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Congress passes a huge rollback of landmark banking regulations; Mark Zuckerberg’s apology tour continues in Europe.
Dodd-Frank gets a rollback
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- Congressional Democrats and Republicans have finally found some common ground: passing a law to deregulate banks. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
- On Tuesday, the House passed a bill that significantly rolls back Dodd-Frank, a massive financial reform bill passed in 2010 that was designed to give banks new rules and prevent another massive financial meltdown like the 2008 housing crisis and resulting recession. [NPR / Chris Arnold]
- The Senate has already passed the bill, with red-state and moderate Democrats signing on as they hope to ease regulations on local, community banks. Trump is likely to sign the bill into law. [NYT / Emily Flitter]
- The new bill isn’t a full repeal of Dodd-Frank; it’s meant to ease restrictions and regulation on small and midsize banks. [Washington Post / Staff]
- Still, this represents a massive change in the law. Basically, the bill increases the threshold of a bank’s assets that merits regulators taking a closer look at them. [WSJ / Andrew Ackerman and Ryan Tracy]
- The fear is that if a number of small to midsize banks fail at once, it could precipitate another financial crisis that could send shockwaves through the American economy. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
- It’s also opening up a rift within the Democratic Party between moderates who voted for the bill and progressive lawmakers who are staunchly opposed to it because they’re afraid loose rules could eventually cause another economic meltdown. [Business Insider / Bob Bryan]
- Many of those progressives like Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Sherrod Brown are possible 2020 contenders, so don’t expect this issue to disappear in the Democratic Party anytime soon. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
Zuck’s apology tour continues in Europe
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg embarked on the European leg of his Cambridge Analytica apology tour, testifying before European Union lawmakers about the scandal. [BBC]
- He got grilled by members of European Parliament — and it’s clear from their questions that they’re not through with regulating the social media giant. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
- There were some complaints about the strange format of the meeting. Lawmakers asked questions without a break for answers, and then Zuckerberg answered, which meant he was able to dodge some of the tougher questions. [NYT / Adam Satariano and Milan Schreuer]
- Zuckerberg’s visit came just as the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rule is set to go into effect this week. [Washington Post / Gene Marks]
- The GDPR doesn’t just apply to Facebook, but it sets strict guidelines for both corporations and individuals for user privacy online. It gives users more control over what data gets shared with companies: They can access it and even delete. The law also mandates that companies let individuals know what data they’re gathering and why. [Vox / Emily Stewart]
- The law protects citizens of all EU countries and users in the rest of the world whose data is being collected by a company established in the EU. That’s a lot of companies. It’s why you keep getting all those notifications about your privacy settings — and why the internet could get better for everyone. [NYMag / Max Read]
Miscellaneous
- A new product promises to be able to perform “ethnicity recognition,” which is probably a very bad idea. [Outline / Paris Martineau]
- The man described by authorities as “Texas’s own Tony Soprano” went on trial this spring. [Texas Monthly / Skip Hollandsworth]
- Giant, foot-long flatworms are invading French gardens (and scaring the gardeners). [Washington Post / Ben Guarino]
- The world of vegan “influencers” on YouTube is unsurprisingly toxic. [Atlantic / Jordan Bissell]
Verbatim
“Afterward she left the toffees in her mother’s kitchen, by the stove. She was on her way to join an armed conflict.” [Kim Wall and Mansi Choksi on women fighters of the Tamil Tigers / Longreads]
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