Techmeme
December 9, 2020, 6:10 PM

Top News

Federal Trade Commission:
FTC, in coalition with 46 state AGs, plus Guam and DC, sues Facebook, alleging Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions were used to stifle competition  —  Agency challenges Facebook's multi-year course of unlawful conduct  —  The Federal Trade Commission today sued Facebook …
The Verge:
FTC's antitrust lawsuit against Facebook seeks to unwind Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions, force Facebook to seek approval for future acquisitions, and more  —  New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the lawsuit on Wednesday  —  On Wednesday, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced …
NY State Attorney General:
New York AG Letitia James leads a coalition of 48 AGs in suing Facebook, alleging the company uses a “buy or bury” approach toward its competitors  —  AG James Leads Bipartisan Coalition of 48 Attorneys General Charging Anticompetitive Conduct  —  Facebook Thwarted Competition, Reduced Consumer Privacy for Profits
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
A look at Facebook's plans to monetize WhatsApp, which makes virtually no money at present, by facilitating business transactions, a shift away from ads  —  On the final day of November, Facebook Inc. announced it had bought a customer service software startup most people had never heard of …
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Microsoft says its cloud gaming service, as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, will come to iOS via web browser in spring of 2021  —  Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox cloud gaming is coming to iOS in 2021.  In a new blog post today, the company says that cloud gaming as part of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate …
Ina Fried / Axios:
Internal memo: Sundar Pichai apologizes over the handling of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru's departure and says he will investigate  —  Google CEO Sundar Pichai apologized Wednesday for the company's handling of the departure of AI ethics researcher Timnit Gebru and said he would investigate …
YouTube Official Blog:
YouTube says it will remove any content published from today that alleges widespread fraud or errors changed the 2020 US Presidential election outcome  —  Over the past weeks and months, we've seen people coming to YouTube to learn more about where and how to vote or learning more about a candidate or an issue.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
WhatsApp says that Apple's new privacy labels are anti-competitive; Apple responds by confirming its own apps will include the “nutrition labels”  —  Facebook's global messaging service WhatsApp is protesting Apple's requirement that app owners submit information about the user data …
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
DoorDash closes at $189.51, up 85% from its $102 pricing, after popping to $182 as the shares began trading, giving a valuation of $60.2B  —  - Shares of DoorDash, a leading food delivery app, started trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday.  — The stock began trading at $182 per share and closed at $189.51.
Ben Lovejoy / 9to5Mac:
Report: four former Apple employees say the company was aware of Chinese labor law violations by its suppliers but took no action to avoid product delays  —  Three former members of the Apple Supplier Responsibility team say Apple was complicit in labor law violations in China.
Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Twitch unveils new guidelines to crack down on hateful conduct and sexual harassment, following a yearlong review, which take effect in January  —  The livestreaming site announced new guidelines after contending with claims that its streamers were too easily abused.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google says it will compel Chrome extensions to display privacy practices and limit data that developers can collect from January 18, 2021, ahead of Chrome 88  —  At Chrome Dev Summit 2020 today, Google announced it will change how extensions access data and how extension permissions work in 2021.
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Squire, which develops software for barbershops, raises $59M Series C led by Iconiq Capital at a $250M valuation, just months after raising a $34M Series B  —  Squire, a startup that sells software to barbershops, has raised $59 million in a round led by Iconiq Capital.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Parallel Domain, which is developing a synthetic data generation tool for accelerating the development of computer vision tech, raises $11M Series A  —  Parallel Domain, a startup developing a synthetic data generation platform for AI and machine learning applications, today emerged from stealth with $11 million in funding.
Cat Zakrzewski / Washington Post:
Facebook removed at least nine Pages, including one with 16M+ followers, that spread coordinated health misinformation, after being flagged by a think tank  —  Facebook just took down prominent pages that were directing their millions of followers to false claims about the coronavirus, the flu vaccine, and other health issues.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
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Zoho:
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