Enterprise

Zuckerberg was caught lying about stealing ideas from rivals

“I don’t recall the conversation”

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Image source: Reuters / YouTube

In the US, the country’s biggest tech companies are facing a tempestuous grilling of their past business practices. Geared primarily towards antitrust issues, a congressional hearing (documented by Reuters) aims to uncover the tech industry’s violations against America’s democratic business world. One of those companies is Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook. To his dismay, it did not go well for the social media maven. Zuckerberg was caught lying about stealing from other companies.

During the hearing, Washington Representative Pramila Jayapal read an official email involving Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, and other officials which specifically details strategies against competitors. According to the email exchange, Facebook copies competitors “to prevent them from getting a foothold” in the industry. “I would love to be far more aggressive and nimbler in copying competitors,” one official said.

As you might have noticed by now, feature copying is a prominent issue in the tech industry. Facebook and Instagram Stories obtained their ideas from Snapchat and other short-form video-sharing platforms. In fact, Instagram itself is a Facebook acquisition.

Further in the hearing, Jayapal explains that the strategy of copying is a prelude to buying the competitor out. In fact, the representative calls it a “threatening” tactic. When she asked Zuckerberg if this was true, he replied that he does not recall. To which, Jayapal tellingly says, “I just want to remind you that you are under oath.”

After which, she retells the story of Instagram based on Facebook’s own internal documents. Before acquiring Instagram, Facebook developed Facebook Camera to compete against Instagram. According to Jayapal, Zuckerberg used Facebook Camera to threaten Instagram by telling Instagram that “how we engage now will determine how much we’re partners versus competitors down the line.” Instagram felt that this was a threat of acquisition.

In any case, Facebook truly acquired Instagram eventually after Facebook Camera. Zuckerberg can only reiterate that he does not remember the conversations.

Jayapal finished her statement by saying that the practice should not exist in the business world, especially when the dominant Facebook weaponizes user data to copy and destroy other smaller rival companies.

SEE ALSO: Facebook shared user data with at least 5000 developers

Enterprise

Cebu Pacific becomes 1st SEA low-cost carrier with Starlink Wi-Fi

Rollout expected to begin in 2027

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Cebu Pacific has introduced Starlink, making it the first low-cost airline in Southeast Asia to bring Wi-Fi in the sky for passengers.

The rollout is expected to begin in 2027. Starlink delivers an unparalleled broadband experience inflight, with high-speed, low-latency Wi-Fi capable of HD streaming, online gaming, productivity and more.

Beyond enhancing the passenger experience, Starlink will also support improved operational connectivity for Cebu Pacific’s flight crews and operational teams. This enables better operational efficiency.

The collaboration is a significant milestone for Philippine aviation. The rollout forms part of Cebu Pacific’s continued investment in customer experience and digital innovation.

As part of the partnership, Cebu Pacific and Indigo Partners portfolio airlines, Wizz Air, and JetSMART expect to install Starlink on over 1,000 aircraft.

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Enterprise

Google ordered to pay EUR 4.1 billion in fines

The EU alleges that Google uses its apps to establish an unfair dominance.

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European fines have unintentionally become a normal part of doing business in the American technology space. For too long have American companies paid paltry fines to prevent harsher regulation in the European Union. Now, for the first time, Google is about to pay a record-breaking fine that goes beyond “paltry.”

Today, via CNBC, Google has been ordered to pay an astonishing EUR 4.1 billion (or approximately US$ 4.67 billion) in fines. The fine is in response to an anti-competition case.

This has been a long time coming for Google. The original case started in 2018. At the time, the European Union accused the brand of using anti-competitive practices to ensure its dominance in the smartphone market. According to the courts, the company’s bundling of first-party apps for every Android smartphone gives them an unfair advantage in the market and lessens the user’s choice in selecting apps.

For years, Google has fought the fine to seemingly no avail. Now, the company has lost its final attempt, which means that the fine still stands. On the bright side, they did get it reduced from the original EUR 4.34 billion fine.

The European Union is the scourge of every American tech company (and a godsend to consumers). Most notably, the continent’s government forced Apple to adopt USB-C, leading to a more universal experience across brands.

Google’s hefty fine aims to do the same. And it is quite hefty. Whereas previous fines were in the millions (and hence, negligible for most companies), a fine in the billions is more tangible.

SEE ALSO: Google might limit free storage to only 5GB

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foodpanda relaunches cult-favorite roast chicken brand after 8 years of persistent search queries

Heritage chain Andok’s returns to the platform, driven entirely by long-term user analytics.

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In the world of e-commerce and food delivery, platform algorithms usually dictate what consumers see. But occasionally, consumer behavior is so relentless that it shapes the platform’s strategy.

In a move driven entirely by long-term user analytics, foodpanda has officially relaunched Andok’s, one of the Philippines’ most iconic heritage rotisserie chains, back onto its platform after an eight-year absence.

The search bar as a digital wishlist

The decision to ink the partnership wasn’t just a marketing play. It was a response to an ongoing data anomaly. Despite being offline from the foodpanda platform for eight years, Andok’s consistently ranked as one of the most-searched merchants on the app.

Year after year, users treated the empty search results page as an unofficial wishlist. This persistent search intent gave foodpanda a clear, data-backed signal of pent-up demand.

Prior to the official digital rollout, teaser campaigns on social media validated this demand, generating thousands of organic interactions from users anticipating the return.

Bridging heritage flavor with digital infrastructure

For foodpanda, onboarding a merchant with this level of built-in demand fits its broader strategy of marketplace optimization and hyper-local network expansion, turning a heritage brand into another data point for how legacy retail plugs into delivery infrastructure.

For Andok’s, the integration works as a fast track to digital scale. A legacy quick-service chain skips years of independent app development and reaches customers already using foodpanda’s existing logistics network, on a platform they already check daily.

Andok’s built its following on charcoal spit-roasted chicken, a slow-cooked technique that’s stayed largely unchanged since the brand’s early days, alongside seasoned grilled pork belly.

More recently, the Dokito line extended that following into crispy fried chicken and chicken burgers, broadening the brand’s appeal beyond its original rotisserie format and giving foodpanda a menu with both heritage pull and everyday fast-food convenience.

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