Techmeme
January 17, 2025, 9:35 PM

Top News

Greg Stohr / Bloomberg:
SCOTUS upholds the TikTok divest-or-ban law, saying free speech rights must yield to concerns that Chinese control of the app creates a national-security risk  —  The Supreme Court upheld a law that threatens to shut down the wildly popular TikTok social media platform in the US as soon as Sunday …
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Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
TikTok says it will go dark in the US on Sunday unless the Biden admin provides a “definitive statement” to critical service providers assuring non-enforcement  —  TikTok said its services will go dark on Sunday unless the Biden administration gives a definitive statement providing assurances …
CNN:
Donald Trump says he will “be making the decision” about TikTok and confirms he talked with Chinese President Xi Jinping about the app  —  The Supreme Court ruled Friday that a controversial ban on TikTok may take effect this weekend, rejecting an appeal from the popular app's owners …
Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
After SCOTUS upheld the TikTok law, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew appeals to Donald Trump in a TikTok video to find a solution that keeps the app available in the US  —  In his first statement since the Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban TikTok from the US on Sunday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew offered …
NBC News:
Bloomberg:
The FTC says Genshin Impact maker Cognosphere will pay $20M to settle claims that it deceived players about the cost of winning prizes and mishandled kids' data  —  - FTC said maker of Genshin Impact mishandled children's data  — Company also accused of deceiving players on cost of prizes
Financial Times:
The EU expands its X probe, asking for internal docs about X's recommendation algorithm, after complaints from German politicians about X boosting the far right  —  Move follows complaints from German politicians ahead of election next month  —  Brussels has ordered Elon Musk …
Sarah Wynn / The Block:
Digital Currency Group agrees to settle and pay $38.5M in civil penalties to the US SEC over charges that it misled investors via crypto lender Genesis Global  —  - The SEC said that one of Genesis' largest borrowers was asset hedge fund Three Arrows Capital and said on June 13 that the fund “failed to meet a margin call.”
Caitlin Webber / Reuters:
The US sanctions a China-based cybersecurity company involved in the Salt Typhoon hacks and a Shanghai-based hacker involved in the recent US Treasury breach  —  The U.S. Treasury department on Friday issued cyber-related sanctions related to the Salt Typhoon hack on Singaporean Yin Kechen …
Bloomberg:
Bloomberg:
The US FTC releases a report saying Microsoft's $13B investment in OpenAI raises concerns that the company could extend its cloud computing dominance into AI  —  - Federal Trade Commission probed big tech, AI relationships  — Agency opened inquiry into tech investments last year
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Google has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript to use Google Search, to “better protect” the service against malicious activity, such as bots and spam  —  Google says it has begun requiring users to turn on JavaScript, the widely-used programming language to make web pages interactive, in order to use Google Search.
Dana Wollman / Bloomberg:
Bumble founder Whitney Wolfe Herd will return to the company as CEO in mid-March, replacing current CEO Lidiane Jones, who is departing for “personal reasons”  —  She will replace the current chief executive, Lidiane Jones, who is departing for “personal reasons,” the firm said.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Bluesky 2024 moderation report: Bluesky gained 23M+ users, its moderation team grew to ~100, and its moderation service received 6.48M reports, up 17x from 2023  —  Bluesky on Friday published its moderation report for the past year, noting the sizable growth the social network experienced …
Mia Sato / The Verge:
Instagram adds a new tab in the Reels feed that will show videos that a user's friends have liked or added commentary to  —  Instagram is bringing back one of its more chaotic features, now reworked for the short-form video era.  —  A new tab in the Reels feed will serve up videos …
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Zuckerberg says there's a “bogus narrative saying I blamed Sheryl for a bunch of stuff” and he was just addressing the origin of “bring your whole self to work”  —  Well, specifically, they want me to know.  —  On Thursday, The New York Times published a lengthy story …
Brady Dale / Axios:
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong endorses a US bitcoin strategic reserve in a blog post on “economic freedom” that calls on world leaders to embrace crypto  —  - This is the first time Coinbase has specifically addressed the idea of a strategic bitcoin reserve, doing …
Ross Douthat / New York Times:
Q&A with Marc Andreessen on his political evolution from a “normie Democrat” to a Donald Trump supporter, and what he and others expect from the administration  —  Marc Andreessen explains the newest faction of conservatism. … Ross Douthat: I'm someone who follows politics primarily and Silicon Valley secondarily.
New York Times:
Sources: Instagram and YouTube gear up to welcome TikTok users; two Meta employees say execs discussed resource allocation on January 15 to handle TikTok users  —  Meta's Instagram and Google's YouTube are getting ready behind the scenes to welcome TikTok users, should the Chinese-owned app be banned from the United States.

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