Techmeme
October 16, 2021, 6:50 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Internal docs: Instagram spent the majority of its global annual marketing budget since 2018 targeting teenagers, as it worries about losing its user “pipeline”  —  The app, hailed as Facebook's growth engine, has privately wrestled with retaining and engaging teenagers, according to internal documents.
Catalin Cimpanu / The Record:
A joint advisory by the FBI, NSA, CISA, and EPA reveals three more ransomware attacks on water treatment plants this year in Nevada, Maine, and California  —  Ransomware gangs have silently hit three US water and wastewater treatment facilities this year, in 2021, the US government …
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Valve quietly updates Steam's rules to ban games “built on blockchain technology that issue or allow exchange of cryptocurrencies or NFTs”  —  Your move, Epic Games Store  —  Games that use blockchain technology or let users exchange NFTs or cryptocurrencies won't be allowed on Steam …
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
Twitch downplays last week's hack, saying it had minimal impact and user login credentials, full credit card numbers, and bank information were not exposed  —  In an update regarding this month's security incident, Twitch downplayed the breach saying that it had minimal impact and only affected a small number of users.
Julie Jargon / Wall Street Journal:
Some doctors in the US and other countries say TikTok videos about Tourette syndrome may be contributing to a rise in cases of teen girls with physical tics  —  When teens started turning up in doctors' offices with sudden, severe physical tics, specialists suspected social media …
Chavi Mehta / Reuters:
Jack Dorsey says Square is considering building an open source Bitcoin miner, using custom silicon, for individuals and businesses  —  Square Inc (SQ.N) Chief Executive Officer Jack Dorsey said on Friday the fintech firm is looking to build a bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon …
Kyle Chayka / New Yorker:
A look at Raya, a secretive subscription-based social network with a rigorous user selection process and a rigid code of silence for accepted members  —  The app has created a space free of the problems that plague the rest of the Web, but only by leaving almost everybody out.
Aislinn Keely / The Block:
CFTC files and settles charges against Tether and Bitfinex, ordering them to pay a total of $42.5M for making “untrue or misleading statements” about USDT  —  The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) simultaneously filed and settled charges against Tether and Bitfinex today …
Huib Modderkolk / The Guardian:
Profile of Edwin Robbe, who hacked the Netherlands' largest telecom KPN as a teenager and cost the company €3M, before being found dead in South Korea  —  Edwin Robbe had a troubled life, but found excitement and purpose by joining an audacious community of hackers.

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
The future of remote AR support: Why Zoho Lens is the ideal choice  —  Imagine this: Your field technician is on site assessing malfunctioning heavy machinery.  Instead of waiting for an expert to travel to the location …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
E2EE For All!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Why Trump can't be trusted with Congress' new anti-deepfake bill
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months--one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder & CEO of StackBlitz)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen Breaks Down the Global Impact of Trump's New Tariffs
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Generative Now:
Dan Shipper: The First MultiModal Media Company
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Spotlight On:
Nebius's Arkady Volozh on What it Takes to Build Infrastructure Needed for the AI Era
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:50 PM ET, October 16, 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

Earlier Picks

Kellen Browning / New York Times:
Bloomberg: