Techmeme
September 1, 2021, 8:20 AM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Source: Apple's upcoming Watch is suffering production snags as manufacturers adjust to a new design, likely leading to supply constraints or shipment delays  —  - Revamped device has a larger screen and other new features  — Wearables category has been one of fastest-growing for Apple
New York Times:
Investigation shows Accenture is Facebook's biggest content moderation partner, employing over a third of its moderators, with annual contracts exceeding $500M  —  The social network has constructed a vast infrastructure to keep toxic material off its platform.  At the center of it is Accenture, the blue-chip consulting firm.
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Apple bars staff from making a Slack channel about pay equity; Apple says it is because the channel is not work related, despite others on pets and jokes  —  The company's rules around Slack usage are not being evenly enforced  —  Apple has barred employees from creating a Slack channel to discuss pay equity.
Garett Sloane / Ad Age:
LinkedIn is abandoning its Stories format at the end of September and has told advertisers to adjust their ad campaigns accordingly  —  Brands will have to adjust ad campaigns when video format leaves the platform after September  —  LinkedIn is telling advertisers to prepare for the end …
Daisuke Wakabayashi / New York Times:
Sundar Pichai informs Google employees that plans to return to offices are being pushed back again, from October to January 10  —  Google is pushing back its return-to-office date by three months, to Jan. 10, in a decision that reflects the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.
Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asia:
Sources: Google is developing Arm-based chips for laptops and tablets that run on Chrome OS, set to launch around 2023  —  US software giant ramps up hiring blitz for semiconductor and hardware ambitions  —  TAIPEI — Google is developing its own central processors for its notebook and tablet computers …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook plans to downrank current events content and political posts in the News Feed, after users approved of tests that limited such content  —  Facebook plans to announce that it will de-emphasize political posts and current events content in the News Feed based on negative user feedback, Axios has learned.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Telegram releases an update that removes the cap on live stream viewers, from 1,000 to unlimited, introduces more options for forwarding messages, and more  —  Along with more forwarding options  —  Telegram, the messaging app that's becoming more and more like a fully-fledged social media network …
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
A look at the implications of South Korea's alternative app store payment law: confusion for non-technical users, difficulty managing subscriptions, and more  —  Apple defines in-app purchases as “App Store purchases”, which I disagree with.  I see a clear difference between purchasing …
Jiyoung Sohn / Wall Street Journal:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Didi is helping workers establish their first union, likely including drivers, as China imposes rules to curb excessive work  —  - Its first-ever workers union came after Supreme Court's notice  — Meituan is among peers considering labor rights issues
More: Reuters
The Tutanota Blog:
Australia passes bill that lets police hack user devices to modify, collect, or delete data and take over social media accounts without a judge's warrant  —  The Microsoft database hack shows that data stored in the cloud must always be encrypted end-to-end.
Financial Times:
Mark Scott / Politico:
Facebook says it accidentally removed thousands of posts around the Jan. 6 riots from CrowdTangle, blaming a now-fixed error that has existed since at least May  —  The social media company said it was a technical error, and has been fixed, but tens of thousands of posts are still missing.
Scott Chipolina / Decrypt:
El Salvador's plan to make Bitcoin legal tender has been unpopular, with protests over concerns of money laundering, forcing trade in BTC, unconstitutionality  —  El Salvador will soon accept Bitcoin as legal tender, but not everybody shares the President's enthusiasm as citizens took to the streets this week.
Bloomberg:
Checkr, whose tech for employment background checks is used by Uber, Airbnb, and others, raises $250M led by Durable Capital at a $4.6B valuation  —  Checkr, a technology platform for employment background checks, has raised $250 million in a financing round that more than doubles its valuation from earlier this year.

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Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Sara Fischer / Axios: