Techmeme: NY city council passed a bill that bans employers from using AI hiring tools unless a yearly bias audit shows they won't discriminate based on race or gender (Matt O'Brien/Associated Press)

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November 20, 2021, 7:50 PM

Top News

Karen Hao / MIT Technology Review:

Investigation shows how Facebook and Google fund misinformation globally by paying millions of dollars in ad revenue to the operators of clickbait pages — A month after the fall of the democratic government. — In 2015, six of the 10 websites in Myanmar getting the most engagement …

Tweets: @_karenhao, @brandyzadrozny, @_karenhao, @marietjeschaake, @niallfirth, @craigsilverman, @_karenhao, @brandyzadrozny, @triketora, @mat, @_karenhao, @robpegoraro, @jason_kint, @iansherr, @cagoldberglaw, @emilybell, and @joshtpm

See also Mediagazer

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

The Apple Podcasts app's review score went from 1.8 to 4.6 stars after Apple began prompting users for ratings, confusing some into rating individual podcasts — Apple Podcasts rises above bad reviews, but at what cost? — You pissed off people by somewhat breaking your app, and they're leaving angry reviews.

More: Engadget, ScreenRant, iPhone in Canada Blog, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, and MacRumors

Tweets: @keleftheriou, @keleftheriou, @bohemiancoast, @sub8u, @timsweeneyepic, @starfire2258, @davewiner, @slightlylate, @keleftheriou, and @keleftheriou

Matt O'Brien / Associated Press:

NY city council passed a bill that bans employers from using AI hiring tools unless a yearly bias audit shows they won't discriminate based on race or gender — Job candidates rarely know when hidden artificial intelligence tools are rejecting their resumes or analyzing their video interviews.

More: Engadget and Newsweek

Tweets: @cendemtech and @fbajak

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Executives at Disney, Qualcomm, Coinbase, and other companies tried to weave their unrelated businesses into the metaverse discussion on their Q3 earnings calls — - The concept of the metaverse is still vague. — That didn't stop dozens of executives from speaking about their metaverse strategies.

Tweets: @sherman4949, @markhachman, @sherman4949, and @sherman4949

Dan Ennis / Banking Dive:

Berlin-based neobank N26, which was recently valued at $9B, to exit the US on January 11 after over two years, following its UK departure in April 2020 — Dive Brief: — German neobank N26 is shutting down its U.S. operations to focus on expanding in Europe, the company said Thursday.

More: Bloomberg. Tweets: @sub8u

Conor Hale / FierceBiotech:

France-based Owkin, which helps medical researchers build and train AI models, raises $180M from pharmaceuticals company Sanofi — Artificial intelligence developer Owkin scored a major collaboration with Sanofi to help bring its digital clinical research platform to bear …

More: Sanofi, pharmaphorum.com, Reuters, and MedCity News

CoinDesk:

Square's TBD division releases a white paper detailing tbDEX, a new decentralized protocol for exchanging digital and other assets — Payments giant Square released a white paper on Friday detailing a new decentralized protocol for exchanging digital and other assets known as tbDEX.

More: @TBD54566975, tbDEX, GitHub, Cointelegraph, cryptodaily.co.uk, Crypto Briefing, Decrypt, Blockworks, The Block, and Bitcoin Magazine

Tweets: @tbd54566975, @kr00ney, @kelseyhightower, and @jack

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

A voter turnout group says Facebook served 36.8% of their conversion ads to iOS users after Apple's ATT change, down from 63.6% — Tatenda Musapatike is as familiar as anyone with the way Facebook's political ad system works. During the 2016 election and the 2018 midterms …

More: The Voter Formation Project and Insider

Tweets: @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky, @issielapowsky, @kingjen, @saramorrison, and @saramorrison

Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:

Sao Paulo-based social commerce marketplace Facily raises a $250M Series D at an $850M valuation, bringing its total funding to $366M — Facily, a São Paulo-based social commerce marketplace, has quietly raised over $366 million in funding across four different rounds over the last year.

More: The Information. Tweets: @ruima, @turnernovak, @bayareawriter, @bayareawriter, and @mfriedrichark

Steve Knopper / Billboard:

Profile of Berlin-based Ableton, whose music production software changed the way recordings are produced and how DJs perform by eliminating cumbersome equipment — Gerhard Behles and his partners wrote the code that makes modern pop sing — and makes investors drool. But they're not selling.

Tweets: @henrikberggren, @mattetti, @brigidnz, @markkilborn, and @edmacovaz

Kelly Crow / Wall Street Journal:

ConstitutionDAO, which crowdfunded over $40M, loses Sotheby's US Constitution auction to a $43.2M bid from Citadel CEO Kenneth Griffin — The 53-year-old billionaire paid $43.2 million for the historic document, plans to lend it to Crystal Bridges museum in Arkansas

More: Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, New York Times, TechCrunch, CNBC, Gizmodo, PYMNTS.com, Kotaku, Axios, VICE, Protocol, Forbes, The Verge, Bloomberg, The Block, Quartz, Slashdot, Washington Post, Nexo.io Blog, CNET, Coinspeaker, Blockchain News, Protocol, Cryptonews, Bitcoinist.com, Forkast, and BBC

Tweets: @constitutiondao, @sothebys, @sinakian1, @jchervinsky, @alexrkonrad, @nischalshetty, @rsarver, @iamdcinvestor, @cdixon, @cdixon, @0xmakesy, @joemccann, @scottmelker, @joshelman, @carnage4life, @matt_levine, @grimezsz, @dbreunig, @levie, @cwarzel, @jason_koebler, @katiedrumm, @mulligan, @caseynewton, @kevinroose, @noupside, @alexisohanian, @chuckrossdc, @brycent_, @tomgara, @shanegoldmacher, @matt_kohrs, @austen, @willoremus, @matt_kohrs, @apompliano, @jeffjohnroberts, @cnbcnow, @pt, @pbump, @trungtphan, @tomfgoodwin, @steven_ehrlich, @kellycrowwsj, @shiraeis, @katies, @niubi, @cathsimard_, @jason_koebler, @adriyoung, @penllawen, @kevinroose, @bigmagicdao, @mdudas, @riptari, @basedlemahieu, @drgonzo123, @dlberes, @litcapital, @sub8u, @dalmaer, @ishverduzco, @tanayj, @autismcapital, @twitchpluto, @omarabdelb, and @eladgil

Zoe Schiffer / NBC News:

In a note to 80,000 hourly and salaried US employees, Apple affirms their right to discuss working conditions and pay, internally and externally — Following months of internal controversy about how much workers make at one of the highest valued companies in the world …

More: CNN, Engadget, Insider, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @wndu, @veenadubal, @ashleygjovik, @bobpickard, @lazerwalker, @mikeycampbell81, and @ashleygjovik

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From Mediagazer

Ben Dummett / Wall Street Journal:

Axel Springer agrees to buy the Telegraph for £575M, ending the proposed acquisition by the DMGT, and plans to “turbocharge” the Telegraph's presence in the US

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: a coalition of states including California, Colorado, and New York prepares to sue on antitrust grounds if the Nexstar-Tegna deal gets FCC approval

Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:

SEC filing: Byron Allen buys a 10.7% stake in Starz for $25M from investment fund Liberty 77, led by former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin

More News

Maria Volkova / HousingWire:

nCino, which develops a cloud-based operating system for financial institutions, to acquire mortgage tech vendor SimpleNexus for $1.2B, including $240M in cash

More: WilmingtonBiz, Insider, National Mortgage …, and Finextra. Tweets: @jrichlive

Gillian Tan / Bloomberg:

SoundHound, which offers voice AI tech to companies like Mercedes-Benz, Snap, and Mastercard, is going public via a SPAC merger at a ~$2.1B valuation

Source: Business Wire. More: Reuters, Dow Jones Newswires, TheStreet, Benzinga, and Silicon Valley Business …

Reuters:

JD.com warns of weak China consumption demand in the second half of its fiscal year, after reporting a 25.5% YoY rise in net Q3 revenue to ~$34B

More: Benzinga, Barron's Online, KrASIA, and TheStreet

Gilad Edelman / Wired:

Q&A with Integrity Institute's Jeff Allen on how Facebook's algorithm prefers engagement baiting, and how to address that from a design perspective

Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic:

A writer created a politically bland profile to test Facebook's bias in recommending extreme content, and ended up being shown low-quality, clickbait posts

Tweets: @mckaycoppins, @golikehellmachi, @joshtpm, @jbouie, @golikehellmachi, @golikehellmachi, @jaywillis, @jbouie, @tomscocca, @kait_tiffany, @gabrielroth, @saahil_desai, @kait_tiffany, and @kait_tiffany

Dustin Volz / Wall Street Journal:

The US DOJ says Iranian hackers breached a media company in fall 2020 and tested how to create false news content; sources say Lee Enterprises was targeted

More: U.S. Department of Justice, HuffPost, CNBC, Bloomberg, CyberScoop, Tech Policy Press, PCMag, New York Post, Threatpost, Dark Reading, The Hacker News, and cybernews.com

Tweets: @fbi, @justinhendrix, @dnvolz, and @emilybell

Earlier Picks

Matt Burgess / Wired UK:

DuckDuckGo launches App Tracking Protection for Android, a beta feature that blocks third-party trackers from Google and Facebook

More: The Verge, Spread Privacy, Forbes, gHacks Technology News, fossbytes.com, Neowin, TechRadar, Fast Company, and KnowTechie

Tweets: @davidharbage, @kdzwinel, and @duckduckgo