Winners & Losers: HBO Max takes it to Netflix while Trump dumps on Twitter

It has been a mile a minute week in the world of tech, with everything from new MacBook-rivalling Samsung laptops to fresh rumblings of a certain classic survival horror game getting a PS5-flavoured reboot hit the headlines.

But in the sea of announcements and industry developments for us here at Trusted Towers there have been very clear winners and losers in the world of tech over the last seven days.

Winner: HBO Max for taking it to Disney Plus and Netflix from day one

Netflix has been having a rough time of it lately, with Disney Plus nipping at its heels and most industry forecasts predicting a drop in subscribers once the lockdown ends.

But this week it had a particularly troublesome time thanks to the launch of HBO Max. Though it’s only available in the US at the moment, the streaming service has a seriously impressive portfolio of new exclusives and older content you won’t find on competing services.

These include everything from new Looney Toons cartoons to keep the sprogs happy to gritty, binge-worthy classics like The Sopranos. What’s more, the service only costs $14.99 a month which is semi-competitive with the equivalent package on Netflix.

The combination has led to universal praise among subscribers and hugely positive forecasts among industry analysts for the new service, earning HBO Max a place as this week’s winner.

The only downside is that thanks to HBO’s ongoing licensing deal with Sky, the service isn’t set to launch in the UK anytime soon.

Related: What’s on HBO Max?

Loser: Twitter, for doing the right thing

No one likes a bully, especially one who picks on someone for doing the right thing. Which is why we’re very sad to report Twitter has earned a place as this week’s loser for doing just that.

For those that missed it, this week Twitter took a stand creating a new label to flag and deal with offensive tweets from politicians and world leaders. The offending tweets are now flagged as ‘abusive behaviour’ and hidden from view while Twitter gauges whether or not they are “in the public interest”.

It didn’t take long for US President Trump to release a slew of tweets that fell victim to the new tagging system. Enraged by the indignity, the US President has since hit back threatening a fresh executive order removing a number of legal protections for social media companies.

The move is apparently designed to stop the spread of fake news and harmful content – which ironically is exactly what Twitter is trying to do with the new tags – but in reality, could open Twitter and other social media services up to a wave of lawsuits for removing potentially dangerous content.