Techmeme
June 16, 2025, 4:05 PM

Top News

New York Times:
WhatsApp rolls out ads in its Updates tab, a first for the app, and Meta will collect some data to target the ads, but says it has no plans to put ads in chats  —  They will appear in only one part of the Meta-owned messaging service, it said.  The move is potentially lucrative, while raising questions about user privacy.
Financial Times:
Digital asset platform Tron plans to go public via a reverse merger with Nasdaq-listed SRM Entertainment, after the US paused a probe into founder Justin Sun  —  Deal involving Justin Sun's digital asset venture orchestrated by investment bank linked to Trump's sons
Todd Spangler / Variety:
The Trump Organization teases the $499 “T1 Phone”, a gold phone “designed and built” in the US, and Trump Mobile, an MVNO that uses AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile  —  President Trump and his family are getting into the wireless business, in partnership with the three major U.S. carriers.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Europol, Germany, and more dismantle Archetyp Market, a darknet drug marketplace active since May 2020 with 612K users processing €250M+ in Monero transactions  —  Law enforcement authorities from six countries took down the Archetyp Market, an infamous darknet drug marketplace that has been operating since May 2020.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
TikTok rolls out new AI ad features as part of its Symphony ad suite, including the ability for marketers to use text or images to generate five-second videos  —  TikTok is rolling out a set of new artificial intelligence-powered advertising features, including the ability for marketers …
Dade Hayes / Deadline:
Amazon Ads and Roku sign an ad initiative that will give media buyers access to 80%+ of US connected-TV households, set to launch by Q4 2025, using Amazon's DSP  —  In a milestone agreement, Amazon Ads and Roku are teaming on a new advertising initiative that will give media buyers access …
Carl Benedikt Frey / Financial Times:
AI is just another productivity tool and the productivity gains will be limited; for lasting economic expansion, AI must catalyze new industries and initiatives  —  Economic miracles stem from discovery, not repeating tasks at greater speed  —  The writer is author of 'How Progress Ends …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
PostHog, which offers dev tools to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features, raised a $70M Series D led by Stripe at a $920M valuation  —  On June 9, PostHog, which aims to help developers build “successful products,” quietly announced it had raised $70 million in a Series D funding round led by digital payments giant Stripe.
More: FinSMEs and PostHogBluesky: @kat.lol
Dominic Preston / The Verge:
Patreon plans to consolidate its Pro and Premium plans starting August 5, taking a 10% commission, rather than the current 8% for Pro and 12% for Premium users  —  You have until August 4th to sign up and lock in the current rates instead. … Patreon has announced an update to its pricing …
Bloomberg:
A whistleblower provides nonpublic data revealing that 1M+ 2FA SMS messages from June 2023 passed via Fink Telecom, a small Swiss company linked to spy agencies  —  Every day, millions of people sign in to their email, banking app or social media accounts with both their password and a one-time login code they receive by text message.

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:
WorkDrive 6.0: Advancing toward intelligent enterprise content management (Phase 1)  —  Artificial intelligence is redefining how enterprises process data.  Large language models can understand context …
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

The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Apple at 50', With John Siracusa
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI President Greg Brockman: AI Self-Improvement, The Superapp Bet, Path To AGI, Scaling Compute
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:
Brad Lightcap from OpenAI
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Why We Need to Pay Attention to Elon Musk Again
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:
Compliance at scale and why TAM is a distraction with Christina Cacioppo of Vanta
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
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 4:05 PM ET, June 16, 2025.

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

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Michael Goodier / The Guardian:

Earlier Picks