Techmeme
February 21, 2020, 11:45 PM

Top News

Los Angeles Times:
Twitter is suspending 70 accounts linked to Michael Bloomberg's campaign for violating its policies, citing platform manipulation and duplicative content  —  Michael R. Bloomberg's presidential campaign has been experimenting with novel tactics to cultivate an online following, or at least the appearance of one.
Julia Boorstin / CNBC:
Source: Facebook considers transparency measures around posts from political campaign staffers, due to concerns around Bloomberg campaign's use of its platform  —  - Facebook is considering ways to show when a paid campaign staffer shares a political post on the site.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Comcast's NBCUniversal is in advanced talks to acquire streaming-video service Vudu from Walmart  —  Entertainment giants increasingly look to give consumers free or low-cost alternatives to premium subscription streaming services  —  Fox Corp. and Comcast Corp. are each in discussions …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Shopify says it will join the Libra Association, contributing financially and operating a node that processes transactions of Facebook's stablecoin  —  After eBay, Visa, Stripe, and other high-profile departures, the Libra Association scored a win today with the addition of Shopify.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
WhatsApp lets some private group chat invite links get indexed by search engines like Google, allowing anyone to join  —  Google is indexing invite links to WhatsApp group chats whose administrators may want to be private.  This means with a simple search, random people can discover and join a wide range of WhatsApp group chats.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google says that from August 3 all new Google Play apps that access background location will need to pass review, expanding to all existing apps on November 3  —  Apps will face a new review process to enable the feature  —  Google is placing new restrictions on which Android apps can track …
Bloomberg:
Sources: the Trump campaign has bought exclusive nationwide masthead ads on YouTube for days leading up to and on election day; ads may cost up to $1M+ a day  —  In the immediate run up to the U.S. presidential election and on Election Day, the homepage of YouTube is set to advertise just one candidate: Donald Trump.
Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:
MIT researchers say they used AI to discover new potent antibiotics that treat drug-resistant diseases  —  Machine learning uncovers potent new drug able to kill 35 powerful bacteria  —  Artificial intelligence has been used to discover new antibiotics effective against untreatable diseases …
John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Google is resisting efforts to surrender emails, texts, and other documents sought by state investigators probing anticompetitive digital ad practices  —  Company is reluctant to surrender some documents in investigation of possible anticompetitive practices
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
A history of EU's efforts to create a standard for device chargers, and how Apple used a loophole to keep using Lightning, but may have to move to USB-C soon  —  Despite pushback from Apple, the European Parliament in January voted overwhelmingly for new rules to establish a common charging standard …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: the best hinge on a folding phone so far but the screen's plastic covering scratches easily and the cameras are disappointing  —  Even with a glass screen, it's just a curiosity  —  Samsung's brand-new Galaxy Z Flip is the third folding screen phone that I've reviewed.

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The Intercept:

Earlier Picks

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Christopher Dring / GamesIndustry.biz:
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Andy Greenberg / Wired: