Techmeme
January 28, 2021, 12:00 PM

Top News

Maggie Fitzgerald / CNBC:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
r/WallStreetBets was made private by moderators for about an hour, but is back online; Discord banned r/WallStreetBets' server, claiming hate speech violations  —  It went dark for nearly an hour  —  The r/WallStreetBets subreddit's own moderators made it private for a little less than an hour …
Jordan Pearson / VICE:
According to a pop-up on Robinhood's app homepage, 56% of its users own at least some GameStop stock  —  With the market in chaos, even Robinhood has now turned on retail investors pumping dark horse stocks.  —  Jordan Pearson  —  Robinhood, the fee-free investment app that has helped Redditors …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
As r/WallStreetBets causes GameStop, BlackBerry, and others to surge, online trading platforms like Robinhood and WeBull have rapidly climbed US app store ranks  —  - The flurry of Redditors taking on Wall Street appears to have resulted in a usage boom for share trading apps.
The Information:
Sources: Facebook is preparing an antitrust lawsuit against Apple for forcing developers to abide by App Store rules that Apple's own apps don't have to follow  —  A long-simmering public dispute between Facebook and Apple has neared a boiling point.  With the aid of outside legal counsel …
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
IDC says Apple has shipped 90.1M iPhones in Q1, the largest number of shipments in a single quarter since IDC started tracking smartphones  —  - The iPhone is booming: Sales were up 17% year-over-year to a whopping $65.6 billion in a single quarter.  — Research firm IDC estimates …
Apple:
Apple reports Q1 revenue of $111.4B, up 21% YoY, with international sales making up 64% of Q1 revenue; iPhone, Wearables, and Services set new revenue records  —  Revenue up 21 percent and EPS up 35 percent to new all-time records  —  iPhone, Wearables, and Services set new revenue records
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Dylan Byers / NBC News:
Facebook's Oversight Board issues first-ever rulings, which Facebook said it will abide by, overturning four out of the five cases it reviewed  —  Facebook's Oversight Board on Thursday issued its first round of decisions, overturning several of the company's decisions to remove posts …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Facebook adds opt-in biometric fingerprint, face, or iris scan authentication for WhatsApp on desktop or web  —  WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned popular messaging app with more than 2 billion users, has been getting a lot of heat and losing users in recent weeks after announcing (and then delaying) changes to how it uses your data.
TechCrunch:
Apple says its App Tracking Transparency feature, which will be enabled by default, will roll out with iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and tvOS 14 updates in early spring  —  Apple has shared a few more details about its much-discussed privacy changes in iOS 14.  The company first announced at WWDC …
Danny Palmer / ZDNet:
Europol, the FBI, and other law enforcement agencies worldwide have seized control of malware botnet Emotet's infrastructure and disrupted it from the inside  —  Europol and FBI among agencies that have taken control of the botnet infrastructure used by cyber criminals behind some of the most prolific malware and ransomware attacks.
Reuters:
Samsung reports Q4 earnings with total revenue of ~$55.2B, up 3% YoY, and operating profit of ~$8.2B, up 26% YoY, but sees mobile sales drop 11% YoY to $19.3B  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Thursday it expects its overall profit to weaken in the first quarter of 2021 …
Alexandra Bruell / Wall Street Journal:
Walmart Media Group, now Walmart Connect, has launched a demand-side platform that provides data for ad targeting as it seeks to become a top 10 ad company  —  The retail giant is launching advertising technology that lets brands use Walmart data to buy ads outside its digital platforms
More: Bloomberg and CNBC
Facebook:
Facebook reports Q4: $28.1B revenue, up 33% YoY, 1.84B DAUs, up 11% YoY, 2.6B people used a Facebook service daily, up 15% YoY; headcount up 30% YoY to 58,604  —  Facebook, Inc. (Nasdaq: FB) today reported financial results for the quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
YouTube says its TikTok competitor Shorts is getting 3.5B views per day in its test run in India and plans to expand the feature into more markets in 2021  —  - YouTube's short video feature is gaining traction in India, the company's CEO, Susan Wojcicki, said Tuesday.

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More News

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Elena Schneider / Politico:
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: