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Attending the Masters for the first time was a new experience for Thomas Abraham, and it wasn’t just about the golf. The 16-year-old from Houston had the rare opportunity to use a public telephone for the first time. It was kind of cool, said Abraham, who phoned a friend while attending the Masters Par 3 competition on Wednesday with his father, Sid. I’ve never used one before. I figured it out. If I had to use one of those (rotary) phones I probably would’ve had to ask my dad. Augusta National requires its patrons to leave their cellphones and other electronic devices behind. In place of those security blankets, there are several public telephone banks of those throwback devices from days gone by. They are a foreign sight for many in the younger generation who’ve never seen a phone with an attached cord. Abraham is not unlike most teenagers or adults, for that matter who are very much attached to the world through their cellphones. At some point, chances are, patrons check for their phone patting their pockets, reaching for the clip on their belts, wherever it usually is. And when they can’t find it, well… It’s kind of panic mode,” Abraham said. “We were at 18th (hole) and I went to reach in my pocket and it wasn’t there. Then I remembered it’s in the car.” He wasn’t alone. “I’ve checked my pockets for my phone no less than 10 times today,” said Ryan O’Connor from Little Rock, Arkansas. I was sitting in the bleachers on the 16th green and someone dropped a water bottle and it made a loud noise and I instinctively reached for my phone. Not there.” The line at the public phone bank can stretch up to 10 people deep at the height of the Masters. And while they provide an outlet for those looking to touch base with the world outside of Augusta National’s gates, there are some issues that come with them. Like, remembering phone numbers. Bill Kehoe, 50, from Raleigh, North Carolina came prepared. As he approached the public phones, Kehoe whipped out a sheet of paper with a handful of names and numbers written on them with a black Sharpie. He picked up the receiver on the phone, punched in the number 1 to start the call and then looked down at the paper and entered the remaining numbers to complete the free call. I cant even remember my own phone number, let alone anyone elses number, Kehoe joked. They’re all saved in my phone. One of the calls he made was to his 14-year-old son Connor, who was on a school fieldtrip to Washington. D.C. Connor had asked his dad to call at a prearranged time while he was on a bus, and his 8th grade classmates were shocked when his caller ID popped popped up as Augusta National Golf Club. You could hear all of the kids like, Oh, thats so cool!, Kehoe said with a laugh. “But then they all started asking for merchandise so I had to hang up. The reasons patrons disrupt their round of watching professional golf to make a call. One person was calling to hear about the day’s dramatic movement in the stock market. Another said he was checking in with work. And several others were simply touching base with family or loved ones. Tyler Johnson and his wife Lauren called home to Roswell, Georgia to check on their 5-year-old son, who is staying with his grandparents, “just to make sure there’s no blood, Tyler said with a laugh. As mom and dad alternated talking to their son, they took pictures of each other talking on the odd-looking black public phone. “I think the last time I used one of these was 1999, before Y2K, I think,” Tyler joked. While not having a cellphone is an inconvenience for some, others have come to relish the liberating feeling of being disconnected from the world for a little while. Fletcher Lord from Little Rock texted his wife after he arrived at the course around 6 a.m. and reminded her not to expect to hear from him all day. He then set out to enjoy a few refreshments on a sunny, 70-degree day amid the serene backdrop of blooming azaleas and tall pines. Once you get over the anxiety of not having your phone, it’s a very freeing feeling because it forces you to just be here in the moment,” Lord said. O’Connor agreed. He phoned one of his old friends from high school just to see if he’d pick up. He did. He didn’t recognize the number obviously, but when he saw Augusta National pop up he said I better pick this one up, O’Connor said. Then it was off to enjoy the day. Is not having a phone a pain?” O’Connor said. “No, I think it’s actually good for me. Those emails will be there when I get back home. Steve Reed, AP sports writer
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E-Commerce
Meta is set to face off against the U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday in an antitrust trial that could force the social media giant to divest Instagram and WhatsApp. The closely watched trial carries high stakes for Metas $1.3 trillion market value. The company depends heavily on advertising revenue from Instagram, and losing control of the platform could deal a significant blow to its business. Here’s what to know about the FTC trial. The case focuses on decade-old acquisitions Meta acquired Instagram for $1 billion in 2012 and WhatsApp for $19 billion in 2014. The government argues that Meta didnt buy these companies for their products or technology, but rather to eliminate potential competition. Prosecutors say it reflects CEO Mark Zuckerbergs well-known strategy of buying rivals instead of competing with them. “Acquiring these competitive threats has enabled Facebook to sustain its dominanceto the detriment of competition and usersnot by competing on the merits, but by avoiding competition,” the FTC wrote in a complaint. That strategy, they allege, has led to a decrease in quality of Meta’s products. The government wants Meta to divest Instagram and WhatsApp The FTC wants Meta to breakup with Instagram and WhatsApp. That would mean the tech giant would have to spin off the two highly popular platforms into their own companies. Such a move could be detrimental to its broader advertising business. Instagram this year is expected to bring in more than half of Meta’s total U.S. ad revenue, or more than $32 billion, Adweek reported. Meta is standing its ground To no surprise, Meta is maintaining its innocence. The FTCs lawsuit against Meta defies reality, Meta said in a statement shared with Fast Company. The evidence at trial will show what every 17-year-old in the world knows: Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp compete with Chinese-owned TikTok, YouTube, X, iMessage and many others. More than 10 years after the FTC reviewed and cleared our acquisitions, the Commissions action in this case sends the message that no deal is ever truly final. Regulators should be supporting American innovation, rather than seeking to break up a great American company and further advantaging China on critical issues like AI. The case is being tried before a familiar judge The FTC first brought this case before the courts in 2020. But Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court in Washington dismissed it, saying that the government didn’t have enough evidence. The agency amended its suit in 2022 and Boasberg allowed it to move forward. Boasberg is already a well known judge among the public during this second Trump administration. He’s presiding over both the White House’s deportations to Venezuela and the fallout of top U.S. officials and advisors discussing imminent war plans over the Signal messaging app. Meta recently met with Trump Meta has reportedly been lobbying President Donald Trump and other White House officials to agree to a settlement ahead of the trial. The Wall Street Journal reported that Zuckerberg has visited the White House a handful of times since Trump’s inauguration. Former FTC leader Lina Khan expressed concerns in January that she hoped the Trump administration wouldn’t give Meta a “sweetheart deal.”
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E-Commerce
If youve talked to any senior citizens lately, theres a good chance theyve brought up their concerns about looming changes to the anti-fraud policies of the Social Security Administration (SSA). Many seniors are worried that the changes may mean that they will stop receiving their Social Security payments, or that there could be a delay in receiving them. The messaging around Social Security’s anti-fraud changes has been a bit confusing, not to mention constantly evolving. Heres what you need to know about the latest information available. Whats happened? As Fast Company reported last month, the Trump administration is implementing changes to the SSA’s anti-fraud policies. At the time, it was stated that from March 31, any individuals who began a Social Security benefits claim would be required to travel to a Social Security Administration office to verify their identity in person. This raised grave concerns from lawmakers and senior citizen rights groups since some seniors either have mobility issues, which make it hard to travel, or they live in rural areas, meaning they would need to travel great distances just to verify their identity. After significant public blowback to the requirement, the Trump administration backtracked. In a March 26 statement, the Social Security Administration said it was exempting individuals applying for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) who cannot use a personal my Social Security account from the in-person requirement, allowing them to complete their claim over the phone. But some other individuals would still need to appear in person at an office to verify their identity, including those who need to change their direct deposit information for any benefit if they could not use the online “my Social Security” portal. However, the SSA moved the date back two weeks, from March 31 to April 14. The rules have changedagain Yet now the SSA has announced further changes, likely due to continued concerns from lawmakers and the public. While the April 14 datenext Mondaystill holds, not everyone who was originally required to appear in person will now have to, reports NPR. Individuals will now still be able to apply for certain changes over the phone. However, if those individuals are flagged for anti-fraud checks, they will then need to appear in person at a SSA office. According to an unnamed White House official who spoke with NPR, the change was made because the SSA anti-fraud team implemented new technological capabilities so quickly. What the new changes mean For now, the bottom line appears to be a less strict stance: From April 14, most people will still be able to manage their Social Security accounts online and on the phone. However, you may still be flagged with a fraud alert. If that happens, you will then need to appear in person at an SSA office. As the SSA posted on its official X account on April 8: Beginning on April 14, #SocialSecurity will perform an anti-fraud check on all claims filed over the telephone and flag claims that have fraud risk indicators. In a follow-up post, the agency said that Individuals that are flagged would be required to perform in-person ID proofing for the claim to be further processed, adding that Individuals who are not flagged will be able to complete their claim without any in-person requirements. Addressing the administrations reversal of its policy, Max Richtman, president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, told NPR that the change was “a victory for Social Security beneficiaries across the country. He went on to say, “The Trump administration did not change the policy out of the goodness of their hearts. They responded to public pressure. The reversal will be welcome to the millions of American senior citizens who rely on their Social Security payments to pay the bills. But its understandable that the chaotic nature and messaging surrounding the changes have caused so much alarm.
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E-Commerce
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