Techmeme: Filing: CFPB probes Venmo's debt-collection tactics; Venmo actions like threatening to send debt collectors after users who are scam victims are under scrutiny (Orla McCaffrey/Wall Street Journal)

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February 5, 2021, 3:35 PM

Top News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google has patched an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability in its Chrome 88 update — Google Chrome 88.0.4324.150 released with a fix. Users advised to update. — Google has released today version 88.0.4324.150 of the Chrome browser for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Harvard Business Review:

Facebook's claims about the size of losses small businesses will suffer due to iOS 14 privacy changes don't hold up under scrutiny and are likely exaggerated — by - Bart de Langhe and - Stefano Puntoni — Summary. — Apple will soon require consumers to opt in if they want to allow businesses …

More: MacDailyNews, ProPrivacy.com, and 9to5Mac

Tweets: @nicolasmagand and @jstrauss

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Snap says Apple's changes to IDFA will interrupt demand; Unity says IDFA changes will affect how mobile game developers “optimize lifetime customer value” — - Snap and Unity Software, which reported fourth quarter earnings after the bell Thursday, both warned of the upcoming impact …

Ben Thompson / Stratechery:

Q&A with mobile marketing analyst Eric Seufert on the Facebook-Apple conflict, Apple's real motives for iOS privacy changes, and potential harm to businesses

More: Mobile Dev Memo. Tweets: @eric_seufert, @jrichlive, @modestproposal1, @tjl, @mattyglesias, @tjl, @eric_seufert, @eric_seufert, @modestproposal1, @palmerluckey, @eric_seufert, @richlightshed, @mrahmey, @id_aa_carmack, @tjl, @damianburns, @keithepetri, and @eric_seufert

Ashley Gold / Axios:

Microsoft suspends contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted to object to the presidential election results — Microsoft announced Friday it will suspend contributions for the rest of the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted …

More: Microsoft On the Issues, CNBC, Forbes, TechCrunch, Windows Central, and The Verge

Tweets: @fxshaw, @rolandixor, @neednewshorts, @baxiabhishek, @hill_charlotte, and @pinboard

Associated Press:

Draft bill in Nevada to establish “Innovation Zones” would let tech companies with large areas of land to form governments with the same authority as counties — CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — Planned legislation to establish new business areas in Nevada would allow technology companies …

Source: Las Vegas Review-Journal. More: Gizmodo

Tweets: @balajis, @coltonlochhead, @birdrespecter, @alexandrakania_, @itsjustmarknv, @reviewjournal, @coltonlochhead, @leninology, @frankpasquale, @davidsirota, @jeremybwhite, @neontaster, @mattdpearce, @sonnybunch, and @davidsirota

Emily Birnbaum / Protocol:

Democratic senators' SAFE TECH Act will strip Section 230 immunity for any ads, and posts violating civil rights, antitrust, cyberstalking, human rights laws — Three top Democratic senators added to the stack of proposed Section 230 reforms Friday, introducing their own bill …

More: Gizmodo, Reuters, Washington Post, The Verge, Engadget, CNET, and CNBC

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Mike Masnick / Techdirt:

Democrats' Sec. 230 bill is a dumpster fire of cluelessness that effectively wipes out protections for entire internet while pretending it's just a minor change — For the past few months we've been seeing a ton of terrible/ridiculous/awful/unconstitutio nal bills coming from mostly Republicans …

More: The Hill. Tweets: @tomcoates, @tomcoates, @jeffjarvis, @thatadamguy, @epro, @bdowney, @decunningham2, @mattyglesias, and @markwarner

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Ben Gilbert / Insider:

Mark Zuckerberg made a surprise appearance on Clubhouse on Thursday, discussing VR, AR, Facebook's Reality Labs group, and remote work — - Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared on a Clubhouse talk show on Thursday evening. — Zuckerberg appeared on The Good Times Show, a talk show on the buzzy new social networking app.

More: The Independent and CNET

Tweets: @joshconstine, @sriramk, @taylorlorenz, @sriramk, @natalieegenolf, @sam_l_shead, @reckless, @fdestin, @gaby_goldberg, @wongmjane, @synopsi, @antoniogm, @eliseliu, @brendanjshort, @jason_kint, and @lucasmtny

Ashwin Manikandan / The Economic Times:

PayPal says it will wind down its domestic payment operations in India by April 1 and focus on its existing cross-border trade business — Mumbai: PayPal Inc. will wind down its payment operations in India this year, a spokesperson said on the condition of anonymity.

More: TechCrunch, PaymentsSource, KrASIA, PYMNTS.com, Inc42 Media, Neowin, and Reuters

Tweets: @manan, @anuraag_saxena, and @ettech

Bloomberg:

Shares of Kuaishou jumped 161% in its Hong Kong debut, valuing the company at $159B, after the main rival of ByteDance in China raised $5.4B in an IPO — - Tencent-backed short-video startup raised $5.4 billion in IPO — Debut performance is second best globally after Alibaba.com

More: CNBC, Reuters, Hollywood Reporter, Light Reading, Tech Xplore, caixinglobal.com, coinspeaker.com, South China Morning Post, and Tech in Asia

Tweets: @pingroma and @bgurley

Cherlynn Low / Engadget:

Google says Pixel users will be able to use their phone cameras to measure pulse and breath rates through the Google Fit app, starting next month — Like many of us, Google is getting more interested in our health. The company is announcing today new features that will allow …

More: The Verge, BGR India, ExtremeTech, NextPit, Android Headlines, Phandroid, Firstpost Tech, Pricebaba.com Daily, TechRadar, The Economic Times, and Pocket-lint

Tweets: @google, @derekmross, @glenngabe, @thekenyeung, @backlon, @jake_k, and @jeff_delgado

Michelle Chan / Nikkei Asia:

Users in mainland China are flocking to Clubhouse, a rare space outside the country's firewall where they can speak freely with people from Hong Kong and Taiwan — Audio-based social-media platform becomes free-speech haven for mainland users — The Clubhouse app had two million users globally as of Jan. 24.

Tweets: @wongmjane, @loh, @harry_jerry, @charlesmok, @kylebrussell, @mikeelgan, @chingrachelwong, @peterguest, @yoda, @joshschoen, and @napolitanodean

Orla McCaffrey / Wall Street Journal:

Filing: CFPB probes Venmo's debt-collection tactics; Venmo actions like threatening to send debt collectors after users who are scam victims are under scrutiny — The payment app's tactics—including threatening to send debt collectors after customers who are scam victims—have previously come under scrutiny

More: Bloomberg

Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:

Class, formerly ClassEDU, which makes a video-conferencing product for schools called Class for Zoom, raises $30M Series A, bringing its total raised to $46M — Class, launched less than a year ago by Blackboard co-founder Michael Chasen, integrates exclusively with Zoom to offer …

Chris Metinko / Crunchbase News:

Metalenz, a Boston-based Harvard spinout developing meta-optic lens chips, raises $10M Series A from 3M Ventures, Intel Capital, and others — Metalenz, a developer of meta-optic technologies for new lenses, has secured a $10 million Series A as the company looks to exit stealth …

More: TechCrunch and VentureBeat

Tweets: @ohmdee and @crunchbasenews

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:

India is restoring 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir, 18 months after imposing a sweeping communications blackout in the Muslim-majority region — India is restoring 4G internet services in Jammu and Kashmir, a senior government official said Friday evening, 18 months after imposing …

More: Times of India, Livemint, NDTV.com, and The Next Web. Tweets: @pranavdixit

Micah Singleton / Billboard:

Sources: SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow users to pay artists directly — The company is close to announcing an alternative streaming payout plan. — SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly …

See also Mediagazer

Abner Li / 9to5Google:

Google starts rolling out Google News Showcase in Australia, paying local and regional publishers, amid an ongoing dispute over Australia's proposed media rules — Google has a $1 billion plan to pay publishers for content that appears in a cross-service “News Showcase” product.

More: The Keyword, Gizmodo, The Guardian, Reuters, ZDNet, The Canberra Times, and AdNews News

Tweets: @cameronwilson, @aus_media, @ians_india, @myllyme, @merryboffin, @kent_walker, @swan_legend, @googledownunder, @sarafischer, @googledownunder, and @timvcm

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Chris Stokel-Walker / WIRED UK:

TikTok's launch on Android TVs in France, Germany, and the UK yesterday is part of its push to diversify its audience and bring its stars into the mainstream — The app's arrival on smart TVs is part of a plan to diversify its audience - and bring its stars further into the mainstream

More: Tom's Guide. Tweets: @psythor, @brendangahan, @evafogdk, @androidtv_rumor, @amitkatwala, and @stokel

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From Mediagazer

New York Times:

In an email to staff, Nick Bilton promises editorial independence for 60 Minutes and praises veteran staff members Lesley Stahl, Bill Whitaker, and Jon Wertheim

Austin Karp / Sports Business Journal:

Telemundo says it will not cut away to commercials during World Cup hydration breaks, but there will be “some commercial aspects” that won't interrupt viewers

Josh Gerstein / Politico:

Thomas Pauken II, a US journalist who worked for Chinese state-run media, has pleaded guilty to working as an unregistered agent for China in the US

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Zeyi Yang / Protocol:

Profile of Maimai, a Chinese site modeled after LinkedIn with a Glassdoor-like forum where users can post anonymously, as it fights China's tech firms in court

Tweets: @dwertime and @zeyiyang

Felix Salmon / Axios:

Wikimedia Foundation announces CEO Katherine Maher will step down as of April 15, says its annual budget doubled to estimated $140M in 2021 under her leadership

More: Wikimedia Foundation. Tweets: @krmaher, @rashaabdulla, @creativecommons, @monteiro, @tomperriello, @davidakaye, @jenny8lee, @camillefrancois, and @ayanaeliza

See also Mediagazer

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Infinitus, which provides a machine-generated voice calling service for healthcare companies contacting customers, has come out of stealth with $21.4M Series A

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @yanda

Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:

Ford will increase its investment in autonomous vehicles to ~$7B over 10 years through 2025, $5B of that from 2021 onward, as part of its Ford Mobility efforts

More: CNBC and InsideEVs

Hamish McKenzie / Substack Blog:

Substack co-founder says Facebook and Twitter getting into paid newsletters is a positive thing for writers and the media ecosystem, implores them to go all in

Tweets: @benwhitelaw, @hamishmckenzie, @davewiner, @davewiner, @quinnypig, @safyhallanfarah, @pressgazette, @joshsternberg, @mattrickard, @__justplaying, @passthejoe, @andydangc, @simonowens, @substackinc, @eringriffith, @hamishmckenzie, and @ericnewcomer

See also Mediagazer

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Twitter will move its offline analytics, data processing, and ML workloads to Google's Cloud after agreeing to an expanded multiyear partnership

More: cloudpro.co.uk and TechRadar

Tweets: @gusthema, @quinnypig, @googlecloud, and @aaronvalue

Alex Kantrowitz / Big Technology:

Apptopia: since Trump was banned from Twitter, daily use of Twitter has remained remarkably consistent

More: The Overspill. Tweets: @elipariser, @randfish, @rasmus_kleis, @philnobilejr, @beltzner, @elliotturn, @sarthakgh, and @digiphile

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Snap says its TikTok competitor Spotlight had 100M MAUs in January, two months after its launch, and receives an average of 175K video submissions per day

More: CNBC, Tech.co, Hollywood Reporter, WeRSM, and Fast Company

Tweets: @robinwauters, @charliebilello, @ashleyrcarman, @megancgraham, @charliebilello, and @mattrosoff

See also Mediagazer

Earlier Picks

Liam Tung / ZDNet:

Five high-ranking Google engineers propose new rules for developers working on “critical” open source projects, including no unilateral code changes

More: Terence Eden's Blog and The New Stack. Thanks:@steveranger

Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:

In a NLRB filing, the Alphabet Workers Union accuses Google vendor Adecco of violating US labor law by forbidding contract workers from discussing their pay

More: Bloomberg, Engadget, The Verge, and Forbes

Tweets: @josheidelson, @mattdpearce, @econ_marshall, @josheidelson, @gigworkersrise, and @googlewalkout

See also Mediagazer

Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:

Activision Blizzard reports Q4 net revenue of $2.41B, up 21% YoY, driven by a record year for Call of Duty, which had full year premium unit sales up 40% YoY

More: Activision Blizzard, GamingBolt, PC Games Insider, Yahoo Finance, Game Rant, MarketWatch, Twinfinite, Benzinga, and Wccftech. Tweets: @slasher

Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google:

Google delists the popular Chrome extension The Great Suspender for containing malware and is disabling the extension for those who installed it

More: XDA Developers, Tom's Guide, KnowTechie, TechRadar, ZDNet, Neowin, The Verge, SlashGear, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, GitHub, Mashable, and Chrome Unboxed

Tweets: @obrien, @bcrypt, and @chrisnelder

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:

Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter took coordinated action to take down top members of account hijacking forum OGUsers and seized hundreds of accounts

More: VICE, Washington Post, The Verge, BGR India, CyberNews, Wired, CNET, and Input

Tweets: @briankrebs, @motherboard, @emma_sandoe, @samsheffer, @josephfcox, @briankrebs, @josephfcox, @sarahfrier, @caseynewton, @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @taylorlorenz, @josephfcox, @lorenzofb, @josephfcox, @jason_koebler, and @josephfcox

See also Mediagazer

Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:

Amazon is quietly transitioning its US warehouse workers to 10-hour graveyard shifts; labor experts say the move is to cut costs and pay for fewer benefits

Kristen V Brown / Bloomberg:

23andMe to go public through a merger with VG Acquisition Corp., a SPAC founded by Richard Branson, at a valuation of $3.5B

More: VICE and TechCrunch

Tweets: @elizabeth_joh, @ashedryden, @bigblackjacobin, @susanwojcicki, @antonioregalado, @sorayadarabi, and @kristenvbrown

Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal:

Incoming head of Senate antitrust subcommittee Amy Klobuchar introduces an antitrust bill that would raise the bar for tech acquisitions