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February 21, 2025, 10:20 AM
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Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple removes Advanced Data Protection in the UK for new users, pulling the optional E2EE feature rather than complying with the UK's order to build a backdoor  —  - Company removes Advanced Data Protection feature for UK users  — “We never will” build backdoor to user data, iPhone maker says
Jesse Pound / CNBC:
Coinbase says the US SEC agreed “in principle” to drop its 2023 case against the company, calling it “righting a major wrong” and a “huge day” for crypto  —  - CNBC Councils  — CNBC on Peacock  — Join the CNBC Panel  — Supply Chain Values
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica:
Microsoft researchers introduce Magma, an AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing to control software interfaces and robotic systems  —  On Wednesday, Microsoft Research introduced Magma, an integrated AI foundation model that combines visual and language processing …
Saritha Rai / Bloomberg:
DeepSeek will start open-sourcing five code repositories next week, letting anyone download, build on, or improve the code behind its well-regarded AI models  —  - The startup will begin making technology available next week  — DeepSeek is pushing harder on its open-source approach
Gergely Orosz / The Pragmatic Engineer:
A look at the potential reasons why software developer job listings on Indeed hit a five-year low in January, down 35% from 2020, including the impact of AI  —  Hi, this is Gergely with a bonus issue of the Pragmatic Engineer Newsletter.  In every issue, I cover topics related to Big Tech …
Bluesky: @kakurady.ca.  X: @gergelyorosz and @gergelyorosz
Forums: Hacker News and Slashdot
Emily Birnbaum / Bloomberg:
US FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson announces an inquiry into “Big Tech censorship”, which he calls “un-American” and “potentially illegal”, and seeks public comment  —  - FTC Chair Ferguson invites public comment about tech platforms  — Conservatives claim ideas, affiliations have been censored
Anna Tong / Reuters:
Source: AI search engine startup Genspark raised a $100M Series A at a $530M valuation and currently has over 2M MAUs; it raised a $60M seed in June 2024  —  Search startup Genspark has raised $100 million in a series A funding round, valuing the startup at $530 million …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
OpenAI launches Operator in the UK, Japan, and most ChatGPT regions, and says it's working to expand to the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland  —  OpenAI said on Friday that it is rolling out Operator, its so-called AI agent that can perform tasks on behalf of users …
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
SEC filing: Meta raises executives' annual bonuses from 75% to 200% of their base salary, after reportedly cutting most employees' annual stock options by ~10%  —  Executives at Meta stand to get bigger bonuses this year.  —  The company said in a corporate filing Thursday that it had approved …
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Block reports Q4 revenue up 4% YoY to $6.03B, vs. $6.29B est., gross profit up 14% YoY to $2.31B, and Cash App gross profit up 16% YoY to $1.38B; XYZ drops 10%+  —  Block reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that fell short of Wall Street expectations.  The stock dropped more than 7% in extended trading.
Ian Duncan / Washington Post:
Sources: the NHTSA is losing about 10% of its workforce through firings and buyout offers, including half of a small team that regulates autonomous vehicles  —  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is losing about 10 percent of its workforce through firings and buyout offers, according to people briefed on the cuts.
More: TechCrunch, Quartz, Jalopnik, and CNBC
Bluesky: @boisekaty, @davidzipper, and @deanbaker13.  Forums: r/RealTesla
Ian Carlos Campbell / Engadget:
Meta says that US users over 18 can now sign up to be a Community Notes contributor on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads; notes will have a 500-character limit  —  The company is replacing third-party fact-checking with Community Notes on Threads, Instagram and Facebook.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:20 AM ET, February 21, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Associated Press:
A US district court judge agrees to permanently block the Trump administration from implementing an executive order to end federal funding for NPR and PBS

Ted Johnson / Deadline:
A new filing from Nexstar in the DirecTV lawsuit says the existing restraining order freezing the Nexstar-Tegna merger could jeopardize assets of both companies

Qassim Abdul-Zahra / Associated Press:
Iraqi officials say a US journalist was kidnapped in Baghdad and security forces are looking for her captors; one outlet identified her as Shelly Kittleson

More News

Ben Lang / Road to VR:
Meta announces a $50M creator fund for Horizon Worlds; CTO Andrew Bosworth reportedly told staff that 2025 is a make-or-break year for Meta's XR ambitions
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Amazon plans to end support for its videoconferencing tool Chime on February 20, 2026; report: Amazon is adopting Zoom as its standard app for internal meetings

Earlier Picks

Ashley Carman / Bloomberg:
YouTube plans to add a “premium lite” tier, a source says for the US, Australia, Germany, and Thailand, offering podcasts without ads and music videos with ads
Matt Novak / Gizmodo:
Elon Musk says he will “fix” Community Notes as they are “increasingly being gamed by governments & legacy media”, after disagreeing with notes about Ukraine
New York Times:
Sources: the Trump administration targets officials fighting foreign interference in US elections, focused on those combating cyberattacks and false content
Ryan Christoffel / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: all iPhone 17 models will have Apple's in-house Wi-Fi chips, enhancing connectivity and cutting costs; only the slim iPhone 17 will have the C1 modem chip
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Amazon plans to discontinue its Appstore for Android and its Coins program on August 20, 2025, but keep its Appstore on its devices like Fire TV and Fire Tablet
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