Techmeme: Profile of Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta, who since the pandemic started has overseen three consecutive quarters of positive cash flow, a first for the company (Chloe Sorvino/Forbes)

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January 30, 2021, 2:00 AM

Top News

Under the Hood:

Robinhood explains why it placed restrictions on certain securities over the past week, says its clearinghouse-mandated deposit for equities increased tenfold — With the extraordinary market activity this week, and the temporary restrictions we put in place on certain securities …

More: Under the Hood. Tweets: @louwhiteman, @ourielohayon, @bgurley, @barbariancap, @jason, @brooke, @amir, and @joshelman

Wall Street Journal:

Profile of the trader known as DeepFuckingValue on r/WallStreetBets, who began investing in GameStop and explaining why in YouTube videos starting in mid-2019 — Trader known as DeepF—ingValue on the WallStreetBets forum helped turn the investing world upside down. “I didn't expect this.”

More: New York Daily News, Input, Kotaku, The Verge, and Ars Technica

Tweets: @chrislhayes, @srussolillo, @gelles, @bgurley, @rkrigney, @eliotwb, @rxfaro, @carnage4life, @sarthakgh, @davidjlynch, @austinhunt, @phatmike9, @lucasmtny, @davecbenoit, @wsj, @jasonzweigwsj, and @emanuelderman

Jesse Westbrook / Bloomberg:

SEC says it “will closely review actions taken by regulated entities that may disadvantage investors” in trading certain securities — The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, making its most specific comments about the recent mania in the stock market …

Mitchell Clark / The Verge:

Robinhood has placed trade restrictions on more than 50 stocks as of Friday and limited the purchase of some stocks, like GameStop, to a single share — The company is giving us numbers for what ‘limited buys’ really means — Robinhood only wants users to have a limited number of shares …

More: CNBC, TechCrunch, SlashGear, Business Insider, Daring Fireball, and FinLedger

Tweets: @edbott, @starfire2258, @reedgalen, @erichreimer, and @wheatpond

John Herrman / New York Times:

Reddit's uncommon qualities as a community platform, inspiring nihilism and humor, may explain why r/WallStreetBets' growth feels reminiscent of r/The_Donald — Reddit communities grow powerful in plain sight. Why do they keep taking the world by surprise?

More: Reuters. Tweets: @doctorow, @jwherrman, @cwarzel, @reckless, @rashaabdulla, @dcherring, and @awealthofcs

Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou / Bloomberg:

Robinhood is telling some users it may close out some of their positions as part of measures it is taking to reduce account risks — Robinhood Markets told users of its popular stock trading app that it may close out some of their positions as part of measures it's taking to reduce account risks.

More: CNBC. Tweets: @aoc, @chamath, @robinhoodapp, @dellcam, @tedlieu, @wongmjane, @thedextriarchy, @khoustephanie, and @mrjustinbarclay

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

After dogecoin spiked 800%+, Robinhood halted instant deposits for crypto purchases and restricted trading in cryptocurrencies on Friday

More: The Verge, CoinDesk, CoinDesk, Crypto Briefing, PYMNTS.com, KnowTechie, New York Post, CryptoGlobe, and Decrypt

Tweets: @tomwarren, @orcainthecourt, @jennfranconews, @arjunkharpal, @alltheway08, @kofinas, and @vladtenev

Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:

Google deleted ~100K reviews for the Robinhood app on the Play Store, bringing its rating back to 4 stars, after users dropped its rating to 1-star

More: New York Times, The Verge, CNET, TechCrunch, 9to5Mac, CNBC, Cointelegraph, Input, The Hill, phonearena.com, Bitcoin Magazine, HotHardware.com News, BBC, New York Post, Game Rant, and KnowTechie

Tweets: @gamespot, @slasher, @rashidatlaib, @teroterotero, @tanvim, @shwoolley, and @ayeshaasiddiqi

Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Robinhood says it didn't proactively sell shares of GameStop, AMC, or any other buzzworthy stocks without traders' permission, denying claims made by some users

More: Wall Street Journal, CNBC, Ars Technica, New York Times, CoinDesk, and Gizmodo

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Webull and Public, which restricted transactions of some stocks, cite costs of settling the trades with Apex as the cause and have now removed all restrictions

More: Bloomberg and CNBC

Tweets: @zguz, @motherboard, @webullglobal, @public, @webullglobal, @zguz, and @panzer

Tucker Higgins / CNBC:

Lawmakers, including AOC and Ted Cruz, criticize Robinhood; Dem leaders from the Senate and House say they will hold hearings on the state of the stock market

Tweets: @tedcruz, @newyorkstateag, @llchristyll, @carolmassar, @senmikelee, @olaasm, and @rabbishmuley

