Techmeme
February 17, 2023, 6:25 PM

Top News

Zoë Schiffer / @zoeschiffer:
Sources: Twitter plans to unveil a new policy that only Blue subscribers will be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication  —  NEW: Twitter is planning to unveil a new policy as soon as this afternoon that only Blue subscribers will be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication, according to company sources.
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Source: Binance is considering de-listing USDC and other tokens from US projects, ending US partnerships, and closing VC investments, amid regulatory scrutiny  —  Crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. is considering ending relationships with US business partners as regulators turn up the heat.
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Amazon tells corporate staff to return to the office “at least three days per week”, starting on May 1, after previously leaving the decision to team leaders  —  Amazon wants its corporate and tech employees back in the office at least three days per week, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to workers on Friday.
Clothilde Goujard / Politico:
Under the Digital Services Act, online platforms disclose their MAUs in the EU: YouTube has 401M+, Facebook ~255M, Instagram ~250M, TikTok 150M, Twitter 100.9M  —  TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have now confirmed they will face the strictest rules under the EU's content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
The SEC says Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have withdrawn $100M+ out of a cold wallet holding 10K+ Bitcoin via an intermediary Swiss bank account since June 2022  —  Crypto fugitive Do Kwon and the firm he founded transferred over 10,000 Bitcoin out of their doomed project and turned …
Bloomberg:
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta gave ~10% of employees subpar ratings in recent performance reviews, a potential sign of more layoffs, and cut a bonus metric to 85% of its target  —  The performance-review process is expected to set the stage for more workforce reductions this year  —  Why Tech Layoffs Don't Reflect the Job Market
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Samsung says the Galaxy S23 series' Message Guard feature will prevent zero-click exploits via messaging apps by detecting malware hidden in image attachments  —  Zero-click attacks, which can install malware onto a device without the user clicking or tapping on anything, have been on the rise in recent years.
Kate Clark / The Information:
Stripe's investor pitch deck says the startup needs $4B by the end of 2024 to cover a tax withholding bill when modifying employee stock grants before its IPO  —  Stripe is trying to raise a huge sum of money from investors, so it has tried to craft a compelling pitch: The payments giant …
Josh Ye / Reuters:
Sources: Tencent cuts its 300-strong metaverse unit and drops VR hardware plans due to trouble achieving quick profitability and the need for a big investment  —  Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) is abandoning plans to venture into virtual reality hardware, as a sobering economic outlook prompts …
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Source: the UK CMA is investigating a deal in which Google pays Apple a portion of search revenue generated by people using Chrome on iOS  —  Those billions just may have dissuaded iPhone giant from building rival search, beefing up Safari  —  EXCLUSIVE Google has been paying Apple a portion …
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
The FTC launches an Office of Technology, increasing the number of technologists on staff from 10 to ~22 ahead of legal battles with Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta  —  Happy Friday!  A quick programming note: The newsletter will be off Monday for the holiday, but back in your inboxes Tuesday.
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Source: Microsoft is demoing the Bing chatbot to ad agencies and is testing inserting paid search ads and industry-specific ad formats into the responses  —  Microsoft (MSFT.O) has started discussing with ad agencies how it plans to make money from its revamped Bing search engine powered …
New York Times:
OpenAI:
OpenAI aims to improve ChatGPT's behavior by reducing biases, allowing more user customization, and getting more public input into the company's decision-making  —  We're clarifying how ChatGPT's behavior is shaped and our plans for improving that behavior, allowing more user customization …

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More News

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Earlier Picks

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