Good Morning. Today was my second Twitter anniversary. And the fact that Twitter is more about connecting with random people than friends makes it the only social media I’m still using.
Heck, even the idea of this newsletter came to me because I saw @rightclick was available.
So, if you’d love to chat with me, drop a hey @kunaaalllll. :)
This Right Click won’t take you more than 3 minutes to read.
Let's get to it.
Antitrust Probe on Alibaba
What happened: China’s antitrust watchdog, the State Administration of Market Regulation, announced a one-of-first-of-it’s-kind antitrust probe into the country’s biggest tech giant, Alibaba.
Why: Alibaba’s tactic of choosing which clients to promote on its online stores based on their presence on rival sites.
Choosing one of two: Alibaba forces business and merchants to list their products only on its online stores, Taobao and Tmall.
There’s no explicit penalty if they list it on rival platforms. But owners who do so see a significant drop in sales and traffic. Some even see their product removed.
SCMP, an Alibaba-owned publication says: “Legally, it is not well defined whether a platform such as Alibaba has the right to determine which clients it serves”
Similar cases: Chinese authorities have fined local partners of food delivery platforms Meituan and Ele.me for forcing restaurants to choose between the two apps.
It’s not the first complaint: JD.com, China’s second-largest e-store, sued Alibaba’s Tmall in 2017 for abusing its market dominance for monopolistic behaviour. Later some more Tmall-rivals like Pinduoduo and Vipshop joined in. The court is yet to make a ruling, says SCMP
The government: China’s communist party-owned People’s Daily said in an editorial: “Antitrust has become an urgent issue concerning [China’s] overall situation”
Outcome: “In a worst-case scenario, Alibaba could be a fined up to 10 per cent of its previous year’s sales,” says Scott Yu, an antitrust expert.
Paul Haswell says that there could be restrictions on Alibaba’s business practices or, very unlikely, breaking up of the company.
What Else
GoDaddy emailed employees about a $650 bonus. And then sent another email to the 500 who clicked saying “you’ve failed our recent phishing test”. The email read: “You will need to retake the Security Awareness Social Engineering training.”
Google’s new “sensitive topics” review for research papers. Google’s standard review process just makes sure no “trade secrets” are revealed. This goes further asking researchers to consult with legal, PR, and policy teams before evaluating Google’s own services for bias.
Telegram is finally going to monetise. With Telegram nearing 500M users, it will need more money than what co-founder Pavel Durov can manage himself.
All features that are currently available will remain free, while some extra features for businesses and power users will require a premium.
Only on public channels, Telegram will introduce their own ad platform.
And looks like Telegrammers are quite happy: Comments on Durov’s post announcing this news was overwhelmingly positive.
Previously on Right Click
Apple on the roads. Apple’s ideas of a Tesla competitor reminds Elon Musk of the days when Tim Cook refused to meet him.
The tech’s China problem. Zoom finds having more employees in China cost-effective. But the Chinese govt’s influence is creating problems in the US.
Facebook attacks Apple. “We’re standing up to Apple for small businesses everywhere”
That was it. Thanks for reading.
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Cheers,
Kunal Mishra.