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Techmeme
July 14, 2023, 6:25 PM
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Top News

Hayden Field / CNBC:
Sensor Tower: from July 8 to July 11 and 12, Threads DAUs fell ~20% and time spent fell 50% to 10 minutes; Similarweb: Android DAUs fell 25%+ from July 7 to 10  —  - Facebook's Twitter-killer, Threads, has seen drops in daily active users and time spent on app since the weekend, according to SensorTower and SimilarWeb.
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Meta confirms taking “additional steps” to prevent EU-based users from accessing Instagram's Threads; users report no longer being able to use Threads via a VPN  —  After multiple EU-based users complained about not being able to access Instagram's Threads app through VPN, Meta confirmed that it is blocking such efforts.
Matt Wales / Eurogamer.net:
Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, Xbox's senior director of corporate communications, is leaving Microsoft after 22 years to “work on the next chapter of my career”  —  To “work on the next chapter of my career.”  —  Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb, long one of the most recognisable presences …
Wall Street Journal:
Source: Binance has fired over 1,000 people in recent weeks; the cuts are global, ongoing, and could result in the company losing more than a third of its staff  —  Crypto exchange reduces workforce as Justice Department investigation continues  —  Binance, the giant crypto exchange …
Taylor Lorenz / Washington Post:
Twitter makes its first ad sharing payouts to creators, including far-right influencers like Andrew Tate, who made $20K+, Ian Miles Cheong, and Benny Johnson  —  The platform is paying high-profile creators, including Andrew Tate, thousands of dollars for posting to the app
Amanda Silberling / TechCrunch:
Twitter starts paying Twitter Blue creators who earned 5M+ impressions per month for three months a revenue cut from the ads beside the replies to their tweets
Michael Schulman / New Yorker:
Netflix's Orange Is the New Black was an early indicator of how lopsided the streaming economy would be, as 10 actors from the show detail tiny residual incomes  —  The innovative and daring show was a worldwide hit for Netflix, but some of the actors say that they were never fairly compensated.
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
SAG-AFTRA: the AMPTP's AI proposal lets studios scan a background actor to create a digital likeness, for a day's pay, for perpetual use without consent or pay  —  During today's press conference in which Hollywood actors confirmed that they were going on strike, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland …
Tim Copeland / The Block:
Crypto bridging protocol Multichain ceases operations after confirming Chinese police detained its CEO, Zhaojun, and his sister, who held ~$220M of user assets  —  - Multichain confirmed its CEO has been detained in China.  — It said the CEO's sister moved $220 million of funds …
Reuters:
Twitter sues four unnamed entities in Texas for “unlawfully scraping data” and seeks $1M+ in relief; Elon Musk: “that is why we had to put rate limits in place”  —  Twitter has filed a lawsuit against four unnamed entities in Texas for data scraping last week …
Semafor:
Sources: Elon Musk claimed his new startup xAI was worth $20B while he was trying to recruit top AI talent, including by offering equity in xAI  —  Elon Musk sought to recruit top AI talent to his new artificial intelligence company with equity in the venture he claimed was already worth tens …
Salvador Rodriguez / Wall Street Journal:
Meta insiders detail a return to “OG Mark” and how staff secretly toiled away to determine how to create a Twitter-like service that fit with the company's apps  —  Staffers toiled for months to create a Twitter-like service that would fit with existing apps
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter aims to reduce DM spam with a setting that moves messages from Blue users you don't follow back to the Message Request inbox instead of the main inbox  —  As Twitter fends off new competition from Instagram Threads, the company today announced a change designed to cut down on spam in users' inboxes.
More: Techlusive, Dexerto, and Engadget
Bluesky: @jww.wtf and @setia.ink.  Twitter: @twittersupport.  Threads: @carnage4life.  Forums: r/RealTesla
Bloomberg:
Sources: Dutch export control rules would bar ASML from maintaining, repairing, and providing spare parts for controlled equipment without government approval  —  - ASML will be limited in repairing restricted machines in China  — China's production capabilities and capacity to be affected
Aoyon Ashraf / CoinDesk:
After the US court ruling in Ripple's favor, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp resume XRP trading on their US exchanges and Gemini is exploring listing the token  —  U.S. federal court ruled on Thursday that sale of XRP tokens on exchanges and through algorithms did not constitute investment contracts.
Tom Hals / Reuters:
A US judge says Ripple's XRP sales to sophisticated investors violated securities law but that sales on exchanges were not offers of securities
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft and Activision Blizzard consider selling UK cloud-based game rights to a telecom, gaming, or internet company to appease US and UK regulators  —  - Companies may give up some control of UK cloud gaming unit  — US, UK regulators have come out against the $69 billion deal
Bloomberg Law:
A US district judge denies the FTC's motion to stay Microsoft's $68.7B Activision Blizzard acquisition; the FTC is seeking emergency action by the 9th Circuit

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:25 PM ET, July 14, 2023.

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From Mediagazer

Chris Willman / Variety:
Taylor Swift purchases her catalog of recordings, which were initially released through Big Machine Records, from Shamrock for an undisclosed nine-figure sum

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Memo: Business Insider is cutting staff by 21% to “endure extreme traffic drops outside of our control” and “exiting the majority of our Commerce business”

The Bookseller:
Boundless, which bought crowdfunding publisher Unbound in March, tells authors that royalties accrued before March won't be paid until Boundless is cash stable

More News

Reuters:
Sources and a doc: India told streaming services like Netflix and Disney to use an independent panel to review content for obscenity and violence before release

Earlier Picks

Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit plans to sunset its current coins and awards systems used to show appreciation for a post by September 12, 2023; users can no longer purchase new coins
Jordan Novet / CNBC:
Microsoft names Aptos as the next default font for its Microsoft 365 productivity apps, replacing Calibri; Aptos was available for two years as Bierstadt
Sapna Maheshwari / New York Times:
The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University files a lawsuit challenging Texas' TikTok ban on state devices, for limiting research and teaching
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple launches Tap to Pay on iPhone in the UK, starting with Revolut and Tyl by NatWest as the first payment platforms, following the US, Australia, and Taiwan
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Google updates Bard with 43 more languages, from Arabic to Vietnamese, and privacy features requested by EU regulators, and debuts the tool in Europe and Brazil
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