Epic legal win, OpenAI licensing deals, FCC targets Elon, Alex Jones reinstated & more

The opening minutes are banter. Sacks says one of his daughters made a ponytail from his hair, photographed it and asked ChatGPT who he resembled; the answer was Thomas Jefferson. Jason teases the lineup:

Alex Jones is on the back half of the show

The hosts note that Friedberg is now a startup CEO.

A longer story concerns Friedberg's Christmas party on December 9. Friedberg says a driver delivered a wrapped gift from Sacks, who had thought the party was the following week. Another host recounts a ninety-minute drive, a $1,000 bet over whether sushi would be served, and a spread of fruit, brownies and baklava that he estimates at 3,000 and later 6,000 calories.

The banter closes on Popeyes: one host praises the chicken sandwich, another warns about how you feel two hours later.

Jason reports that Epic won a jury case over Google's Play Store. He says Google Play brings in $50 billion a year, about 17% of Google's revenue, against $85 billion for Apple's App Store and services. In his account the jury found that Google broke California and federal antitrust law through sweetheart deals and workarounds that stifled competition.

He cites an internal program, Project Hug, said to offer incentives that discouraged large developers from building rival stores, after Google estimated annual losses of $2 billion to $3.5 billion. He adds a 0% deal for Spotify and $360 million paid to a company transcribed as "activation" (probably Activision). He also says deleted employee chats led the judge to tell jurors to assume the lost material was unfavorable to Google.

Epic isn't seeking damages. They just want Google to change their practices.

Epic wants users to be able to plug in their own billing systems and avoid the 30% fee, and Google plans to appeal. These are the hosts' characterizations, not the verdict.

Friedberg recalls telcos once trying to charge for installing apps. He says Google bought Android in 2005 as an open alternative, to keep the internet open, let anyone install any app, and make Google Search, YouTube and its own app store the defaults.

Epic's claim, as he frames it, is that Android's security warnings scare users away from sideloading and that Google Play's default status makes this unfair. His rebuttals: Fortnite can be installed from Epic's website, no federal agency has sued, and a private party finds a jury easier to win over than a regulator. He calls the market reaction a Nothing burger, as Google's stock barely moved. His figures are $40 billion in annual Play revenue and a worst case of $2 billion out of roughly $300 billion, which differs from Jason's $50 billion.