Techmeme
October 2, 2017, 8:00 PM

Top News

Elliot Schrage / Facebook:
About 10M people saw Russian ads on Facebook, 44% of ads were seen before Nov. 8, 50% of ads were for $3 or less; for 99% of the ads, less than $1,000 was spent  —  What was in the ads you shared with Congress?  How many people saw them?  —  Most of the ads appear to focus on divisive social …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook to hire 1000 more ad reviewers and make all the ads each organization buys visible to users, not just the targeted ones, to fight election interference  —  Facebook today handed over to congressional investigators 3,000 ads that were bought by a Russian company to influence U.S. politics.
New York Times:
Sources: Russian efforts included FB pages named Secured Borders, LGBT United, Defend the 2nd, alongside formerly reported fake Blacktivist and Muslim accounts  —  SAN FRANCISCO — The Russians who posed as Americans on Facebook last year tried on quite an array of disguises.
Dylan Byers / CNNMoney:
Evan Blass / VentureBeat:
Alleged renders of Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL leak, showing dual front facing speakers, redesigned launcher with a Google search bar above navigation buttons  —  EXCLUSIVE:  —  Unlike Apple, Google tends to hold just a single major hardware launch per year — and just like last year's event, this one will also be held on October 4.
Cale Guthrie Weissman / Fast Company:
Facebook's Safety Check page for Las Vegas shooting promoted sites giving misinformation like Alt-Right News and End Times Headlines; Google highlighted 4Chan  —  In the wake of the deadly shooting in Las Vegas last night that left more than 50 dead and hundreds injured …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft discontinues Groove Music Pass service, effective December 31, partners with Spotify, which it will recommend to Windows users instead  —  Microsoft rebranded Xbox Music to Groove Music two years ago, in a bid to make its music streaming service more relevant to consumers.
Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:
Google ends controversial “first click free” policy, won't demote paywalled news sites in search results, and will offer new tools to help sell subscriptions  —  Search engine drops controversial ‘first-click free’ program  —  Company won't demote paywalled news sites in search results
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook brings data-saving Messenger Lite beyond developing markets to the Google Play Store in US, Canada, UK, and Ireland, has no plans for iOS version  —  Facebook's data-conserving version of Messenger is no longer just for developing nations with slow networks.
Chris Davies / SlashGear:
Lauren Goode / The Verge:
Roku debuts $50 Streaming Stick with CPU update and voice control remote, $70 Streaming Stick Plus with HDR and 4K, and rolls out OS 8 with OTA programming  —  More TV streaming boxes  —  Roku just announced updates to five of its TV streaming products, as well as a new operating system …
Mallory Locklear / Engadget:
FCC Chairman Pai appoints new CTO, telecom expert Eric Burger, who formerly served as FCC CTO from 2011-2014  —  FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced that Eric Burger would be joining the commission as its new chief technology officer.  He's set to take over the position this month.

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Earlier Picks

Matt Brian / Engadget:
Florin T. / PhoneArena:
Karen DeYoung / Washington Post: