Techmeme: Source: Facebook considers transparency measures around posts from political campaign staffers, due to concerns around Bloomberg campaign's use of its platform (Julia Boorstin/CNBC)

Top News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Shopify says it will join the Libra Association, contributing financially and operating a node that processes transactions of Facebook's stablecoin — After eBay, Visa, Stripe, and other high-profile departures, the Libra Association scored a win today with the addition of Shopify.

More: Shopify's pressreleases, CNBC, ZDNet, BetaKit, TechSpot, The Market Refresh, CNET, Modern Consensus, PYMNTS.com, Forbes, Cointelegraph, Finextra, The Daily Hodl, Yahoo Finance, CoinDesk, The Block, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Crypto Briefing, CryptoGlobe, PaymentsSource, Decrypt, Reuters, and Seeking Alpha

Facebook: Libra. Tweets: @anildelphi, @globalnewsto, @davidmarcus, @libra_, @forbescrypto, @yassineark, @zachary, @caseynewton, and @mdudas. Thanks:@joshconstine

Joseph Cox / VICE:

WhatsApp lets some invite links for group chats, that the members may want to keep private, to be indexed by search engines like Google, allowing anyone to join — Google is indexing invite links to WhatsApp group chats whose administrators may want to be private.

More: The Verge, XDA Developers, Android Authority, Neowin, iPhone Hacks, Engadget, Pocketnow, 🛡️ …, Android Central, MSPoweruser, and Wccftech

Tweets: @jordanwildon, @dannysullivan, @josephfcox, @starsprout, @zerconil, @josephfcox, @wongmjane, and @glenngabe

Julia Boorstin / CNBC:

Source: Facebook considers transparency measures around posts from political campaign staffers, due to concerns around Bloomberg campaign's use of its platform — - Facebook is considering ways to show when a paid campaign staffer shares a political post on the site.

More: Bloomberg, Yahoo Finance, Market Realist, and HuffPost

Tweets: @sarahfrier, @mcclure111, @oliverdarcy, @kfury, @whotargetsme, @stevekovach, @donwinslow, and @lnaturale

See also Mediagazer

Jon Porter / The Verge:

Google says that from August 3 all new Google Play apps that access background location will need to pass review, expanding to all existing apps on November 3 — Apps will face a new review process to enable the feature — Google is placing new restrictions on which Android apps can track …

More: Android Developers Blog, Ars Technica, Gizmodo, ExtremeTech, ZDNet, CNET, Android Central, iPhone in Canada Blog, TechRadar.com, and SlashGear

Tweets: @webster, @stuartathompson, and @jonporty

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip review: the best hinge on a folding phone so far but the screen's plastic covering scratches easily and the cameras are disappointing — Even with a glass screen, it's just a curiosity — Samsung's brand-new Galaxy Z Flip is the third folding screen phone that I've reviewed.

More: Gizmodo, BGR, Engadget, and iPhone in Canada Blog

Tweets: @mgsiegler, @jentrification, @reckless, @reagangomez, and @backlon

Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times:

MIT researchers say they used AI to discover new potent antibiotics that treat drug-resistant diseases — Machine learning uncovers potent new drug able to kill 35 powerful bacteria — Artificial intelligence has been used to discover new antibiotics effective against untreatable diseases …

More: MIT News, The Guardian, TechSpot, The Next Web, and Newser

Tweets: @xsteenbrugge, @kdnuggets, @josephflaherty, @omkar_raii, @grady_booch, @popeguilty, and @stephenmcgann

John D. McKinnon / Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google is resisting efforts to surrender emails, texts, and other documents sought by state investigators probing anticompetitive digital-ad practices — Company is reluctant to surrender some documents in investigation of possible anticompetitive practices

More: Input, The Hill, New York Post, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @moorehn, @gregbensinger, @yost4ohio, @jbflint, @jason_kint, @asharma, and @rstephens

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:

Shogun, which helps e-commerce brands build faster websites, has raised $10M Series A, led by Initialized Capital with participation from VMG Partners and YC — Amazon may have a market cap of more than $1 trillion, but Finbarr Taylor, CEO of Y Combinator-backed startup Shogun, said the e-commerce giant is “kind of dropping the ball.”

Tweets: @rishmishra and @garrytan

Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:

A history of EU's efforts to create a standard for device chargers, and how Apple used a loophole to keep using Lightning, but may have to move to USB-C soon — Despite pushback from Apple, the European Parliament in January voted overwhelmingly for new rules to establish a common charging standard …

Cynthia Littleton / Variety:

CBS All Access and Showtime have 11M subscribers; Pluto TV had 22.4M MAUs in Q4 2019, up 75% YoY; revenue from all three hit $1.6 billion in 2019 — CBS All Access and Showtime are on track to garner a combined 16 million subscribers by year's end, ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish told investors Thursday.

More: The Streamable. Tweets: @xpangler, @xpangler, and @anibundel

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