Techmeme
January 15, 2025, 2:30 PM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: TikTok plans to switch off its app in the US on January 19 unless SCOTUS blocks the ban; the law only requires app stores to stop TikTok app downloads  —  TikTok plans to shut off its app for U.S. users on Sunday, the day a federal law will ban the app, unless the Supreme Court intervenes …
Mackenzie Hawkins / Bloomberg:
The US unveils new rules to curb flow of advanced chips produced by TSMC and others to China and sanctions 16 Chinese companies building China's chip industry  —  - Measures also impose sanctions on 16 Chinese entities  — Biden has issued a raft of China regulations in his last week
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft relaunches its free Copilot for businesses as Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat, offering pay-as-you-go AI agents and using OpenAI's GPT-4o to answer queries  —  Microsoft is relaunching its free Copilot for businesses as Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat today, complete with the ability to use AI agents.
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google makes all its Gemini features for Workspace apps free, after charging $20 or $30 per user per month, but increases the prices of all its Workspace plans  —  Previously, Google charged an additional $20+ per user/month for Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Meet, and other Workspace apps.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will no longer support Office apps, known as Microsoft 365 apps, on Windows 10 after October 14, 2025  —  Microsoft says it will no longer support Office apps, known as Microsoft 365 apps, on Windows 10 later this year.  The support cutoff coincides with Windows 10's end …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
LinkedIn launches free AI tools built on top of its own AI tech and data: a Jobs Match tool for job seekers and a recruitment AI agent for small businesses  —  If you've ever applied or thought of applying for a job via LinkedIn, you'll know that the experience can be immediately disheartening …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
OpenAI will fund the expansion of Axios to Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Boulder, and Huntsville, as part of a broader content-sharing and technology deal  —  - Google struck a deal with McClatchy to fund the creation of three digital-only local newsrooms in 2019.
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A 28-year-old woman describes her “relationship” with ChatGPT, or Leo as the chatbot named itself, which became her therapist, erotic partner, and adviser  —  “It was supposed to be a fun experiment,” Aryin said of her A.I. relationship, “but then you start getting attached.”
Matthew Ball / MatthewBall.co:
A close look at the state of video gaming in 2025, including why gaming soared from 2011 to 2021 and then stalled, China's global rise, and mobile gaming growth  —  Please note, this deck is in Early Access and will release in PDF shortly.  There are two versions below based on your preference …
Nicola M White / Bloomberg:
The US SEC sues Elon Musk, claiming he failed to timely disclose a 5%+ purchase of Twitter's stock ahead of his takeover of the social media platform in 2022  —  - Agency alleges billionaire ignored disclosure deadline in 2022  — Musk's lawyer says he did ‘nothing wrong’ and SEC has no case
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Nikita Bier, creator of apps like tbh and anonymous compliments app Gas, launches Explode, a freemium app to send disappearing texts and photos via iMessage  —  Nikita Bier, creator of popular apps like the anonymous polling app tbh (acquired by Facebook) and the anonymous compliments app Gas …
Kate Knibbs / Wired:
DoubleVerify says there is a jump in AI click farms, including a network of 200+ websites called Synthetic Echo, designed to siphon ad revenue from real outlets  —  A new report, shared exclusively with WIRED, shows how an AI content mill with hundreds of sites managed to pull big-name advertisers into their schemes.
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Sources and docs: Meta has dismantled its system for identifying and limiting viral hoaxes, and told content-ranking teams to stop penalizing misinformation  —  The company built effective systems to reduce the reach of fake news.  Last week, it shut them down  —  I.
Emily Nicolle / Bloomberg:
British Virgin Islands-based Tether plans to move its corporate entity and subsidiaries to El Salvador after obtaining a digital asset service provider license  —  - Company and all subsidiaries will relocate to El Salvador  — Stablecoin firm incorporated in the British Virgin Islands
Steven J. Horowitz / Variety:
Drake pulls his petition accusing UMG and Spotify of inflating Kendrick Lamar's “Not Like Us” with bots and payola; the diss track accuses Drake of pedophilia  —  Drake has withdrawn his petition against Spotify and Universal Music Group after accusing the entities of launching an illegal …
Sean Hollister / The Verge:
The Verge:
Court docs: internal chats suggest Meta used data from piracy site LibGen to train its Llama AI models and worked to conceal it, as Meta raced to beat rivals  —  A major copyright lawsuit against Meta has revealed a trove of internal communications about the company's plans to develop …
Bloomberg:
The Philippines' decision to supercharge its online gambling sector has been disastrous, opening the door to crimes, including money laundering, in the country  —  A casino raid in a sleepy town revealed the mayor's business connections to Singapore's $2 billion money-laundering scandal, and sparked allegations of Chinese espionage.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Synthesia, a London-based B2B startup building products around highly realistic AI avatar technology, raised a $180M Series D led by NEA at a $2.1B valuation  —  As the world continues to work through how to handle the explosion of deepfake content online, it seems that not all AI-created videos are stirring controversy.

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