Techmeme
April 21, 2022, 10:30 AM

Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Filing: Elon Musk says he has secured $46.5B in financing to acquire Twitter, including a $12.5B loan from Morgan Stanley, and will explore a tender offer  —  - Elon Musk is exploring whether to commence a tender offer for Twitter, according to a new securities filing.
Bloomberg:
Elon Musk's claimed commitment to free speech at Twitter follows years of stifling criticism at Tesla and SpaceX, including those trying to unionize  —  If Elon Musk is able to take over Twitter Inc., his biggest promise is to transform it into a platform for free speech with few restrictions …
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Binance begins enforcing tougher KYC checks on Russian users with holdings exceeding €10,000, following further EU sanctions  —  Crypto exchange Binance is enforcing tougher Know Your Customer (KYC) checks for Russian users after the latest wave of European Union sanctions.
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
The US Treasury sanctions Russian bitcoin miners, including BitRiver; Cambridge University: Russia is the world's third-biggest destination for bitcoin mining  —  - For the first time ever, the U.S. Department of the Treasury is taking aim at bitcoin miners operating in Russia, as Putin's war on Ukraine approaches its third month.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon unveils Buy with Prime, which lets third-party merchants use Amazon's shipping and logistics network to fulfill orders on their own sites  —  - Buy with Prime enables third party retailers to take advantage of Amazon's vast shipping and fulfillment network for orders placed on their own site.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is reviewing Sheryl Sandberg's attempts in 2016 and 2019 to stop the Daily Mail from writing about Activision's Bobby Kotick, her then-boyfriend  —  Social-media executive, who dated the Activision Blizzard CEO, was part of campaign to persuade the U.K. tabloid to shelve a potential article
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Instagram plans to tweak its ranking algorithm to highlight original content more and recommend accounts that aggregate and reshare other users' content less  —  Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that the company is going to tweak its ranking algorithm to highlight original content more on its platform.
Logan Plant / IGN:
Report: Sony is working on a PlayStation program to let select partners insert ads within free-to-play games, similar to a reported Microsoft effort for Xbox  —  Sony is reportedly planning its own program to insert ads into games.  —  After last week's report that Xbox is looking to include …
New York Times:
70% of employees at an Atlanta Apple Store agree to hold a union election, making the Apple Store the first to file for a union election with the CWA  —  The petition for a union vote continues a trend of organizing at service-sector employers like Starbucks and Amazon.
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
Sources: the EU is set to unveil the Digital Services Act, which bans targeting users based on religion, gender, and more, among other rules, on Friday  —  Digital Services Act lays out rules for technology groups to keep users safe online  —  The EU is poised to unveil a landmark law …
Cobie:
A look at the evolution of crypto staking, from a useful tool to a quasi-Ponzi scheme, and how Yuga Labs is effectively paying people in ApeCoin to hold ApeCoin  —  Recently, I was contacted by a member of the board of ApeCoin, which is the BAYC token's equivalent of a board of directors I guess.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Cybersecurity authorities of Five Eyes countries warn of Russia-backed hacking groups targeting critical infrastructure organizations in and outside Ukraine  —  Today, Five Eyes cybersecurity authorities warned critical infrastructure network defenders of an increased risk that Russia-backed hacking groups …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Barack and Michelle Obama's production company Higher Ground doesn't plan to re-sign with Spotify, and is talking to Audible, iHeartMedia, and others  —  Barack and Michelle Obama's time with Spotify Technology SA is coming to an end.  —  The former first family's production company …
Alex Hern / The Guardian:
Apple to debut an opt-in child safety feature for iPhones in the UK that scans messages for nudity, but drops some controversial aspects, like notifying parents  —  Feature that searches messages will go ahead after delays over privacy and safety concerns  —  A safety feature that uses AI technology …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify now lets all creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to upload video podcasts to through Anchor  —  After over a year of more limited tests  —  All creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can now upload video podcasts to Spotify, the streaming service has announced.

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Earlier Picks

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Yogita Khatri / The Block: