Techmeme
July 21, 2018, 2:55 PM

Top News

Kirsten Grind / Wall Street Journal:
Facebook suspends data analytics firm Crimson Hexagon, which boasts repository of 1T social media posts, as it investigates the company's government contracts  —  Facebook says it was probing whether data-analytics firm Crimson Hexagon's government contracts comply with Facebook policies
Marrian Zhou / CNET:
Venmo says user transaction history is public by default because it's fun to share info with friends and the option to go private is clearly marked in the app  —  If you haven't noticed, your Venmo transaction history is public by default.  Unless you change the settings, people can see when you buy things.
Sean Hollister / CNET:
Google says it got duck.com after buying video compression startup On2 in 2010; will now redirect domain to a page with links to DuckDuckGo, Wikipedia, and more  —  Google owns Duck.com, which has been driving rival search engine DuckDuckGo up the wall for over six years.
Mark Kleinman / Sky News:
Sources: Alibaba, Tencent, and CMC are in early-stage discussions about buying roughly 20% of WPP China, valuing the business between $2B and $2.5B  —  Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, the two biggest names in China's technology industry, are in talks to buy a stake in the $2.5bn (£1.9bn) Chinese operations of WPP Group.
More: Reuters
Bloomberg:
Inside state-sponsored trolling efforts that combine virtual hate mobs, surveillance, and misinformation to silence critical voices and spread disinformation  —  Sitting cross-legged on a charpoy, an Indian day bed, Mahaveer Prasad Khileri taps on his laptop, his face lit by the screen …
Freia Nahser / Global Editors Network:
Inside Fox Sports, The Times, and Le Figaro's efforts to use AI, Alexa voice actions, and automation for their World Cup reporting  —  Fox Sports, The Times, and Le Figaro have tapped into AI, voice AI, and automation for their World Cup reporting.  —  The World Cup 2018 is all over.

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More News

Javed Anwer / India Today:
Erica Werner / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Russell Brandom / The Verge: