Techmeme
April 25, 2019, 4:00 PM

Top News

Motherboard:
Sources: an employee told others Twitter doesn't block white supremacist content as aggressively as ISIS because the algorithm could ban some GOP politicians  —  A Twitter employee who works on machine learning believes that a proactive, algorithmic solution to white supremacy would also catch Republican politicians.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft briefly passed a market cap of $1T, the third US company to do so after Apple and Amazon  —  Strong earnings push Microsoft toward a new milestone  —  Microsoft has become the third US company to pass a market cap of $1 trillion.  The software giant passed the milestone after a jump …
Eli Blumenthal / CNET:
Verizon begins preorders for Samsung Galaxy S10 5G starting at $1,300 and names 20 cities that will get 5G in 2019  —  Verizon's 5G rollout is spreading to more markets.  And with the expansion comes the launch of Samsung's Galaxy S10 5G.  —  On Thursday, the largest wireless carrier …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Snapchat announces a new Bitmoji For Games SDK that will let select game developers integrate 3D Bitmoji as a replacement for their character skins  —  Want your video game character to look just like you?  Soon you'll be able to scan an in-game code with Snapchat to play …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Canadian privacy regulator finds that Facebook committed serious breaches of local privacy laws due to its mishandling of users' personal info  —  Canadian regulators on Thursday found that Facebook committed “serious” breaches of local laws over its mishandling of users' personal information …
Andrew Leonard / OneZero:
As AWS launches more services based on open source projects, some devs say AWS poses an existential threat by lifting others' work and renting access to it  —  Community leaders say AWS increasingly poses an existential threat  —  March 11, a Vice President at Amazon Web Services …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
After Luminary admits using links that hide some podcast listener data, popular creators like Ben Thompson, Owen Williams, Federico Viticci pull their podcasts  —  It hid listener data from creators, which they need to make their shows  —  Major creators are continuing to remove their shows from Luminary …
Bloomberg:
Nintendo misses analyst estimates of Switch sales with 17M units shipped in 2018 and 18M forecast for 2019, says no plans for new Switch at E3 this year  —  - Forecast for profit, Switch shipments below analyst estimates  — President Furukawa says new hardware won't be unveiled at E3
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Synthesia, whose video synthesis tech with deep-fake techniques was used in a viral David Beckham ad campaign, raises $3.1M seed from Mark Cuban and others  —  The recent global campaign showing Malaria survivors speaking through David Beckham to help raise awareness around the Malaria Must Die initiative spooked a lot of people:
More: FinSMEs
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
Google says it is changing how employees can report harassment and discrimination, publicly releases its policy on harassment and other workplace issues  —  Changes follow last year's walkout of workers  —  After pledging to make cultural changes following a mass walkout of employees last year …
More: The Keyword and CNET
Colin Lecher / The Verge:
Leaked documents show how Amazon automatically tracks and terminates warehouse workers for failing to meet productivity quotas  —  Amazon's fulfillment centers are the engine of the company — massive warehouses where workers track, pack, sort, and shuffle each order before sending it on its way to the buyer's door.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Microsoft report: 41% of voice assistant users are concerned about trust, privacy, and passive listening; 52% worry their personal info or data is not secure  —  Forty-one percent of voice assistant users are concerned about trust, privacy and passive listening, according to a new report …
Julia Carrie Wong / The Guardian:
Child stars on Instagram and YouTube aren't being protected by child labor laws, which were designed to prevent exploitation by parents and employers  —  ‘Kidfluencers’ are earning millions on social media, but who owns that money?  —  They open boxes, play with toys, pull pranks and make slime.
BuzzFeed News:
Despite reporting that it expects a $3B-$5B fine from the FTC, Facebook's stock is up ~7%, adding ~$40B to its market cap  —  Facebook will set aside $3 billion to cover expenses associated with a fine from the Federal Trade Commission over its privacy practices.  All good here, say investors.
Facebook:
Kate Klonick / New Yorker:
Inside Facebook, as various teams around the world, including the Dangerous Organizations Team, dealt with the immediate aftermath of the Christchurch shootings  —  At 9:30 p.m. on March 14th, Jay Bagwell, a thirty-eight-year-old Facebook employee with parted hair and perpetual stubble, was sitting in his living room, in Austin, Texas.

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More News

Nicholas Vinocur / Politico:
Jessica Guynn / USA Today:

Earlier Picks

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Wall Street Journal:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac: