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January 14, 2025, 7:00 AM
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Bloomberg:
Sources: Chinese officials are evaluating an option involving Elon Musk acquiring TikTok US; X would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together  —  - ByteDance's preferred strategy is to fight ban, people say  — Trump has said he would like to delay ban to seek resolution
More: Reuters, Decrypt, The Sun, The Independent, Agence France-Presse, Silicon Republic, Reuters, Business Today, Livemint, Android Police, Euronews, Fortune, CNBC, Graphic Online, CCN.com, indy100, The Crypto Basic, Mark Carrigan, Businessday NG, International Business Times, en.ain.ua, Novinite.com, Hindustan Times, Mashable, Cryptopolitan, MEDIANAMA, Khaama Press, TechSpot, Mobile World Live, Interesting Engineering, The Economic Times, Android Authority, Cointelegraph, Neowin, Al Jazeera, Nairametrics, Washington Examiner, Daily Mail, NBC Connecticut, Invezz, Hypebeast, SiliconANGLE, Benzinga, Forbes, BGR, HuffPost, KrASIA, Tuko.co.ke, The Post Millennial, Raw Story, Wall Street Pit, BroBible, Lowyat.NET, The Information, The Verge, Pixel Envy, 9meters, Consequence, TechCrunch, Dexerto, RedState, TechCrunch, The Wrap, Times of India, Lovin Malta, KEYE, Axios, and Barron's Online
Bluesky: @steinekin, @alexheath, @davelee.me, @noupside, @kevinroose.com, @shepardcdr, @lorak, @larakate, @doremusjessup, @mikeelgan, @evacide, @daveweigel, @wcooperbooks, @quinnypig.com, @tk.gg, @mediaevan, @martinsfp, @caseynewton, @civicwhitaker, @carlbergstrom.com, @schooley, @ashtonpittman, @rincewind.run, @kurtwagner, @karissabe, and @peark.es.  Mastodon: @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social.  Threads: @susyqli
X: @mgsiegler, @benmullin, @hzjoe03, @alexeheath, @mattyglesias, @kyliebytes, @austinahlman, @pushastee, @alexeheath, @matthewstoller, @loudmouthjulia, @turnernovak, @maxwelltani, @kyliebytes, @newley, @newley, @loudmouthjulia, @newley, @mrbeast, and @chamath
Forums: r/Destiny, r/worldnews, r/China, r/TheAllinPodcasts, r/politics, r/EnoughMuskSpam, r/neoliberal, and r/wallstreetbets
See also Mediagazer
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TikTok denies a report that China is looking at potentially facilitating a sale of the app to Elon Musk, calling it “pure fiction”  —  TikTok denied a report that China is looking at potentially facilitating a sale of the app to tech billionaire Elon Musk to keep TikTok operational …
Zeyi Yang / Wired:
Ahead of a likely US TikTok ban, users flee to Chinese apps Xiaohongshu, aka RedNote, and ByteDance's Lemon8, currently the top two apps in the US App Store  —  Some say they joined Xiaohongshu, which translates to “little red book,” to spite the US government after a ban on TikTok became more likely.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
The UK CMA opens a probe to assess Google's position in search and search ads business and how it impacts consumers, advertisers, publishers, and its rivals  —  LONDON — Britain's competition watchdog on Tuesday said that it's opening a formal antitrust investigation into Google's search and search advertising services.
Vince Dioquino / Decrypt:
Sony launches Soneium Ethereum L2 platform for creators, after a four-month test that drew 14M+ users; Blockscout: Soneium testnet processed ~47M transactions  —  Sony says it plans to explore ways for protecting creator rights and mechanisms for equitable value distribution between creators and fans.
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Texas sues Allstate and its subsidiary Arity, accusing the insurer of illegally collecting and selling data about people's driving behavior through mobile apps  —  The lawsuit accuses Arity, an Allstate subsidiary, of collecting data about people's driving behavior through mobile phone apps …
Niket Nishant / Reuters:
Sygnum, a Switzerland and Singapore-based digital asset bank and crypto trading platform, raised $58M led by Fulgur Ventures at a $1B valuation  —  Crypto-focused bank Sygnum secured a valuation of $1 billion after raising $58 million in its latest funding round, it said on Tuesday.
Richard Nieva / Forbes:
Jimmy Wales, Mark Ruffalo, others debut Free Our Feeds to raise $30M by 2028 to “billionaire-proof” AT Protocol, by making it easier for users to leave Bluesky  —  Free Our Feeds, which includes support from the Mozilla Foundation, is working with Bluesky to make sure …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft is creating a new “CoreAI - Platform and Tools” unit led by Jay Parikh, the ex-Lacework CEO and Meta engineering executive who joined in October 2024  —  Microsoft is creating a new engineering division, led by the former global head of engineering at Facebook (now Meta) …
Reece Rogers / Wired:
How Cleo AI and Bright, AI chatbots offering personalized financial advice, often function as a way to sell high-interest loans and cash advances to young users  —  AI finance apps are reaching Gen Z and millennial users with personalized chatbots that offer money advice—and upsell them big-time.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Bellevue, WA-based Truveta, which aggregates medical data from 30 partner institutions, raised $320M from Regeneron, Illumina, and others at a $1B+ valuation  —  Seattle-area health data company Truveta announced $320 million in fresh funding and an ambitious new initiative to create a giant genomic dataset.
Financial Times:
Sources: the EU is reassessing its DMA probes into US tech giants like Apple, Meta, and Google, launched since March 2024, as US groups urge Trump to intervene  —  Tech groups have urged Donald Trump to intervene against overzealous European regulation  —  Brussels is reassessing …
Will Knight / Wired:
The US' new chip export rule enters a 120-day consultation period, requiring the Trump admin to listen to input, perhaps modify the rule, and then enforce it  —  The US government has announced a radical plan to control exports of cutting-edge AI technology to most nations.
Financial Times:
The Biden admin unveils a new chip export rule that gives 18 key allies full AI chips access while requiring licenses from most other countries, including China

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:00 AM ET, January 14, 2025.

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From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
Source: Bari Weiss is planning to create a masthead for CBS News as part of a broader overhaul of standards and procedures

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Comcast extends Mike Cavanagh's contract through January 1, 2029, and grants a ~$35M performance-based stock package; he's set to become co-CEO in January 2026

Winston Cho / The Hollywood Reporter:
A US judge denies WBD's bid to block Sling TV from selling short-term offerings that let users sign up for access to its bundles for as little as one day

More News

Dan Mangan / CNBC:
The SEC says that two Robinhood broker-dealers agreed to pay $45M in combined penalties to settle charges that they violated over 10 securities law provisions

Earlier Picks

Washington Post:
An investigation finds 15 police departments across 12 US states have arrested suspects identified through facial recognition without having any other evidence
More: Biometric Update.  Bluesky: @joffirphd, @drewharwell.com, and @hypervisible.  X: @glynco.  LinkedIn: Douglas MacMillan.  Forums: r/technology
Leena Rao / Business Insider:
Chainalysis buys AI-agent security startup Alterya, sources say for ~$150M; Alterya is still in stealth mode but has clients including Coinbase, Square, Binance
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sonos CEO Patrick Spence is leaving following a botched app revamp that upset customers and stymied growth; Sonos names board member Tom Conrad as interim CEO
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