Techmeme: WhatsApp's private group structure encourages spread of misinfo and conspiracy theories as it enables higher levels of trust and solidarity among group members (William Davies/The Guardian)

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July 3, 2020, 3:40 PM

Top News

Jason Koebler / VICE:

Angry over critical coverage, tech figures discuss hitting back against journalists, on Twitter and invite-only Clubhouse, leading to harassment of NYT's Lorenz — In leaked audio from an invite-only app, venture capitalists pondered everything they think is wrong with journalism.

More: The Verge, CNET, Beyond Search, Cointelegraph, and Input

Tweets: @taylorlorenz, @can, @taylorlorenz, @suhail, @paulg, @blader, @taylorlorenz, @hunterwalk, @balajis, @rmac18, @backlon, @harper, @dhh, @balajis, @jason, @balajis, @jwherrman, @karaswisher, @rabois, @caseynewton, @jason_koebler, @bhorowitz, @jeffdean, @taylorlorenz, @avichal, @dhh, @carnage4life, @carnage4life, @dhh, @dhh, @edbott, @blader, @revrrlewis, @robinwauters, @cityofthetown, @danprimack, @jbouie, @dhh, @ruskin147, @karaswisher, @nicoleperlroth, @emilybell, @evanchill, @maxwelltani, @dhh, @balajis, @susanthesquark, @loganbartlett, @wongmjane, @jbarro, @sandofsky, @anthony, @blakersdozen, @espiers, @campuscodi, @jamesrbuk, @realsexycyborg, @karagoldin, @katiebowill, @sm, @nycsouthpaw, @seldo, @jdegoes, @hshaban, @juiceboxca, @chillmage, @rationalwiki, @kimmaicutler, @kateclarktweets, @micsolana, @elcush, @a_w_gordon, @peterrojas, @balajis, @fmanjoo, @mat, @taylorlorenz, @harrymccracken, @mgsiegler, @sallyshin, @willoremus, @alex, @danprimack, @oneunderscore__, @fmanjoo, @taylorlorenz, @joshelman, @nitashatiku, and @taylorlorenz

See also Mediagazer

Reuters:

European advertising associations criticize Apple's plans to require apps to seek additional permission before tracking users across other apps and websites — (Reuters) - A group of European digital advertising associations on Friday criticized Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) plans to require apps …

More: MacRumors, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada Blog, and iMore

Tweets: @twostraws, @benbajarin, @clancyreports, and @benwood

Yimou Lee / Reuters:

Taiwan's Foxconn says customs clearing procedures in India have been resolved — TAIPEI (Reuters) - Apple supplier Foxconn said on Friday customs clearing procedures in India have been resolved, as additional scrutiny by the country of imports from China disrupted operations in some foreign firms amid tensions between the Asian giants.

More: Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, and MacDailyNews

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

LinkedIn says its iOS app is copying the contents of users' clipboards after every key press due to a bug and promises a fix, after iOS 14 reveals the snooping — The new clipboard access detection and warning feature in iOS 14 exposes another app. — A LinkedIn spokesperson told ZDNet yesterday …

More: Hindustan Times, Editorials 360, Moneycontrol, Private Internet Access Blog, and Tom's Guide

Tweets: @doncubed, @caseynewton, @slightlylate, and @henrikjoreteg

Dan Primack / Axios:

Instacart raises $100M in new funding from T. Rowe Price, on top of the $225M round co-led by DST Global and General Catalyst last month — Grocery delivery company Instacart has raised $100 million in new funding, on top of the $225 million it announced l ast month, the company tells Axios.

More: SiliconANGLE and Axios

Neil Cybart / Above Avalon:

Apple is pulling away from the competition to a degree never seen before and has years' worth of competitive advantage in emerging categories like wearables — For the second year in a row, Apple held a developers conference that should frighten its competitors.

More: Computerworld, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Wccftech, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @jpmanga, @james_gross, @stroughtonsmith, @reneritchie, and @benedictevans

Jack Shafer / Politico:

Companies have little to lose from joining a Facebook boycott during a slow month for ads amid a pandemic; they'll be back, and Facebook will emerge stronger — Every day, it seems, another major corporation joins the advertiser boycott against Facebook. First came The North Face, REI and Patagonia.

Alex Heath / The Information:

Sources: Zuckerberg told staff Facebook won't change policies because of “threat to a small percent of our revenue”, expects advertisers to return “soon enough”

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

India's Reliance Jio launches JioMeet, a Zoom-like video-conference service, offering unlimited free calls in 720p with up to 100 participants and no time limit — India's Reliance Jio Platforms, which recently concluded a $15.2 billion fundraise run, is ready to enter a new business: Video conferencing.

William Davies / The Guardian:

WhatsApp's private group structure encourages spread of misinfo and conspiracy theories as it enables higher levels of trust and solidarity among group members — As social media has become more inhospitable, the appeal of private online groups has grown. But they hold their own dangers - to those both inside and out.

More: Memex 1.1. Tweets: @schemaly, @ubiquity75, @greengreenwich, @stujohnson, and @jamescrabtree

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Streaming TV services' inability to negotiate their way out of the bundle system that has dominated regular cable for years is resulting in higher prices — YouTube TV's price hike is part of a larger problem — YouTube TV announced yesterday that it'd be raising its prices by 30 percent to $65 per month.

More: Pocketables. Tweets: @cgartenberg, @dangraziano, @reckless, and @da_banks

Financial Times:

UK government and India's Bharti Enterprises win an auction for bankrupt satellite broadband operator OneWeb for $1B; the parties will own a 45% stake each — British government's joint venture with Bharti will compete with Elon Musk's Starlink — Britain is set to go head to head …

More: Telegraph, Telegraph, GeekWire, BBC, The Verge, Bloomberg, Wccftech, NDTV.com, TechCrunch, ISPreview UK, SpaceNews, and BloombergQuint

Tweets: @oneweb, @clairecoutinho, @pickardje, and @lindayueh

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Intel Capital to invest $253.5M in Jio Platforms for a 0.39% stake, giving the Indian firm a valuation of $65B — Intel said on Friday it will invest $253.5 million in Jio Platforms, joining a roster of high-profile investors including Facebook and Silver Lake that have backed India's top telecom operator …

More: SiliconANGLE, CNBC, The Next Web, Reuters, coinspeaker.com, CNET, Reuters, The Economic Times, TelecomTalk, and Livemint

Tweets: @szarabi and @anshuman1tiwari

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From Mediagazer

Kelcee Griffis / Bloomberg:

Sources: Nexstar has begun directing stations to fill local newscasts with segments from Nexstar's NewsNation instead of national networks' content like NBC's

Oli Coleman / Page Six:

Source: The Athletic is investigating reporter Dianna Russini's explanation about photos of her with NFL coach Mike Vrabel and “reviewing her coverage”

Wall Street Journal:

Mubi, which raised $100M led by Sequoia in 2025, faced backlash over Sequoia's ties to Israeli defense tech startups, but has since rebuilt subscriber numbers

More News

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Mozilla updates Common Voice, its open source transcribed voice collection, to 7226 hours in 54 languages, releases first data set for “Hey Firefox” wake word

Tweets: @epro

Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg:

Caffeine, which aims to compete with Twitch but focuses on content like rap battles, has raised $113M, led by Fox Corp, Cox Enterprises, and Sanabil Investments

Tweets: @woodleyipt

Earlier Picks

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Apple launches a new site for Apple Card users to manage their accounts online; previously, all Apple Card interactions took place through iPhone's Wallet app

More: Engadget, Android Authority, MacRumors, AppleInsider, International Business Times, MSPoweruser, Neowin, TechCrunch, Wccftech, Pocket-lint, MacStories, Cult of Mac, Appleosophy, and MacDailyNews

Tweets: @jonyiveparody, @film_girl, @lanceulanoff, @film_girl, @spencerchen, and @bzamayo

Nick Miroff / Washington Post:

CBP awards Anduril, founded by Palantir veterans and Palmer Luckey, a five-year contract to build a “virtual border wall” using mobile surveillance towers

More: U.S. Customs and Border Protection, The Next Web, International Business Times, The Verge, Agence France-Presse, Business Insider, Input, The Hill, and Engadget

Tweets: @blmohr, @aclu, @yoda, @anna_giaritelli, @tonyajoriley, @dlind, @nickmiroff, and @joshuabrustein

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Facebook says it continued sharing data of inactive users with around 5,000 developers even after their apps' 90-day cut-off date expired; issue is now fixed

More: SiliconANGLE, TechCrunch, Lifehacker, IT Management, TechSpot, HackRead, The Next Web, Threatpost, and SlashGear. Tweets: @jason_kint

Joseph Cox / VICE:

Police infiltrated Encrochat, an encrypted phone network used by organized crime, and read millions of messages for months, leading to international arrests

Daniel Kuhn / CoinDesk:

Researchers expose a flaw in at least three major crypto wallets, Ledger Live, Edge, and Breadwallet, which could be exploited for double-spending users' funds

More: ZenGo, Forbes, Cointelegraph, CryptoGlobe, InsideBitcoins.com, BitcoinExchangeGuide, SiliconANGLE, Crypto Briefing, and forklog.media

Tweets: @bobmcelrath, @coindesk, @bascule, @vikmeup, @zengo, @peterktodd, and @lopp

Mikey Campbell / AppleInsider:

Rep. David Cicilline says Tim Cook will testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee in late July, alongside Facebook, Amazon, and Google CEOs

Source: @karaswisher. More: Fortune, Business Insider, MediaNama, New York Times, Bloomberg, Variety, Cult of Mac, and SiliconANGLE

Tweets: @kashhill, @jacknicas, @rover829, @benedictevans, and @wolven