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.

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.

From Mediagazer

Shane O'Neill / Washington Post:

Q&A with Christopher Anderson, who photographed Trump's inner circle for VF: “My job is to ... draw on my experience as a journalist and photograph what I see”

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

CBS News and The Free Press announce Things That Matter, a series of town halls and debates, starting in early 2026, with Sam Altman, J.D. Vance, and others

Anna Betts / The Guardian:

David Brooks, who wrote a NYT column last month decrying popular fixation on the Epstein story, appears in newly released photos of a 2011 event with Epstein

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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