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(Michel Euler/AP)

Google on Wednesday announced new restrictions on political advertisers around the world, including rules that bar candidates, including President Trump, from targeting narrow categories of web users on their political affiliation.

The updates come as Google and its tech industry peers continue to face sharp criticism for allowing politicians to lie in ads – a practice that Google did not entirely outlaw as it pledged that “trust in electoral processes” outweighed the “cost or impact to spending” on political ads.

Under the new rules, political advertisers in the United States and abroad now may target their ads in search and on Google-owned YouTube only down to the postal code level. Advertisers may target people on the basis of gender or age, but they cannot do so based on voters’ political affiliations or public voter records, Google said.

Why did Google take action against some pro-Trump ads? It’s one of the many mysteries of its political ad rules.

Google also said it would bar “making demonstrably false claims that could significantly undermine participation or trust in an electoral or democratic process,” including those that seek to mislead people about voting. In doing so, though, the company’s policy did not appear to prevent the sort of ad purchased by President Trump’s 2020 campaign, which attacked Vice President Joe Biden, a Democratic contender for the White House, with a series of falsehoods.

“Of course, we recognize that robust political dialogue is an important part of democracy, and no one can sensibly adjudicate every political claim, counterclaim, and insinuation,” Google said. “So we expect that the number of political ads on which we take action will be very limited – but we will continue to do so for clear violations.”

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Source:: Daily Times

Okta Inc (NASDAQ:OKTA) insider Jacques Frederic Kerrest sold 43,220 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.10, for a total transaction of $5,190,722.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Jacques Frederic Kerrest also recently made the following trade(s):

On Wednesday, November 13th, Jacques Frederic Kerrest sold 21,610 shares of Okta stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $115.05, for a total transaction of $2,486,230.50.
On Wednesday, October 30th, Jacques Frederic Kerrest sold 4,738 shares of Okta stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $110.07, for a total transaction of $521,511.66.

OKTA traded up $3.33 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $129.41. 2,382,746 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,267,635. The company has a market cap of $13.72 billion, a PE ratio of -125.64 and a beta of 1.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $118.89. Okta Inc has a 1 year low of $47.76 and a 1 year high of $141.85. The company has a current ratio of 1.12, a quick ratio of 1.12 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57.

Okta (NASDAQ:OKTA) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 28th. The company reported ($0.32) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.32). The company had revenue of $140.48 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $131.19 million. Okta had a negative net margin of 31.90% and a negative return on equity of 53.93%. Okta’s revenue for the quarter was up 48.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.15) EPS. Equities analysts expect that Okta Inc will post -1.42 EPS for the current year.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on OKTA. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Okta from $125.00 to $152.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. DA Davidson upgraded shares of Okta from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $131.00 to $135.00 in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. …read more

Source:: Daily Times

Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, revealed in bombshell testimony on Wednesday evening that Ukrainian officials inquired about the frozen US security aid on July 25.
Cooper said she recently became aware of two previously unreported emails showing Ukrainian officials and the House Foreign Affairs Committee asking about $391 million in frozen US military aid to Ukraine.
The first was received on July 25 at 2:31 p.m. That email said “the Ukrainian embassy and the House Foreign Affairs Committee are asking about security assistance,” Cooper testified.
The second email was sent at 4:25 p.m. and said, “that the Hill knows about the [frozen military funds] situation to an extent, and so does the Ukrainian embassy.”
Follow along with our live coverage of the hearings here.
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Laura Cooper, a deputy assistant secretary at the State Department, revealed in bombshell testimony in the impeachment inquiry hearings on Wednesday evening that Ukrainian officials inquired about the frozen US security aid on July 25 — the same day of President Donald Trump’s infamous phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Cooper said she recently became aware of two previously unreported emails that show Ukrainian officials and the House Foreign Affairs Committee asking about the $391 million in frozen US military aid to Ukraine. Both of the emails were sent on July 25.

In her testimony, Cooper said her staff informed her of the existence of the emails after the transcript of her closed-door deposition became public earlier this month. Cooper said she didn’t consult anyone besides her attorney prior to her private testimony.

“On the issue of Ukraine’s knowledge of the hold, or of Ukraine asking questions about possible issues with the flow of assistance, my staff showed me two unclassified emails that they received from the State Department,” Cooper said.

The first was received on July 25 at 2:31 p.m. That email said, “the Ukrainian embassy and the House Foreign Affairs Committee are asking about security assistance,” Cooper testified.

The second email was sent at 4:25 p.m. and said, “that the Hill knows about the [frozen military funds] situation to an extent, and so does the Ukrainian embassy.”

Cooper testified that she “did not receive either of these emails” and that her staff “does not recall” informing her about them.

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about Trump’s impeachment process: What’s happened, who the players …read more

Source:: Business Insider