Mon. 12/28 – After Jack Ma, Is China Freezing Its Entire Tech Sector?

The Chinese Communist Party is throwing serious cold water on its entire tech sector by continuing to target Jack Ma. Did Elon Musk once try to sell Tesla to Apple? Drones are getting digital license plates, of a sort. And a look at the generation of search engine startups hoping to, you know, maybe strike at Google while the antitrust iron is hot. Sponsors: Tovala.com/ride GetRoman.com/techmeme Links: Beijing launches antitrust investigation into Alibaba (Financial Times) China Tells Ant to Return to Its Payment Roots, Places Curbs (Bloomberg) Alibaba Probe Stirs Global Worry on What’s Next for Chinese Tech (Bloomberg) Kuo: Apple Car Still in Early Stages, Unlikely to Launch Until 2025-2027 at Earliest (MacRumors) Drone-Crowded Skies Get One Step Closer With U.S. Security Rules (Bloomberg) Search engine start-ups try to take on Google (Financial Times) Covid-19 Propelled Businesses Into the Future. Ready or Not. (WSJ)