Similar to the European Union's new Digital Markets Act, behaviour deemed anti-competitive could see operators fined up to 20 percent of their revenues in Japan.
Under the legislation set to be debated by lawmakers, they would also have to act fairly and make operating systems, browsers and search engines available for all.
"The legislation is urgently needed in order for Japan, the US, and Europe to keep pace with each other and ensure fair competition in the digital field," said government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.
"Smartphones have become the foundation of people's daily lives and economic activities.
"For those specific softwares like applications stores that are particularly necessary for smartphone use, we will improve the competitive environment, encourage innovations, and realise consumer choice while also ensuring security," he said.
Snap shares pop after revenue tops expectations
San Francisco (AFP) April 26, 2024 -
Shares in social media company Snap, which runs the youth-focused Snapchat, soared nearly 25 percent on Thursday after it reported more quarterly revenue than expected by analysts.
"The value we provide our community and advertising partners has translated into improved financial performance," Snap chief executive Evan Spiegel said in an earnings release.
Snap reported revenue of $1.2 billion compared with $989 million in the same period a year earlier.
The Southern California-based tech firm said it trimmed its loss to $305 million compared with a loss of $329 million in the year-ago quarter.
The number of small and medium sized advertisers on Snapchat increased 85 percent in a similar comparison, while an average of 422 million people used the app daily in an increase of 10 percent from the first three months of 2023, according to earnings figures.
Snapchat+, the company's AI-amped subscription service, reached more than nine million subscribers.
"Our large, growing, and hard-to-reach community, brand-safe environment, and full-funnel advertising solutions have made us an increasingly important partner for businesses of all sizes," Spiegel said.
Snap shares were up more than 24 percent to $14.20 in after-market trades.
In recent years, the company has been at pains to compete for ad revenue against Meta's Instagram, Google-owned YouTube and TikTok.
After its launch in 2011, Snapchat became a hit, particularly with young smartphone users, by letting people share photos or videos in messages that self-destruct after being viewed.
It also innovated with the use of filters for shared content, but an expansion into hardware such as drones and eyeglasses has failed to gain traction.
Early this year Snap said it was letting go of ten percent of its staff, including members of its senior management team, "to reduce hierarchy and promote in-person collaboration."
ByteDance says 'no plans' to sell TikTok after US ban law
Beijing (AFP) April 26, 2024 -
Chinese tech giant ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok after a new US law put it on a deadline to divest from the hugely popular video platform or have it banned in the United States.
US lawmakers set the nine-month deadline on national security grounds, alleging that TikTok can be used by the Chinese government for espionage and propaganda as long as it is owned by ByteDance.
The Information, a tech-focused US news site, reported that ByteDance was looking at scenarios for selling TikTok without the powerful secret algorithm that recommends videos to its more than one billion users around the world.
ByteDance denied it was considering a sale.
"Foreign media reports about ByteDance exploring the sale of TikTok are untrue," the company posted Thursday on Toutiao, a Chinese-language platform it owns.
"ByteDance does not have any plans to sell TikTok."
TikTok has been a political and diplomatic hot potato for years, first finding itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.
It has forcefully denied any link to the Chinese government, and said it has not and will not share US user data with Beijing.
TikTok says it has also spent around $1.5 billion on "Project Texas", under which US user data would be stored in the United States.
Its critics say the data is only part of the problem, and that the TikTok recommendation algorithm -- the "secret sauce" for its success -- must also be disconnected from ByteDance.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has said the company will take the fight against the new law to the courts, but some experts believe that for the US Supreme Court, national security considerations could outweigh free speech protection.
- Bullish investors -
The estimated valuations of TikTok are in the tens of billions of dollars, and any forced sale would present major complications.
Among those with deep enough pockets, US tech giants such as Instagram-parent Meta or Google would likely be blocked from buying the app over competition concerns.
Further, many investors consider TikTok's recommendation algorithm to be its most valuable feature.
But any sale of such technology by a Chinese company would require approval from Beijing, which designated such algorithms as protected technology following Trump's attempt to ban TikTok in 2020.
Beijing has so far vocally opposed any forced sale of TikTok, saying it will take all necessary measures to protect Chinese companies.
While TikTok is a global phenomenon, it represents a small fraction of ByteDance's revenue, according to analysts and investors.
ByteDance has enjoyed explosive growth in recent years, becoming one of the most valuable companies in the world. Its international investors, including US firms General Atlantic and SIG as well as Japan's SoftBank, have stakes worth billions.
"TikTok US is a very small part of the overall business. It is an exciting part of the story, for sure, but... relative to the overall size, it's a very small part," ByteDance investor Mitchell Green, of US-based Lead Edge Capital, told CNBC television last month.
"If it was kicked out of the US, we would not sell."
Related Links
Satellite-based Internet technologies
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
