• Apple hires economists to help argue its App Store commissions aren't anti-competitive
• Steve Wozniak sues YouTube over ongoing bitcoin scams
• After ad revenue drop, Twitter tells investors it's eyeing subscription options – TechCrunch

Apple hires economists to help argue its App Store commissions aren't anti-competitive

• Ahead of an antitrust hearing on Capitol Hill next week, Apple is fighting back against the perception that its App Store charges onerous commission rates to developers.
• "The commission rates charged by digital marketplaces most similar to the App Store, such as other app stores and video game digital marketplaces, are generally around 30%," the economists wrote in study.
• In June, the European Commission opened two antitrust probes, looking at Apple Pay and Apple's App Store.
• In the case of Apple Pay, regulators are investigating whether Apple unfairly locks out competitors from using the NFC wireless transmission technology that powers Apple Pay on its gadgets.
• With regards to the App Store, investigators are looking into whether the restrictions Apple places on developers hurts competition.
• In June, Apple faced an uproar within its developer community when it refused a new email app called Hey because it didn't offer in-app purchases for its $99 per year email service.
• The Department of Justice has spoken with several companies who are "Unhappy" with how Apple runs its App Store, according to reports in Politico and Reuters this year.

Steve Wozniak sues YouTube over ongoing bitcoin scams

• Steve Wozniak is suing YouTube for allowing scammers to use his name and likeness in phony bitcoin giveaways.
• According to the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of the State of California, crooks have been posting videos on the platform claiming that Wozniak is hosting a bitcoin promotion.
• "YouTube has featured a steady stream of scam videos and promotions that falsely use images and videos of Plaintiff Steve Wozniak, and other famous tech entrepreneurs, and that have defrauded YouTube users out of millions of dollars," the complaint reads.
• The plaintiffs, which include Wozniak and 17 other individuals, allege that YouTube is aware of these scams but has nonetheless not taken the videos down.
• "Wozniak has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm" "Despite Plaintiffs' and legions of other users' repeated pleas that YouTube take timely action to end this bitcoin giveaway scam, YouTube repeatedly delayed or refused to do so," reads the lawsuit.
• "As a result of defendants' egregious failures to act and affirmative misconduct in promoting this criminal enterprise, Plaintiff Wozniak has suffered, and continues to suffer, irreparable harm to his reputation, and YouTube users, including plaintiffs, have been defrauded out of millions of dollars. Among other relief, Plaintiffs seek an order requiring YouTube to finally end its outrageous practice of hosting, promoting, and profiting from these criminally fraudulent videos and promotions."
• "We take abuse of our platform seriously, and take action quickly when we detect violations of our policies, such as scams or impersonation," said a YouTube spokesperson in a statement to The Verge.

After ad revenue drop, Twitter tells investors it's eyeing subscription options – TechCrunch

• Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey told investors it'll likely run subscription "Tests" this year, though he also said the bar for charging users for aspects of the service would be set "Really high".
• "We want to make sure any new line of revenue is complementary to our advertising business," CNN reports Dorsey remarking during the investor call.
• "We do think there is a world where subscription is complementary, where commerce is complementary, where helping people manage paywalls we think is complementary."
• The prospect of a paid version of Twitter - free from trackers, annoying ads and irritating algorithms which meddle with the clean chronology of the timeline - has been a holy grail for certain Twitter addicts since forever.
• Twitter casting around for ad revenue diversification looks interesting in light of broader digital privacy trends that have put the ad tracking industry under increasing scrutiny.
• Last week's massive Twitter security breach also hardly throws a positive light on the company from a privacy perspective.
• Dorsey addressed the breach in remarks on today's call, with CNN reporting he apologized to investors - admitting the company "Fell behind" on its security obligations.

Increased Consumer Interest in May Correlates with COVID-19 Hot Spots in June, According to the Yelp Economic Average

As cities reopen and COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country, local governments have taken action, pivoting their reopening plans. Many businesses that eagerly reopened doors in June were forced to scale back operations and in some cases even shut down again — a costly action for many small businesses.