Paresh Dave / Reuters:

Facebook took down the “Robinhood Stock Traders” Group with 157K users; a notification said the Group violated polices on “adult sexual exploitation”

More: The Information, New York Times, INSIDER, Techdirt, Business Insider, CNBC, Reclaim The Net, The Logic, and Cryptonews

Tweets: @damiengayle, @timmaughan, @rachblevins, @paulnuki, and @gerberkawasaki

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

UK trading app Freetrade disables purchases of US stocks, blaming a decision by its currency exchange provider and their bank to restrict trading volume

Tweets: @ryan_browne_

New York Times:

Robinhood says it raised emergency funding of $1B+ from its existing investors, as it faces an onslaught of demands on its cash amid a stock market frenzy

More: Gizmodo, Bloomberg, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Wired, CNN, CryptoSlate, Cryptonews, Fast Company, PCMag, TechCrunch, SlashGear, NPR, Data Driven Investor, Protocol, Crypto Briefing, Slate, PYMNTS.com, Fortune, Forbes, Decrypt, TIME, Lifehacker, USA Today, Newser, Daring Fireball, KnowTechie, coinspeaker.com, and Engadget

Tweets: @zackkanter, @jamessurowiecki, @jonesonthenba, @lookner, @rhinosoros, @danprimack, @jamessurowiecki, @dellcam, @benthompson, @rmac18, @rmac18, @fmanjoo, @carnage4life, and @northmantrader

Adam Satariano / New York Times:

Graphika: Huawei officials retweeted messages from fake accounts on Twitter to spread a pro-5G influence campaign in Belgium; Huawei is investigating the claim — A covert online push to sway telecommunications policy in favor of the Chinese company may presage a new twist in social manipulation.

More: Gizmodo, Financial Times, CyberScoop, Graphika, and ZDNet

Tweets: @camillefrancois, @mshannahmurphy, @kenyatta, @ftchina, @tariqpanja, @thorstenbenner, @robpegoraro, @roslynlayton, @collinslkoh, @uuallan, @peterpomeranzev, @mattdrange, @benimmo, @mollymckew, and @mbrookerhk

TechCrunch:

Nerdy, which operates an online tutoring service, plans to go public via a SPAC merger at a valuation of $1.7B and plans to raise up to $750M with the deal — A gig economy-powered consumer edtech platform is heading to the New York Stock Exchange. — Edtech startup Nerdy …

More: Business Wire, Wall Street Journal, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Business Journal, Reuters, PYMNTS.com, Axios, and Bloomberg. Tweets: @gordonswaby

Alex Sherman / CNBC:

Speaking on Clubhouse, Reddit CEO Steve Huffman said his team monitors “Daily Active Shitheads” to make sure Reddit communities don't spiral out of control — - Reddit has taken the spotlight this week after community of investors ganged up to send GameStop and other heavily-shorted stocks soaring.

Tweets: @db, @kifleswing, @sherman4949, @quinnypig, and @megancgraham

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Clearsky researchers say Hezbollah's cyber unit Lebanese Cedar hacked 250+ unpatched Atlassian and Oracle servers at telecoms and ISPs in US, UK, Israel, more — Security firm Clearsky said they identified at least 250 servers hacked by Lebanese Cedar, a hacking group linked to the Hezbollah militant group.

More: Gizmodo and SC Media

Theodore Schleifer / Vox:

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is overhauling its political program, outsourcing its advocacy work, and launching a criminal justice reform group with a $350M fund — The Facebook founder and his wife, Priscilla Chan, are making the largest structural change to their philanthropy since they launched it five years ago.

Tweets: @rexmachina, @anandwrites, @blackamazon, @safeandjustusa, @anandwrites, and @antirecidivism. Thanks:@thekenyeung

Bloomberg:

Filing: Xiaomi has sued US Defense and Treasury departments, after the DOD blacklisted the company thereby blocking US investors from buying Xiaomi's securities — - Pentagon had called it a ‘Communist Chinese military company’ — The move prohibits U.S. investors from buying Xiaomi's shares

More: phonearena.com and Pocketnow

Nick Statt / The Verge:

Facebook's Oversight Board is taking public comments on Facebook's decision to ban Trump and if it complied with “freedom of expression and human rights” — The board is taking submissions until February 5th — Facebook's Oversight Board, the independent body empowered to review …

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From Mediagazer

Wall Street Journal:

WBD adds Anton Levy, former co-president of PE firm General Atlantic, to its board, a source says due to pressure from activist shareholder Sessa Capital

Megan Graham / Wall Street Journal:

Yahoo hires Josh Line, who was most recently Paramount Global's chief brand officer, as its CMO to revive its brand as “one of the OGs of the internet”

Bailey Lipschultz / Bloomberg:

Newsmax shares jumped as much as 667% in their NYSE debut after raising $75M in its IPO

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Chloe Sorvino / Forbes:

Profile of Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta, who since the pandemic started has overseen three consecutive quarters of positive cash flow, a first for the company

Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Ashley Gold / Axios:

Joel Kaplan told staff that Facebook is looking externally for a new US policy chief as it moves Kevin Martin, a Republican, to lead its global economic policy

Tweets: @lizzadwoskin and @axios

Sophia Kunthara / Crunchbase News:

Raydiant, whose cloud-based digital signage tech displays messaging including social media feeds, raises $13M Series A from investors including Mark Wahlberg

More: San Francisco Business Journal, Retail TouchPoints, and PR Newswire. Tweets: @crunchbasenews

Julia Fioretti / Bloomberg:

Sources: Kuaishou, ByteDance's main rival in China, has raised $5.4B in its Hong Kong IPO, valuing the short video startup at $61B

More: Wall Street Journal and Nikkei Asia. Tweets: @next_china

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Physna, a Cincinnati-based startup developing an AI-powered 3D modeling platform for industrial engineering, raises $20M Series B led by Sequoia

More: Physna, TechCrunch, Columbus Business Journal, and PR Newswire. Tweets: @mcwm

Elise Reuter / MedCity News:

San Diego-based Concert Health, which helps primary care providers connect patients to behavioral health services, raises $14M Series A

More: Business Wire, VatorNews, and PitchBook

Megan Graham / CNBC:

Facebook says it will begin testing “topic exclusion” controls that would help advertisers stop running ads next to topics they want to avoid in News Feed

More: Facebook, Axios, Search Engine Land, and Reuters

Tweets: @lanceulanoff, @pressgazette, @scout_finch, and @mattnavarra

Earlier Picks

Geoffrey Fowler / Washington Post:

A spot check finds some apps in Apple's App Store with inaccurate privacy “nutrition labels” that downplay how much data they send to Facebook, Google, others

More: Vox, Digital Trends, HotHardware.com News, iMore, Pocketnow, iDownloadBlog.com, AppleInsider, MacRumors, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, and Apple Terminal

Tweets: @_inside, @mcelhearn, @_inside, @nathanjliu, @stroughtonsmith, @betapixel, @geoffreyfowler, @shanvav, @senatebanking, @killkenny, @dani_lever, @_inside, @martinsfp, @davewoodx, @alexschultz, and @hbkirb

Reuters:

Sources: Hyundai executives are divided over a potential tie-up with Apple, with some raising concerns about becoming a contract manufacturer

More: Irish Examiner, CarBuzz, Gizmodo, AppleInsider, Patently Apple, Wccftech, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, MakeUseOf, MacDailyNews, iPhone Hacks, 9to5Mac, and The Mac Observer

Tweets: @danielwithmusic, @counternotions, @asymco, @brianroemmele, and @macsmiff

Wall Street Journal:

Investigators say suspected Russian hack extends far beyond SolarWinds, with ~30% of the victims having no connection to the software

More: Gizmodo, Ars Technica, C4ISRNET, The Week, Nextgov, ZDNet, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @dnvolz, @hatr, @hacks4pancakes, @kimzetter, @biannagolodryga, @campuscodi, @kevinmaddendc, @ericgeller, @rebeccaballhaus, @dnvolz, and @dnvolz

Russell Brandom / The Verge:

A look at Global Privacy Control, a new web standard designed to let users opt out of data sharing with all third-party brokers globally, with a single click

Tweets: @agbecerra, @agbecerra, @harropj, @agbecerra, @jason_kint, @agbecerra, @jason_kint, @agbecerra, @ghoshd7, @jason_kint, @websmyth, @cyborgtribe, @tim_cook, and @el33th4xor

Mike Isaac / New York Times:

Sources: Facebook is developing newsletter tools for journalists and writers, including tools to help build followers, curate email lists, and offer paid subs

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google Project Zero researcher discovers and details new security system on iOS 14 named BlastDoor, which provides an improved sandbox system for iMessage data

More: SecurityWeek, Security Boulevard, Daring Fireball, Threatpost, The Hacker News, and iPhone in Canada Blog

Tweets: @virusbtn, @rockbruno_, @stroughtonsmith, and @campuscodi

Bijan Stephen / The Verge:

YouTube is testing the ability to make short clips, from 5 to 60 seconds, of livestreams or videos, starting today on desktop and Android devices

More: Laptop Mag, Wccftech, Ars Technica, Game Rant, and PCMag. Tweets: @youtubegaming