Techmeme
August 30, 2022, 5:00 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Sources: Twitter was working to monetize its adult content with OnlyFans-style subscriptions until a “red team” noted the prevalence of CSAM on the platform  —  Internal documents and Twitter employees reveal the need for massive investment to remove illegal content — but executives haven't listened
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Twitter releases its Circle feature out of beta on iOS, Android, and the web, letting users tweet to smaller, selected groups of up to 150 people  —  Twitter is launching its Circle feature — which lets you post a tweet to a select set of people — globally.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Google says it has not yet approved Truth Social's Play Store app due to insufficient content moderation; CEO Devin Nunes said the decision “is up to Google”  —  Google hasn't yet approved Truth Social's Android app for distribution via its Play Store because of insufficient content moderation …
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Sony plans to acquire Savage Game Studios and creates a new PlayStation Studios Mobile Division, operating independently from console game development  —  Sony is acquiring mobile game developer Savage Game Studios, the company announced on Monday.  The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Alex Heath / The Verge:
Sources: Snap is planning to lay off ~20% of its 6,400+ employees; the layoffs are set to begin on Wednesday  —  Snap's stock price has declined nearly 80 percent this year  —  Snap is planning to lay off approximately 20 percent of its more than 6,400 employees, according to people familiar with the matter.
Shannon Grixti / Press Start:
Sony updates the PS5 in Australia ahead of a broader rollout, reducing the disc model's weight by 300g and digital model's by 200g compared to the 2021 versions  —  Earlier today it was revealed by Japanese retailers that a brand new PS5 model dubbed the CFI-1200 model was releasing on September 15th …
Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
TSMC CEO C. C. Wei says an endemic shortage of low-end chips costing $0.50 to $10 is holding up production in key segments of the global supply chain  —  An endemic shortage of chips costing anywhere from 50 cents to $10 is slowing down swathes of the $600 billion semiconductor industry …
Jordan Middler / Video Games Chronicle:
Meta plans to shutter the Facebook Gaming app on iOS and Android on October 28, 2022, transferring games, content, and groups to the main Facebook app  —  MUCH OF THE FUNCTIONALITY WILL BE MIGRATED TO THE MAIN FACEBOOK APP  —  Facebook will end support for its Facebook Gaming app in October, it's announced.
Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:
Android 13 review: a small update, but 2022's second after March's tablet-focused 12L update, finally brings a task manager, notification permissions, and more  —  Android 13 is a very small update, but it's also the second one this year.  —  The Android update treadmill continues with the release of Android 13.
More: 9to5Google and PCMag
MK Manoylov / The Block:
Kevin Rose's NFT startup Proof announces a $50M Series A led by a16z, upcoming NFT project Moonbirds Mythics, and a DAO to handle licensing of Moonbirds' name  —  - Additional participants in the round include Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel, VaynerFund and Seven Seven Six.
Giles Turner / Bloomberg:
In an SEC filing, Elon Musk adds Peiter Zatko's allegations as a reason to terminate the $44B takeover bid, saying Twitter is in “material noncompliance”  —  Elon Musk has cited the recent accusations from a Twitter Inc. whistle-blower as a new reason to terminate the $44 billion takeover of the social media platform.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Tatum Hunter / Washington Post:
Mental health content creators on TikTok and Instagram are increasingly filling a health care gap, which critics fear could lead to harmful self-diagnoses  —  Issey Moloney signed up for therapy through Britain's National Health Service when she was just 12 years old.  She was on a waiting list for four years.
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
A researcher says a Chinese database of up to 800M records was exposed for months, storing names, resident ID numbers, images of faces, license plates, and more  —  Another mass data lapse exposes new weaknesses in China's sprawling surveillance state  —  A massive Chinese database storing millions …
More: Slashdot
Natasha Singer / New York Times:
California's State Senate passes an online safety bill requiring services to increase protections for users under 18; Governor Newsom must approve the bill  —  The new rules, which would require many online services to increase protections for children, could change how popular social media and game platforms treat minors.
Tom Krazit / Protocol:
Cloudflare is facing growing protests for providing services to Kiwi Farms, a forum with a long history of harassment; Cloudflare remains silent on the matter  —  Hello, and welcome to Protocol Enterprise!  Today: why Cloudflare finds itself yet again under fire for doing business with communities of hate …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl plans to leave in early 2023 after 12+ years as a senior executive; Google veteran Mary Ellen Coe will replace him  —  Robert Kyncl will exit YouTube in early 2023 after more than 12 years as a senior exec at video giant.

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More News

Jonathan Greig / The Record:
NBC News:
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Earlier Picks

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
More: CNBC, 9to5Google, and Forbes
Tweets: @jenn_elias, @bw, @alexbarinka, @bw, and @bw
Ryan Broderick / Garbage Day:
Financial Times:
Ryan Smith / AnandTech:
Paul Thurrott / Thurrott:
Omkar Godbole / CoinDesk: