Techmeme
March 15, 2021, 9:15 AM

Top News

Financial Times:
Stripe raises $600M from Sequoia Capital and others at a valuation of $95B, becoming the most valuable private company in Silicon Valley  —  Payments provider becomes Silicon Valley's most valuable private company  —  Stripe has become the most valuable private company Silicon Valley has produced …
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Internal docs: a Facebook study about US users' vaccine hesitancy finds “substantial harm” from content that doesn't violate the company's rules  —  Internal study finds a QAnon connection and that content that doesn't break the rules may be causing ‘substantial’ harm
Queenie Wong / CNET:
Facebook debuts tools to promote COVID-19 vaccinations: helping US users find slots, partnering with health authorities on WhatsApp, labeling all vaccine posts  —  Facebook said Monday it's releasing new tools to make it easier for people to get vaccinated against COVID-19 …
New York Times:
After US intel agencies, FBI, and DHS missed Chinese and Russian hacks, White House is looking to overhaul cyber defenses, including new industry partnerships  —  The intelligence agencies missed massive intrusions by Russia and China, forcing the administration and Congress to look for solutions …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: Apple AirPods 3 will not enter mass production until Q3 2021; AirPods shipments will decline from 90M in 2020 to 78M in 2021 due to increasing competition  —  Despite a flurry of leaks surrounding next-gen AirPods in the last couple of weeks, Ming-Chi Kuo this morning said that new AirPods …
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
Clubhouse says it won't require access to users' phone contacts anymore, and announces a creator accelerator program that will initially accept 20 participants  —  The voice chat app will provide users with resources and help them monetize their shows  —  During Clubhouse's weekly town hall on Sunday …
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Telegram owes creditors ~$700M by the end of April and plans to sell $1B to $1.5B in company debt to cover the bill  —  Messaging tool is selling more than $1 billion of debt to fund operations and repay existing creditors, as it races to attract ads  —  Telegram is riding high, adding tens of million of users this year.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Match Group invests in Garbo, a nonprofit that lets people run background checks with a first name and phone number, and will add the service to Tinder  —  Only a last name or phone number needed  —  Tinder and other Match Group-owned apps are going to let their users run background checks on possible dates.

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Earlier Picks

Bryce Roberts:
Jeff John Roberts / Decrypt:
Bloomberg: