Techmeme
June 25, 2020, 11:25 AM

Top News

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Google announces a licensing program to pay publishers for content for a new news product, launching later this year, as part of the Google News Initiative  —  In a major departure from its long-standing practice of not paying publishers directly to distribute their work …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:
SoftBank's Masayoshi Son steps down from Alibaba's board, a post he had held since 2005  —  - Son steps down as Alibaba director, a post he held since 2005  — Jack Ma is also leaving SoftBank's board after 13 years  —  SoftBank Group Corp. founder Masayoshi Son ended …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Hey opens its email service to everyone and says Apple has approved its update with proposed changes to meet App Store guidelines  —  The $99-per-year email app no longer needs an invite to be used  —  Hey — the new email service from Basecamp that's been the subject of the latest fight …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Michael Hawley, whose work at MIT Media Lab helped lay the groundwork for IoT, and who helped Steve Jobs and Larry Page write commencement speeches, dies at 58  —  A man of manifold interests, his achievements ranged from developing ideas behind the so-called Internet of Things to publishing the world's biggest book.
Douglas Busvine / Reuters:
Wirecard collapses and files for insolvency facing an almost complete wipeout; source says creditors are owed nearly $4B  —  Douglas Busvine, Jörn Poltz, Arno Schuetze  —  BERLIN/MUNICH/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German payments company Wirecard collapsed on Thursday after disclosing …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon forms Counterfeit Crimes Unit, made up of former federal prosecutors, investigators, and data analysts, to fight counterfeiters on its site  —  Amazon has formed an internal “Counterfeit Crimes Unit” to bolster its fight against knock-off products on Amazon.com, as the company seeks to show customers …
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
AWS announces Honeycode, a cloud-based tool that it hopes will help non-coders build apps  —  - Amazon already leads the cloud infrastructure market, and now it's expanding its cloud product lineup with a tool for people who don't code.  — The Honeycode service will compete with offerings …
Justin Sherman / Wired:
DOJ has objected to Facebook and Google's 8,000-mile cable to Hong Kong, claiming it offers “unprecedented opportunities” for Chinese government espionage  —  The DOJ's opposition to Facebook and Google's 8,000-mile cable to Hong Kong highlights how physical infrastructure is as contentious as the virtual world.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok launches a new site, TikTok for Business, as a home for marketing products and resources and launches a new AR ad format to rival Snapchat  —  TikTok is announcing to advertisers that it's open for business.  The company is today officially introducing a new brand and platform called …
OneZero :
Inside DayLife Army, a social media cult, spun off from a Facebook group, that seduces young people with empty promises of a better world  —  The DayLife Army always seemed like a troll.  Then it became a nightmare.  —  started with a tweet.  In the fall of 2013, Matthew had recently turned 18 …
Zachary Basu / Axios:
The DOJ says it's charging Julian Assange in a superseding indictment with recruiting and conspiring with hackers affiliated with LulzSec and Anonymous  —  The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged in a superseding indictment …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Google says it will auto-delete location and search data by default for new users after 18 months, as part of a broader expansion of its privacy options  —  A compromise between privacy and ad-targeting data  —  On Wednesday, Google announced broad changes in its default data practices for new users …
John Koetsier / Forbes:
Apple's Identifier for Advertisers, critical to tracking mobile ad spend, will become opt-in with iOS 14, a privacy boon for users and a big loss for marketers  —  That tremor in the Force you felt yesterday probably wasn't shock at being able to text your car keys in Apple's new iOS 14 or do real-time offline translation with Siri.
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Hopin, a London-based startup developing virtual events technology, raises $40M Series A led by IVP with Salesforce Ventures and others participating  —  This morning Hopin, a London-based startup building virtual events technology, announced that it has raised a $40 million Series A led by IVP.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Boston passes an ordinance to ban government use of facial recognition, with minor caveats, joining cities like San Francisco, Oakland, and Cambridge  —  Boston joined cities like San Francisco, Oakland, California, and Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Wednesday in passing a vote to ban facial recognition technology for municipal use.
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:25 AM ET, June 25, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Los Angeles Times:
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
Kate Irby / The Fresno Bee:

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Judd Legum / Popular Information:
Wall Street Journal:
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat: