Techmeme
December 1, 2021, 9:20 PM

Top News

Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Square is changing its name to Block, effective December 10, and renaming Square Crypto to Spiral, as its business shifts toward technologies like blockchain  —  - Payments giant Square will change its corporate name to Block, effective Dec. 10.  — The move comes as Square expands beyond …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces Teams Essentials, a standalone version of Teams for SMBs with a simplified UI, focus on meetings, and no Office apps for $4 per user/month  —  This standalone version of Teams is even more of a Zoom competitor  —  Microsoft is creating its first standalone version of Microsoft Teams for small businesses.
CNBC:
Meta expands the eligibility requirements for running crypto ads on Facebook and Instagram, will recognize 27 regulatory licenses from advertisers, up from 3  —  - Facebook on Wednesday announced its decision to reverse long-standing policy that prevented most cryptocurrency companies from running ads on its services.
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
In its end-of-year threat report, Meta says it took down several global disinformation networks, including anti-vaccine groups and groups linked to state actors  —  The takedowns described in the company's latest threat report demonstrate how the cat-and-mouse game between Facebook and bad actors is escalating
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
TikTok adds monetization tools for creators, including Stripe-powered Tips and Video Gifts, starting in the US, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain  —  TikTok is today introducing new ways for its creators to make money from their content.  While already, the short-form video platform allowed creators …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit announces real-time features, including live upvote, downvote, comment, and viewer counts, a typing indicator, and notifications for top-level comments  —  You'll see typing indicators, too  —  Reddit is introducing some big changes on Wednesday by adding new real-time features.
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Twitter bans sharing private images and videos without consent, with exceptions for newsworthiness and public figures, and will remove content that users report  —  Twitter has expanded its private information policy to include media, banning users from sharing photos or videos of a private individual without their permission.
Yinka Adegoke / Rest of World:
A look at China's extensive tech investments in Africa, including undersea cables, data centers, and fintech apps, as part of its “Digital Silk Road” initiative  —  As the Chinese “tech stack” leads from undersea cables to smartphones and fintech apps, concerns grow for the digital future of ordinary Africans.
Stacy Mitchell / Institute for Local Self-Reliance:
Research: Amazon revenue from third-party sellers will reach $121B in 2021, up from $60B in 2019, as seller fees reach 34%, up from 30% in 2018 and 19% in 2014  —  Amazon's dominance of online retail means that small businesses have little choice but to rely on its site to reach consumers.
James Clayton / BBC:
Meta will no longer block searches nor remove praise of Kyle Rittenhouse on Facebook and Instagram, after designating him a shooter in a “mass murder” in 2020  —  Facebook has reversed a decision to block searches on its platform for a US teenager who was acquitted of killing two people during unrest in Wisconsin.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Qualcomm announces Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3, a 5nm chip with 5G and WiFi 6, promising up to 85% better CPU and up to 60% faster GPU performance compared to Gen 2  —  It's an Android-based platform  —  Qualcomm is upping its investment in gaming with a new Snapdragon G3x Gen 1 Gaming Platform …
More: CNET
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Robin Pogrebin / New York Times:
A look at Particle, founded by an ex-Christie's exec and others, which plans to split Banksy's Love Is in the Air into 10,000 pieces to be sold as NFTs  —  A former Christie's executive has joined cryptocurrency experts to create a company that purchases art and sells the fragments as NFTs.
Turner Wright / Cointelegraph:
Congress will hold a hearing with executives from Coinbase, Circle, FTX, and others on December 8 to discuss digital assets and the future of finance  —  The hearing, “Digital Assets and the Future of Finance: Understanding the Challenges and Benefits of Financial Innovation in the United States …
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Sounding Board, which operates a marketplace that connects employees with leadership coaches, raises a $30M Series B led by Jazz Venture Partners  —  Sounding Board, which started as a platform to connect leaders to coaches through a marketplace, realized early in the pandemic that mentorship needs a refresh.
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
1inch Network, which offers the popular DEX aggregator app 1inch, raises a $175M Series B led by Amber Group, bringing its total funding to $190M  —  Quick Take  — 1inch Network has raised $175 million in a Series B funding round.  — The project is looking to serve institutional customers …
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Jack Dorsey joins other tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their platforms, amid increasing political controversy and hard-to-fix problems  —  Jack Dorsey, who is stepping down after six years as Twitter's chief executive, is one of the tech leaders who seem to have grown tired of managing their empires.
Matt Grossman / Wall Street Journal:
Match Group will pay $441M to settle claims by Tinder founders and executives that Match avoided paying them up to $2B by undervaluing the app in mid-2017  —  Company says it would pay $441 million to plaintiffs, including dating app's co-founders  —  Match Group Inc. has settled a lawsuit filed …
Rest of World:
Crypto trading volume in Indonesia this year reached ~$50B by October, up over 10x YoY, despite the government and the Ulema Council forbidding crypto payments  —  Crypto is booming on the archipelago.  Its proponents aren't who you'd think  —  Ananda Badudu is 32 years old …
Bloomberg:
Sources: China plans to ban companies from going public on foreign markets through variable interest entities, closing a loophole used by local tech companies  —  China is planning to ban companies from going public on foreign stock markets through variable interest entities …

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Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg: