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SpaceX, Twitter and electric car maker Tesla CEO Elon Musk looks on as he speaks during his visit at the Vivatech technology startups and innovation fair at the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, on June 16, 2023. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP) (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD/AFP via Getty Images)

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Twitter asked a federal court on Thursday to end or modify a Federal Trade Commission order that governs how the company stores and uses information about Twitter users.

The 2011 agreement originally resolved charges that the platform failed to adequately safeguard its users’ information. The order subjected Twitter to an independent assessment of its security program for 10 years and barred the company from misleading consumers about its security and privacy practices for 20 years.

Twitter is asking the court to determine whether the 2011 FTC order “is equitable in light of the FTC’s conduct,” according to the filing. The company said the investigation “has spiraled out of control and become tainted by bias.” As a result, the “misfit consent order … no longer can serve any proper equitable purpose.”

Twitter alleges the FTC has issued “unceasing demands” for “burdensome document protections,” particularly since Elon Musk took over the company last year. Since that time, X Corp., which owns Twitter, said it’s received 16 demand letters, compared with just about 28 from the agency in the last decade-plus.

“The FTC’s overreach has now culminated in a demand to depose Mr. Musk, who is not, and never has been, a party to the Consent Order,” the filing says.

In May 2022, before Musk took over, the company reached a $150 million settlement with the FTC and Department of Justice for allegedly violating the 2011 order by failing to adequately inform users about how their contact information would be used to target ads.

Shortly after Musk took over Twitter, the FTC made clear it was committed to upholding its orders after key privacy and security executives left the company.

“We are tracking recent developments at Twitter with deep concern,” an FTC spokesperson said in a statement in November. “No CEO or company is above the law, and companies must follow our consent decrees. Our revised consent order gives us new tools to ensure compliance, and we are prepared to use them.”

As an alternative to terminating or modifying the agreement, Twitter said it would ask the court to direct the FTC to provide evidence to X Corp. and pause the enforcement of the agreement until it’s produced.

The FTC declined to comment.

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WATCH: Elon Musk polls Twitter users over whether he should remain as CEO

Elon Musk polls Twitter users over whether he should remain as CEO

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Lyft shares sink 6% on underwhelming fourth-quarter results

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Lyft shares sink 6% on underwhelming fourth-quarter results

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Lyft shares shed about 6% after the ride-sharing app reported lackluster fourth-quarter results and offered weak bookings guidance as it lowers prices to keep up with competition.

The company reported revenues of $1.55 billion, versus the $1.56 billion expected by analysts polled by LSEG. Revenues grew 27% from $1.22 billion a year ago. Bookings, which measures the charges posed to customers for rides and services, came in at $4.28 billion, behind a $4.32 billion FactSet estimate.

“I think what the future holds is great, because it’s a huge market, and we’re doing a great job,” CEO David Risher told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. “We got to figure out how to get the traders on the bus.”

The company did beat expectations on fourth-quarter earnings, reporting an adjusted 29 cents per share compared to the LSEG expectation of 22 cents per share. The figure excluded certain amortization and compensation charges, and a gain from terminating a lease.

Lyft also said it anticipates a slowdown in gross bookings as it grapples with a lower pricing environment. The company expects bookings to range between $4.05 billion and $4.20 billion, versus a $4.24 billion FactSet forecast.

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During the earnings call, Chief Financial Officer Erin Brewer said the company lowered prices and used discounts in the end of the year to keep up with the market. Ongoing pricing headwinds could lead to a low single-digit percentage point impact on gross bookings, she added.

Brewer also said that the end of its partnership with Delta Air Lines will weigh on rides and gross bookings in the 1% to 2% range during the second quarter.

Last week, Uber shares also declined on mixed fourth-quarter results and soft guidance. The ridesharing competitor also signaled that it may take years to build out and commercialize autonomous vehicles.

Lyft reported net income of $62.8 million for the period, or 15 cents per share. That’s compared to a loss of $26.3 million a year ago, a loss of 7 cents per share.

