Techmeme
August 15, 2020, 8:00 PM

Top News

Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic's Tim Sweeney says fight with Apple is about “the basic freedoms of all consumers and developers” to install and distribute apps as they choose  —  Sweeney says the explosive feud with Apple is not solely about money  —  Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has issued a series …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
With its ban on cloud gaming services and now the removal of Fortnite, Apple is at the risk of losing a generation of young, game-loving smartphone owners  —  Apple has always had a complicated relationship with the game industry, but this month that relationship slid into a bitter …
Kyle Orland / Ars Technica:
Most of Epic's complaints against Apple and Google apply to console makers, which Epic conveniently ignores; most gamers likely play Fortnite on consoles  —  Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo demand the same platform control—and the same 30% fee.  —  Yesterday, Epic used Fortnite …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
While social media platforms did not create QAnon, they helped it go mainstream via recommendation systems designed to prioritize engagement  —  A supporter of the dangerous conspiracy theory is most likely headed to Congress.  The social media platforms have some soul-searching to do.
Kim Lyons / The Verge:
In a new Instagram update, Facebook has started replacing the Instagram DM icon with Messenger's logo, although cross-messaging is still not functional  —  You might see this pop-up when you open Instagram  —  Facebook appears to flipping the switch on integrating the chat systems for Instagram and Messenger.
Biz Carson / Protocol:
Interviews with 20+ founders and investors provide an inside look at Y Combinator's virtual W20 Demo Day, which saw some companies lower their target valuations  —  It was four weeks before Y Combinator's scheduled March 2020 Demo Day, and the pressure was on Helena Merk as she tried to pivot her startup idea ahead of the big pitch.
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook launches paid online events in 20 countries with waived fees during COVID-19, says Apple is hurting SMBs by refusing to waive its 30% cut on iOS  —  Facebook Inc. joined a growing list of developers to publicly criticize Apple Inc. over its revenue-sharing policy for in-app purchases …
Lora Kolodny / CNBC:
Trump's new EO forces ByteDance to sell or spin off its US TikTok business within 90 days instead of 45 days and destroy all copies of TikTok data of US users  —  - President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday that will force China's ByteDance to sell or spin off its U.S. TikTok business within 90 days.
Rob Pegoraro / Forbes:
Facebook's new policy to label promoted content with direct political ties won't affect sites, like Breitbart, which are funded by political actors  —  A new policy Facebook FB announced Tuesday suggests the social network will finally punish political propaganda disguised as news.
Angela Lashbrook / OneZero :
Quick Reactions to Instagram Stories convey little when used, confuse people when they're absent, make some people feel obliged to use them  —  Research shows that a modicum of extra effort in online conversations goes a long way  —  When Instagram introduced the option to “heart” …
Jacob Helberg / Foreign Policy:
To secure its supply chains and information networks against Chinese attacks, the US needs to reindustrialize and develop a skilled and innovative workforce  —  In 2011, then-President Barack Obama attended an intimate dinner in Silicon Valley.  At one point, he turned to the man on his left.
Chloe Hadavas / Slate:
A look at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, formed by Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube in 2017, whose database helps fight misinformation  —  Last October, a neo-Nazi livestreamed his attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany.  The video of the shooting, which killed two people …

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Will Oremus / OneZero :

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