Techmeme
April 21, 2022, 10:15 PM

Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Filing: Elon Musk has secured $46.5B to acquire Twitter, including $25.5B in debt financing via Morgan Stanley and other firms, and is exploring a tender offer  —  - Elon Musk is exploring whether to commence a tender offer for Twitter, according to a new securities filing.
Bloomberg:
Elon Musk's free speech promise for Twitter follows years of silencing or punishing criticism at Tesla and SpaceX, including attacking staff trying to unionize  —  If Elon Musk is able to take over Twitter Inc., his biggest promise is to transform it into a platform for free speech with few restrictions …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is reviewing whether COO Sheryl Sandberg pressured the Daily Mail in 2016 and 2019 into killing stories about her then-boyfriend Bobby Kotick  —  Social-media executive, who dated the Activision Blizzard CEO, was part of campaign to persuade the U.K. tabloid to shelve a potential article
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
In a speech on disinformation, Obama said social media firms' design choices contribute to polarization, and called for more transparency and Section 230 reform  —  - Former President Barack Obama criticized social media companies for contributing to polarization through design choices on their platforms.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Andreessen Horowitz launches a16z Crypto Research, a lab focused on Web3 breakthroughs that can contribute to deployable code, led by academic Tim Roughgarden  —  Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is diving deeper into the crypto market with the launch of a new academic lab dedicated …
New York Times:
Warner Bros. Discovery will shut down CNN+ on April 30, after its March 29 debut; sources: CNN+ had ~150K subscribers and was on pace to hit first-year goals  —  The new corporate owners of CNN are moving to end the new streaming service after a splashy debut.  —  In the end, CNN+ lasted less than a month.
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Google plans to effectively block third-party call recording apps from the Play Store on May 11 after placing further restrictions to its Accessibility API  —  A new Google Play Store policy coming into force is set to block third-party call recording apps from the online storefront from May 11.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Amazon announces a $1B Industrial Innovation Fund to back companies of all stages developing customer fulfillment, logistics, and supply chain technologies  —  Amazon on Thursday announced a new $1 billion venture fund that the tech giant will use to back companies of all stages developing …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Snap reports Q1 revenue of $1.06B, up 38% YoY, vs. $1.07B est., global DAUs up 18% YoY to 332M vs. 330M est., and net loss up 25% YoY to $360M  —  - Snap missed Wall Street expectations for profit and sales when it reported first-quarter results on Thursday after the bell.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify now lets all creators in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand upload video podcasts via Anchor, which Spotify acquired in February 2019  —  After over a year of more limited tests  —  All creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can now upload video podcasts …
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
After France's CNIL fined Meta €60M and Google €150M in January, Google unveils “a full redesign” of its cookie consent banner in Europe  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google said it's rolling out a new European-wide policy allowing users to more easily avoid being tracked on the internet via cookies.
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Binance begins enforcing tougher KYC checks, including proof of address, on Russian users with crypto holdings exceeding €10,000, following further EU sanctions  —  Crypto exchange Binance is enforcing tougher Know Your Customer (KYC) checks for Russian users after the latest wave of European Union sanctions.
Cobie:
Crypto staking evolved from rewards for collateralized coins validating blocks into a Ponzi scheme; Yuga Labs is effectively paying ApeCoin to hold ApeCoin  —  Recently, I was contacted by a member of the board of ApeCoin, which is the BAYC token's equivalent of a board of directors I guess.
MIT Technology Review:
How AI data-labeling companies like Appen use cheap labor in crisis-ridden countries like Venezuela to manually tag videos, sort photos, and transcribe audio  —  It was meant to be a temporary side job—a way to earn some extra money.  Oskarina Fuentes Anaya signed up for Appen …
Laurie Clarke / MIT Technology Review:
Crypto investors are pushing for semi-autonomous economic zones in Central America, at the risk of repeating the region's long history of corporate colonialism  —  A new class of crypto investors have bold plans to rebuild society from scratch.  But their pet projects risk repeating the region's long history of corporate colonialism.
Alyssa Boyle / AdExchanger:
tvScientific, which offers a connected TV platform to make TV advertising accessible and measurable for brands and apps, raises a $20M Series A led by Norwest  —  Measurement companies that help track outcomes are making it rain.  —  On Thursday, CTV performance advertising company tvScientific announced …
Josh Ye / Reuters:
Chinese social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu lays off 9% of its staff amid China's regulatory crackdown; Xiaohongshu raised $500M in November at a $20B valuation  —  Chinese social e-commerce app Xiaohongshu, known as China's answer to Instagram, said it had cut about 9% of its staff …

Sponsor Posts

ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs  —  You know us for voice.  Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency.  Hear it for yourself.
Intel:
5G's most deployed platform  —  Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN.  That's the power of Intel Inside®
Zoho:
How Zoho Workplace makes your Zoho CRM lighter  —  If you use Zoho CRM daily, you already know it's powerful.  It handles pipeline management, forecasting, automation, reporting, and everything that makes …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Senator Mark Warner: Nobody's Ready for What AI Could Do To Us
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Ron Conway from SV Angel
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Why Prediction Markets Are Turning Everything Into a Bet
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.
Cheeky Pint:
The 20-year journey to fully autonomous cars with Dmitri Dolgov of Waymo
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Invest Like the Best:
Mitchell Green - Lessons from Cold Calling 10,000 Companies
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Everybody Goes Home: How technology is helping prevent wildfires from spreading
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 10:15 PM ET, April 21, 2022.

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

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
Annie Palmer / CNBC: