Edward Snowden kicks off Web Summit / Uber posts Q3 earnings / PayPal gives evidence on political donations – Verdict

Good morning, heres your Monday morning briefing to set you up for the day ahead. Look out for these three things happening around the world today.

Web Summit, one of Europes largest technology conferences, gets underway with a keynote from NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Also speaking on day one is Huawei president Guo Ping, who will outline his vision for the 5G era. Other speakers at the four-day event include former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the EUs commissioner for competition Margrethe Vestager and CEO of Wikipedia Katherine Maher.

The annual event takes place at Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.

Ride-hailing firm Uber Technologies posts its third-quarter earnings for 2019.

Last quarter Uber reported earnings per share of -$4.72, the largest quarterly loss in its history. This was largely due to stock-based compensation following a much-hyped but ultimately lacklustre IPO in May.

Investors have raised concerns about the loss-making firms ability to become profitable. Analysts predict losses to narrow compared with the previous quarter, with revenue rising by as much as 16% and earnings per share standing at -$0.85.

The UK governments Digital, Culture, Media and Sport sub-committee on disinformation hears evidence from PayPal executives about how online payments are changing the way people donate to political parties and campaigns.

Under political campaigning laws, any contribution of more than 500 must come from a UK-based company or individual. However, it is unclear how payment services such as PayPal can always be sure that someone isnt circumventing these rules, for instance by making multiple smaller donations without handing over their details.

The session, which takes place at 1:15 PM, forms part of a wider investigation into how disinformation and data privacy abuses affect democracy.

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Edward Snowden kicks off Web Summit / Uber posts Q3 earnings / PayPal gives evidence on political donations - Verdict