During the fourth quarter, Lyft also recorded 24.7 million active riders, ahead of the 24.6 million StreetAccount estimate.

Alongside the results, the company announced a $500-million share repurchase plan and said it aims to roll out its Mobileye-powered taxis as soon as 2026 in Dallas.

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Neuralink competitor Paradromics secures investment from Saudi Arabia’s Neom

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Neuralink competitor Paradromics secures investment from Saudi Arabia's Neom

Paradromics scientists at work

Source: Paradromics

Texas-based neurotech startup Paradromics on Wednesday announced a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Neom and said it will establish a Brain-Computer Interface Center of Excellence in the region.

Neom is a developing area within northwest Saudi Arabia that’s touted as “a hub for innovation,” according to its website. The area’s strategic investment arm, the Neom Investment Fund, led the partnership. Paradromics declined to disclose the investment amount.

Paradromics is building a brain-computer interface, or a BCI, which is a system that deciphers brain signals and translates them into commands for external technologies. The company will work with Neom to “advance the development of BCI-based therapies” and set up the “premier center for BCI-based healthcare” in the Middle East and North Africa, it said in a release.

“Working together, we can accelerate the rate of innovation in BCI and expand access to impactful BCI-based therapies.” Paradromics CEO Matt Angle said in a statement.

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Paradromics is one of several companies racing to commercialize BCIs, including Elon Musk’s startup Neuralink. Earlier this month, Neuralink announced it has implanted three human patients with its technology, according to a blog post. Precision Neuroscience and Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates-backed Synchron have also implanted their systems in humans.

None of these companies have secured the FDA’s final stamp of approval.

Paradromics’ BCI, the Connexus Direct Data Interface, is an array of tiny electrodes designed to be implanted directly into the brain tissue. The system could eventually help patients with severe paralysis regain their ability to communicate by deciphering their neural signals. 

The company is gearing up to launch its first human trial this year, and announced its official patient registry in July. Paradromics’ technology has not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it still has a long way to go before commercialization. In 2023, the company received the FDA’s Breakthrough Device designation, which aims to help accelerate the go-to-market process.

Watch: Inside Paradromics, the Neuralink competitor hoping to commercialize brain implants before the end of the decade

Inside Paradromics, the Neuralink competitor hoping to commercialize brain implants before the end of the decade

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Apple launches first major health study in 5 years. Here’s how you can opt in

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Apple launches first major health study in 5 years. Here's how you can opt in

Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers remarks before the start of an Apple event at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024.

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Apple is deepening its investment in health-care research by launching a new, years-long project called the Apple Health Study, the company announced on Wednesday. 

The study will analyze how data from devices like iPhones, AirPods and Apple Watches can monitor, manage and predict changes in users’ health. It will also explore connections between different components of health, like how mental health affects heart rate, for instance. 

The Apple Health Study is the first major health research project the company has announced since it unveiled the Apple Women’s Health Study, the Apple Hearing Study and the Apple Heart and Movement Study in 2019. Those projects are ongoing, and they’ve inspired many of the health features that Apple has introduced in recent years.

Apple rolled out a hearing test in the fall, for instance, which was developed using insights from the Apple Hearing Study, the company said. 

The new study will likely influence future product development. Apple CEO Tim Cook previously said he believes health features will be the company’s “most important contribution to mankind.”

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“We’re thrilled to bring forward the Apple Health Study, which will only accelerate our understanding of health and technology across the human body, both physically and mentally,” Dr. Sumbul Desai, Apple’s vice president of health, said in a statement. 

The Apple Health Study will be available through the company’s Research app, and participation is voluntary. Users will select each data type they’re willing to share with researchers, and they can stop sharing or completely discontinue their participation at any time. 

Apple has no access to participants’ identifiable information, the company said.  

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a research hospital, is collaborating with Apple on the study. The project will last at least five years and may expand past that.

“We’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of how technology can improve our understanding of human health,” Dr. Calum MacRae, the principal investigator of the study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said in a statement. 

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