How the Musk vs. Zuckerberg cage fight could save the world

The confrontation was Musk’s idea, floated in response to Meta’s plans for a Twitter competitor. Zuckerberg, who will definitely be bringing his real legs to the fight, signed up by posting Musk’s tweet (in an Insta story that will disappear within hours) with the reply: “Send Me Location.” And why not? Zuck may be smaller, but he’s a swole jujitsu champion these days—and, having whiffed so badly with the metaverse, landing a few blows on Musk will demonstrate that he’s finally in tune with what the public wants.

Some have responded to this news by going on about toxic masculinity and midlife crises and cultures of violence and grown men acting like kids in a playground, but not me! With a small modification, this could be a terrific and very timely idea.

Earlier this week, over 150 economists called on leaders from the Global North to tax the extremely rich, with the proceeds going to climate financing, and to ensuring everyone in the world has access to energy, and to a loss-and-damage fund for poorer countries that are particularly vulnerable to the climate crisis, despite having done little to cause it.

Now, there is a chance that rich countries’ governments will not agree to do this, in which case here’s my modest proposal: Why not instead have the extremely rich face off in cage fights, with the loser donating, say, 10% of their fortune to mitigating the climate crisis and ensuring a just energy transition?

Hear me out. Those who like billionaires should be all in because they get to back their favorite billionaire. Those who don’t should be equally enthusiastic, because they get to see billionaires being hit. The billionaires should like it because even if they don’t win, they get to be very philanthropic in the most visible way possible. Just in the tech world, imagine the possibilities: Ballmer vs. Ellison, Bezos vs. Brin, Gates vs. Dorsey. Are you not entertained? I already am.

Over to you, Elon and Mark. Here’s your chance to make your grudge match really mean something.

Very separately, there’s some interesting news on the ad-tech front. 

As I wrote last week, even senior U.S. intelligence advisors are getting freaked out about the incredibly detailed personal data that is being freely traded out there. Well, France’s data protection authority CNIL just hit the French ad-tech firm Criteo with a €40 million ($44 million) fine under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for doing things that are pretty much industry-standard.

CNIL found Criteo couldn’t show it had received users’ consent for the processing of their data when its partners dropped tracking cookies into their browsers. The regulator also found Criteo wasn’t complying when those who knew they were being tracked exercised their right to withdraw consent and demand their data’s erasure, nor was it giving people enough information about how their data might be used. Criteo has now changed its partner contracts and filled gaps in its privacy policy, but CNIL still levied a hefty fine owing to the scale of its past misdeeds. 

Criteo said in a statement that it will appeal and that the fine is “vastly disproportionate in light of the alleged breaches and misaligned with general market practice in such matters.” If CNIL prevails, quite a few market practices may require modification.

More news below.

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David Meyer

Data Sheet’s daily news section was written and curated by Andrea Guzman.

NEWSWORTHY

Microsoft–Activision Blizzard hearing started today. Executives from Microsoft and Activision Blizzard are in San Francisco for a hearing on Microsoft’s $69 billion takeover of the video-game maker. The CEOs of both companies are expected to testify during the five days of hearings that will end on June 29. The judge, Jacqueline Scott Corley, has previously expressed skepticism about preventing the takeover when she dismissed a lawsuit brought by a group of gamers who sued to stop the acquisition. But the judge’s decision will be key in determining whether the Federal Trade Commission can complete its request for a court order that would keep the deal in limbo until an administrative trial scheduled for August.

The race to build apps for Apple’s Vision Pro headset is on. Apple’s VisionOS software development kit is now available, so outside developers can build content for the $3,500 Vision Pro headset. This comes at least half a year before the headset officially goes on sale in the U.S. and as Apple tries to drum up developer interest. But getting an expensive and unreleased headset to developers is a challenge that Apple is addressing with “developer labs” opening in multiple cities like Cupertino, London, and Shanghai next month. TechCrunch reports that teams will be able to test their app on the hardware at those labs, or apply for hardware developer kits to test outside those locations.

Twitter’s stress test. EU Commissioner Thierry Breton will visit Twitter’s headquarters with a team of EU technologists this week to carry out a “stress test” that will look at how the company responds to tweets that European regulators classify as troublesome. The test will determine whether Twitter is complying with the Digital Services Act, a wide-ranging law on content moderation. The test is voluntary, and since the DSA won’t be enforced until later this year, Twitter won’t be given fines if it fails. But failed marks could serve as a wake-up call since companies can face fines of up to 6% of their global revenue if rules of the DSA and Digital Markets Act are violated. And repeat violators could face a ban in Europe, the Washington Post reports.

ON OUR FEED

“This feels so wrong.”

—David Szymanski, creator of indie game Iron Lung, commenting on the uptick in sales the video game has seen in recent days as the real-world search for a missing submersible continues. The game takes players through a story about piloting a submarine with unsophisticated tech through an ocean of blood on an alien moon. Meanwhile, rescuers continue to search for the submersible with five people aboard that vanished near the wreck of the Titanic. The missing sub passed the 96-hour mark Thursday when breathable air could have run out, but experts have said that supply could be extended if passengers have taken measures to conserve air.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Google is developing an A.I. that can ‘generate endless selfies’ so you can avoid having to pose and snap photos in real life, by Rachel Shin

Elon Musk’s new Twitter management launches companywide mole hunt to root out leaking employees, by Christiaan Hetzner

Bitcoin soars past $30,000—notching the highest mark in more than a year—on ETF fever, by Ben Weiss

Tesla stock has soared over 140% this year—but a bullish analyst just downgraded it, saying investors are ‘dismissing’ some ‘fundamental’ near-term challenges, by Will Daniel

Billionaire VC Masayoshi Son says ChatGPT moves him to tears as A.I. pushes him to ask, ‘What is mankind?’ by Rachel Shin

BEFORE YOU GO

A robot barista is serving coffee in New York. BotBar Coffee in Brooklyn is testing out its business model and offerings for customers before it fully opens. And it’s also still testing ADAM, a robo-barista shaped like an egg that can grab cups, fill them up, mix in ingredients, and serve drinks. Fortune tried coffee from the shop and observed ADAM in action, where the droid looks like a hybrid of a two-armed octopus and a character from Disney’s WALL-E. In about six months, ADAM will be able to talk to customers and take their orders verbally using generative A.I. technology that’s currently being fine-tuned.

ADAM, which cost roughly $200,000, was made by Richtech Robotics, a Nevada-based company that has contracts to implement 100 of the droids in boba shops and bars around the country. But ADAM doesn’t appear likely to replace human workers, BotBar co-owner Sunny Lam said. “We still need humans to support the whole thing. If we don’t have anyone, there is nothing we can do,” Lam said.