Techmeme: How Wirecard, a global electronic-payments giant that was once valued at $14B+ and said it processed $140B of transactions a year, fully unraveled in eight days (Paul J. Davies/Wall Street Journal)

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July 5, 2020, 8:05 PM

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Will Oremus / OneZero :

A look at some radical proposals for creating better social networks, from establishing sites as nonprofits to restrictions on data collection — An offhand tweet sparked an outpouring of ideas to fix what's broken about Facebook and Twitter — Welcome back to Pattern Matching …

More: The Guardian, CCN.com, and New York Times

Tweets: @jilliancyork, @willoremus, @medium, @willoremus, @schemaly, @willoremus, @jayrosen_nyu, @slpng_giants, @paulstewartii, @willoremus, @mattnavarra, @willoremus, @willoremus, @jason_kint, @caseynewton, @profcarroll, @cwarzel, and @lebassett

Michael Flarup / Apply Pixels:

With macOS 11 Big Sur, Apple seems to have lifted a ban on fun, allowing for an expressiveness in visual design that we haven't seen from it in almost a decade — It's finally here. The thing I have been advocating for through my work, writing, videos and talks for years. A swing of the pendulum.

Tweets: @natisho, @flarup, @gavmn, @lkanies, @flarup, @sachinrekhi, @maxrudberg, and @samhenrigold

Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:

iCloud Keychain in iOS 14 alerts users about passwords that are easy to guess and those that may have leaked on the web — In addition to the redesigned Home screen with widgets, App Library, and features like Car Key, iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 brings important enhancements to iCloud Keychain.

Tweets: @detroitborg

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google VP in charge of Android security withdraws from Black Hat conference and asks the infosec community to stop using terms like “black hat” and “white hat” — A Google security researcher withdrew from the Black Hat security conference and asked the community to stop using the ‘black hat’ term.

More: CNET and Digital Trends

Tweets: @alecmuffett, @semibogan, @fox0x01, @ourielohayon, @viking_sec, @somospostpc, @chrismessina, @carnage4life, @quinnypig, @splcenter, and @daveksecure

Bloomberg:

Source: UK to begin phasing out use of Huawei equipment in its 5G network as soon as this year, after report doubted viability of Huawei due to new US sanctions — - Officials said to speed up plans to remove Huawei kit — Decision would reverse green light given to Chinese tech giant

More: The Guardian, CNET, Engadget, Financial Times, Telegraph, Telegraph, Sky News, The Irish Times, and The Guardian

Tweets: @tom_fowdy, @sunlorrie, and @iowbobseely

Greg Thomson / Decrypt:

Voice, a blockchain-based social media site on EOS that rewards users with tokens for posting “quality content”, is now open for the public to browse — The EOS-based crypto-based social media platform first conjured up by Block.one, Voice, today opened its doors to the public.

More: Voice, coinspeaker.com, BitcoinExchangeGuide, and Cointelegraph

Paul J. Davies / Wall Street Journal:

How Wirecard, a global electronic-payments giant that was once valued at $14B+ and said it processed $140B of transactions a year, fully unraveled in eight days — Prosecutors are probing whether the electronic-payments giant used fictitious income to inflate its sales and fool investors; a missing $2 billion

More: Reuters and Bloomberg

Tweets: @edbott, @wsj, and @wsj

Pei Li / Reuters:

Tencent launches US game studio LightSpeed LA, to create AAA titles and increase overseas share of its total games revenue, which accounted for 23% in Q4 2019 — HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tencent Holdings, China's biggest social media and video game company, launched a new California-based studio this week …

More: GamesIndustry.biz, Engadget, Eurogamer.net, Game Rant, GameSpot, and VG247

Tweets: @zhugeex, @therealjoshye, @gibiz, and @domsplaying

Nate Lanxon / Bloomberg:

UK tech companies say operating with remote workers has changed their approach to post-Brexit hiring: executives will be local to HQs, most other roles won't — - Shift to remote working suggests many visas may not be needed — The pandemic taught Britain's technology executives …

Financial Times:

Sources: amid India-China tensions, Zomato is unable to access $100M of the $150M it secured from Ant Financial in January as the government reviews the funding — Indian food delivery start-up unable to access $100m of investment from Ant Financial — The $3bn Indian food delivery start …

Tweets: @jkynge and @sarthakgh

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Facebook partners with CBSE, an Indian government education body, to launch a certified curriculum on AR and digital safety for students and teachers in India — Facebook, which reaches more users than any other international firm in India, has identified a new area of opportunity …

Tweets: @mikebutcher, @hackylawyer, @chrisinsilico, and @smerrells

Dave Lee / Financial Times:

eMarketer: US consumers to spend $710B online in 2020, up 18% YoY, with ecommerce's share of the retail market growing to a record 14.5% — Amazon and Shopify reap rewards as consumers and stores take their trading online — When coronavirus forced Heidi Sabelhaus Myers to shutter …

Tweets: @_mrherbert, @neilretail, and @sub8u

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From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:

Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:

Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

Trip Gabriel / New York Times:

R. Bruce Dold, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at the Chicago Tribune, where he became editor-in-chief and publisher, is dead at 70

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More News

Manuel Vonau / Android Police:

Indian ISPs start restoring access to DuckDuckGo after blocking the service via their DNS servers starting July 1; it is unclear why the service was blocked

More: The Verge, Neowin, and TechWorm. Tweets: @duckduckgo

Sankalp Phartiyal / Reuters:

India's TikTok ban resulted in a surge in popularity for Indian apps like Roposo, Mitron, and Chingari; Roposo says it has added 22M users in 48 hours

More: The Indian Express

Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:

Ifeoma Ozoma, Aerica Shimizu Banks, and five other former Pinterest employees share examples of Pinterest's failure in addressing racial discrimination and bias

More: VentureBeat. Tweets: @kschwabable, @nitashatiku, @raisingself, @nikitatmitchell, @erikashimizu, @evany, @ifeomaozoma, @carnage4life, @heatherkelly, @nitashatiku, @nitashatiku, and @ericajoy

Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:

India's e-commerce policy draft seeks creation of an e-commerce regulator, mandates government access to online companies' source codes and algorithms, more

More: The Economic Times, The Economist, The Economic Times, MediaNama, and The New Indian Express

Tweets: @economictimes, @theunsaif, @shshk, @shukla, and @sushubh

Bloomberg:

Colin Huang, the CEO of Chinese e-commerce company Pinduoduo, steps down; the company says he will remain chairman and work on long-term strategy

More: The Straits Times, KrASIA, MarketWatch, Caixin Global, Financial Times, Pinduoduo Inc., Business Insider, TechNode, The Star Online, and Nikkei Asian Review

Tweets: @johnhuber72, @malcolmmoore, @ruima, @docolumide, and @pingroma

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:

Hong Kong's new national security law could force platforms like Facebook and Twitter to relinquish some of the freedom their operations have had in the city

More: Reclaim The Net, Seeking Alpha, and South China Morning Post

Tweets: @martinapennisi, @prasannavishy, @digitallybones, @jchengwsj, @netblocks, and @albertfong98

Kevin Roose / New York Times:

The Wild Wild Web, a shoot-first, aim-later era of tech strategy, is coming to an end, and a less willfully naïve, self-policing ethos is taking its place

Tweets: @nytimesbusiness, @sachinrekhi, @rajumudhar, @steve_e, @alex, @carnage4life, @shiraovide, @marilink, @livingstone_s, @nathanjurgenson, @evelyndouek, @kmmunger, @hackylawyer, @nytimes, @p2son, @puiwingtam, @orensegal, and @hoofnagle

Neil Greenberg / Washington Post:

Evo, a renowned esports tournament that moved online in 2020 due to the pandemic, is canceled after parting ways with co-founder for alleged sexual misconduct

More: Digital Trends, Micky, Gamasutra, Ars Technica, GameSpot, PC Gamer, Windows Central, GamingBolt, The Verge, VG247, USgamer.net, USgamer.net, GamesIndustry.biz, Destructoid, Engadget, Dexerto, Pocket Gamer.biz, and Polygon

Tweets: @netherrealm, @evo, @mrwiz, @imad, @aliciaxlife_, @mikehaimoto, @theycallmedsp, @markman23, and @gsmvoid

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Profile of investor Lee Fixel, the partner behind Tiger Global's investments in Flipkart and Peloton, who says he raised $1.3B for his VC firm Addition

More: Business Insider and PitchBook

Tweets: @zachweinberg, @alexrkonrad, @wolfejosh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @vjsesh, @gavinsbaker, @alexrkonrad, @antoinegara, @wustl, @alexrkonrad, @fauna, @natsturner, @zlurie, @hkanji, and @mdudas. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

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