Techmeme
March 16, 2021, 10:20 PM

Top News

Dan Sullivan / Tampa Bay Times:
A Florida teen who hacked well-known Twitter accounts last summer and used them to ask for BTC, netting $100K+ worth, was sentenced to 3 years in a plea deal  —  Graham Ivan Clark, 18, agreed to plea guilty to fraud charges for a hack of several Twitter accounts last summer.
CNBC:
SEC filing: Uber will reclassify its UK drivers as “workers”, granting them vacation pay, minimum wage, and pension plan access, but not full employee benefits  —  - Uber will reclassify all U.K.-based drivers as workers.  — Under the new designation, more than 70,000 drivers …
Dara Khosrowshahi / London Evening Standard:
Uber's thinking on UK driver rights has evolved and worker flexibility “should not come at the expense of social protections”  —  T  —  hree weeks after I became CEO of Uber in 2017, our licence to operate in London was revoked.  It was not how I expected to start my new job …
Noam Cohen / Wired:
Wikimedia Foundation debuts Wikimedia Enterprise, a premium service for delivering Wikipedia content to companies like Google, but a free option will remain  —  The Big Four all lean on the encyclopedia at no cost.  With the launch of Wikimedia Enterprise, the volunteer project will change that—and possibly itself, too.
Leah Nylen / Politico:
Internal FTC docs: 2013 decision not to pursue a Google antitrust investigation was based on faulty logic and a misunderstanding of the internet's potential  —  Few moments in the power struggle between Washington and Silicon Valley have inspired more anger and bafflement than one in January 2013 …
The Verge:
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google announces second-generation Nest Hub with sleep tracking, powered by a Soli radar chip, for $100, shipping on March 30  —  In deciding to not put a camera on what was initially called the Home Hub, Google made its first Assistant Smart Display ideal for nightstands.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook will begin testing its publishing platform, including website and newsletter tools, with a small group of writers, some of whom will be paid  —  Facebook will soon begin testing partnerships with a small group of independent writers for its new publishing platform, sources tell Axios.
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Squarespace raises $300M in a round valuing it at $10B, two months after it filed confidentially to go public via a direct listing or an IPO  —  Squarespace has raised $300 million in a round of funding that values the company at a staggering $10 billion valuation.
More: Reuters and PR NewswireThanks:@bayareawriter
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook says it will publish an annual report detailing its impact on human rights and will establish a fund to support human rights activists and journalists  —  - Social media giant to give board formal updates on the issue  — Company has been criticized for role in Myanmar, Sri Lanka
William Turton / Bloomberg:
Leaked audio from a February 8 meeting reveals Parler's chief policy officer saying: “We are not going after misinformation in any way”  —  Leaked recordings of meetings detail role of Rebekah Mercer at social-media platform  —  Conservative donor Rebekah Mercer has been writing checks …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Intel's 11th Gen desktop chips launch, with the flagship Core i9-11900K sporting eight cores, two less than last gen, and boosted clock speeds of up to 5.3GHz  —  Rocket Lake-S looks to combine the best parts of Intel's 14nm process with its 10nm designs  —  Intel's next-generation desktop chips …
James Vincent / The Verge:
Instagram says it's introducing new policies to limit interactions between teenagers and adults, including banning adults from DMing teens who don't follow them  —  Teen users will also be shown safety prompts when messaging ‘suspicious’ adults  —  Instagram is introducing …
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Sensor Tower: if reduced 15% commission was in place in 2020, Apple would have missed out on an estimated $595M or 2.7% and Google $587M or 5% in app store fees  —  - Apple and Google have announced changes to app store fees that impact app makers making less than $1 million per year.
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
eToro, which lets users trade cryptocurrencies, commodities, stocks, and more, says it will go public via SPAC, valuing the company at $10.4B and raising $650M  —  Quick Take  — The investment platform is merging with FinTech Acquisition Corp. V  — The SPAC merger follows years …
Bloomberg:
Huawei says it will start charging Apple, Samsung, and other manufacturers royalties for 5G patents, a potentially lucrative scheme as US sanctions bite  —  - Executives pledge to charge rates below its competitors  — Company is keen to expand its clout in global 5G networking
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Report: Apple will let the Russian government pre-install iOS apps in accordance with a new law; users can deselect the apps during setup or delete them after  —  Starting next month, Apple will allow the Russian government to pre-install apps on iPhones, iPads and other devices starting next month.
Financial Times:
Huawei, Xiaomi, Tencent, and other Chinese internet companies remove Alibaba's popular UC Browser from app stores, following Xi's warning of a crackdown  —  Group accused over misleading advertising as Xi Jinping warns tech crackdown will continue  —  Chinese internet companies have pulled …

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Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Rita Liao / TechCrunch: