On November 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India surprised investors and consumers by declaring that 86 percent of the nation’s money stock would no longer be a medium of exchange or store of value. In meetings in Mumbai and New Delhi recently, I learned that the move was intended to ferret out illegally garnered funds, and that the ...

  Maybe it’s not so bad to have algorithmic overlords — at least when they are pressured into protecting people rather than exploiting them. Earlier this week, Facebook declared that it will no longer let certain kinds of advertisers engage in racial profiling. Specifically, it will prohibit credit, housing, and employment advertisers from using “ethnic affinity” categories — marketing profiles ...

  Fake news on social media stymied the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. Now, businesses are wondering what they should do if they’re targeted next. For some, it’s too late. Pepsi’s chief executive never told Trump supporters to “take their business elsewhere,” but websites still falsely claimed she did. Coca-Cola had to deal with bogus reports that a “clear parasite” ...