MUSK DELETES FACEBOOK PAGES FOR SPACEX, TESLA
ANGELES» SpaceX
LOS and Tesla CEO Elon Musk supported the call to #DeleteFacebook on Friday morning, and the Facebook pages of his two most prominent companies quickly disappeared.
Musk was not the first prominent name in technology to line up against Facebook in the wake of the widening Cambridge Analytica controversy. WhatsApp co-founder Brian Acton, who sold his messaging service to Facebook for $21.8 billion in 2014, encouraged users Tuesday to shut down their accounts.
“It is time. #deletefacebook,” Acton wrote.
“We’re taking a break from Facebook,” Mozilla said in a blog post on Wednesday. The company, which created the Firefox web browser, said it is “pressing pause” on its Facebook advertising and won’t be posting on its Facebook page. But it did not delete its page and said it will consider returning if Facebook takes stronger actions to protect users’ data and improves privacy settings.
U.K. watchdog raids Cambridge Analytica
office. LONDON» Officers from Britain’s information regulator have arrived at the London offices of data firm Cambridge Analytica after being granted a warrant as part of an investigation into alleged misuse of personal information. A High Court judge granted the warrant Friday evening.
Lobbying pays off for drugmaker in budget
bill. WASHINGTON» A provision tucked into the massive congressional budget bill will benefit a small pharmaceutical company in Washington state.
Omeros makes a drug for cataract surgery. The provision props up the price Medicare pays for that drug, as well as a handful of products from other firms.
Shares of Dropbox surge on first day. »
NEW YORK
Shares of digital storage company Dropbox have surged in their first day of trading. The company, which offers online services for backing up files, saw its shares jump 36 percent. Dropbox competes with smaller rival Box, as well as with Google, Amazon and Microsoft.
Texas, Colorado add rigs.
HOUSTON» The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. increased by five this week to 995.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported Friday that Texas increased by seven rigs and Colorado gained two.