Techmeme
September 5, 2020, 6:10 AM

Top News

Jeremy B. Merrill / ProPublica:
Facebook's ban on political ads in the week prior to the election applies to election officials, who use Facebook to inform voters about the voting process  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.
Slate:
Facebook's pre-election ban on political ads will likely suppress important speech and inhibits campaigns' ability to respond to late-breaking news on Facebook  —  On Thursday, Facebook announced a set of U.S. election season changes to political advertising and content moderation.
Ashley Gold / Axios:
Financial Times:
Sources: unusually large purchases of call options by SoftBank over the past month partly fueled the latest tech stock rally  —  Japanese conglomerate has been snapping up options in huge amounts over past month  —  SoftBank is the “Nasdaq whale” that has bought billions of dollars' worth …
Amazon Web Services:
Amazon responds to JEDI decision, calling it a “politically corrupted contract award” and attacks Trump's role in steering the award away from AWS  —  Earlier today, the DoD announced it had concluded its corrective action and affirmed its prior JEDI contract award to Microsoft.
Aaron Gregg / Washington Post:
Pentagon reaffirms its controversial decision to give JEDI cloud contract to Microsoft; Amazon is likely to continue its legal challenge  —  The Pentagon reaffirmed its controversial decision to give its largest-ever cloud computing contract to Microsoft instead of to market-leader Amazon …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Facebook is testing displaying Instagram Stories directly in the main Facebook app; the test requires users opt in and link their accounts together  —  Only your Instagram followers can see your stories in Facebook  —  Some Facebook users have recently noticed that they can now watch …
Patrick McGee / Financial Times:
Under shareholder pressure, Apple quietly publishes its human rights policy based on UN guiding principles, but will follow national law if the two conflict  —  iPhone maker approves new policy after shareholder pressure  —  Apple has for the first time published a human rights policy …
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
Amazon deleted 20,000 reviews by 7 of its top 10 UK contributors after an FT analysis found they appeared to profit from posting thousands of five-star ratings  —  FT investigation finds suspicious behaviour by 9 of top 10 UK contributors on feedback  —  Amazon has deleted approximately …
David McCabe / New York Times:
As Oracle tries to buy TikTok, a look at how the company started embracing and building ties with Donald Trump and his administration after the 2016 election  —  The tech giant stands out in Silicon Valley for its close ties to the administration, which must bless any deal for the social media app.
Zeynep Tufekci / The Atlantic:
In an attempt to open during the pandemic, many US universities are forcing students to download location-tracking apps, sometimes as a condition of enrollment  —  Trying to do so is all but useless.  —  In Michigan, a small liberal-arts college is requiring students to install an app called Aura …

Sponsor Posts

TELUS Digital:
The brand supporting the biggest brands in tech  —  Deliver memorable experiences throughout the customer journey with customer experience support from TELUS Digital.  Scale quickly, automate efficiently and win decisively.
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
Gamification: A simple way to enjoy getting more work done  —  Work doesn't have to be boring.  Gamification transforms everyday tasks into exciting challenges, making employees feel more engaged and motivated.
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.

Featured Podcasts

Grit:
From Bootstrapped to $12B: Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut on Life After the Exit
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
The hidden power of introverts: How to thrive without changing who you are | Susan Cain (author of "Quiet")
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Techmeme Ride Home:
E2EE For All!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Why Trump can't be trusted with Congress' new anti-deepfake bill
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen Breaks Down the Global Impact of Trump's New Tariffs
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:10 AM ET, September 5, 2020.

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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
TechCrunch:
Alex Heath / The Information:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: