FAANG Report: Amazon and Apple deny Chinese spy chips found in server; use Google to book cab rides

Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) denied reports that spy chips from China were found in server hardware they use, a report by USA Today said.

“At no time, past or present, have we ever found any issues relating to modified hardware or malicious chips in SuperMicro motherboards in any Elemental or Amazon systems. Nor have we engaged in an investigation with the government,” a blog post by Amazon said.

“On this we can be very clear: Apple has never found malicious chips, ‘hardware manipulations’ or vulnerabilities purposely planted in any server,” the company said in a statement.

The Bloomberg report claimed the goal of planting the chips was to secure long-term access to government networks and high-value corporate secrets by Beijing.

Amazon shares fell 2.64% to $1,901.14.

Apple shares declined 1.8% to $227.90. 

READ: Amazon raises minimum wage to $15 per hour as CEO Jeff Bezos admits critics of its pay scale were right

The stringent privacy laws of the European Union are making life harder for big technology companies such as Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB), coming as it does after the social media giant admitted hackers got the personal information of 50 million users, a report by The Economist said.

Facebook is likely to face more limits on how it uses data under the European Commission’s new rules for the digital realm and of its privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The attack on Facebook’s systems took place when hackers exploited three separate bugs to extract snippets of code which let them take control of accounts, the report said.

Facebook stock lost 2.7% to $157.99.

Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX) will be showing a series on Madam C.J. Walker, the first female self-made millionaire in the country, a report by USA Today said. 

Basketball star Lebron James and actress Octavia Spencer will serve as executive producers of the series.

Walker is the story of a black woman born to newly freed slaves who was orphaned at 7, and went from earning $1.50 as a washerwoman to running a business empire selling hair care products targeted at African-American women, the report said. The story has beguiled everyone from her neighbors to historians who wanted to chronicle her life.

Netflix stock tumbled 4% to $361.68.

READ: Facebook says hacking attack hit almost 50 million accounts

Alphabet Inc’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is rolling out a feature to Google Assistants that lets you book a cab ride on Uber or Lyft by using your voice, a report by CNBC said.

Until now, Google Maps users were able to select a destination and then choose Uber, Lyft, or one of several other services to take them somewhere. But it required some poking around Google Maps and typing in your destination.

Google has taken that and embedded its smart voice assistant. That means if you own a Google Home, an Android phone, or use the Google Assistant on an iPhone, you can ask for a ride anywhere by just using your voice, the report said.

Google shares lost 3.5% to $1,160.18.

Story by ProactiveInvestors