FAANG Report: Amazon under fire over bribery claims; Google admits changing phone settings remotely

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) is investigating claims employees accepted bribes in return for leaking confidential sales data, deleting negative reviews and restoring banned accounts, a report by the BBC said.

The report quoted the Wall Street Journal that the range of bribery payments was from US$80 to US$2,000 and that the practice was particularly “pronounced in China.”

Amazon said it had “zero tolerance” for the abuse of its systems and pledged to take swift action against sellers on its site who engaged in this behavior, “including terminating their selling accounts, deleting reviews, withholding funds and taking legal action.”

Shares of Amazon dropped 2.55% to US1,920.

FAANG Report:Amazon denies poor work conditions as stock hits US$2K; Facebook sorry on Holocaust picture

Alphabet Inc’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) admitted changing phone settings remotely without the consent of users and has apologized as a result, a BBC report said.

Android phone users had noticed that the battery saver setting was remotely activated and this affects how often apps update and work in the background. Google went to discussion site Reddit to explain it was conducting an internal test that was “mistakenly” rolled out more widely, the report said.

The affected devices appeared to be running the Android Pie operating system.

Google shares were lower by 1.15% to US$1,159. 

Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) is rolling out additional and pricier AppleCare protection options which include monthly plans and theft and loss protection for its new, bigger iPhones, according to a report by USA Today.

The new plans can guard against higher repair and replacement costs. For the new iPhone XS and XS Max, AppleCare with theft and loss protection is US$299 for two years of coverage, US$100 more than the company’s standard extended warranty plan that protects phones from accidental damage and defects, the report said.

The deductible for theft or loss is US$269 for these top models, which is comparable to insurance offered by carriers.

Apple shares fell 1.67% to US$220.10.

READ: Apple introduces three new super-powered iPhones and upgraded Apple Watch in Hollywood-style show

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said it is rolling out a disaster response tool called Community Help for the Facebook Lite app, a report by Forbes said.

Community Help enables users to share updates, communicate with others and find shelters during a crisis. And Community Help will be available on Facebook Lite across 100 countries, the report explained.

Separately, a research note by Oppenheimer Equity Research said on Monday the social networking giant is hiring chip engineers and designing at least one ASIC. “We have a chip we’re building, but it’s not our primary focus,” said Jason Taylor, vice president of infrastructure at Facebook.

Shares of Facebook lost 1.4% to US$160.05, 

Plans by Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) to deploy ads to promote its original content may backfire because a study showed that up to a quarter of its subscribers may abandon the video streaming service if it runs ads, a report by CNBC said.

Netflix had planned to spend more than US48bn this year on more than 700 original shows.

A study conducted by Hub entertainment Research said almost a quarter (23%) of consumers would cancel their subscription if ads showed up on Netflix. Less than half would definitely or probably keep Netflix even with ads, the study said.

Netflix shares declined 2.2% to US$356.55. 

Story by ProactiveInvestors