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The US GDP had a lousy quarter… The US economy shrank at a 32.9% annualized rate last quarter according to government estimates, the steepest decline on record. Nevertheless, Americans managed to purchase 776,000 new homes—the most in 13 years. And as federally-enhanced unemployment benefits come to an end 1.4 million more Americans filed new claims for unemployment insurance with 30.2 million US residents now claiming some kind of unemployment insurance.
…but Big Tech had a great one. One day after their CEOs testified in a landmark antitrust hearing before the US Congress, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, and Alphabet all reported quarterly earnings that beat estimates and saw their share prices rise in extended trading.
The US accused China of hacking Moderna. Reuters reports that US security officials are claiming that Chinese government-affiliated hackers directed their efforts at Massachusetts-based biotech firm Moderna, a leading Covid-19 vaccine developer.
TikTok was hit with a patent suit. Snoop Dogg-backed video-sharing app Triller sued its rival TikTok in a patent dispute over “creating music videos synchronized with an audio track.” Meanwhile, a bipartisan duo of US senators have asked the Department of Justice to investigate both TikTok and videoconference software provider Zoom.
Perseverance got down to business. NASA sent its Perseverance Mars rover on its way to the red planet. Now we’ve got about seven months to mull over if the mission is a good idea. If you’d like more space news to land in your inbox each week, sign up for the Space Business newsletter by clicking the button below.
Bouncing back from halftime
The NBA’s four-month break is over, as players return to an empty arena. WarnerMedia-owned TNT as well as Disney’s ESPN are tweaking the experience for viewers at home in an attempt to make up for the lack of roaring crowds by adding more cameras and microphones. If you can’t be there in person—and you can’t—perhaps closer glimpses of sweaty brow(s) and sharper squeaks on the hardwood will bridge the gap.
Cable TV has been hemorrhaging subscribers this year due to the Covid-induced sports drought, and while basketball, baseball, hockey, and eventually football will help service providers’ bottom lines in the short-term, cord-cutters are unlikely to resubscribe permanently.
Charting refugees entering the US
Beijing’s repressive actions towards Hong Kong have prompted the White House to move forward with sanctions against figures on the island who backed China’s tactics. But there’s another way to undermine the push against freedom and boost the US economy, too: Open American borders to political refugees from Hong Kong.
The White House has called for the US to reallocate the existing refugee quota towards Hong Kong. But, beyond creating a zero-sum system that leaves out other refugees, advocates for foreigners seeking safety in the US say this will have little effect. US president Donald Trump has already cut the number of refugees admitted to the US to about 8,000, the lowest level in nearly three decades.
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For members: Smart questions from Big Tech’s antitrust hearing
Asking four different tech bigwigs with four different business models questions about anti-competitive practices at their companies would be a daunting task for even the most knowledgeable interviewer. Past hearings—in particular Zuckerberg’s 2018 appearance before Congress—didn’t inspire much confidence in politicians’ grasp of the modern tech firms, but on Wednesday, the US House Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee, for the most part, held its own.
We compiled the questions we thought were particularly thoughtful and nuanced. Here’s a preview:
- “You said that Amazon focuses on customers, so how would customers…benefit when the prices were driven up by the fact that you eliminated your main competitor?” —Rep. Mary Scanlon, D-PA to Jeff Bezos, Amazon
- “Mergers and acquisitions that buy off potential competitive threats violate the antitrust law. In your own words, you purchased Instagram to neutralize a competitive threat. If this was an illegal merger at the time of the transaction, why shouldn’t Instagram now be broken off into a separate company?” —Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-NY to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook
- “Will you certify here today that your company does not use and will never use slave labor to manufacture your products or allow products to be sold on your platform that are manufactured using slave labor?” —Rep. Ken Buck, R-CO to all four CEOs
✦ Here’s a smart question. Do you want half off a Quartz membership? If you’re already a member, consider helping us improve by taking this 3-minute survey.
You asked about vaccine safety
How can we be sure any vaccine is safe in the long term, given the speed with which the vaccine is being developed and released?
Scientists are researching Covid-19 vaccines at an unprecedented pace, but they’re still going through the standard stages, and safety trials always come first. In fact, it’s easier to establish vaccine safety than efficacy: While it is difficult to determine whether a new drug can protect humans from coronavirus, testing vaccines on thousands of people provides strong signals about safety.
That said, every medical product comes with potential side effects. And rare safety issues can only be identified once a vaccine is used at scale. The father of modern vaccination, Maurice Hilleman, used to say, “I never breathe a sigh of relief until the first 3 million doses are out there.” These unknown potential dangers ultimately have to be balanced against the risk of coronavirus, which is why the first people likely to receive any approved vaccine will be the healthcare workers who are most regularly exposed.
Surprising discoveries
Cult seltzer favorite Topo Chico, now with booze. The brand’s hard seltzer will launch in Latin American countries first (the rest of us will have to settle for adding our own liquor).
Squid genes are about to be a lot less mysterious. Marine biologists have injected cephalopod embryos with gene-altering materials that allow it, finally, to be studied more easily.
The pitch for Tom Cruise’s in-space movie was green-lit after a single Zoom meeting. According to Deadspin, Universal Pictures pledged $200 million, script unseen.
Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is the top read among Russian prisoners. Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “Crime and Punishment,” surprisingly enough, came in second.
Stonehenge’s biggest stones came from 16 miles (25 kilometers) away. The sandstone sarsens hail from West Woods, a popular spot in prehistoric times.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, Tom Cruise videoconference invites, and squid embryos to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our app on iOS and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Susan Howson, Olivia Goldhill, Tim Fernholz, and Max Lockie.