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Will your next Netflix binge be interrupted by ads, has Tesla secured funding to go private, and a GOP leader makes a misstep on Twitter.
It’s all the tech news that’s popular right now. Welcome to Hashtag Trending! It’s Tuesday, August 21st and I’m your host Meagan Simpson.
First up trending just about everywhere: Is Netflix bringing ads to its streaming service!? Well that was the worry of users this past weekend. In the past few days a number of users have taken to social media, complaining that advertisements were playing between episodes. Some even going to far as to threaten cancelling their subscriptions if this continued.
@netflix Please don't force me to watch trailers between episodes. I don't care if it is just one trailer or if it is just for Netflix shows. I really will cancel my subscription if I start seeing these. The service is great right now and this change will make it a lesser service
— Drift0r (@Drift0r) August 18, 2018
These ads were in fact video promos for the streaming services other shows. In a statement last Friday Netflix told users not to worry. The company says bingers will not have to suffer through ads, in fact it’s just testing out ways to offer personalized recommendations. It also stated these ‘video promotions’ can be skipped. However disgruntled Reddit users beg to differ. They took to the site over the weekend saying they had seen the promos but there was no option to ‘skip’. This is not the first time Netflix has tested something on its platform, in fact according to CNN a spokesperson stated they conduct hundreds of tests every year and most aren’t adopted. But I think it’s safe to say that this particular test was not a success. Next episode please.
Next up from LinkedIn: It look like I was right, Tesla’s going to have another tough week. The electric car maker’s week as not started off well since it is in the news again today. This time because JP Morgan is saying it has not secured the funding it needed to go private. The financial institution is predicting Tesla’s share will fall dramatically for the rest of the year thanks to Elon Musk’s plans to go private and the lack of funding. Musk had previously tweeted on August 7th “am considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.” However a Musk blog post a week later mentioned that the Saudi Arabian wealth fund looking to invest was asking for more details. This led JP Morgan to doubt that Tesla had actually secured the funding as Musk had claimed. JP Morgan said, “Tesla does appear to be exploring a going private transaction, but we now believe that such a process appears much less developed than we had earlier presumed.” Tesla is still set to meet with the Security and Exchange Commission later this week to discuss Musk’s tweets about taking the company private.
Finally from Reddit: An update on Trump’s accusation that Twitter is biased. American house majority leader Kevin McCarthy has been mocked on social media for a misleading Tweet that bolstered the idea of the social site censoring conservatives. The GOP leader accused Twitter of censoring by retweeting content that was blocked on his feed and marked as ‘potentially sensitive content.’ However the Twitter world was quick to point out that these tweets were covered up thanks to his personal settings, not something that Twitter itself was doing. This comes almost month after Trump first accused the social media site of having a ‘shadow ban’ on conservative leaders. Twitter has addressed the accusation saying there is no ‘shadow ban’ and any censorship of a conservative leader was unintentional. However, according to American media outlet, The Hill, a house committee is considering subpoenaing Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey on a number of issues including the perceived bias.