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đ Mark Zuckerberg spying on Snapchat
PLUS: Disney, DeSantis lawsuit is finally over
Steven Van & Jacob Goldschein
March 28, 2024 âą Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes
Yesterdayâs market performance đïž
S&P 500: +0.86% đ
Nasdaq: +0.51% đ
Dow 30: +1.22% đ
Russell 2000: +2.13% đ
TOP STORY
đČ The 7 Biggest U.S. Gambling Companies are Funding the 'Responsible Online Gaming Associationâ
đž Eduardo Munoz | Reuters
The seven biggest U.S. sports gambling companies, holding over 85% of the market, are committing over $20M to fund the 'Responsible Online Gaming Associationâ (ROGA) and 'help' gamblers stop gambling.
The seven companies are⊠BetMGM ($MGM), bet365, DraftKings ($DKNG), Fanatics Betting and Gaming, FanDuel ($FLTR), Hard Rock Digital, and Penn Entertainment ($PENN).
Yup, the gambling companies have grown a conscience, sort ofâŠ
How can ROGA help people?
ROGA will include "responsible and informative ads," share information about customers with clear gambling problems, and offer guidance on how to gamble mindfully.
Theyâre even creating gambling courses for recovering addicts to help them get back to âresponsibleâ gambling ASAP.
It sounds nice, but these companies don't honestly think this initiative will convince anyone to gamble smartly, if thatâs even possible.
It feels like hiring Boeing to make a guide on âhow to build the best airplane.â
Some crazy gambling stats:
- An estimated 2.5 million U.S. adults meet the criteria for a severe gambling problem.
- Another 5-8 million U.S. adults are considered to have a mild or moderate gambling problem.
(Per National Council on Problem Gambling).
SOCIAL MEDIA
đ”ïž Facebook launched a secret project, "Project Ghostbusters," to spy on Snapchat users.
đž NewsBytes
Newly released documents from a California federal court allege that Facebook, led by Mark Zuckerberg, started an undercover project called "Project Ghostbusters," with the goal of secretly watching and decoding messages sent between Snapchat users and its servers.
The company wanted to learn more about its competitors, so it expanded the program to snoop on other platforms, such as YouTube and Amazon.
How? Facebook did this with Onavo, a VPN-like service that allowed engineers to decode messages sent on these apps, even though the messages were obviously supposed to be private.
Who knew big tech liked to snoop on us? Eventually, a few brave Facebook employees realized that this was wrong, and in 2020, a class-action lawsuit was filed claiming that Facebook had secretly gathered data to unfairly beat competitors.
Who knew tech nerds could be such big bullies?
đ Meta ($META) is up ~41% in 2024 while đ Snapchat ($SNAP) is down ~27%.
ENTERTAINMENT
đȘ Disney and Ron DeSantis have finally put their legal battle to bed
đž Deadline
Disney and Governor Ron DeSantis have been locked in a year-and-a-half-long dispute after Disney opposed Florida's 'don't say gay' bill.
Following Disney's criticism of the bill, DeSantis installed a new board for the Florida Tourism Oversight District, giving him more control over Disney's theme park district.
The turmoil turned into a nationwide headline, in which much of the country seemed to have an opinion. It raised questions about the role of politics in business, especially in a $220B company.
And now, Disney and the DeSantis-appointed board have finally reached a settlement, drama over.
With this settlement in the rear-view mirror, the two parties can finally focus on what really matters: making more money helping the community.
đ Disney ($DIS) is up ~35% in 2024.
Hereâs what else you mightâve missedâŠ
Donald Trumpâs âTruth Socialâ ($DJT) went public and is up 70% this week.
Krispy Kreme ($DNUT) partnered with McDonaldâs ($MCD) to put doughnuts in every store, causing its stock to surge 27%.
Amazon ($AMZN) invested an additional $2.75B into AI startup, Anthropic.
Robinhood ($HOOD) came out with their very own credit card.
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