Techmeme
January 5, 2021, 6:00 PM

Top News

Corin Faife / The Markup:
After Facebook turned on political advertising for the Georgia election, partisan content elbowed out traditional news sites in users' news feeds  —  Ahead of crucial senate runoffs, Facebook reversed its political ad ban, and the impact was visible on users' feeds
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook says it will resume its political ad ban in Georgia after the polls close in the Georgia runoff elections  —  Following the Georgia runoff elections, the Facebook ban that restricts ads on social issues, elections and politics nationwide will be reimplemented in the state, the company said on Tuesday.
More: PoliticoTweets: @benjancewicz and @kcoxdc
Saniya More / The Block:
Square says US FinCEN's proposed cryptocurrency regulation will inhibit widespread adoption of cryptocurrencies and hinder current law enforcement efforts  —  Square is the latest company to go public with its opposition to proposed rulemaking from the U.S. Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
FBI, CISA, and ODNI, with support from NSA, say an APT “likely Russian in origin” is responsible for all or most of the recently discovered hacks of US agencies  —  Joint statement from the FBI, CISA, ODNI, and NSA says SolarWinds hack was “likely Russian in origin.”
Matt Day / Bloomberg:
Amazon says it is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 planes from Delta and WestJet, the first time the company has purchased aircraft for its air cargo operation  —  - Retailer will buy 11 767-300 planes from Delta, WestJet  — Amazon expects fleet to have more than 85 jets by end of 2022
Lingling Wei / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: China's regulators aim to force Ant Group, which owns Alipay, to share its consumer-credit data with China's central bank or an entity controlled by it  —  Request is part of Beijing's crackdown on what it believes is Ant's unfair advantage over other lenders
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Source: Tile is aiming to launch a new tracker this year that includes ultra wideband technology and will add the ability to find items in AR in its app  —  Tile is preparing to introduce a new product this year that will serve as a rival to Apple's long-awaited AirTags and other lost-item trackers coming …
Rebecca Falconer / Axios:
NYSE says it no longer plans to delist China Mobile, China Telecom, and China Unicom, but will continue to evaluate applicability of a US EO to the companies  —  The New York Stock Exchange announced late Monday it no longer plans to delist three Chinese companies.
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
OCC says banks and savings associations can now run crypto nodes and use associated stablecoins for “permissible payment activities”  —  National banks and federal savings associations can use public blockchains and stablecoins for settlement, The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
CIRP: iPhone 12 mini made up 6% of total iPhone sales in US during Oct. and Nov., while the 6.1" iPhone 12 garnered 27% and 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max each took ~20%  —  A new report from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) today seen by 9to5Mac highlights the continued success of the iPhone 12 lineup.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:00 PM ET, January 5, 2021.

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.

More News

Michael Grothaus / Fast Company:

Earlier Picks

Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Yoolim Lee / Bloomberg:
TechCrunch:
Eileen Yu / ZDNet:
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch: