Spotify Blinks-Sort of; Amazon Banned China Sellers Move to Walmart; Cal Net Neutrality Law Upheld; Teen Replies to Musk on Tracking- Pay $50,000

After Neil Young started a mini-exodus over Spotify allowing Joe Rogan’s misinformation on COVID-19, the platform issued a mealy-mouthed statement on how they don’t censor (not mentioning the $100 million they paid Rogan to be exclusive to their platform.) Their valuation had dropped by $4 billon last week over the flap, but has recovered a chunk of that. Now, Rogan has responded, defending his podcast in an almost 10 minute video on Instagram. Theverge.com reports that he defends his decision to book contentious guests in the piece…but does apologize to Spotify for the backlash, and alludes to how things might change in the future. “I will do my best to try to balance out these more controversial viewpoints with other people’s perspectives so we can maybe find a better point of view,” he says. “I don’t want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions so we can all figure out what’s going on and not just about COVID, about everything, about health, about fitness, wellness, the state of the world itself.”

Last year, Amazon started kicking tens of thousands of Chinese sellers off its platform for fake customer reviews. According to bloomberg.com, a lot of them have simply moved over to Walmart’s e-commerce site. The iffy Chinese sellers now account for 1 in 7 of the sellers on Walmart’s site. As they just really geared up in 2021, it isn’t likely Walmart with give them the boot so quickly, so if you do business with Walmart online, caveat emptor….let the buyer beware.

In a nice victory for users over Big Telcom, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals Friday upheld California’s net neutrality law, saying a 2017 decision by the Federal Communications Commission to reverse federal internet protections could not bar state action. Reuters.com notes that the US Justice Department withdrew its legal challenge to the law last February. The ruling was 3-0. California’s 2018 law barred internet service providers from blocking or throttling traffic, or offering paid fast lanes, but it only took effect last year. The appeals court said, “The stakes in this case are high for the industry and consumers,” and noted that without net neutrality rules, internet providers could “open the door for anticompetitive, discriminatory behavior that could disadvantage important segments of society.”

A teen named Jack Sweeney has been posting the coming and going of Elon Musk’s private jet on Twitter (ElonJet), much to the displeasure of Mr. Musk. Musk has previously offered the 19 year old $5,000 to knock it off. According to engadget.com, the Twitter account has her 180,000 followers breathlessly keeping tabs on Musk’s whereabouts (or at least those of his jet.) Sweeney also tracks the jets of Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, and others. Now, Sweeney has made a counter offer. He says $50,000 might do the trick…which would help with college expenses, or the programmer says he could even buy a Model 3. Musk replied he would think about it, but has been silent since. He has taken steps to make it harder to track his jet, though.