Techmeme
August 8, 2020, 4:10 AM

Top News

Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Internal docs: Facebook removed “strikes” so that at least 2 conservative pages, from PragerU and Diamond & Silk, dodged penalties under misinformation policies  —  Facebook has allowed conservative news outlets and personalities to repeatedly spread false information without facing …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Trump signs an executive order to block all transactions with ByteDance and WeChat starting Sept. 20, just 5 days after Microsoft's deadline to acquire TikTok  —  Microsoft is currently in talks to acquire the company  —  President Trump has signed a new executive order …
More: The Verge, TikTok, New York Times, The White House, NBC News, The Guardian, New York Times, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Ars Technica, The Irish Times, New York Times, South China Morning Post, Axios, Access Now, BIG by Matt Stoller, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Nikkei Asian Review, Los Angeles Times, Reuters, ExtremeTech, Ubergizmo, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, Social Media Today, Wired, International Business Times, Android Central, TheStreet, Techdirt, Adweek, Washington Post, Music Technology Policy, Polygon, iMore, CNBC, BBC, Tom's Guide, The Diplomat, Fortune, Business Insider, CNET, PCWorld, The Daily Dot, Associated Press, KnowTechie, Silicon Valley Business …, Politico, Gizmodo, equalocean.com, OnMSFT.com, The Startup, Android Central, iPhone in Canada Blog, Android Headlines, CoinGeek, Ledger Insights, 9to5Mac, Pocketnow, Variety, Financial Times, Coinspeaker, and Wccftech
New York Times:
Intelligence agencies don't see TikTok as a major security issue, see the claimed risks as largely theoretical, and view companies like Huawei as larger threats  —  Even as the White House moves against the Chinese social media app, the intelligence agencies do not see it as a major issue along the lines of Huawei.
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
In a memo to advertisers, TikTok says it will refund ad campaigns it can't fulfill due to a US ban and will work with influencers to migrate to other platforms  —  (Reuters) - TikTok is preparing advertisers for a possible ban of its app in the United States, ad buyers said, offering refunds for ad campaigns that are unable to run.
Financial Times:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Byron Tau / Wall Street Journal:
US government contractor Anomaly Six collects and sells location data from hundreds of millions of phones globally via an SDK that is embedded in 500+ apps  —  Anomaly Six has ties to military, intelligence agencies and draws location data from more than 500 apps with hundreds of millions of users
New York Times:
Former staff at therapy-by-text app Talkspace say the company provided burner phones to write fake app reviews and doesn't adequately respect client privacy  —  The therapy-by-text company made burner phones available for fake reviews and doesn't adequately respect client privacy, former employees say.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Researchers: China's state-sponsored hackers stole source code, SDKs, and chip designs from at least seven Taiwanese chip companies over the past two years  —  A campaign called Operation Skeleton Key has stolen source code, software development kits, chip designs, and more.

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More News

Reuters:
Adrianne Jeffries / The Markup:

Earlier Picks

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
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Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: