Techmeme: Japan's Fair Trade Commission says the country will join US and Europe in challenging market abuses by Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon (Reuters)

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October 19, 2020, 11:30 AM

Top News

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Twitter blocking NY Post's story, driven by unfair blaming of tech for the media's 2016 mistakes, undermined its role as a facilitator for information sharing — Manage your Stratechery subscription. — On September 8, 2004, longtime CBS anchor Dan Rather presented four documents …

More: New York Times, New York Times, New York Magazine, and Washington Examiner

Tweets: @stratechery, @benyt, @carnage4life, @rabois, @mathewi, @mantzarlis, @alecstapp, and @kylegriffin1

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Jem Aswad / Variety:

Apple launches Apple Music TV, a free 24-hour curated livestream of popular music videos, available in the US on Apple's Music and TV apps — Apple has launched Apple Music TV, a free 24-hour curated livestream of popular music videos that will also include “exclusive new music videos and premiers …

More: The Verge, TechCrunch, iMore, AppleInsider, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Apple Must, MacDailyNews, Engadget, Patently Apple, MacStories, and Cult of Mac. Tweets: @sam_l_shead

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BBC:

EU is investigating Instagram's handling of children's personal data, after complaints that contact information on business accounts was publicly visible — Instagram is being investigated by Ireland's Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) over its handling of children's personal data on the platform.

More: Telegraph, TechCrunch, Business Insider, Crunchbase News, Silicon Republic, Neowin, Reuters, Tech Xplore, and Engadget

Tweets: @_andyburrows and @jamestitcomb

Reuters:

Japan's Fair Trade Commission says the country will join US and Europe in challenging market abuses by Google, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon — TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan will join forces with the United States and Europe to take on any market abuses by the four Big Tech companies …

More: Android Authority, MacRumors, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, CyberNews, TechSpot, MacDailyNews, coinspeaker.com, and PYMNTS.com

Andrew Tarantola / Engadget:

Facebook announces an open source AI model that can translate directly between 100+ languages without first translating to English — Whether you're logging on from the US, Brazil, Borneo, or France, Facebook can translate virtually any written content published on its platform …

More: GitHub, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, and VentureBeat. Tweets: @neilperkin

The Markup:

The Markup announces The Citizen Browser Project, an initiative with The NYT to analyze how the algorithms of Facebook and YouTube serve content to users — The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how the world's most powerful institutions use technology to reshape society …

More: Nieman Lab and Fast Company

Tweets: @mantzarlis, @blakehounshell, @antoniogm, @carolecadwalla, @mikarv, @marklittlenews, @tonyromm, @caseynewton, @mathewi, @civic_signals, @blackamazon, @craigsilverman, @lisatozzi, and @themarkup

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Agence France-Presse:

Nick Clegg says 2.2M proposed ads on Facebook and Instagram have been rejected, and 120K posts withdrawn, for breaking Facebook's election ad rules — A total of 2.2m ads on Facebook and Instagram have been rejected and 120,000 posts withdrawn for attempting to “obstruct voting” …

More: Business Insider, Engadget, The Guardian, The Verge, Android Headlines, SiliconANGLE, Neowin, Gizmodo, and Mashable

Tweets: @hawleymo, @liz_shepherd, @carmen_ngkaman, @cameronwilson, @timodc, @amuse, @dailytrix, @professorshaw, @povediitz, and @why0hy

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Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Profile of Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ex-Sequoia partner Matt Huang, whose VC firm Paradigm moved all $400M of its initial capital into Bitcoin in 2018 — Covering venture capital, software and startups — An aggressive Bitcoin trade got crypto VC shop Paradigm flying out of the gate.

More: AVC. Tweets: @alexrkonrad, @forbes, @nic__carter, and @arjunblj. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.vc:

Audio, which struggled for decades as a media category, is breaking out now, as tech enables new content formats as well as new monetization and delivery models — As most of the major media categories — music, video and video games — have existed for decades, we tend to forget that media is technology.

More: Alex Danco's Newsletter. Tweets: @ballmatthew, @patrick_spence, @ballmatthew, @sheckygreen, @nbt, @adamsinger, @fitzyrichard, @davemorgannyc, @marklittlenews, @patrick_oshag, @johnbattelle, @kintan, and @pkafka

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Avery Hartmans / Business Insider:

Survey of 3,023 employees at tech firms by anonymous workplace app Blind: 68% feel more burned out by WFH, including 79% at Google and 81% at Facebook — - Silicon Valley's workforce is reporting feeling more burned out than before the pandemic. — A new survey from anonymous workplace …

More: Wall Street Journal

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Google Cloud launches Lending DocAI, a dedicated service for the mortgage industry that uses AI to review documents and speed up loan applications — Google Cloud today announced the launch of Lending DocAI, its first dedicated service for the mortgage industry.

More: ZDNet, SiliconANGLE, VentureBeat, and Google Cloud Blog

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Facebook expands its Messenger API to Instagram, letting developers and businesses integrate messaging from Instagram into other apps — Facebook is expanding its Messenger API to support Instagram messaging, enabling developers and businesses to integrate messaging from Instagram into other business applications.

More: TechCrunch and Developer News

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, October 19, 2020.

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From Mediagazer

Committee to Protect Journalists:

After the building fire, Hong Kong summoned AFP, FT, NYT, AP, Bloomberg, and WSJ journalists, telling them to avoid “trouble making”, and arrested a commentator

Variety:

The WGA, which routinely opposes media mergers, says the Netflix-WBD deal must be blocked, and the Producers and Directors guilds express concern over the deal

Isabella Simonetti / Wall Street Journal:

Vanity Fair and Olivia Nuzzi agree to part ways and let her contract expire at the end of the year, following new allegations about her affair with RFK Jr.

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More News

Will Oremus / OneZero :

As Trump sags in polls, Facebook's recent moderation decisions, like banning QAnon, could be preparation for a Biden admin expected to push for more regulation

Tweets: @willoremus and @hypervisible

Nicole Kobie / WIRED UK:

A look at Excel community groups like EUSpRig, made up of accountants, auditors, and Excel power users paid to help organizations spot risky spreadsheet errors

Bobby Allyn / NPR:

TikTok expands its QAnon bans beyond hashtags, removing all content and accounts that promote videos advancing the conspiracy

More: The Verge and Forbes

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

Pakistan says it is lifting the ban on TikTok after assurances that it would moderate content in accordance with societal norms and laws

More: CNN, Agence France-Presse, New York Times, Forbes, Reuters, MediaNama, and International Business Times

Alex Dobie / Android Central:

Sources: Samsung's next Galaxy S flagships, the S21/S30, will be launched in January 2021 in three new models, a standard, a Plus, and an Ultra

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Google, The Verge, Pocketnow, Phandroid, The Next Web, Mashable, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @journeydan and @androidcentral

Earlier Picks

Daniel Oberhaus / Wired:

An overview on the current state of AI-driven battery research, which until recently was hampered by a lack of data but is now poised to pick up the pace

Tweets: @iecstandards and @wired

Ian Carlos Campbell / The Verge:

Google will discontinue its Trusted Contacts app Dec. 2, pointing users to Maps features instead; the app helped users check on contacts during emergencies

More: Search Engine Land, Android Headlines, Firstpost Tech, and PhoneArena

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Process mining company Celonis has acquired Czech startup Integromat to help bolster its automation services; Celonis CEO says the deal is worth more than $100M

Tweets: @finlaysonconnor

BBC:

UK to make it illegal to use a mobile phone while driving from next year, closing a loophole that let drivers use a phone to take a photo or play a game

More: 9to5Mac, The Next Web, MacRumors, AppleInsider, Telegraph, LBC, and The Guardian

Tweets: @lanceulanoff, @dharford79, @spaniels_rule, @markandcharlie, @exglospolbiker, and @safecyclingeire

Colum Murphy / Bloomberg:

China passes a new export control law, in effect from Dec. 1, that will let it take reciprocal measures if any country or regions abuse their export controls

More: Protocol, MediaNama, Nikkei Asia, The Hill, globalnews.ca, South China Morning Post, Fortune, and New.blicio.us

Tweets: @beatlesonbankin, @tgehrke_, @onlyyoontv, @richardturrin, and @andreaslandwehr