Techmeme
August 19, 2019, 11:40 PM

Top News

Twitter:
Twitter says it proactively suspended ~200K “spammy” accounts, before they became “substantially active”, alongside its initial ban of 936 China-linked accounts  —  We are disclosing a significant state-backed information operation focused on the situation in Hong Kong …
Nathaniel Gleicher / Facebook:
After a tip from Twitter, Facebook removes 7 Pages, 3 Groups, 5 accounts originating in China “involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior” regarding Hong Kong  —  Today, we removed seven Pages, three Groups and five Facebook accounts involved in coordinated inauthentic behavior …
Twitter:
Twitter says it will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news media entities, but the rule does not apply to “taxpayer-funded entities”  —  Our singular mission is to serve the public conversation.  This mission applies to every part of our service, including our advertising and promotional products.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is planning to roll out Apple TV+, its subscription service, by November and is considering $9.99/month pricing after a free trial  —  - Company builds array of new services to augment hardware sales  —  Apple Inc. plans to roll out the Apple TV+ movie and TV subscription service …
Financial Times:
Sources: Apple has committed $6B+ for original shows and movies, many featuring huge names, ahead of Apple TV+'s launch, expected within the next two months  —  Apple has committed more than $6bn for original shows and movies ahead of the launch of its new video streaming service …
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Without evidence or any attempt at further explanation, Trump accuses Google of manipulating millions of votes in 2016's election, says Google “should be sued”  —  The President this morning lashed out at Google on Twitter, accusing the company of manipulating millions of votes …
Kadhim Shubber / Financial Times:
FTC chairman says he intends to complete the Facebook antitrust probe before 2020 election and WhatsApp-Instagram integration would make breaking it up harder  —  Joseph Simons, the chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, said on Monday that Facebook's effort to integrate Instagram …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Nvidia says that its GeForce Now game streaming service, which is in public beta for Mac, PC, and Shield TV, will be coming to Android later this year  —  Ahead of the next Stadia Connect livestream where Google will announce more games, Nvidia revealed that its competing GeForce Now streaming service will be coming to Android.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
The first public jailbreak in years for up-to-date iPhones has been posted online, researchers say, after a bug that was patched in iOS 12.3 was reintroduced  —  Apple accidentally unpatched a vulnerability it had already fixed, making current versions of iOS vulnerable to hackers.
Samit Sarkar / Polygon:
Sony Interactive Entertainment says it is acquiring Insomniac Games, developer of PS4 hit Marvel's Spider-Man; Insomniac to join PlayStation's Worldwide Studios  —  Developer of Ratchet & Clank, Spyro, and Marvel's Spider-Man joins the PlayStation family  —  Sony is buying Insomniac Games …
Reuters:
Google shuts down its free service to show carriers weak spots in their coverage, sources say to avoid potential scrutiny over sharing data from its users  —  NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Alphabet Inc's Google has shut down a service it provided to wireless carriers globally that showed …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Disney+ to launch in Canada, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand along with the US in November, streaming on all major platforms except Fire TV  —  Disney today confirmed its first global launches for the company's upcoming Disney+ subscription service, and it outlined which devices …
Arielle Pardes / Wired:
Reddit to test live video streaming for users, from 9am to 5pm through the end of this week, to be entirely moderated by Reddit employees  —  ON FRIDAY, A series of cryptic posts began to appear on r/pan, a Reddit community that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
Tushar Mehta / XDA Developers:
Microsoft brings SMS Organizer, its Android app to filter spam texts and get smart notifications about bills, flights, and more, from India to Australia, UK, US  —  Microsoft's aspirations of creating and selling smartphones may have collapsed but its association with smartphones has not ended.
Aaron Tilley / The Information:
Bill Stasior, former longtime Apple exec who oversaw Siri, has joined Microsoft as corporate VP of technology, reporting to CTO Kevin Scott  —  Bill Stasior, the longtime former Apple executive overseeing its Siri digital assistant, has joined Microsoft, continuing a reshuffling …
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Spotify's Premium Family Plan is getting parental controls with an explicit content filter and a Family Mix personalized playlist for the whole family  —  Spotify is rolling out a new Premium Family Plan with a much-awaited setting.  Parents will now have the ability to filter out songs with swearing …
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Binance says it plans to launch Venus, an “independent regional version of Libra”, which will develop “localized” stablecoins pegged to fiat currencies  —  The world's largest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is planning to launch “Venus,” calling it an …
Brian Martin / Twitter:
Twitter open-sources Rezolus telemetry tool, designed to uncover resource utilization spikes too brief to be captured through normal metrics systems  —  We are open-sourcing Rezolus, our high-resolution systems performance telemetry agent.  Rezolus began in an effort to help uncover performance anomalies …

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

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.
Access:
Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
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 11:40 PM ET, August 19, 2019.

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

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Tiernan Ray / Fortune:
Sam Byford / The Verge: