the ftc cases provide a wonderful list and overview that the ftc has viewed as cognizable. >> i agree with all of that but i would build on it. let me mention the stalker ware case was important. it was the first case against the stalker ware app. you could buy an app and install it on somebody else's phone. the app came with instructions on how to jailbreak the phone so the person would not know they were being tracked. it's not just creepy. it is lethal in a lot of circumstances for victims of domestic violence. those are incredibly important harms that we need to talk about. but it is also very important to me that that not be the closed universe of harms. so let's think about children, for example. there was a study that came out recently that talked about the increase, the dramatic increase in teen suicide rates in the u.s. and there's a pretty notorious case in the uk of a young woman who took her own life at 14 after being the target of some online bullying but also material that was pushed to her that talked about how to commit suicide. that's -- i mean, that's indescribably s

on the money you might be due back tonight >> reporter: tonight, at&t paying a $60 million fine the ftc saying the company misled 3.5 million customers. the agency saying at&t promised unlimited data plans, but if customers used too much, the wireless giant would throttle their phones, slowing down their connections by as much as 90%, making it difficult or impossible to sur the web, use the gps, or stream videos the ftc saying today at&t promised unlimited data without qualification and failed to deliver on that promise at&t responding, saying even though it's been years since we applied this network management tool in a way described by the ftc, we believe this is in the best interests of consumers. customers will get an automatic credit to their monthly bill and former customers will receive checks there is no need to submit a claim. >> we're talking a couple of dollars each it's really not going to compensate the consumer for whatever hassle it suffered >> reporter: the advice for customers, read the fine print. and if your connection slows down, file a complaint. jo ling kent, nbc

something the ftc has looked at more than once. read, i'mw jennifer really curious about what the sec knew and didn't know, there are some leaked documents that are sort of bad documents, did the ftc know about those? assuming they did. the ftc will be much quieter. they maintain the confidentiality of their investigation. when they find facebook $5 billion earlier this year it was due to a long investigation. they are thorough. these are the kind of documents they would've asked for. cvsve to assume they did and maybe they weighed in on this. not alwaysbook has been forthcoming in discovery. there are reports in california that there are state actions pending where people are complaining that you are not responding to our document requests promptly. jennifer: the attorney general of california is seeking the help of the courts to endorse the california state subpoena. the response system is inadequate or incomplete is what they are saying. you were a lawyer, you know these things happen. did companies do everything they can to pro

probes and inquiries from the ftc. the cdc. it seems like every agency you can think of that might have some connection to juul is taking action to show, we are not just going to sit idly by while we see this epidemic, as the fda has called it, of youth vaping. taylor: what is the guest concern here, the fact -- the guest concern here, the fact -- what is the biggest concern here, the fact that they were marketing to teenagers or the nicotine content? ellen: this idea that some teens or children may not know that there is nicotine in juul products, but that is a concern i have heard people discuss and that is something coming up in relation to some of the advertising that juul has done. more recently, there are also these marketing tactics around both using advertising that has sort of a youthful look, colorful color schemes, a young model. in one of these, the california of shipping accused products to customers that may had names that were obviously not real. one of them filled out their name as "beer can." they were saying,

advance 5g many ways to make 5g accessible but the government and ftc are trying to figure out the best way to make that happen. she spoke to david westin. we will move to 5g, need new airwaves to power that, and some of those airwaves are mid band airways. band you are talking about is right there. twoftc allocated that satellite services and they could return some now and make them available for wireless, and that is at issue, what is the best way to make that happen? for a while, the ftc was exploring a private sale, but increasingly it has started to look legally complicated, hard to do, and capitol hill has suggested that we do this through a public auction. the ftc chairman announced he would prefer a public auction, and we will work with folks on capitol hill to see if we can do that. david: one other dispute that came up, the six gigahertz dispute which appears to be wi-fi, companies like broadcom, versus utilities who need that spectrum for emergency communications. jessica: airwaves are getting complicated and when you have an existing use and you propose new uses, there tends

going to the ftc. we should not signal at huawei and zte are anything other than a threat to our collective security. their own track record as well as the practices of the chinese government demonstrate huawei and zte cannot be trusted. as well as the conduct and practices of the chinese government. why are we even talking about it? >> that's a good question. i like your idea. i came from a farming state, kansas. why can't we subsidize the transfer of this technology? if we are going to do it, take them out, give them money to give them equipment that comforts with our national security standards. this is the tough part. they spent years getting it in here. it's difficult for to us get it out within months. >> the fact is, it doesn't resolve anything. earn as the president is working his tail off to get this agreement of, the chinese continue to steal, they continue to attack our networks, our systems, our institutions. they continue without even so much as a blush to suggest that we should get out of

