Business, Spoken

It only took one click. And then, for 11 startling minutes---or blissful ones, depending on your politics---the constant drumbeat that is the @realdonaldtrump Twitter handle was muted, taken offline Thursday evening by a Twitter customer-service worker on his or her last day. The President, for one, seems to have taken the bold move as a compliment. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/926401530013642765But for Twitter, the worker’s final act couldn’t come at a worse time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Among the spending choices for governments of poorer nations, kick-starting the technological revolution may at first seem like a low priority. Compared with critical infrastructure, healthcare, or schools, improved digital access and less waiting times for birth certificates feel like luxuries that should come further down the road, or perhaps be left to private enterprise. But there is reason to rethink this. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On their second day in Capitol Hill, lawyers from Facebook, Twitter, and Google took a bipartisan beating as they faced tough questions about the role their platforms played in Russian attempts to divide the American electorate. Members of the Senate Intelligence Committee grilled the tech executives about their responses to Russian interference in the 2016 election, arguing that the companies are not taking seriously what Congress considers a kind of cyberwarfare. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

As special counsel Robert Mueller issues the first indictments in his investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election, executives of three technology titans will face questioning by Congress this week about Russian use of their platforms. Representatives from Facebook, Twitter, and Google are set to testify before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee on Tuesday, then the Senate and House intelligence committees on Wednesday. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

One of the biggest cases for the US Supreme Court’s current term could mark a watershed moment for the Fourth Amendment. InCarpenter v. United States, the court will consider whether police need probable cause to get a search warrant to access cell site location information (CSLI), data that's automatically generated whenever a mobile phone connects to a cell tower. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The moment I first realized that everything had changed for Facebook was right after the 2016 US presidential election with one of the first of many Zuckerbergian mea culpas. Not that first post-election post, his horribly disingenuous dodge that improbably asserted that Facebook could not have influenced the election. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

News that Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix approached Wikileaks founder Julian Assange last year to exploit Hillary Clinton’s private emails has amplified questions about Cambridge's role in President Trump's 2016 campaign. Shortly after The Daily Beast reported Nix’s contact with Assange Wednesday, the Trump campaign’s executive director sought to downplay Cambridge's role. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In 2010, Foursquare co-founder Naveen Selvadurai believed that his company, and several other social-media upstarts---Twitter, Tumblr, Path---could carve out successful niches against Facebook. But Facebook had other plans. That year the company introduced a feature that allowed users to “check in” at any location, a copy of the main feature of Foursquare’s app. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

The financial industry today looks stable and boring, with a few megabanks ever-more entrenched and markets that may not offer the same risks and rewards as before the 2008-2009 financial crisis but which remain highly profitable for incumbents. That stasis, however, masks looming challenges to the sclerotic incumbents. Two such challenges were much in evidence this past week: Bitcoin and China. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Caloua Lowe bounds up the rickety, worn staircase of a three-story, red brick building in Camden, New Jersey on a sunny September morning, the wooden steps creaking under the pressure of her red-sandaled feet. The walls display framed, Photoshopped images: a mockup of Vogue, album covers featuring young men standing shoulder to shoulder with rap legends like Jay-Z. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices