Techmeme
April 21, 2022, 3:30 PM

Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Filing: Elon Musk has secured $46.5B to acquire Twitter, including $25.5B in debt financing via Morgan Stanley and other firms, and is exploring a tender offer  —  - Elon Musk is exploring whether to commence a tender offer for Twitter, according to a new securities filing.
Bloomberg:
Elon Musk's free speech promise for Twitter follows years of silencing or punishing criticism at Tesla and SpaceX, including attacking staff trying to unionize  —  If Elon Musk is able to take over Twitter Inc., his biggest promise is to transform it into a platform for free speech with few restrictions …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta is reviewing whether COO Sheryl Sandberg pressured the Daily Mail in 2016 and 2019 into killing stories about her then-boyfriend Bobby Kotick  —  Social-media executive, who dated the Activision Blizzard CEO, was part of campaign to persuade the U.K. tabloid to shelve a potential article
New York Times:
Warner Bros. Discovery will shut down CNN+ on April 30, after its March 29 debut; sources: CNN+ had ~150K subscribers and was on pace to hit first-year goals  —  The new corporate owners of CNN are moving to end the new streaming service after a splashy debut.
Ryan Weeks / The Block:
Binance begins enforcing tougher KYC checks, including proof of address, on Russian users with crypto holdings exceeding €10,000, following further EU sanctions  —  Crypto exchange Binance is enforcing tougher Know Your Customer (KYC) checks for Russian users after the latest wave of European Union sanctions.
MacKenzie Sigalos / CNBC:
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
Andreessen Horowitz launches a16z Crypto Research, a lab focused on Web3 breakthroughs that can contribute to deployable code, led by academic Tim Roughgarden  —  Venture capital giant Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is diving deeper into the crypto market with the launch of a new academic lab dedicated …
Cobie:
Crypto staking evolved from rewards for collateralized coins validating blocks into a Ponzi scheme; Yuga Labs is effectively paying ApeCoin to hold ApeCoin  —  Recently, I was contacted by a member of the board of ApeCoin, which is the BAYC token's equivalent of a board of directors I guess.
Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
After years of regulatory pressure, Google unveils “a full redesign” of its cookie consent banner in Europe, including a “reject all” button, starting in France  —  Alphabet Inc.'s Google said it's rolling out a new European-wide policy allowing users to more easily avoid …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon unveils Buy with Prime, which lets select third-party merchants use Amazon's shipping and logistics network to fulfill orders placed on their own sites  —  - Buy with Prime enables third party retailers to take advantage of Amazon's vast shipping and fulfillment network for orders placed on their own site.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Spotify now lets all creators in the US, the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand upload video podcasts via Anchor, which Spotify acquired in February 2019  —  After over a year of more limited tests  —  All creators in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand can now upload video podcasts …
Javier Espinoza / Financial Times:
Sources: on Friday, the EU will unveil the Digital Services Act, which bans targeting users based on religion, gender, or sexual preferences, among other rules  —  Digital Services Act lays out rules for technology groups to keep users safe online  —  The EU is poised to unveil a law …
MIT Technology Review:
How AI data-labeling companies like Appen use cheap labor in crisis-ridden countries like Venezuela to manually tag videos, sort photos, and transcribe audio  —  It was meant to be a temporary side job—a way to earn some extra money.  Oskarina Fuentes Anaya signed up for Appen …
Logan Plant / IGN:
Report: like Microsoft, Sony is working on letting partners insert ads into free-to-play PlayStation games, and giving players in-game items for watching ads  —  Sony is reportedly planning its own program to insert ads into games.  —  After last week's report that Xbox is looking to include …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter tests suggesting third-party apps in its Twitter Toolbox, including Block Party, Bodyguard, and Moderate, when users block or mute in its web app  —  Company will third-party apps directly on Twitter itself  —  Twitter has a novel idea as to how to win back developer trust …
Anushree Dave / The Block:
Flipside Crypto, which provides blockchain analytics and business intelligence to crypto companies, raises $50M led by Republic Capital at a $350M valuation  —  Quick Take  — The funding round, led by Republic Capital, values the company at $350 million.

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