Techmeme
December 6, 2021, 2:45 PM

Top News

Ben Smith / New York Times:
A document from TikTok's engineering team in Beijing details the app's addictive algorithm, which pursues DAUs by optimizing for “retention” and “time spent”  —  It's the most successful video app in the world.  Our columnist has obtained an internal company document …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
WhatsApp now lets users set all one-to-one chats to disappear by default after 24 hours, seven days, or 90 days  —  Its disappearing messages feature is getting an upgrade  —  WhatsApp is adding new functionality to its disappearing messages feature, which lets users set messages in a chat …
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile all have programs that collect additional customer data, like app usage, location, and web history, and they are generally opt-out  —  Verizon says it's to better “understand your interests”  —  The My Verizon app might be collecting information about your browsing history …
Bloomberg:
Investigation: Swiss company Mitto, which offers text message services to companies in 100+ countries, helped governments surveil phones; Mitto denies the claim  —  Mitto AG's network used to track people via mobile phones, former employees say.  —  The co-founder of a company that has been trusted …
Andrew E. Kramer / New York Times:
US investigators traced ransomware payments back to companies in the Moscow skyscraper Federation Tower East, suggesting Russia tolerates ransomware operators  —  Cybersecurity experts tracing money paid by American businesses to Russian ransomware gangs found it led to one of Moscow's most prestigious addresses.
Julian E. Barnes / New York Times:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Many customers complain that T-Mobile and Verizon are denying promised rebates for promoted Apple products  —  Some customers are finding that wireless carriers are denying rebates used to promote Apple Inc.'s newest iPhones, iPads and watches.  Plus, omicron's impact on Apple and the company loses yet another car executive.
Reuters:
Alibaba appoints a new CFO and will reorganize its e-commerce businesses under two new divisions, one domestic and one international  —  Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (9988.HK) said Toby Xu, will succeed Maggie Wu as the company's chief financial officer from April, a move it described as part of the company's leadership succession plan.
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Amazon's extensive supply chain investments, mostly focused on domestic US logistics, make it increasingly attractive to third-party merchants and customers  —  It seems like a Christmas miracle.  From CNBC: … The intended takeaway of this article — which originated as a digital special report …
Financial Times:
Researchers detail Meta's roadblocks, including pre-publication review and restrictive contracts, and how it stifles what might cast it in a negative light  —  Last March, Orestis Papakyriakopoulos, a researcher at Princeton University, applied to use a special data access tool that allows academics to do research on Facebook.
Benedict Evans:
Overview of macro tech trends, with a focus on Web3, the metaverse, and cloud adoption, which is just beginning as on-prem IT spend still dwarfs cloud spend  —  The most exciting themes in technology today are transformative visions for 2025 or 2030: crypto, web3, VR, metaverse... and then everything else.
Alistair Gray / Financial Times:
GroupM: global ad revenue will reach $763B in 2021, up 18.7% from 2019; Alphabet, Meta, and Amazon control 80-90% of the digital ad market outside of China  —  Alphabet, Meta and Amazon have doubled their share of ad revenues in past 5 years, industry estimates

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Soxton:
AI-powered law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
Zoho:
Zoho CRM Plus in 2025: A year of thoughtful CX improvements  —  2025 marked 11 years of building a customer experience platform designed to support organizations as customer expectations, channels …
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

Hard Fork:
Where Is All the A.I.-Driven Scientific Progress?
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.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'A Naughty Citizen', With Quinn Nelson
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
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 2:45 PM ET, December 6, 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

The Guardian:

Earlier Picks

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
David Streitfeld / New York Times:
RT:
Emma Roth / The Verge:
Tim Copeland / The Block: