Page 18 - PowerPoint

WORLD BUSINESS 17
THURSDAY JULY 26, 2018 • THEEDGE FINANCIAL DAILY

US airlines revise websites IN BRIEF

Twitter curbs access
to over 143,000 apps
in new crackdown
WASHINGTON: Twitter said on
Tuesday it had removed more

The move is to change how they refer to Taiwan to avoid Chinese penalties than 143,000 apps from the
messaging service since April
in a fresh crackdown on “ma-
BY DAVID SHEPARDSON talks on the matter, adding to ten- and city, but not the name Taiwan. American Airlines spokesman licious” activity from automat-
sion in relations already frayed by Taiwan’s foreign ministry yes- Shannon Gilson said the fi rm had ed accounts. The San Francis-

WASHINGTON: The three biggest US an escalating trade confl ict. terday said it “most severely” con- implemented the changes at China’s co-based social network said

airlines changed how they refer to Taiwan is China’s most sensitive demned the Chinese government’s request in line with other carriers. it was tightening access to its
self-ruled Taiwan on their websites in territorial issue. Beijing considers use of political power to “crudely “Air travel is global business, and we application programming in-
an effort to avoid Chinese penalties. the island a wayward province of and unreasonably interfere with abide by the rules in countries where terfaces that allow developers to

Beijing has demanded that for- “one China” . private commercial activity and in- we operate,” she said on Tuesday. make automated Twitter posts.

eign firms, and airlines in particular, Reuters reported early on Tuesday ternational companies’ operations” . Numerous non-US airlines in- “However, recognising the chal-
not refer to Taiwan as a non-Chi- that American Airlines Group Inc, It was unclear how China might cluding Air Canada, Lufthansa and lenges facing Twitter and the
nese territory on their websites, a Delta Air Lines and United Airlines punish airlines that do not comply, British Airways had already made public — from spam and ma-
move described by the White House were set to change how they refer to but in December it added a clause changes to their websites, accord- licious automation to surveil-
in May as “Orwellian nonsense” . Taiwanese airports on their websites. to rules governing foreign airlines ing to Reuters checks, after China’s lance and invasions of privacy
China set yesterday as a fi nal A check of all three airlines’ web- saying regulators could change a Civil Aviation Administration sent a — we are taking additional steps
deadline for the changes, and last sites yesterday morning showed they company’s permit if it did not meet letter to 36 foreign air carriers ear- to ensure that our developer
month rejected US requests for now only list Taipei’s airport code “the demand of public interest” . lier in the year. — Reuters platform works in service of the
overall health of conversation
on Twitter,” said Twitter senior
product management director
BRICS emerging Rob Johnson. — AFP

economies meet as Bitcoin platform
operator pleads guilty
to lying about hack
global trade war looms MANHATTAN: The operator of

two defunct cryptocurrency ser-
vices pleaded guilty to charges
that he stole his customers’ de-
JOHANNESBURG: Leaders of the President Cyril Ramaphosa on the posits and lied to investigators
BRICS emerging economies — Bra- eve of the gathering, saying that “the after hackers stole thousands of
zil, Russia, India, China and South Johannesburg summit has special bitcoins from the services. Jon E
Africa — were due to gather in Jo- significance for BRICS cooperation Montroll, 37, of Saginaw, Texas,

hannesburg yesterday for a three- in the new circumstances” . faces as long as 20 years in pris-
day meeting focused on the threat China this week sharply rejected on for securities fraud and ob-
of a US-led global trade war. accusations by Trump that it was struction of justice. While the US
US President Donald Trump’s hard- manipulating the yuan to give its Harley-Davidson bikes seen at the Hamburg Harley Days in Germany on June 24, Securities and Exchange Com-
ening stance has compounded fears of exporters an edge. 2018. Photo by Reuters mission was probing the hack
an all-out trade war after he slapped Trump has said he is ready to in 2013, Montroll provided the
levies on goods from China worth tens impose tariffs on all US$500 bil- agency with a fake screenshot

of billions of US dollars and imposed lion (RM2.03 trillion) of Chinese Harley-Davidson says US sales showing the number of bitcoins

tariffs on other international imports. imports, complaining that China’s not hit by job off shoring dust-up available to BitFunder users, and
China’s President Xi Jinping, trade surplus with the US is due lied to investigators while giving
Russian President Vladimir Pu- to unfair currency manipulation. sworn testimony about the tim-
tin, Indian Prime Minister Naren- Analysts said US trade policy BY JOHN BIERS eas of the US where Harleys sell well. ing of the attack. — Bloomberg
dra Modi and Brazilian President could give BRICS renewed unity. But Harley executives said di-

Michel Temer will attend the annual The meeting was due to open NEW YORK: Harley-Davidson ex- rect consumer research, as well as US$12b in aid to farmers
summit, along with several African yesterday afternoon with a business ecutives said on Tuesday they had sales, showed no evidence of a hit hurt by trade tariff s

leaders invited as guests. forum before the heads of state hold not seen US sales hit so far by the due to the uproar. WASHINGTON: The US govern-
Xi held talks with South African talks today. — AFP decision to relocate some Ameri- Harley signalled it expected last- ment will provide up to US$12
can manufacturing overseas as the ing business impacts from the EU billion (RM48.72 billion) in aid

company navigates trade confl icts. tariffs, which targeted Harley and to American farmers hurt by
The motorcycle company other brands from politically con- the retaliatory tariff s imposed
found itself in the firing line of sequential regions of the US and by trading partners, US Agri-

Xi (left) walking US President Donald Trump, who were taken in response to US tariff s culture Secretary Sonny Per-
with Ramaphosa repeatedly attacked the compa- on imported steel and aluminium. due announced on Tuesday.
(right) before their ny on Twitter after Harley an- The EU tariffs add US$90 mil- These actions are aimed “to as-

media conference nounced the move on June 26 lion (RM365.4 million) to US$100 sist farmers in response to trade
in Pretoria, South in response to European Union million in annual costs to EU sales. damage caused by illegal retali-
Africa, on Tuesday. (EU) tariffs on US-made bikes. Executives said they hoped to mit- atory tariff s”, Perdue told report-

Photo by Reuters Trump’s attacks on Harley had igate those effects in 2019 through ers. It was the first recognition by

raised fears among investors the corporate efficiencies and by shift- the Trump administration that

company’s sales could be hurt giv- ing production from the US to an the president’s trade dispute is
en the president’s popularity in ar- overseas plant. — AFP hurting Americans. — AFP
Facebook and Twitter are lucrative quagmires
BY JENNIFER SABA code last week he believes content gagement to be accurate, and they some US$13 billion (RM52.78 bil- ent company Alphabet reported
related to Holocaust deniers should want to know their ads would not ap- lion), according to estimates com- double-digit revenue growth on
NEW YORK: Facebook and Twit- not be removed from the platform, pear next to objectionable content. piled by Thomson Reuters. That Monday — will keep talking about
ter want to be like vibrant town even if he thinks their views are Facebook, for example, has removed growth rate comes despite Face- cleaning up the swamp. But the
squares, bustling with conversation wrong. Twitter boss Jack Dorsey more than 580 million fake accounts book’s mishandling of user data financial incentives point in a dif-

and opinions of all stripes. Instead, defended his network after a New from January through March of this and a raft of congressional hearings. ferent direction. All three depend
they look like swampy quagmires, York Times political journalist said year. Earlier this month, Unilever Twitter, too, is enjoying a resurgence on advertising, so people can use
where misinformation and bullying she was quitting the “anger video chief marketing offi cer Keith Weed following six consecutive quarters their platforms for free. In turn,
abound. Lawmakers and users are game” — but he noted that it is not tweeted praise for Twitter’s eff orts of growth in its daily active-user advertisers want a large audience
beginning to notice, but advertisers a place for nuanced conversation to jettison false accounts. numbers. Analysts are expecting that spends lots of time online —
on the two social media platforms and needs to be fi xed. And the revenue keeps rolling the company to report more than and there aren’t many places to
have a higher tolerance for grime. Advertisers are worried, but in. Facebook was expected to re- a 20% increase in ad sales for the find it. That means a big, deep
The uncomfortable moments their concerns are quite specifi c. port a 44% year-on-year rise in sec- three months ended June 30. pool of users — even a muddy one

are piling up. Facebook chief ex- They want social media companies’ ond-quarter advertising revenue Companies like Facebook, — is for now a reason to continue
ecutive Mark Zuckerberg told Re- self-reported metrics about user en- yesterday, representing a haul of Twitter and Google — whose par- spending. — Reuters