FAANG Report: Facebook takes down scores of US pages over fake news; Post Office to charge Amazon more

Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) said it has taken down more than 800 pages and accounts of spam and other postings that are part of its escalating battle against fake news ahead of the US midterm elections next month, a corporate blog post by the company said.

“We have a policy banning coordinated inauthentic behavior – networks of accounts or pages working to mislead others about who they are, and what they are doing,” the post by Facebook head of Cybersecurity Policy Nathaniel Gleicher and Product Manager Oscar Rodriguez said.

“This year, we’ve enforced this policy against many pages, groups and accounts created to stir up political debate, including in the US, the Middle East, Russia and the UK. But the bulk of the inauthentic activity we see on Facebook is spam that’s typically motivated by money, not politics,” they said.

The breakdown is 559 pages and 251 accounts, the blog post said.

Facebook has come under fire for not doing enough to combat fake news.

Its stock was down 0.37% to trade at $152.78 by midsession. 

READ: Facebook says hacking attack hit almost 50 million accounts

Alphabet Inc’s Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) may get into trouble with the US federal government over its failure to disclose a bug in its social media platform, Google Plus, that exposed the data of 500,000 users, a report by Slate said.

Google has its very own set of federal guidelines that it’s supposed to follow. The Federal Trade Commission, the agency that deals with consumer-protection issues, slapped the search giant with a consent decree in 2011 after it found that Google had mishandled user data on an earlier social media project called Buzz.

What’s unclear is whether Google violated this decree and could, therefore, face some expensive consequences. Google could be fined up to $16,000 per day per individual violation. With 500,000 users affected over two days, that could add up to about $16 billion, though it’s unlikely the FTC would charge the fine in full, the report said.

Google shares rose 1.9% to $1,099.91.

After a recent furor over Chinese spying, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) will remain as the only company producing chips for Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), a report by Apple Insider said.

The relative lack of processor producers who work at the 7-nanometer level means there is little competition for TSMC in the field, aside from Samsung.

TSMC continues to be a major supplier despite efforts by Samsung to become one of Apple’s A-series suppliers once again. Samsung was once the exclusive A-series manufacturer for Apple, but as competition and legal battles between it and Apple intensified, orders migrated over to TSMC, who now enjoys a near monopoly position in supplying the chips, the report explained.

Apple shares increased 2.2% to $219.24.

READ: Amazon shares plunge on Trump’s blistering attack, tech rout

The US Post Office wants to charge retailing giant Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) more, a report by CNBC said. Higher postal charges are something that US President Donald Trump has long demanded against a company whose owner Jeff Bezos owns the Washington Post newspaper which is critical of Trump.

The Postal Service has proposed a 9% to 12% increase in fees for the shipping service used by Amazon. The USPS proposed a 9.3% increase on this service for packages weighing over one pound and a 12.3% increase on lighter packages.

A USPS spokesperson said the proposed changes are not a response to Trump’s criticism. If regulators approve the changes, they will go into effect on January 27, 2019.

Amazon stock climbed 2.9% to $1,769.

A pair of research reports were issued on Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NFLX), with one upgrading the stock and the other cutting its price target, reports by MarketWatch said.

The first report by Citi upgraded Netflix to Buy from Neutral while maintaining its price target of $375. It said the stock’s recent sell-off is an opportunity for investors to own a company with an attractive upside potential.

The second report by Stifel cut the price target to $395 from $406 while maintaining a buy rating. The price target was cut mainly because of foreign exchange movements that may affect company earnings.

Netflix will be reporting results next week.

The shares surged 4.7% to $336.18 Friday afternoon.

Reporting by Rene Pastor, contactable on [email protected] 

Story by ProactiveInvestors