Techmeme
May 19, 2022, 11:35 PM

Top News

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple executives previewed the upcoming mixed reality headset to the company's board last week; Apple ramped up reality OS development in recent weeks  —  Apple Inc. executives previewed its upcoming mixed-reality headset to the company's board last week, indicating that development …
Rich McHugh / Insider:
Docs: SpaceX paid $250K to settle a flight attendant's sexual misconduct claim that alleged Elon Musk offered a horse in exchange for an erotic massage in 2016  —  - A flight attendant for SpaceX said Elon Musk asked her to “do more” during a massage, documents show.
Twitter:
Twitter announces a crisis misinformation policy, including adding a warning to highly visible tweets with misleading information and disabling engagement  —  Around the world, people use Twitter to find reliable information in real time.  During periods of crisis - such as situations of armed conflict …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
In a policy shift, the US Department of Justice plans to stop prosecuting good-faith security research that would have violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act  —  The new policy addresses decades of uncertainty around the law and security research.  —  Joseph Cox
Bloomberg:
Sources: at an all-hands, Twitter's top lawyer Vijaya Gadde said there is “no such thing as a deal being on hold” and execs said Musk's deal is moving forward  —  Twitter Inc. executives told employees on Thursday that the $44 billion deal to sell the company to billionaire Elon Musk …
The Information:
Sources: Coinbase is pausing new projects, freezing hiring, cutting costs, and giving staff more stock grants after its stock fell 75%+ in the past six months  —  Cryptocurrency trading firm Coinbase, whose revenue has shrunk amid a downturn in the sector, is pausing new business projects …
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
Tether's accounting firm says Tether holds $20.1B in commercial paper, down 17% QoQ; Tether had $82.4B+ in total assets on March 31 and $82.2B in liabilities  —  Tether, the operator of the world's most used cryptocurrency, said it had reduced the amount of commercial paper in the reserve backing …
Keach Hagey / Wall Street Journal:
A new bipartisan Senate bill would prohibit companies with $20B+ in annual digital ad transactions from participating in more than one part of the ad ecosystem  —  The bill, which has some Democratic support, takes aim at conflicts of interest in advertising technology
Robert Gillies / Associated Press:
Canada joins its intelligence allies in banning carriers from using Huawei and ZTE equipment for the country's 5G network, after a delay of over three years  —  TORONTO (AP) — Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government has decided to ban China's Huawei Technologies from Canada's next-generation mobile networks.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
In a letter to portfolio founders, Y Combinator advises to “plan for the worst” by cutting expenses and focusing on extending runways amid the economic downturn  —  Y Combinator, a Silicon Valley kingmaker, is advising its portfolio founders to “plan for the worst” …
Alex Heath / The Verge:
A Meta executive told employees to stop discussing abortion on Workplace, citing “an increased risk” that the company is seen as a “hostile work environment”  —  Employees say the stance runs counter to Meta policies on discussing Black Lives Matter and trans rights
Tweets: @thepacketrat
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Meta launches its free WhatsApp Cloud API, aimed at SMBs, to all businesses worldwide, and announces paid features for its WhatsApp Business app coming later  —  WhatsApp is continuing its push into the business market with today's news it's launching the WhatsApp Cloud API to all businesses worldwide.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Fastly acquires Glitch, the web coding service formerly called Fog Creek Software; Glitch CEO Anil Dash will join Fastly as its VP of developer experience  —  The coding platform will continue under the new owner  —  Fastly, a major provider of cloud services, announced today that it's acquiring Glitch …
Washington Post:
Republicans, who opposed common carrier status for ISPs in the net neutrality debate, now want social media platforms to be treated like “public utilities”  —  Happy Thursday!  I know, I know, going to law school probably would've helped writing today's newsletter.
Frank Chaparro / The Block:
FTX.US launches FTX Stocks, offering zero-commission stock trading of US-listed companies and ETFs, rolling out to the FTX.US Pro app over the coming months  —  - The news comes shortly after Sam Bankman-Fried's acquisition of a 7.6% stake in retail trading giant Robinhood.

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More News

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Earlier Picks

Reuters:
Kim Velsey / Curbed:
Financial Times: