Techmeme
December 20, 2021, 12:20 PM

Top News

Nick Statt / Protocol:
Microsoft's Phil Spencer says the success and growth of games like Minecraft show the ingredients required for the metaverse to shed its dystopian roots  —  When Phil Spencer thinks about the tech and gaming industries' newfound obsession with the metaverse, the Xbox chief's mind goes to Minecraft.
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner for $28.3B, or $95 per share, in an all-cash deal  —  - Enterprise software giant Oracle will acquire electronic medical records company Cerner.  —  Enterprise software giant Oracle will buy electronic medical records company Cerner …
New York Times:
Investigation details China's social media propaganda machine, which uses private contractors to generate content to spread on Facebook and Twitter  —  Register accounts on foreign social media platforms  —  按月报单 价  —  境外.交平 …
Ben Bowman / The Streamable:
YouTube TV reaches a deal with Disney to bring back 17+ channels including ABC, Disney, ESPN, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic  —  After one day of being dark, YouTube TV and Disney have reached a deal which will see more than 17 Disney-owned channels, including local ABC affiliates, Disney Channel, and ESPN return to the service.
Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times:
Alibaba suspends China's biggest shopping celebrity Huang Wei from Taobao after she was fined ~$210M for tax evasion, in a blow to Alibaba's livestream shopping  —  Alibaba hit hard after Viya fined $210m for under-reporting income from internet promotions  —  China's biggest online shopping …
More: Protocol
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Turing, which uses AI to source, evaluate, hire, onboard, and then manage engineers remotely, raises an $87M Series D, valuing the startup at $1.1B  —  When it comes to engineering talent in the world of tech, demand continues to outpace supply, a predicament so acute that by 2030 …
YLE:
Leaked docs: Facebook has not developed Finnish-language automated moderation for hate speech and other content, and employs just 11 moderators based in Berlin  —  A data leak reveals Facebook is unable to control hate speech in minority languages like Finnish.

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Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
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Great Chat:
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AI is turning sketches into real-world products
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
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Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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Earlier Picks

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Anton Shilov / AnandTech: