Techmeme
February 4, 2022, 2:20 PM

Top News

Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple plans to charge dating app developers using alternative payment systems a 27% commission in The Netherlands, instead of its usual 30% for in-app purchases  —  Apple today provided some additional details about how it will allow dating apps in the Netherlands to offer alternative payment systems …
Bloomberg:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
Meta's dismal earnings highlight the challenging competitive landscape, especially TikTok, adding ammunition for the company to fight the FTC's antitrust suit  —  Meta Platforms Inc.'s dismal earnings report had one potential silver lining for Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Meta adds a “personal boundary” system, on by default, to VR avatars in Horizon Worlds and its Horizon Venues live event service, aiming to stop harassment  —  It's rolling out in Horizon Worlds and Venues  —  Meta is adding a “personal boundary” system to its Horizon virtual …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Report details future of Stadia as a white-label game streaming service called Google Stream, including talks with Capcom, Bungie, and Peloton  —  Stadia's future as a white-label streaming platform has been clear for some months now, especially after the first partnership with AT&T …
Wall Street Journal:
Filing: News Corp discovered a hack on January 20 that accessed emails and documents of some staff; an expert says the attack is likely linked to China  —  The attack, discovered on Jan. 20, affected publications including The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and the company's U.K. news operation
James Vincent / The Verge:
Twitter begins expanding its reply downvote test globally on web and mobile; downvotes are not public and are used to tweak which replies Twitter shows  —  Votes aren't public and are used to surface relevant replies  —  If you've seen the option to downvote replies on Twitter, you're not alone.
Bloomberg:
Two more employees from Google's Ethical AI research group leave to join Timnit Gebru's new nonprofit research institute DAIR, adding to the turmoil at the unit  —  Google's Ethical AI research group lost two more employees, adding to the turmoil at the unit studying an area that is vitally important …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Amazon spent $13B on TV, movie, and music content in 2021, up 18% YoY, a significant slowdown from 2020, when spending grew 41%  —  The ecommerce giant disclosed total video and music expense for 2021 in its annual SEC filing Friday.  That total is compared with $11 billion the year prior, which was up roughly 40% versus 2019.
Amazon:
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:

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Earlier Picks

Andrew Thurman / CoinDesk:
Blake Brittain / Reuters:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC: