Techmeme
December 18, 2017, 3:10 PM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Facebook is clamping down on “engagement bait”, posts that ask people for Likes or shares, by demoting them in the News Feed  —  Facebook has identified a new kind of spam: Engagement baiting.  —  Facebook is cracking down on a new type of clickbait: Posts that ask people to …
Thuy Ong / The Verge:
Twitter starts enforcing new policies on violence and hateful conduct both on platform and off it, but changes don't apply to military or government entities  —  Policies now extend to hateful imagery and to conduct both on platform and off  —  Twitter says it will now begin enforcing …
Kurt Wagner / Recode:
Sources: at least three prominent investors have decided not to fund HQ Trivia after finding troubling conduct on part of the founders, particularly Colin Kroll  —  Former Vine co-founders Rus Yusupov and Colin Kroll don't have a lot of fans from their time at Twitter.
Nicole Lee / Engadget:
Amazon Echo Spot review: appealing design, great for video calls, touchscreen enhances Alexa experience, but mediocre audio, screen is bad for video playback  —  When Amazon unveiled the Echo Show earlier this year, we questioned if we really needed an Echo with a touchscreen.
Dustin Volz / Reuters:
Kaspersky Lab sues the Trump administration in US court, arguing it was deprived of due process rights when DHS banned its software from US government agencies  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Moscow-based anti-virus company Kaspersky Lab sued the Trump administration in U.S. federal court on Monday …
Matthew Hughes / The Next Web:
Opera Software rebrands to Otello Corporation after selling its browser business to a group of Chinese investors in 2016  —  Reuters is reporting that Opera Software ASA — the Norwegian company best known for its web browser — is rebranding to Otello Corporation.
More: Reuters
Reuters:
France files complaint against Amazon seeking a fine of €10M for abusing its dominant position with some suppliers  —  PARIS (Reuters) - The French government has filed a complaint with the Paris Commerce Court against e-commerce company Amazon for abusing its dominant position with some suppliers …
Mike Murphy / Quartz:
The number of AmazonBasics products available on Amazon.com grew from about 250 products in June 2013 to over 1,500 products now, according to Internet Archive  —  Amazon launched a house brand, called AmazonBasics, in 2009.  It was originally a way for Amazon to sell low-cost …
More: TechSpot
Garrett M. Graff / Wired:
Inside the investigation led by the FBI to identify key perpetrators behind the Mirai Botnet, which was created initially to DDoS Minecraft servers  —  THE MOST DRAMATIC cybersecurity story of 2016 came to a quiet conclusion Friday in an Anchorage courtroom, as three young American computer …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Connecting, collaborating, and growing: Zoho Mail 2025 wrap-up  —  Your inbox has been home to a lot this year—quick updates, long threads, approvals, reminders, and the occasional late-night draft you weren't sure about.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The coming AI security crisis (and what to do about it) | Sander Schulhoff
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Potential, Google's Speedy Model, Copilot Hits Turbulence
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.
Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
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 3:10 PM ET, December 18, 2017.

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

Earlier Picks