Techmeme
October 1, 2021, 6:55 AM

Top News

Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Senators grilled Facebook exec Antigone Davis at a hearing about Instagram's impact on teens and were frustrated by her reticence to answer questions directly  —  Last night, Facebook published two annotated slide decks in an attempt to contextualize the documents that the Wall Street Journal published …
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
WSJ's Facebook Files don't show that Facebook's execs are evil or incompetent, but highlight their hubris in believing they can get things back under control  —  Over the last few weeks, the WSJ has run a series of posts generally called “The Facebook Files,” which have exposed a variety …
Wall Street Journal:
WSJ publishes six internal Facebook documents it used for its report about Instagram's negative impact on teen girls, after Facebook published two of the docs  —  The Senate holds a hearing Thursday about the social network's impact, prompted by The Wall Street Journal's coverage
The Verge:
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
TikTok launches Top Moments, an NFT collection featuring six “culturally significant TikTok videos” from creators including Lil Nas X  —  TikTok is launching a non-fungible token (NFT) collection that will see its top content creators partner with top NFT creators.
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:
USB Implementers Forum issues new USB-C certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping to solve customer confusion  —  The group responsible for the USB-C protocol has issued new certified logos that show if a cable or port supports 60W or 240W, hoping that customers will read the labels.
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Zoom says it no longer plans to acquire cloud-based call center software maker Five9, following the FCC's review of the $14.7B deal on national security grounds  —  - Zoom's attempted acquisition of cloud contact center software maker failed to win sufficient approval from Five9 shareholders.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
A look at the rise of employee dissent at Apple, including pushback against returning to the office, fighting for pay equity, and increasing leaks  —  On June 14th, 2021, Apple's remote work advocacy group sent an anonymous email to Tim Cook.  —  “We all agree that we are here at Apple …
The Markup:
A look at the $12B location data industry, including how collectors, aggregators, and marketplaces monetize user data  —  A huge but little-known industry has cropped up around monetizing people's movements  —  Companies that you likely have never heard of are hawking access to the location history on your mobile phone.
Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian / Axios:
LinkedIn blocks the profiles of several US journalists on its Chinese platform, citing “prohibited content” without specifying what it was  —  LinkedIn blocked the profiles of several U.S. journalists from the company's China-based platform this week, citing “prohibited content.”
Mark Harris / Wired:
Investigation finds 45 criminal cases that cite Google geolocation data, obtained via a geofence warrant, to place suspects inside Capitol during Jan. 6 riots  —  A WIRED investigation has found 45 federal criminal cases that cite Google geolocation data to place suspects inside the US Capitol during the January 6 riot.
Emma Betuel / TechCrunch:
Activ Surgical, which makes hardware-agnostic software for minimally invasive surgical systems, raises $45M Series B led by Cota Capital  —  Activ Surgical, a Boston-based digital surgery company, announced a $45 million Series B round on Thursday.  The round comes during a critical year for Activ Surgical.
Helen Nyambura / Bloomberg:
Nigerian President Buhari says a four month ban on Twitter will be lifted on condition it is used for “business and positive engagements”  —  Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari ordered a ban on Twitter be lifted on condition that the social-media platform is used for “business and positive engagements.”

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More News

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Earlier Picks

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
BBC: