Techmeme
May 17, 2020, 12:25 AM

Top News

Tim Anderson / The Register:
A nonprofit founded by privacy advocate Max Schrems has filed a complaint against Google on behalf of an Austrian citizen, claiming Android Ad ID violates GDPR  —  Claims consent was neither informed, nor specific, nor free - but Google says it cannot identify a user from the ID
Edvard Pettersson / Bloomberg:
Ubisoft sues Apple and Google for selling Alibaba's Area F2 game, which it claims is a “near carbon copy” of Rainbow Six: Siege  —  Ubisoft Entertainment SA sued Apple Inc. and Google LLC, accusing the companies of selling a ripoff of its popular video game “Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege.”
Daniel Zuidijk / Bloomberg:
Trump tweet accuses Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google of control by the “Radical Left”, says his administration is working to remedy “illegal situation”  —  - U.S. President scolds Facebook, Google, Twitter in a tweet  — Trump says he is ‘working to remedy this illegal situation’
Axios:
Facebook to buy Giphy, keep its branding, integrate with Instagram; sources say the deal is worth ~$400M, while Giphy was valued at ~$600M in its latest round  —  Facebook has agreed to buy Giphy, the popular platform of sharable animated images, Axios has learned from multiple sources.
More: The Verge, Ars Technica, About Facebook, GIPHY, The Verge, coinspeaker.com, Engadget, Business Insider, TechRadar.com, The Edge Newsletter, BetaNews, The Information, Unique Business Models, CNBC, Crunchbase News, Ubergizmo, Silicon Valley Business …, Digital Trends, Reuters, Gizchina, The Daily Dot, Tom's Guide, AdExchanger, Daring Fireball, SiliconANGLE, Social Media Today, Gizmodo, Input, Adweek, Tubefilter, Android Authority, SlashGear, Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch, The Mac Observer, TechSpot, CNN, Wccftech, The Next Web, Neowin, Pocket-lint, Hollywood Reporter, XDA Developers, ZDNet, Android Headlines, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, Washington Post, Thurrott, iMore, NBC News, TechCrunch, iDownloadBlog.com, Android Police, Associated Press, AppleInsider, MSPoweruser, CNET, Pocketnow, Variety, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Owen Williams / OneZero :
Reuters:
US bans sales to Huawei of semiconductors and semiconductor designs made abroad using certain US software and technology  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday moved to block shipments of semiconductors to Huawei Technologies from global chipmakers, in an action that could ramp up tensions with China.
Global Times:
Nancy Scola / Politico:
Profile of Nick Clegg, Facebook's VP of Global Affairs and Comms, who led the creation of its Oversight Board and is now shaping the company's COVID-19 response  —  The company hired no less than a former deputy prime minister of the UK to fix its reputation and governance.
Karissa Bell / Engadget:
Conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines dominate Instagram's search results, and are made more visible by the app's recommendation algorithms  —  Instagram's efforts to curb health misinformation have done little to stem the flow of conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines.
Alexis Ong / Wired:
How members of the gaming community in Romania and Singapore helped lay the foundation for robust high-speed broadband networks in those countries  —  Romania and Singapore don't seem to have much in common, but they both owe their robust broadband in part to videogame fanatics seeking better connections.
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Homeward, a web-based service that helps homeowners buy a new home before listing their existing home for sale, raises $20M in equity and secures $85M in debt  —  Homeward, an Austin-based real estate startup that aims to help people buy homes faster, announced this morning that it has secured $105 million in funding.
Jina Moore / Rest of World:
A deep dive into Sudan's 2019 internet shutdown, how telecom engineers disrupted the government's control over the internet, and the future of digital rights  —  How citizens, telecom employees, and activists in Sudan turned a battle for digital rights into a referendum on the government

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Building a more inclusive web experience: Our journey toward better accessibility  —  Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)Technology has the power to connect, empower, and transform lives, but only if it's built for all.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

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Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC: