Techmeme
April 30, 2022, 12:55 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: PayPal Mafia members, Jack Dorsey, and others who disliked Twitter's direction pushed Musk to launch a bid; Musk is dismayed that Trump is still banned  —  Behind the scenes, fellow billionaires and internet provocateurs bent Tesla CEO's ear; Jack Dorsey's role  —  Elon Musk unveils the Tesla Model Y in 2019.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
At an all-hands, CEO Parag Agrawal acknowledged Twitter was vulnerable to a takeover since it had historically underachieved and asked staff to “embrace change”  —  CEO Parag Agrawal on five years of regrets  —  Late Thursday night, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announced the company …
Adam Serwer / The Atlantic:
Right-wing users are celebrating Elon Musk buying Twitter not for his “free speech” promises but because he could make the platform serve their populist agenda  —  Conservatives on Twitter have greeted Elon Musk as a liberator.  The mega-billionaire is in the process of purchasing …
CNBC:
Filings: Elon Musk sold ~$8.4B worth of Tesla stock in the days after his bid to take Twitter private; on Thursday, Musk tweeted “No further TSLA sales planned”  —  - Elon Musk sold roughly $8.4 billion worth of Tesla shares in the days following his bid to take Twitter private …
Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
Apple says apps that haven't been updated in past three years and have low downloads will be removed from App Store, extends time to update from 30 to 90 days  —  Late last week, controversy erupted after Apple began notifying some developers that their apps that had not been updated …
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Salesforce plans to extend California's Silenced No More Act protections, which limit the scope of NDAs, to all US employees in 2022, after shareholder pressure  —  Salesforce just became the latest tech giant to commit to limiting the scope of its non-disclosure agreements …
Meaghan Tobin / Rest of World:
Despite SpaceX's global ambitions for Starlink, data shows 98% of users live in the West; many delays come down to regulatory challenges in markets like India  —  Despite global ambitions, Elon Musk's Starlink struggles to reach users outside North America and Europe.
Ax Sharma / Wired:
Hollywood's fight against VPN providers like ExpressVPN now goes beyond piracy, as a recent lawsuit alleges VPNs enable crimes like hacking, murder, and more  —  Beyond accusations of encouraging copyright infringement, film companies have begun accusing VPNs of enabling a slew of illegal activity.
Tracy Qu / South China Morning Post:
Sources: China plans to end its regulatory crackdown on the country's Big Tech companies and give internet platforms a bigger role to boost its ailing economy  —  A symposium involving Chinese Big Tech has been scheduled after the Labour Day holiday to assure business leaders on the new direction …
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Exafunction, which aims to reduce AI development costs by abstracting away hardware, raises a $25M Series A led by Greenoaks and Founders Fund participating  —  The most sophisticated AI systems today are capable of impressive feats, from directing cars through city streets to writing human-like prose.
Sebastian Herrera / Wall Street Journal:
Insider Intelligence: Amazon has the largest market share of US e-commerce at ~39%, but it grew by just 0.2% in 2021 and 2022 so far, the slowest rate in years  —  Tech giant remains nation's leading online retailer, but signs of weakness have emerged recently
Business Wire:

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More News

Bruce Lawson / Bruce Lawson's personal site:
Jay Peters / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Jennifer Pattison Tuohy / The Verge:
New York Times:
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Business Wire:
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: