Techmeme
June 12, 2020, 9:35 PM

Top News

Nico Grant / Bloomberg:
Zoom says it deactivated accounts of US-based activists due to China's demands, won't allow such requests to impact users outside mainland China “going forward”  —  - Company shut down video meetings to remember Tiananmen Square  — Zoom's in the middle of a free speech and censorship clash
Alex Sherman / CNBC:
Sources: AT&T is considering selling its Warner Bros. gaming division for about $4B, with Take-Two Interactive, EA, and Activision Blizzard expressing interest  —  - AT&T is considering selling its Warner Bros. gaming division for about $4 billion, sources say.
CNN:
Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan respond to Chan Zuckerberg Initiative scientists who wrote a letter on Trump, say they are “disgusted” by Trump's protest remarks  —  Hong Kong/New York (CNN Business)Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan say they are “disgusted” by President Donald Trump's remarks …
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
UK Competition and Markets Authority, the country's antitrust watchdog, launches an investigation into Facebook's acquisition of Giphy  —  Facebook wants to be the go-to platform for all of your social needs, but a big move it made last month to take ownership in the world of GIFs …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Facebook announces the results of its first Deepfake Detection Challenge, says the winning algorithm spotted deepfakes with an average accuracy of just 65.18%  —  But the company says deepfakes are not currently ‘a big issue’  —  Facebook has announced the results of its first Deepfake Detection Challenge …
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Internet Archive to close its National Emergency Library, which offers free, unrestricted access to ebooks, on June 16, after lawsuit from four major publishers  —  Online library asks publishers to “call off their costly assault.”  —  The Internet Archive has ended its National Emergency Library programs …
Sean Burch / The Wrap:
HBO says it will be shutting down its HBO Go streaming app on July 31, following the recent launch of HBO Max; HBO Now will be rebranded as just HBO  —  HBO Go, which first launched in 2010, will be shut down at the end of July  —  HBO on Friday said it will be shutting down its HBO …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: California is conducting an inquiry into Amazon's practices, focused in part on Amazon selling its own products in competition with third-party sellers  —  State is looking at how the tech giant treats third-party sellers  —  California investigators are examining Amazon.com Inc …
Ginny Marvin / Search Engine Land:
Google says it's updating its advertising policies to prohibit demographic and zip code targeting for housing, employment, and credit ads  —  The update will roll out in the U.S. and Canada this year.  —  Google is updating its advertising policies around housing, employment and credit opportunities, the company announced Thursday.
Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Dorsey's plan to give $1B shows philanthropy is not as hard as billionaires say; charities with links to Silicon Valley or celebrities have an edge  —  The Twitter CEO's plan to give away $1 billion shows charity is not as hard as billionaires say it is.  —  Billionaires are notoriously bad …
Alyza Sebenius / Bloomberg:
Twitter removed 32K+ accounts engaged in propaganda linked to Russia, China, and Turkey, describing the accounts as “state-linked information operations”  —  - Accounts spread ‘deceptive’ claims about Hong Kong politics  — Russia-linked accounts supported Kremlin, attacked dissidents
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Tim Cook announces Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative with a $100M commitment, led by VP of Environment, Policy, and Social Initiatives Lisa Jackson  —  Tim Cook has just announced a new major commitment from Apple to support the fight for racial equality and justice …
Taylor Lyles / The Verge:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Sony reveals new hardware design for its upcoming PlayStation 5, which ships in two versions, one with a 4K Blu-ray drive and a Digital Edition without  —  Sony's next-gen console is here  —  Sony is finally revealing what the PlayStation 5 looks like.  After nearly an hour of PS5 game announcements …

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Lee Fang / The Intercept:
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
The Verge:
Sam Byford / The Verge: