Techmeme
September 21, 2020, 3:35 PM

Top News

David McCabe / New York Times:
Trump says he would not approve a TikTok deal unless ByteDance ceded its control, after ByteDance said it would retain an 80% stake  —  President Trump on Monday said that he would not approve a deal for TikTok if its Chinese owner did not fully sell its interest in the product …
Financial Times:
ByteDance asserts it will maintain majority ownership and control over TikTok Global and will not transfer source code or technology to Oracle and Walmart  —  ByteDance contradicts claims by Donald Trump, Oracle and Walmart as both sides seek to spin deal  —  Two days after the White House gave …
Danny Crichton / TechCrunch:
As the TikTok deal and Huawei imbroglio show, US is no longer on the leading edge of technology in many key strategic markets, and is falling further behind  —  It used to be “easy” to tell the American and Chinese economies apart.  One was innovative, one made clones.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Bloomberg:
Microsoft:
Microsoft says it will acquire ZeniMax Media and its game publisher Bethesda Softworks for $7.5B in cash; Bethesda develops Fallout, DOOM, Quake, and others  —  Iconic games portfolio, publishing expertise, and world-class talent accelerates growth in Microsoft's Gaming business
Bloomberg:
Microsoft says it will honor Bethesda's currently announced PS5 exclusives but will assess bringing future games to “other consoles on a case by case basis”  —  - Purchase is Microsoft's most-expensive video-game deal ever  — Microsoft needs game titles after delay of Halo Infinite
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Quibi is exploring several strategic options including a possible sale, raising more money, or going public through a merger with a SPAC  —  Startup founded by Hollywood mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg has struggled to attract subscribers since launching in April
David Gilbert / VICE:
Filing: Facebook says it may be pushed to exit the EU market due to last month's preliminary order from Ireland's DPC that prohibits sending EU user data to US  —  European regulators are cracking down on Facebook's ability to transfer data across the Atlantic.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook says it will let people claim ownership of images and issue takedown requests across Facebook and Instagram, starting with select partners  —  The days of reposting images on Instagram might be over  —  Facebook is going to let people take more control over the images they own and where they end up.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Amazon says Echo and Tile devices will become Bluetooth bridges for Sidewalk, its low-bandwidth, long-range wireless protocol, later this year  —  Last year, Amazon announced its Sidewalk network, a new low-bandwidth, long-distance wireless protocol it developed to help connect smart devices inside and …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Facebook estimates it has helped 2.5M people register to vote so far, up from 2M people in 2016 and 2018, as it pushes to register 4M people  —  The company's goal is to help 4 million people register to vote  —  Facebook estimates it has helped 2.5 million people register to vote …
OneZero :
Interviews with 36+ experts, insiders, and researchers: Facebook, Google, Lime, Zoom, and others fail to assess the risks of new products, focusing on profits  —  ne spring day in 2014, Susan Benesch arrived at Facebook's headquarters in Menlo Park and was ushered into a glass-walled conference room.

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Frank Chaparro / The Block:
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