Techmeme
March 31, 2022, 12:30 AM

Top News

William Turton / Bloomberg:
Sources say Apple and Meta gave user data to hackers in response to forged Emergency Data Requests; Discord said it had also fulfilled a forged legal request  —  Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc., the parent company of Facebook, provided customer data to hackers who masqueraded as law enforcement officials …
Washington Post:
Meta paid Republican consulting firm Targeted Victory for a campaign to paint TikTok as a danger to the US, including placing op-eds in regional news outlets  —  Facebook parent company Meta is paying one of the biggest Republican consulting firms in the country to orchestrate …
More: SiliconANGLE, Platformer, CNET, The Register, Transistori, Variety, Observer, The Guardian, Engadget, The Verge, SlashGear, Social Media Today, Gizmodo, Android Headlines, Insider, Digital Trends, Protocol, TechCrunch, Mashable, Daily Mail, Nieman Lab, Dexerto, Raw Story, Forbes, Input, New York Post, iMore, The Week, International Business Times, dot.LA, and USA Today
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is planning to expand its financial services by adding payment processing, lending risk assessment, credit checks, fraud analysis, and more  —  Apple Inc. is developing its own payment processing technology and infrastructure for future financial products …
Richard Lawler / The Verge:
Apple updates its App Store rules in the Netherlands to let Dutch dating apps take payments through third-party processors, but a 27% commission still applies  —  But they can't avoid giving up a 27 percent commission  —  To help bring an end to wrangling with Dutch regulators that stretched …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple now lets “reader” apps link to websites for creating or managing user accounts, after the company gives access to an External Link Account Entitlement  —  Apple today informed developers of “reader” apps that they are able to sign up for access to an “External Link Account Entitlement” …
Brandy Betz / CoinDesk:
LayerZero, a startup that offers a protocol for blockchain interoperability, raises $135M co-led by a16z, FTX, and Sequoia at a $1B valuation  —  The blockchain interoperability protocol first emerged from stealth last September.  —  CORRECTION (March 30, 19:28 UTC): A previous version …
Carly Page / TechCrunch:
IT and software developer Globant says its code repo was partially breached, after Lapsus$ shared 70GB of allegedly stolen data; Globant's stock closed down 10%  —  Just days after police in the U.K. arrested seven people over suspected connections to the now-infamous hacking and extortion group, Lapsus$ is claiming its latest victim.
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Waymo plans to offer fully autonomous rides in San Francisco, without a human safety driver, as part of a growing test, and expands its service area in Arizona  —  The company is also expanding its service area in Phoenix  —  Waymo plans to start offering rides in its fully autonomous vehicles …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Google plans to use its ML model MUM to improve search results for users in a crisis, directing them to help for suicide, sexual assault, and domestic abuse  —  Directing more searches to help and support  —  In a personal crisis, many people turn to an impersonal source of support: Google.
James Cridland / Podnews:
Steve Zurier / SC Media:
IoT manufacturer Ubiquiti sues cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs, claiming he falsely accused the company of covering up a cyberattack  —  Ubiquiti on Tuesday filed a lawsuit against industry blogger Brian Krebs for $425 million in damages for allegedly falsely accusing the company of “covering up” a cyberattack.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
WhatsApp says its users send 7B voice messages daily on average and adds a waveform visualization, pause/resume, draft preview, out of chat playback, and more  —  Like most smartphone users in India, I use WhatsApp a lot.  But I have never sent anyone a voice message — ever.  Turns out, others do.
Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:
Research shows TikTok tic videos contribute to a rise in cases of girls with tics; US ER room visits among teen girls with tics has tripled during the pandemic  —  Tourette videos posted on the platform continue to draw many viewers, and doctors say teen girls keep showing up at their offices with functional neurological issues
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Wing Security, which helps companies discover, monitor, and remediate potential security issues with SaaS tools used by their employees, raises a $20M Series A  —  As businesses increasingly rely on an ever-growing number of SaaS products, it has become imperative for security teams …
More: FinSMEs
Meagan Simpson / BetaKit:
Athennian, whose cloud-based legal tech software helps law firms and legal departments automate subsidiary and entity management, raises a CAD$41.5M Series B  —  The legaltech startup's backers include Clio's CEO.  —  Calgary legaltech startup Athennian is announcing that is has secured …
More: FinSMEs
Bloomberg:
Sky Mavis COO Aleksander Larsen says the company is “fully committed to reimbursing” Axie Infinity players who lost funds and is “still working on a solution”  —  The company behind the popular Axie Infinity crypto game said it will reimburse online participants …
Nate Raymond / Reuters:
A judge invalidates Massachusetts' fiduciary duty rule that underlies a 2020 suit accusing Robinhood of encouraging inexperienced users to place risky trades  —  A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday dealt state securities regulators a major setback in their enforcement action …
Olga Kharif / Bloomberg:
Chainalysis: $1B+ in crypto was stolen from bridge-related exploits in a little over a year across seven incidents; Dune: $21B+ is locked on Ethereum bridges  —  The hack of a so-called bridge supporting Axie Infinity's play-to-earn game revealed this week highlights the increasingly problematic nature …

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