 Welcome to Hillicon Valley, The Hill's newsletter detailing all you need to know about the tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. If you don’t already, be sure to sign up for our newsletter by clicking HERE. Follow our cyber reporter, Maggie Miller (@magmill95), and tech team, Chris Mills Rodrigo (@chrisismills) and Rebecca Klar (@rebeccaklar_), for more coverage. Apple’s CEO Tim Took testified in defense of the App Store as part of the ongoing antitrust trial between Apple and Fortnite developer Epic Games. Meanwhile, concerns over the hate speech children face online is drawing rare bipartisan agreement. And, the White House is taking a new route to encourage Americans to get vaccinates — through dating apps.
TIM’S TAKE: Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the company's App Store rules during testimony Friday, claiming they protect users’ security.
Cook's testimony came during the Silicon Valley giant’s legal battle against Fortnite developer Epic Games. Cook touted the tech giant’s App Store as an “economic miracle” and defended the policies related to the store including the up to 30 percent commission fees charged to developers at the core of Epic Games’s antitrust allegations. The app developer is suing the company over allegations of anti-competitive behavior stemming from Apple's decision in August to kick Fortnite off of the app store after the developer set up its own in-app payment system in an attempt to avoid Apple’s commission fees. Read more about his testimony.
AN ISSUE ON THE RISE: The pandemic has pushed kids to use the internet more for school and socialization, but children's media safety advocates warn that social media giants’ business models are a key hurdle in combating cyberbullying.
Kids' and teens' reliance on social media platforms to interact amid the pandemic, combined with remote schooling, has exacerbated often toxic and dangerous online environments, according to experts. The online hate speech faced by minors has prompted rare bipartisan agreement as well as a new legal battle in California federal court that could test the bounds of a controversial law that has shielded tech giants. Read more here.
A LOVING APPROACH: Major dating apps are adding vaccination badges and special benefits to users' profiles who say they received the coronavirus vaccine in an effort to reach the Biden administration's July 4 inoculation goal.
“In support of President Biden’s goal of getting 70 percent of adults at least one shot by July 4, the largest dating apps in America will launch new features to encourage Americans to get vaccinated,” according to an announcement from the White House. The news from the dating apps comes after Biden earlier this month announced a goal of administering at least one shot of a coronavirus vaccine to 70 percent of adults by July 4. Tinder, Hinge, Match, OkCupid, BLK, Chispa, Plenty of Fish, Bumble and Badoo are all giving special benefits to those who get vaccinated and adding new “vaccination badge” options to their profiles. Read more about the effort.
CHINA'S CONCERNS: China’s internet watchdog on Friday cited 105 apps operating in its country, including Microsoft Bing and LinkedIn, over allegations of illegal data collection of users’ personal information.
The Associated Press reported that the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) announced in a statement on its website that the apps, which also include Bytedance’s Douyin and short video app Kuaishou, had 15 business days to address the reported violations before they would face legal consequences. The move comes as part of the watchdog’s ongoing crackdown on apps and online content for allegations of improper data collection and misinformation, even as China itself faces allegations from U.S. lawmakers of breaches of online privacy. Read more here.
SO LONG, FAREWELL: Amazon will discontinue its Prime Now delivery app and website to integrate the feature onto its main platform, the company said Friday.
Users will be able to get the same service from Prime Now, with deliveries of certain goods and groceries within hours, on the regular Amazon site once the separate app is shut down later this year, Amazon’s vice president of grocery, Stephanie Landry, said in a blog post. The e-commerce giant first debuted Prime Now in 2014. Read more here.
SNAPPY NEW SPECTACLES: Snap Inc. announced the unveiling of their new Spectacles AR glasses on Thursday.
The company said on their website that the “Spectacles” use augmented reality, meaning the wearer looks at digital objects in the real world using the glasses. The new product is built with two RGB cameras, four microphones, a touchpad and buttons for control. Read more here.
Lighter click: The power of the blue check mark
An op-ed to chew on: When will America protect itself against EMP, cyber and ransomware attacks?
NOTABLE LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:
An Online Community’s Shared Stories Against Anti-Asian Hate (The Verge / Justine Calma) He Promised a Dreamy Wedding Proposal Fans Got a 5-Hour Sale. (The New York Times / Tiffany May) ‘Swept under the carpet’: When health records are held ransom, patients are the hardest hit — and last to know (Stat News / Marion Renault) Leaked emails show crime app Citizen is testing on-demand security force (Vice Motherboard / Joseph Cox) | 
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