Techmeme
August 8, 2020, 11:55 AM

Top News

Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Trump signs an executive order to block all transactions with ByteDance and WeChat starting Sept. 20, just 5 days after Microsoft's deadline to acquire TikTok  —  Microsoft is currently in talks to acquire the company  —  President Trump has signed a new executive order …
More: The Verge, New York Times, CNN, TikTok, I, Cringely, Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, The Guardian, CNET, NBC News, The Guardian, The White House, New York Times, The Verge, Ars Technica, Access Now, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, The Irish Times, South China Morning Post, CNBC, Hong Kong Free Press HKFP, BIG by Matt Stoller, Ubergizmo, Washington Post, PYMNTS.com, Los Angeles Times, Nikkei Asian Review, ExtremeTech, Financial Times, CCN.com, Bloomberg, Axios, Social Media Today, Wired, Music Technology Policy, International Business Times, Android Central, TheStreet, Pocketnow, Techdirt, Nikkei Asian Review, Adweek, Washington Post, Polygon, BBC, Tom's Guide, The Diplomat, Fortune, PCWorld, CNBC, iMore, Morning Brew, The Daily Dot, KnowTechie, Silicon Valley Business …, Politico, Gizmodo, Business Insider, equalocean.com, OnMSFT.com, The Startup, iPhone in Canada Blog, Android Headlines, CoinGeek, Ledger Insights, 9to5Mac, Variety, Financial Times, Coinspeaker, Wccftech, and Telecoms.com
New York Times:
Intelligence agencies don't see TikTok as a major security issue, see the claimed risks as largely theoretical, and view companies like Huawei as larger threats  —  Even as the White House moves against the Chinese social media app, the intelligence agencies do not see it as a major issue along the lines of Huawei.
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
In a memo to advertisers, TikTok says it will refund ad campaigns it can't fulfill due to a US ban and will work with influencers to migrate to other platforms  —  (Reuters) - TikTok is preparing advertisers for a possible ban of its app in the United States, ad buyers said, offering refunds for ad campaigns that are unable to run.
Financial Times:
Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Internal docs: Facebook removed “strikes” so that at least 2 conservative pages, from PragerU and Diamond & Silk, dodged penalties under misinformation policies  —  Facebook has allowed conservative news outlets and personalities to repeatedly spread false information without facing …
Steven Levy / Wired:
Interview with Bill Gates on COVID-19, Trump, last week's antitrust meeting, Mark Zuckerberg, misinformation, and the “poison chalice” of the TikTok deal  —  The techie-turned-philanthropist on vaccines, Trump, and why social media is “a poisoned chalice.”
Elamin Abdelmahmoud / BuzzFeed News:
Companies like Facebook and Twitter, which have positioned themselves as the new public square, should absolutely be questioned on their role in cancel culture  —  Last week, Republican Rep. Jim Jordan asked a question at a Congressional hearing that seemed to come out of nowhere.
Steven Levy / Wired:
Interview with Color of Change leader Rashad Robinson on the Facebook ad boycott, meeting with Zuckerberg, working with the company, and more  —  Rashad Robinson, an organizer behind the Stop Hate for Profit boycott, says civil rights groups can't be left to police the company by themselves.
Jackie Snow / Wall Street Journal:
How online sellers, including Amazon and GOAT, are using AI to spot counterfeit goods, with the help of authentication startups like Entrupy  —  When Olivia Matthaei, a consignment store sales clerk, needs to check whether a designer handbag is authentic, she knows the drill.
New York Times:
Former staff at therapy-by-text app Talkspace say the company provided burner phones to write fake app reviews and doesn't adequately respect client privacy  —  The therapy-by-text company made burner phones available for fake reviews and doesn't adequately respect client privacy, former employees say.

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More News

Andy Greenberg / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: