Techmeme
February 18, 2021, 8:50 AM

Top News

William Easton / About Facebook:
Ahead of proposed media law, Facebook bans Australians from sharing or viewing news and all users from sharing and viewing news on Australian news Pages  —  In response to Australia's proposed new Media Bargaining law, Facebook will restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing …
More: CNN, Facebook, 9News, The Guardian, Associated Press, XDA Developers, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Reuters, The Guardian, Financial Times, news.com.au, MacRumors, ABC, AppleInsider, BBC, Axios, The Guardian, Insider, ABC, NBC News, Financial Times, Search Engine Roundtable, Benedict Evans, OneZero , Variety, Telecoms.com, Sky News, NPR, Sydney Morning Herald, iMore, Sydney Morning Herald, CNBC, Australian Financial Review, TechCrunch, CNBC, BGR India, Ubergizmo, Forbes, Digiday, MUO, The Next Web, Firstpost Tech, Reuters, ZDNet, New York Post, TIME, Herald Sun, and Reuters
ABC:
Australian authorities in public health, weather, and other areas say Facebook has removed posts from their feeds following Facebook's news ban  —  Facebook has restricted access to news in Australia, and so far the tech giant seems to have taken a pretty broad definition of news.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Banning Australian news makes sense for Facebook and may prompt people to visit news sites directly; Google's payoffs, though, will invite global shakedowns  —  But Google gives in.  What's next?  —  Yesterday, I wrote that Australia's News Media Bargaining Code threatened to splinter the internet.
News Corp:
News Corp announces a multi-year, global partnership with Google to provide content from its news sites “in return for significant payments by Google”  —  Long-term Deal Involves Payment For Premium Content For Google News Showcase;  —  Will Yield Substantial Benefits For Journalism And Society
Noam Bardin:
Former Waze CEO reflects on his time at Google and the impact of the acquisition on autonomy, the brand, hiring and firing, distribution, compensation, and more  —  It's been two weeks since I left Google and I keep getting asked “why did I leave now”?  I think the better question is “why did I stay for so long”?
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google launches over 50 new features for its education products, including Classroom, Meet, and Workspace, with a focus on meeting educators' and admins' needs  —  Google today introduced a suite of updates for its online education tools whose adoption and further development have been accelerated …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Google will restructure its Responsible AI teams to centralize them under a single Black executive, Marian Croak, in wake of Timnit Gebru's departure  —  - Company seeks to stabilize department amid internal rancor  — Responsible AI teams to be centralized under single executive
Hannah Murphy / Financial Times:
Court filing says a Facebook manager warned that the company reported revenues it “should have never made” by overstating how many users advertisers could reach  —  Lawsuit cites product executive's qualms over figures provided to advertisers  —  A Facebook employee warned …
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Artie, a startup pivoting from AR avatars to mobile games playable inside social media apps without any additional app downloads, raises $10M seed  —  Artie has raised $10 million to make instant mobile games that can be played directly inside social media, video and messaging platforms …
More: FinSMEs
Karl Bode / VICE:
FCC launches the Broadband Data Task Force to collect data and develop more precise maps of US broadband availability, which currently rely on ISP-provided data  —  You can't fix a problem you don't understand.  And for decades the US has refused to accurately measure the full scope of US broadband market failure.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
DOJ charges three suspected North Korean hackers for allegedly conspiring to steal and extort over $1.3B in cash and cryptocurrencies from banks and businesses  —  The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed charges against three North Korean hacker spies accused of conspiring to steal …
Balaji S. Srinivasan:
India banning crypto is technically, socially, and politically infeasible; instead, India should use its remittance-friendly regulations to legalize crypto  —  India already has a regulatory regime for crypto.  It's called the Foreign Exchange Management Act.  —  Previously, I detailed why India should buy Bitcoin.
Josh Eidelson / Bloomberg:
How the success of California's Prop 22, driven by gig economy companies, is affecting negotiations between unions and businesses across the US  —  The tower of aging Manila envelopes, stacked in a corner of Rome Aloise's cluttered Bay Area home office, is a monument to five years of failure.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Photomath, which develops an AI-powered math tutoring app, raises $23M Series B led by Menlo Ventures, bringing its total raised to $29M+  —  AI-powered math tutoring app Photomath today announced that it raised $23 million in series B funding.  The company says the proceeds will be used to grow headcount …

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Earlier Picks

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Babu Mohan / Android Central:
Aditya Kalra / Reuters: