Techmeme: As the Taliban uses WhatsApp to coordinate and spread messages, the service's end-to-end encryption makes banning the group difficult (Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai/VICE)

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August 17, 2021, 10:05 AM

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Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:

As the Taliban uses WhatsApp to coordinate and spread messages, the service's end-to-end encryption makes banning the group difficult — The Taliban are using the Facebook-owned chat app to spread messages to Afghan citizens as they take over the country. — Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai

Bloomberg:

Adam Mosseri says Facebook is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes or represents the Taliban — A Facebook Inc. executive said the company is “proactively” removing content from its platforms that promotes the Taliban as the group seizes power in Afghanistan.

More: CNBC, Washington Post, BBC, Insider, Agence France-Presse, CNET, The Independent, Reason, Reuters, PolitiFact, benzinga.com, RTÉ, Bloomberg, Washington Free Beacon, and Neowin

Tweets: @donie, @sam_l_shead, @sam_l_shead, @donie, @donie, @heytammybruce, @rajeshwarie, @gulalai_ismail, @dineshdsouza, @donie, and @amyspitalnick

Joseph Cox / VICE:

T-Mobile confirms hackers gained access to its systems, following reports that sensitive data, including SSNs, for over 100M people was for sale on the dark web — “We have determined that unauthorized access to some T-Mobile data occurred.” — Joseph Cox

Source: T-Mobile. More: Reuters, Ars Technica, BleepingComputer, Gizmodo, ZDNet, Krebs on Security, Computerworld, CyberScoop, Threatpost, Wired, New York Post, MediaNama, iMore, IT PRO, Android Central, IT PRO, SlashGear, Wall Street Journal, PYMNTS.com, IT Management, The Register, KnowTechie, NBC News, TechCrunch, Techdirt, 9to5Mac, Phandroid, Tom's Guide, MacRumors, Bitcoin Magazine, AppleInsider, FierceWireless, TechRadar, The Record, infosecurity-magazine.com, Softpedia News, Silicon Republic, Android Police, Tech.co, BitcoinExchangeGuide, Coinspeaker, The Daily Dot, CNN, Engadget, TmoNews, MUO, The Verge, GeekWire, Protocol, Security Affairs, TechSpot, HotHardware.com News, SecurityWeek, Channel Futures, TheStreet, The Mac Observer, Cointelegraph, BGR, Dark Reading, iMore, Security Boulevard, Cryptonews, HackRead, FrontPageTech.com, Digital Trends, Droid Life, USA Today, BleepingComputer, SlashGear, Graham Cluley, Pocketnow, Input, Light Reading, Ubergizmo, and Techaeris

Tweets: @josephfcox, @knieriemen, @odell, @jason_koebler, @lorenzofb, @briankrebs, @mshelton, @chronotope, @josephfcox, @vice, @bdsams, @chrisblec, @deviantollam, @lorenzofb, @seahawkerholm, and @vice

Kim Lyons / The Verge:

Tinder says it will bring its optional ID Verification feature, which has been available in Japan since 2019, to all members globally “in the coming quarters” — The feature has been active in Japan since 2019 — Tinder said on Monday that it will make its ID Verification feature available …

Source: Tinder Newsroom. More: Silicon Republic, Gizmodo, PCMag, 9to5Mac, KnowTechie, Neowin, Mashable, phonearena.com, TNW, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, Telegraph, and SlashGear

Ax Sharma / BleepingComputer:

Researcher finds a terrorist watchlist of 1.9M people, including “no-fly” records, on an unsecured Elasticsearch cluster; DHS later took the server offline — A secret terrorist watchlist with 1.9 million records, including classified “no-fly” records was exposed on the internet.

More: LinkedIn, PCMag, The Verge, TechRadar, Slashdot, fossbytes.com, Security Affairs, Beyond Search, The Record, and Engadget

Ryan Browne / CNBC:

Vienna-based crypto trading platform Bitpanda raises $263M led by Valar Ventures at a $4.1B valuation, up from $1.2B five months ago — - Cryptocurrency trading platform Bitpanda raised $263 million in a fresh round of funding valuing the company at $4.1 billion.

Source: Bitpanda Blog. More: TechCrunch, Tech.eu, altfi.com, Finextra, Sifted, Crunchbase News, CoinDesk, cryptodaily.co.uk, Cointelegraph, Crypto Briefing, The Block, CoinJournal, and Tech News

Christian Shepherd / Financial Times:

Shares in Alibaba, Tencent, and JD fall after China's antitrust watchdog announces a ban on unfair competitive practices, including exploiting user data — Shares of country's big tech companies slide as crackdown on sector intensifies — China will ban its internet platforms from a wide array …

More: Reuters, PYMNTS.com, Barron's Online, Wall Street Journal, The Economic Times, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Bloomberg. Tweets: @mdudas

South China Morning Post:

Sources: China's probe into Didi has slowed down its business and operations, as engineers rush to fix issues and investigators interview employees for hours

More: The Economic Times. Tweets: @therealjoshye, @therealjoshye, @therealjoshye, and @therealjoshye

Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

Researchers find a bug in the ThroughTek Kalay SDK, which connects over 83M IoT devices with apps, that lets attackers access audio and video streams — A vulnerability in the Kalay platform leaves countless IoT devices susceptible to hackers. — A VULNERABILITY IS lurking in numerous types …

Source: FireEye. More: ZDNet, BleepingComputer, CyberScoop, and SecurityWeek. Tweets: @weldpond

Michael McSweeney / The Block:

Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter in 2019, will be led by Jay Graber, a former startup founder and cryptocurrency dev — Bluesky, the decentralized social media initiative unveiled by Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey at the end of 2019, has a project lead, according to a Monday announcement.

More: Bloomberg, Techdirt, The Verge, Decrypt, Social Media Today, Cointelegraph, Reuters, and CoinDesk

Tweets: @arcalinea, @jack, @arcalinea, @glenweyl, @chrisblec, @petermccormack, @evan_greer, @avsa, @mikeelgan, @jeffjarvis, @bluesky, @timbray, @lsanger, @nischalshetty, @rabble, @arcalinea, @arcalinea, and @mmasnick

Samantha Hissong / Rolling Stone:

TikTok partners with Audius, a music streaming service built on Ethereum, to let users upload their music as TikTok Sounds — It's the blockchain-powered Audius, rather than Spotify or Apple Music, that will let artists share their sounds into TikTok in one click

More: CoinDesk, Decrypt, Crypto Briefing, blockchain.news, Coinspeaker, Bitcoinist.com, benzinga.com, and Cointelegraph

Tweets: @audiusproject and @audiusproject

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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.

From Mediagazer

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Indian startup Zupee, which offers quiz apps to help users learn skills, raises $30M Series B at a $500M valuation, up from $100M in January 2021

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Wired UK:

Apple and Google's vague and inconsistent policies around hookup apps can harm LGBTQ people, especially those in countries with explicitly anti-LGBTQ laws

Tweets: @mikestabile, @nigelwuk, @lewdapril, @cathyreisenwitz, @maasalan, @jules_aint_shit, @omarijhardy, and @julieowono

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Tim Marcin / Mashable:

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Brad Stone / Bloomberg:

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More: American Enterprise Institute, Macworld, Insider, Axios, Reuters, and AppleInsider

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David Gilbert / VICE:

Research shows pro-Trump social network GETTR has no content moderation besides user reporting and reached 1.5M users in August, not July as claimed

Source: Stanford Internet Observatory. More: Insider and Stanford Internet Observatory

Tweets: @elegant_wallaby, @elegant_wallaby, @elegant_wallaby, @elegant_wallaby, @daithaigilbert, @micahflee, @noupside, @milesmccain, @elegant_wallaby, @elegant_wallaby, @elegant_wallaby, @milesmccain, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, @alexstamos, and @alexstamos

Tom Krisher / Associated Press:

NHTSA opens a formal investigation into Tesla's Autopilot system, covering 765K vehicles, saying it has trouble spotting parked emergency vehicles

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. More: New York Times, CNN, Protocol, Reuters, Wccftech, CNBC, The Verge, Financial Times, IT PRO, New York Times, Bloomberg, TGDaily, Bloomberg, Observer, TechCrunch, Mashable, Tom's Guide, The Hill, Bloomberg, Newser, KnowTechie, MSPoweruser, BBC, Coinspeaker, Gizmodo, San Francisco Business Journal, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, Insider, and Axios

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Joanna Ossinger / Bloomberg:

Crypto staking service Figment raises $50M Series B, led by Senator Investment Group and Liberty City Ventures, source says at a ~$500M valuation

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