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The US government filed a lawsuit against Google. The justice department and 11 state attorneys general accused the company of building a search and advertising monopoly and using its market power to stifle competition. Google’s dominance is built upon hundreds of acquisitions, Nicolás Rivero reports, all the way back to its 2005 takeover of Android.
Tesla reports earnings. The electric vehicle company finally made a profit in the last two consecutive quarters, and a third straight home run could propel it to the S&P 500. Meanwhile, founder Elon Musk announced—without much detail—a beta test for its self-driving technology.
Anti-police brutality protesters in Nigeria have reportedly been shot and killed. The army denies the reports, and officials are investigating, while there is now a 24-hour curfew in the commercial hub Lagos and elsewhere. Protests over a now-disbanded police unit have been continuing for two weeks.
The UN predicts a fall in global trade of up to 9% this year. That’s despite a recovery, led by China, in the third quarter of 2020. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) said that the pandemic’s evolution and economic impact remain uncertain.
Barack Obama makes his first appearance on the Biden campaign trail. The former US president is speaking up for his old colleague at an outdoor drive-in rally in Philadelphia today. Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that current president Donald Trump has a bank account in China, despite his anti-China rhetoric.
What makes Mukesh tick?
Chairman of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani doesn’t necessarily want to be remembered for running a conglomerate that’s currently dominating several sectors in the country.
At a book launch interview with journalist Omkar Goswami, Ambani said he’d prefer his legacy to be based on transforming India into a digital society, revolutionizing its educational sector, and redirecting it towards renewable energy. He also gave credit for Reliance’s pivot to telecommunications to his father’s dream of connecting all Indians at an affordable price.
Ambani may court the image of one who works for the benefit of a better-connected Indian population, but as Niharika Sharma reports, he is also worth more than three times as much as the second wealthiest person in India.
Charting China’s billionaires
Speaking of very wealthy people, China has more billionaires than any country in the world. Yesterday, a new group of 257 billionaires (in US dollar terms) were added to the annually released Hurun China Rich List, which has been tracking the wealth of the ultra-rich for 22 years.
The rich listers have a combined wealth of $4 trillion, which is similar to the GDP of Germany, up from $2.6 trillion in 2019. Jane Li looks into why more rich people in China are turning into super-rich people, despite a global pandemic.
Poorly designed ballots are difficult to fix
The user-focused design ethos characterizing our technological interfaces hasn’t made its way to ballot design yet, at least in the US. But if paper ballots are so bad, why can’t states just start from scratch? Anne Quito discovered that it’s not so easy—even a tweak is quite the process.
But at least we’re no longer in the 19th century. The task of printing ballots was left to political parties, who produced a mind-boggling array of designs and deployed every graphic trick and dark pattern they could think of. Then, you’d just pop your favorite ballot in the box, hop on your penny-farthing, eat some gruel, and hope for the best.
How well do you podcast?
Which platforms already host, or have deals to host, podcasts by the following people?
🎧 Joe Rogan
🎧 Michelle Obama
🎧 Kim Kardashian West
🦇 Batman
OK, we’ll just tell you—the answer to all four is Spotify. which has been aggressively expanding into the podcasting world. Music is a lousy cash cow, and with podcasts, Spotify doesn’t have to hand over a big chunk of its revenue to record labels.
In the past two years, Spotify has spent more than $600 million to acquire three podcast networks, including Bill Simmons’s “The Ringer,” and a podcast-making app. The platform is also narrowing podcasting’s traditional open environment by offering exclusive content. Read more in our field guide to the podcast business.
✦ Listen up, you can start a free trial of a Quartz membership today, then use promo code QZTWENTY to unlock a 20% discount for your first year.
Surprising discoveries
Bots created fake nude photos of more than 100,000 women. The bots, active on Telegram, could scour social media posts and digitally remove the women’s clothes.
Thai protesters are on the lookout for “Iced Coffee.” That’s code for riot police, part of protest lingo developed over months of demonstrations.
25 rare chinchillas stand between a mining company and billions of dollars. It has to relocate them from the goldmine in Chile.
Quicker than a jiffy. Scientists recorded the fastest thing to ever happen—the time it takes for a photon to cross a single hydrogen molecule—and it lasted 247 zeptoseconds.
The only two inhabitants of a tiny Italian town still wear masks and keep their distance. Giovanni Carilli, 82, and Giampiero Nobili, 74, meet for coffee but do it carefully.
Our best wishes for a productive day. Please send any news, comments, suspicious bots, and homeless chinchillas to hi@qz.com. Get the most out of Quartz by downloading our iOS app and becoming a member. Today’s Daily Brief was brought to you by Hasit Shah, Susan Howson, and Liz Webber.