Techmeme
December 9, 2021, 5:35 AM

Top News

C-SPAN.org:
Video of Adam Mosseri's testimony before a Senate Commerce subcommittee examining Instagram's negative effects on teen mental health  —  Instagram CEO testifies on impact of platform on young users before a Senate Commerce subcommittee.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Instagram plans to bring back “a version” of its chronological feed in Q1 2022, as it experiments with other options for users including a “favorites” feed  —  After more than five years, Instagram plans to bring back “a version” of its chronological feed next year, the company's top executive said on Wednesday.
Bloomberg:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
A US appeals court grants a stay in the Epic v. Apple ruling, letting Apple keep its IAP system as the sole source of iOS in-app payments as the case proceeds  —  Apple can maintain its App Store payment monopoly while the case proceeds  —  An appeals court has paused one of the most consequential parts …
Kollen Post / The Block:
At a congressional hearing with six crypto executives, committee members voiced concerns about stablecoins and exchanges but showed a warming up to crypto  —  Quick Take  — Today's hearing before the House Financial Services Committee confirmed: Congress is warming up to crypto.
Jackie Davalos / Bloomberg:
Kickstarter plans to transition its crowdfunding site to a newly created blockchain-based protocol in 2022, and will offer tools for others to build on it  —  It's creating a new company to develop and distribute the technology.  —  For more than a decade, Kickstarter PBC has convinced …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google confirms a permanent fix is coming for a bug that prevents some Android users from calling 911 if Microsoft Teams is installed but they are not logged in  —  Last week, a user reported that their Pixel 3 was not able to dial 911 (emergency services in the US).
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Roku says it has agreed to a multi-year extension with Google for distributing YouTube and YouTube TV apps on its devices; Roku's stock is up 18%+  —  Roku and Google have agreed to a multi-year extension for both YouTube and YouTube TV apps to be distributed on Roku.
New York Times:
EU Commission proposes rules turning gig workers into employees, affecting up to 4.1M workers; EU estimates 28M work through digital labor platforms in the bloc  —  A proposal with widespread political support would entitle drivers and couriers for companies like Uber to a minimum wage and legal protections.
Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Robotic Research, which makes on and off-road autonomous vehicles for the US DoD, raises a $228M Series A led by SoftBank Vision 2 and Enlightenment Capital  —  Robotic Research, a self-driving technology company that has spent the last two decades developing on and off-road autonomous vehicles …
Bloomberg:
A look at the ethical minefield of VCs making personal startup bets ahead of follow-up investments from their VC firms, like at GV, BlackRock, DST, and others  —  Making personal investments in startups is common for VCs but can be an ethical minefield.  —  Consider this scenario …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apologizes for how he handled firing ~900 employees, 9% of his workforce, over Zoom, as a report says Better.com is delaying its SPAC  —  Better.com CEO Vishal Garg apparently realizes he's done wrong.  —  (As if the barrage of negative publicity wasn't enough evidence of that.)

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Earlier Picks

Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
Bloomberg:
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Andrew Hayward / Decrypt: