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| Greetings, dear Insiders! Today we cover the EU's latest antitrust move against Google, the death of novelist Cormac McCarthy, and some positive news about the growth of renewable energy in the U.S. I hope you enjoy today's edition of the Inside Daily Brief! Your faithful IDB writer, Daniel
p/Dan-Smith | |
| 1 | | European anti-trust regulators said that Google may need to break up its ad-tech business to resolve "inherent conflicts of interest" in the digital advertising industry. The European Commission said Google's influence in the buying and selling of online ads gives the company unfair advantages in other parts of its business, notably in the operation of its advertising exchange. More: - The regulator said that its preliminary view is that Google may need to sell its ad server business, which works with digital publishers, as well as its advertising exchange.
- The European Commission submitted a statement of objections, which allows the regulator to alert a company to its preliminary concerns and initiate an investigation.
- The EU's chief tech regulator Margrethe Vestager said the bloc is recommending divestiture as a way of making digital advertising more competitive because Google controls the lion's share of the industry.
- Without divestiture, she said, Google would be able to "continue doing what it has been doing so far, just under a different disguise."
- Google said it disagrees with the proposal and will "respond accordingly."
- If Google were to fail to comply with a final order from the European Commission, it could face a fine of up to 10% of its global annual revenue.
Zoom Out: - Earlier this year the U.S. Justice Department filed a lawsuit seeking to break up Google's digital advertising business.
- The suit, which was joined by California, New York, and six other states, alleges that Google abuses its monopoly power in the advertising technology industry.
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What the numbers say: UnitedHealth, the largest publicly-traded U.S. healthcare and insurance company, is trading down over 7% on Wednesday after it said that its costs are increasing due to an uptick in surgeries among older U.S. adults. Relevance: U.S. insurers benefitted from a slowdown in non-urgent surgeries during the pandemic but many senior citizens are now pursuing surgeries that they put on hold. UnitedHealth said that demand for knee and hip surgeries is particularly strong. In April, UnitedHealth CFO John Rex said that some healthcare services, like physician office visits, had reached pre-pandemic levels. Other healthcare services like emergency room and pediatrician visits were still below pre-pandemic levels. Who Benefits? Fellow insurance companies Elevance Health and CVS Health Group were trading down between 6% and 7.5% on Wednesday. Hospital operator firms like HCA Healthcare and Tenet Healthcare gained between 3% and 6% during the trading session, while medical device operators like Stryker and Boston Scientific also saw gains. | | | |
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| 3 | | A new global report from the Reuters Institute at Oxford University found that people have become less interested in following the news in recent years. According to the 2023 Digital News Report, approximately a third of people worldwide actively avoid the news. More: - According to the report, many people are engaging less with the news because they believe that reading negative stories can undermine their mental health.
- 48% of people said they were very or extremely interested in the news, down from 63% in 2017.
- 56% said they are concerned about fake news, an increase of 2 percentage points from last year.
- Facebook is still the most important social media platform for news, but only 28% of people regularly get their news on the platform, down from 42% in 2017.
- 20% of people aged 18 to 24 get their news on TikTok, up from 15% last year.
- According to the report, TikTok is the "fastest growing social network in our survey."
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| 4 | | GOOD NEWS: Wind and solar power generated more electricity in the U.S. in the first five months of 2023 than coal power. This was the first time that renewable energy sources produced more electricity than coal over a five-month period. More: - As recently as 2008, coal generated nearly half of the electricity in the U.S.
- Coal-fired power generation has declined this year, largely due to low natural gas prices and coal plant retirements throughout the U.S.
- 14 gigawatts of coal capacity ― approximately 7% of overall coal capacity ― has been retired since 2022.
- 22.5 gigawatts of solar and wind capacity were added between May 2022 and May 2023.
- As a result, the Energy Information Administration said it expects coal generation to decrease by 15% this summer compared to last summer.
- Coal accounted for 55% of power sector emissions in 2022 despite producing just 20% of total power.
- Coal industry analyst Andy Blumenfeld said that the decline in coal use "is happening faster than anyone anticipated."
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| 5 | | A trial over Montana's constitutional obligation to preserve a "clean and healthful environment" for the state's youth began this week. The lawsuit, which was brought in 2020 by 16 young plaintiffs, argues that Montana is violating the state constitution by failing to address the environmental threat posed by climate change. More: - Since 1972, Montana's state constitution has guaranteed that the "state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations."
- Defense attorneys have argued that Montana's emissions are "too minuscule" to make a major difference in the fight to slow climate change.
- In his opening statement, Montana assistant attorney general Michael Russell said: "Climate change is a global issue that effectively relegates Montana's role to that of a spectator."
- Several of the plaintiffs have testified about ways that wildfires, flooding, and other natural events that have been worsened by climate change have negatively impacted their personal lives.
- Nobel Peace Prize-winner and University of Montana professor emeritus Steven Running said that Montana needs to "quit burning fossil fuels... as rapidly as possible."
- The plaintiffs will ask Judge Kathy Seeley to find that Montana's support for the fossil fuel industry is unconstitutional.
Zoom Out: - The trial is the culmination of a decade-plus-long battle by environmentalists to pressure the Montana state government to take action on climate change.
- Among U.S. states, Montana is the fifth-largest producer of coal and the 12th-largest producer of oil.
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| 6 | | American novelist Cormac McCarthy died on Tuesday at the age of 89. The author of "Blood Meridian," "The Road," and "No Country for Old Men" was considered one of the greatest American novelists of the past 50 years. More: - McCarthy, who wrote a dozen novels, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for "The Road," which was later made into a movie starring Viggo Mortensen.
- His 2005 novel "No Country for Old Men" was adapted into a film by the Coen brothers.
- He was known for his long-term affiliation with the Santa Fe Institute, a research center focused on the study of complexity and complex systems.
- In 2017, McCarthy published a philosophical essay entitled "The Kekulé Problem" on the origins of human language and its role in human consciousness.
- Last year he published his final novels, "The Passenger" and "Stella Maris."
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- The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said that an estimated 110 million people have had to flee their homes due to violence or human rights violations around the world, with 19 million people being displaced in 2022 alone.
- Shell said it will increase its shareholder dividend and continue with stock buybacks. The energy company said it plans to keep its oil output steady through 2030.
- The Greek government said that at least 78 people died after a fishing boat carrying migrants from Libya to Italy capsized near the Greek Peloponnese region.
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 | Writer | | Dr. Daniel Smith is an Inside writer with a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Cambridge. Follow him on Twitter @DJS12321 or email him at Daniel@inside.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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