we know the doj is formally looking into google and facebook, we know the ftc is formally looking into facebook. what we don't know is whether they are doing those other companies. raised that the chairman the question today that they may be doing all four of those, maybe two or three. if i were an investor, i would be looking at the question of how intense that scrutiny has gotten. taylor: does this meet the level of the bar that needs to be set in terms of harming competition. the tech companies that could potentially be in play. ben: facebook has talked about this the most -- kurt: facebook has talked about this the most. their argument has basically been out of the accusations are really about harming consumers, that we are being penalized big, and that is the crime. you have facebook, google, amazon. when you talk about app stores, google and apple having these really dominant app stores. it is tough to say who is being harmed in what way but those are the ultimate questions we are looking at. taylor: i was looking at another story about google and facebook donating to privacy gro

we had a headline today that the ftc says they are looking at multiple antitrust probes underway and that they will review all of these antitrust laws in the wake of these big tech probes. does this indicate that the size and scope is bigger than we saw before? ben: i think, absolutely. we know that the federal trade commission and justice department are doing these wide-ranging probes into digital marketplaces and they are all doing google, facebook, amazon, and apple. we know the doj is formally looking into google and facebook, we know the ftc is formally looking into facebook. facebook is subject to both of them right now. what we don't know is whether they are doing those other companies. i think the chairman raise the question today that they may be doing all four of those, maybe two or three. if i were an investor in the company, i would be looking at the question of how intense that scrutiny has gotten. taylor: does this meet the level of the bar that needs to be set in terms of doesn't harm competition? when you look at all four of the big tech companies that could potential

also the ftc sent out a couple of letters but enforcement has not and that fears. you still see some fudging around the edges. >> and they are getting the returns on investment despite what seems like a costly investment sometimes. >> it depends. say kylie jenner, it can cost a million dollars for single post according to some reports. is that worth it? it is arguable, but maybe. >> i want to switch to another story you are writing about, that is gone from influencers which are now undated now running to memes. what is the new mimi craze? >> an influencer is, check out the shampoo i love the shampoo. i meme is a series of jokes and this is often out teens want to relate to brands. they are really resistant to being sold to, it feels inauthentic. but if you are just making a joke or maybe even making fun of the brand it is easier to relate to. >> what comedies are taking this route? -- what companies are taking this route? a couple of dating apps. less proven names. >> how has it changed and how has tech driven a lot of those changes? wholesale changed the way adver

ftc officials said the phone company offered unlimited data to customers. they allege at&t began slowing down the data transmission speeds in 2011. that forced some customers to upgrade to a more expensive plan. yesterday the ftc announced at&t will also partial refunds to the more than 3.5 million current and former customers affected. a spokesman for at&t said none of the allegations were proven in court and said "we were fully prepared to defend ourselves, but still decided settling was in the best interests of our consumers." so you get this, right. you are enticed to buy into a plan that is unlimited, and then all of a sudden when you hit the limit, they slow the speed. >> i remember this case. >> i get it. >> getting money back. >> 60 million -- >> getting a little money. it is a lot of money. >> not a lot for at&t. >> no. >> they're getting money back. >> they're going to get money back, folks affected by this. >> good. >>> the academy has disqualified nigeria's first-ever oscar entry from the best international film category. why? because it feature

the ftc, the story not only covered by the ft, a number of other papers covering the upcoming nato summit and the reaction to emmanuel macron‘s comments a few weeks ago. he did an interview that he thought that nato... it caused a angry reaction who rely on it for security and said he was talking nonsense and cause irritation in germany. he has doubled down on those comments and double down on it and the context on it and the germans led to criticism for what he said andl germans led to criticism for what he said and i think there is a sense among some said and i think there is a sense among some european said and i think there is a sense among some european leaders that this is what emmanuel macron does. he was unilaterally deciding to stop accession talks and says he wants a closer relationship of that in the air pollutant and he just does not consult enough before making the initiatives. —— he wants a close relationship with vladimir putin. next week when donald trump flies and, he himself has criticised nato. emmanuel macron and donald trump trying, trying to find things to get

neil: they do seem to be within the ftc's sights. where do they stand? seem to be a lot of the popular big names that have maybe gotten too big for their britches. how would you define it? >> the top four companies by market cap in the united states are tech companies and the federal trade commission, fishes where the fish are. so there is more scrutiny of these companies now than there has been because of their greater prominence in the american marketplace. neil: does their policies come into play? >> not at the federal trade commission. we are solely focused on competition and economics and market fundamentals. neil: how do you decide who to go after, look at? obviously all of these names, you know, showing amazon, facebook, of course, have leveraged their brand, expanded to other areas, even google's case, health records and the like, other strategies. at what point do you say all right, we're fishing where the fish are, but these fish are really killing all the other fish. >> so we have created earlier this year the technology enforcement division a

cause protections in its alluded to also have multimember bodies and so it's all six members of the ftc that have the protection and the like. but there are lot of institutions in this town that are very familiar of the operation of government the have the protections and the ones i've talked about, it's a great place if i knew exactly where we were in the building and the federal reserve that has the reduction in the federal reserve is a great example of why congress imposes these restrictions because there is certain issues in the world that we deal with at the national level where it's nice to have a degree of insulation for discharging a particular duty or particular responsibility where it's not going to change whoever is the president. for a fairly long time, i think we thought a monetary policy as being something that should not change in a way with each of ministration in a way that is more consistent of having every member served at the will of the president. so the court obviously can decide this case in a way that says this particular provision is unconstitutional but nothing

. >> if the ftc proposal if the american companies will still have to trans bit the networks abroad. with the commissioner in the opening comments as well as the zte equipment. the fcc's most recent protection networks are all of these abroad? or do you share some concerns? >> the primary concern abroad would be interconnected if there is an ability to disrupt the goal and the services abroad that will impact and the united states. you will have a follow an impact and if they're compromised. >> can you expand on that. >> they have done incredible work for removing its equipment from other nations and are not investing in her 5g that's. why they mentioned the access network and will try to think about technology that will allow the world where we need those networks. >> thank you. >> on the ripon. replace you're quoting figures that i heard and i would just suggest that you take the study and the ultimate vendors where that equipment existed and also in europe which would be more expensive and the 702 billion dollars in the national security threat which is a pretty imaginable cost an

the ftc says putting #ad at the end isn't enough. they want it's superimposed on the picture or talking about it throughout the video. that is your money watch report. for more, head to moneywatch.com. i'm diane king hall at the stocks exchange. >>> 4:46. another check on weather. it is hump day. we need to get over that. >> yes. the end of the workweek is coming. a couple more days to go. we're looking at a foggy start. also cloudy for many locations. an extensive cloudcover this morning thanks to the onshore glow. you can see how foggy it is. temperatures in the 40s and 50s. is is a cool to chilly start to the day. let's snow you satellite and radar view as we're looking at a ridge of high pressure, that strong ridge in place. we'll continue with quiet and dry conditions through the next several days. in fact, looking ahead, the long range weather models into next week and we're still dry. taking you hour by hour, you can see we are going to see some clearing so we'll go mostly sunny to partly cloudy with the cloudcover hanging aro

the ftc says it's yours. you have a legal right to keep it, as a free gift. if you have a consumer complaint, let us know. the number is 888-996-tips or online at nbcbayarea.com/responds. >>> happening today, veterinarians from the marine mammal center in sausalito are expected to make sure thisuy is doing just fine. 5-month-old seal pup nicknamed santos, firefighters helped corral in redwood city, in a parking structure trying to get away. the lot sits near redwood creek which is where they believe santos ended up, after swimming fr there from the bay. wanted to get a jump on the black friday deals. >> take the dog out. >> that pup is better. >> we have to get the walks in. the rain is coming. >> we are going to see rain coming in late tomorrow afternoon and kind of off and on throughout wednesday before it wraps up on thursday. so here is a live look outside in san francisco, no need for the umbrellas just today it's still dry, in fact very dry, with the potential of a high fire danger today, in some of our higher elevations, as our winds potentially gust u

it should not be the fcc, ftc or any government agency's job to moderate free speech online. instead, we should continue to provide oversight of big tech and their use of section 230 and encourage constructive discussions on the responsible use of content moderation. this is a very important question that we're going to explore today with everyone on the panel. how do we ensure that companies with enough resources are responsibly earning their liability protection. we want companies to benefit not only from the shield but also use the sword congress afforded them to rid their sightes of harmful content. i understand it's a delicate issue and certainly very nuanced. i want to be very clear, i'm not for gutting section 230. it's essential for consumers and entities in the internet ecosystem, misguided and hasty attempts to amend or even repeal section 230 for bias or other reasons could have unintended consequences for free speech and the ability for small businesses to provide new and innovative services but at the same time, it's clear we've reached a point where it's incumbe

the ftc fine the same critic the said wouldn't be enough to change the incentive was 10 x big are than this. e reality is we believe deeply that political speech is impoant and that's driving this. >> a lot of reaction in washington, d.c. to twitter's new policy. with the trump campaign blasting the decision. calling it get yet anoth attempt to silence conservatives. amy dential candidate klobuchar pointing to lack of consistent policies across social media as evidence of the ed for regulation. but twitter has its defenders including hillary clinton and congresswoman alexandria occasion owe cortes. they say dorsehe making right call. 'sis overshadowing the headline about facebo better than expected results. beating expectations across nancial metrics grew users faster than expected and guidance better than analyst projections for nightly business report, julia boorstin in l angeles. >>> coming up, an investment stragy to help prevent wildfires. li the one in california. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ >>> in addition to the fires that have been burning, a new blaze has firefighters battling a wind-dve

the ftc, the federal trade commission says at&t promised unlimited data plans but if customers use too much, the company would throttle their phones. that means the connections would be slowed downs b 90%. at&t will now repay those affected with an automatic credit to their monthly bill. former custome >>> tesla quietly rolling out a new feature. cars can now avoid traffic cones. the feature part of a new software update. the cars may even make a lane change to avoid the cones. however, some drivers say it doesn't always recognize the cones. tesla is reminding drivers that you still need to pay attention when you're at the wheel. >>> from the best athletes of the world to weekend warriors and parents talking about mental health in sports is a great start to address the problem. our colleagues at nbc sports bay area kicking off a month-long itti to mental health in sports. tonight two of some familiar names in the bay area are part of a symposium in san francisco. the dell curry along with former sharks player setoguchi part of a panel that talked about their mental health struggles thr

at&t settling a case with the ftc, paying $60 million for slowing service to some wireless customers with the unlimited data plan. eligible customers will be notified about refunds. >>> don't, ups launching its drone delivery. look at this. delivery prescriptions from cvs directly to customers at a home, retirement community. packages were lowered from 20 feet above ground to customers below. sign of the future. >>> when we come back, "monday night football," and the cat on the field. but tonight, what you didn't see. when you retire will you or will you just be you, without the constraints of a full time job? you can grow your retirement savings with pacific life and create the future that's most meaningful to you. which means you can retire, without retiring from life. having the flexibility to retire on your terms. that's the power of pacific. ask your financial professional about pacific life today. [sneeare you ok?fles] yah, it's just a cold. it's not just a cold if you have high blood pressure. most cold medicines may raise blood pressure. coricidin hbp is the... ...#1 brand th

those are the things the ftc will be looking at. we should have a caveat here. you are not obligated to deal with competitors. if federal and state and antitrust enforcers are not finding the company was dominant and abusing the dominance to perpetuate a monopoly, then there's no case here. but i think that they are going to be looking at these things. antitrust regulators are just like us, but with subpoena power. when they read a news story like this and they see these kinds of documents, and some of these documents have leaked out previously before, they ask the same questions we are asking right now. they want to take a look at those are they want to maybe take depositions. that is that much more the lawyers will have to say hold on a minute, we can produce some of this, we can't produce other things. in california yesterday, they are actually going to court over document protection. taylor: remind us again about that burden of proof. to play devil's advocate, you could say you have a right to protect your own business interests, a right to not deal with com

accounting errors being investigated by the fcc and -- ftc and the doj. a deal has striker down 4%. it is buying a medical device manufacturer based in amsterdam, wright medical. it is selling down a little bit off of that. guy: here in europe, the stock 600 through the 400 line. that is a big deal. it is being driven by the dax today, german autos getting in on the deal. we are waiting for christine lagarde to speak, the first time she's going to do so as president of the ecb. dare i mention it? the rand up by 2%. this to do with the fact that south africa did not get downgraded on friday. negative from moody's but it did not get downgraded. peter, let's start with equities. absolutely going from strength to strength. what message do you take away from that? is clearly athere loss of liquidity. the fed is injecting cash. the $60 billion per month in t-bills they will buy per month on central bank balance sheets. the ecb is back on expansion. over the many years we have been running these qe programs, they have had more impact gradually over time. first they had an impact on the ris

he has been supportive of the data from the ftc, net position's going back to 2004. he is making the case that in 2019, you have the positioning getting the closest to net long that we have seen going all the way back to 2015. it suggests we could see bonds pullback even more. >> thanks, abigail. taking a look at a nasty day in brazilian markets today because a judge ordered former left wing president lula should be released from prison, and it caused a massive selloff in stocks. the ew z, the ishares brazil etf dropping about 3.5%, and the currency, weakening more than 1.5% against the dollar, putting it up close to that low for the year that seems like it has been a support for .he currency since about august brazilian law actually prevents lula from running for politics again due to his conviction, but he is obviously still very popular, influential in the country. tv footage shows crowds of supporters waving flags and shouting messages of support. the concern is that his presence out of prison may bolster the left-wing political party in the country, and that wou

when we rollout the proposal, we make very clear we don't want federal funds coming from the ftc to be spent on un-trusted vendors wherever they may be located. in this particular case, we have serious concerns with china's national intelligence law requires companies to comply with requests and not disclose that to any of their customers. shery: beijing argues the 2017 national intelligence law you are alluding to is defensive, it does not authorize spying. why are you not convinced? mr. pai: partially because the chinese government has made clear they want to leverage their influence in any particular area, especially when it comes to telecom networks. that is a risk we cannot take. we have seen evidence -- the indictment from earlier this year, but that vendor in particular has engaged in certain practices we find problematic. we want to make sure the equipment and services going into america's committee case and networks are secure. that is the base level every regulator and consumer should have. shery: the small and rural carriers have bought chinese equipment because they are che

though it has been years since we applied this network management tool in the way described by the ftc, we believe this is in the best interests of consumers. >> you've heard of turducken, right? how about those flavors in a chip? pringles is releasing its turducken chip including other flavors and you can stack them and eat. that's the kind of thanksgiving gift i want to -- >> i want to have them now. >> coca-cola, cinnamon, spiced winter cranberry are already on the shelves and ihop has offered a menu. that starts tomorrow. yummy. >> that makes my day. know exact lly what i'll be eating. >> thanks to our international viewers joining us with that turducken in mind. have a great rest of the day. for the rest of our viewers, "early start" continues right now. >>> big blue wins in ruby red states, where power is shifting and what it means for 2020. >>> the big revision from a top witness in the impeachment probe, what gordon sondland suddenly recalls and how it wrecks the white house defense. >>> an arrest after nine americans were massacred in mexico. the families said they were target

you have judiciary committees on the house, senate, ftc, doj, states looking at amazon's conduct. how is this likely to play and will it have any impact? spencer: this particular letter and these allegations are interesting in one point. if this is happening so widespread, why isn't anybody doing anything about it? the merchant is saying because all merchants sign up on amazon, they agree to binding arbitration, and that is preventing any of these folks from pursuing a case on their home. this merchant is hoping that either the judiciary committee will read this and see enough meat to investigate amazon or another possibility is another logistics provider like fedex or possibly some smaller warehousing and e-commerce order fulfillment company could make a case against amazon arguing this practice is costing them business. brad: that is the always fashionable bloomberg's spencer soper. thank you for joining us. coming up, hey, big spender. we look at how much president trump and his rivals are spending on social media to win your vote. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪ brad: in a

ftc around privacy. facebook has not been clear about what data it collected. this could be seen as them responding and saying, we are going to make very clear because we are going to put our name on everything we own. taylor: very smart. thanks for joining. that does it for this addition of "bloomberg technology." " isomberg technology livestreaming on twitter. be sure to follow our global breaking news network on tictoc on twitter. this is bloomberg. ♪ >> our top story this morning. asked to cutxi tariffs. meanwhile president trump says a trade deal is near. we're live at the expo in shanghai this hour. >> as the fed signals of pause ,fter three straight rate cuts the direction of treasury yields, where they go from here? thehe aramco ipo help wean saudi economy off its reliance .ff saudi oil the track record isn't

the ftc or sec mandates there be a clear conspicuous disclosure. ,the rules were not quite as clear. you saw people saying thanks airbnb, great pad. firmedings have kind of up a little bit. the fcc has released new guidelines. you're much more likely to see a post that says, "thanks for the lovely home, courtesy of airbnb. taylor: making sure people know it was an ad or a gift. anne: exactly. taylor: i want to talk about if there was any backlash. it seems it was all fun and games until regulators come in or until there is backlash. has there ever been backlash on these brands for doing this? anne: you know it is not really , clear that there has been. sometime,s people see the -- sometimes people see the , sponsored posts and are not as likely to click on it. facebook says that making those disclosures does not lessen the impact. also, the fcc sent out a couple of letters but enforcement has not been that fierce. you still see some fudging it around the edges. taylor: and they are getting the returns on their investment despite what seems like a c

there are questions on whether or not he was going to and he really didn't have an option to because ftc president had vetoed this it likely would have the two-thirds majority to everride the preside president's veto and now the president has signed it and you see marco rubio coming out and thanking the president essentially praising him for signing this despite those questions over whether or not he was going to do it, and jim, you can see in this statement that the president put out along with the announcement that he had signed this bill on where he stands with this, because essentially it was in support of president xi, china's leader because he wants those two sides to be able to work this out themselves. the question is whether or not the president goes any further than this or if we just leave it here with him signing this bill, jim? >> all right. cnn's kaitlan collins and thank you very much for that update. we appreciate it. just ahead, severe weather from coast to coast snarls holiday travel. we'll get the latest forecast next. built for freedom, power and rebellion. and just w

the ftc -- the fcc started a proceeding on that, but it is admittedly a heated one. we are still having discussions about it and also looking for other places are wi-fi to go including the five. nine gigahertz band which is nearby. >> give us a sense about the extent to which partisan politics enters into this. democrats and republicans are commissioners on the fcc. president trump said it is a priority for the country. how much of this is a republican-democrat issue, how much are republicans and democrats basically united on the goal of expanding 5g as fast as we can? right.ink you are we are united on the goal, but when it comes to tactics, we might differ. i'm the senior democrat of the agency and i think when i look at the administration right now, we don't have a master plan for 5g service. you saw leadership from the right the national security advisor in the white house just this week and say we need a master plan when it comes to 5g. we don't have one. we have the fcc fighting with the department of commerce over airwaves, fighting with the department of tran

criminality throughout the thirties and into the forties he gets involved with a pill company and the ftc goes after them for selling pills that didn't solve any problems. he gets in trouble during world war ii for setting up a fake company for the war effort and fake bonds but the reason the papers thought he was destitute because people say he had a stroke or a heart attack but was bed ridden six or eight months in the hospital then goes home and is bed ridden from that time on and had to have a nurse. her family lived in those two houses they live there for more than a decade previously. they were not that nice houses but he was never poor for go he found ways to make money. >> one more question. >> the one question that i can answer is where did all the money go? 's. [laughter] is impossible to track it down. >> that is the greatest questio question. and one that has haunted me because for somebody to have the tens of millions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars where did it all go? 's he went to bribery bribing everybody from the cincinnati beat cops and horseback into the

obama press secretary runs this huge policy shop with his deputy, a former public administration ftc lawyer. they tried to staff up. a lot of issues, whether trade wars, they have someone talking to the administration. on some of these bigger, more iconic issues, we could talk about the move to new york, edittle, this huge j contract. microsoft came out of nowhere and took it from them. amazon has had just a lot of trouble on the policy front. >> is interesting, because you document a number of these cases which you just described in brief. that, onkes me is paper, it looks like they did all of the right things. hired a big-time democrat and republican. that got the team in place. and then a bunch of unforced errors. it ultimately set them back. carney, this jay very polished communicator, he is hired during the obama administration when it seems hillary might win. takes an almost hostile posture towards trump. this is during the campaign. then trump is elected, and bezos-trump have this very negative relationship. they have a democrat as their chief spokesman, so that's a challenge.

all of the is independent agencies, the ftc, the fcc, the alphabet soup of agencies that all have these for for causeionsause -- protections. they usually have multi member bodies. there are a lot of institutions in this town that are very familiar to the operation of government that have these for cause protections. it is a great place to have this discussion. if i knew where we were in the building, i could point. the federal reserve, that also has this for cause protection. the federal reserve is a great example of why congress imposes these kind of restrictions because there are certain issues in the world that we deal with at the national level where it is nice to have a degree of insulation for discharging a particular duty or responsibility where it is not just going to change with whoever is president. we a fairly long time now thought of monetary policy is something that should just not change with each and, that , notd be more consistent having every member of the federal reserve board serve at the well of the president. the court could decide in a way that says this particula

as they do the investigation into facebook what is it that you think the public and the ftc should know when they're looking at the landscape and facebook's behavior >> gosh. i'm not actually sure that we have shared anything yet but i think it's just important to understand the really important role that these technology platforms play in people's lives and everyone wants to make sure there's an equal playing field for competitors and big breakthroughs, stories or augmented reality, the products we have created, a lot of those innovations driven progress overall in the industry and competition can be really productive because it encourages companies to change, provide better products for the people that they serve and so i think for us overall we need to make sure that small companies have a real opportunity to compete in an environment with really large technology players and i think snap is the success story but many, many start-ups that haven't had a chance to get off the ground because these companies are so large. >> you were once a tiny start-up and succeeded. what do you think t

want to shift gears to the reports out from the "wall street journal" and "new york times" about the ftc cracking down on fake reviews on amazon and some of the other sites as well how big of a risk is that for investors to be aware of >> i think it is a pretty big risk over time not necessarily with amazon, more so with the digital advertising dominated companies like facebook and going. i don't think that it is those companies' faults. we're still fairly embryonic historically and we'll have to figure it out probably with some assistance from the government or at least put guardrails as to what we can do with our customers' privacy but yes, over time it will be a headwind not only because of the perception, but also the cost of complying with whatever rules they come up with. >> so brent, amazon versus the other names in your coverage universe right now especially when we've had big cap tightenings that are up double digits versus some of the smalle and mid capnames where do you find the most value, what do you like the most right now? >> we're still favorable on large cap internet, fa

former obama press secretary runs this huge policy shop with his deputy, a former public administration ftc lawyer. together they tried to staff up so they are ready to fight. a lot of issues, whether it is trade wars, they have someone talking to the administration trying to lobby. on the bigger, more iconic issues -- we talk about the move to new york, seattle, this huge jedi contract where amazon is competing for a government contract. microsoft came out of nowhere and took it from them. amazon has had just a lot of trouble on the policy front. jason: it is interesting because , you document a number of these cases which you just described in brief. what strikes me too is on paper it looks on paper like they did all of the right things. hired a big-time democrat and republican. that got the team in place. this feels very 2019, a bunch of unforced errors that set them back. >> if we take jay carney, this very polished communicator, he is hired during the obama administration when it seems hillary clinton might win. amazon takes responding to trump's tweets almost hostile posture towards t

if you go onto the ftc website, they would advise that people not consume any romaine lettuce. the industry has been voluntarily pursuing labeling. so there should be a label on the package that clearly states where the romaine is grown. if there's not such a label, the cdc and fda is recommending people discard that. the recommendations are to clean the refrigerator, and drawers, any sort of surface on which that romaine might have been stored or prepared. because again, the contamination might spread in the home. >> that's good advice. i sort of expected once i got rid of the lettuce, the potential problem was over. you mentioned those other outbreaks. it does seem to happen to romaine lettuce. leafy greens. why is that? is it specifically because of the irrigation? >> there's a couple of specific elements of the physiology of romaine lettuce that make it potentially more susceptible. again the science is sort of out on this. but lettuce in general has very wide surface areas. it's also consumed raw. that's one of the health benefits. that means there's no steps that would ki

. >> let's talk about legal, regulatory, ftc issue is still hanging over your head a bit it is supposed to be back in court in january or early 2020, i believe. how confident are you that you got that issue contained and can give wall street here a clear idea of growth that's coming. >> i think we feel very confident how we argue, and we were buoyed by filings by the doj which made a strong filing most importantly is we got the stay we got a stay which allowed us to continue to operate our business and that was very good for us. and in the meantime, we have been signing up anchor agreements when we think of our licensing business, we tend to think of it now as a stable earner, you know, and of course we're using that to invest in r&d, a lot of capital return based off it. we feel like the hard part of our business is behind us. still have legal risk, the hard part we think is behind us. >> finally, give me a sense of the macro economy you're operating in now apple gave some numbers and projections that surprised people, particularly when it comes to china but overall, i am sure it didn'