Techmeme
August 25, 2021, 1:20 PM

Top News

Insider:
In an abrupt reversal, OnlyFans suspends its October 1 policy change banning porn after securing “assurances” and aims to provide “a home for all creators”  —  - OnlyFans is reversing its recent decision to ban porn.  — It had planned to prohibit sexually explicit …
Patricia Nilsson / Financial Times:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Fitbit announces Charge 5 with a rounded design, a larger and brighter color AMOLED display, GPS, and more, arriving in the fall for $179.95  —  It costs $179.95 and will be out this fall  —  Following a couple of big leaks, Fitbit is officially announcing the Charge 5 …
Kurt Wagner / Bloomberg:
Facebook's David Marcus says Novi digital wallet is “ready now”, but will wait for the Diem currency, and it is “definitely looking at” building NFT features  —  Social network is ‘definitely looking’ at digital assets as part of push into financial products, executive says
The Markup:
How Fannie and Freddie requiring mortgage lenders use its credit scoring algorithm leads to a disproportionately high number of Black applicants being rejected  —  These two people applied for loans in Chicago, Ill., in 2019.  —  They both earned $350K-$400K  —  and their debt level was healthy.
Washington Post:
A look at Vaccine Talk, a tightly moderated Facebook group for vaccine skeptics with ~70K members that aims to change their minds with evidence-based info  —  As social media giants struggle to crack down on false claims about covid, ordinary users are finding ways to reach vaccine skeptics — and win them over.
Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.vc:
A deep look at why expanding into gaming is so important to Netflix, the competition it faces from games like Fortnite, and what its current strategy looks like  —  In 2018, I released the third entry in my “Netflix Misunderstandings” series: “Netflix Isn't Being Reckless, It's Just Playing a Game No One Else Dares.”
Joshua Benton / Nieman Lab:
Facebook's most-viewed story in Q1, from Chicago Tribune linking a doctor's death to COVID vaccines, shows why publishers should consider how content is shared  —  On Friday, The New York Times had a scoop.  Facebook — that known vector for the spread of kid photos, neighborhood goings-on …
Sean Lyngaas / CyberScoop:
Interview with CISA Director Jen Easterly on attack prevention, hiring new staff, improving CISA's ability to scan federal networks for malicious code, and more  —  U.S. cybersecurity officials have scrambled to respond to one major hacking incident after another over the past nine months …
Richard Milne / Financial Times:
Klarna says losses in Q2 soared to $111M, up from $10M in Q2 2020, as credit defaults doubled, driven by an expansion in new markets  —  Swedish ‘buy now, pay later’ start-up continues rapid expansion in new markets  —  Klarna's losses increased significantly in the second quarter …
Source: KlarnaMore: Dow Jones Newswires
Axios:
California expands lawsuit against Activision Blizzard to include temp workers and says the game maker interfered with investigation by shredding pertinent docs  —  California has expanded its anti-discrimination lawsuit against Activision Blizzard, adding temporary workers to the female full …
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Knoetic, which builds software for HR departments, comes out of stealth with $18M Series A led by Accel  —  Knoetic, a startup that has built a software analytics platform for chief people officers, emerged from stealth today with $18 million in Series A funding.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Microsoft says that Xbox Cloud Gaming will expand beyond PC and mobile to its Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles this holiday season  —  - Microsoft said its Xbox Cloud Gaming service will arrive on console this holiday.  — Cloud gaming lets people stream games over the internet rather than install them locally.
Matt Burns / TechCrunch:
Jane Technologies, which offers an online weed marketplace for consumers and builds e-commerce backends for cannabis dispensaries, raises $100M Series C  —  Don't call Jane Technologies the Amazon of weed.  Instead, think of Jane Technologies as the Shopify of weed, and it's an important distinction.
More: FinSMEs
Mary Ann Azevedo / TechCrunch:
Balance, which offers a B2B checkout service for merchants and marketplaces, raises $25M Series A led by Ribbit Capital  —  Balance, a payments platform aimed at B2B merchants and marketplaces, has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round led by Ribbit Capital.
More: CTech and FinLedger

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Zoho:
How you can grow your business with Zoho One  —  Zoho One is a comprehensive business suite, giving businesses the scalability, stability, security, and features they need for smooth operations.
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/14 - The FBI (!) Investigating Polymarket
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:20 PM ET, August 25, 2021.

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

Will Knight / Wired:

Earlier Picks

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Michael Finnegan / Los Angeles Times:
Jessica Guynn / USA Today:
Erin Woo / New York Times:
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Charles Riley / CNN: