the last decade or even the last century. But if you want to experience a video game from before, say, the ancient era of 2010? Good luck. A new report from the Video Game History Foundation and the Software Preservation Network finds that 87% of those older games are “critically endangered.” They’re not commercially available to the public unless fans have dozens of different old systems to play them on or travel to an archive in person and play them there. In other words, the roots of this hugely influential artistic and cultural medium are in danger of being lost. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Phil Salvador, library director for the Video Game History Foundation, about the report.

Do you remember what your dream job was as a kid? We’re guessing that “YouTuber” was not on the list. Well, turns out vlogger/YouTuber was the top career choice for almost 30% of 8-to-12-year-olds who were surveyed a few years back. And across the country, camps and afterschool programs are cropping up to teach them how. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz, who visited a content creator camp in Texas, where children edit video, write scripts and, generally, get a head start on becoming internet pros.

It’s been a chaotic few days for the folks at OpenAI, including now-former CEO Sam Altman. To recap, on Friday the company’s board announced it had let Altman go, citing a lack of confidence in his “ability to continue leading OpenAI.” Several staff members then resigned and hundreds of others threatened to do the same if Altman wasn’t reinstated as CEO. That option is pretty much moot now that Microsoft — a major OpenAI investor — has hired Altman to lead a new AI research team along with former President Greg Brockman, who resigned in solidarity. Marketplace’s Lily Jamali spoke with Reed Albergotti, tech editor at Semafor, about what the dramatic ouster was really all about.

By now you’ve heard that the trial of Sam Bankman-Fried is over. What was the verdict for the founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX? Guilty on all seven charges, including fraud, money laundering and campaign finance law violations. Bankman-Fried will be sentenced in the spring. So how is the world of bitcoin and the blockchain faring now that it’s most famous ambassador will likely end up behind bars? Marketplace’s Matt Levin spoke with Laura Shin, a journalist who covers crypto and host of the podcast “Unchained,” about how people in the cryptocurrency world have been reacting to the SBF trial and what crypto enthusiasts are choosing to focus on next.