Techmeme
January 17, 2025, 4:30 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Sources: Zuckerberg told Stephen Miller that he would do nothing to obstruct Trump's agenda and blamed Sheryl Sandberg for an inclusivity initiative at Facebook  —  Stephen Miller was the architect of Donald J. Trump's hard-line immigration agenda in his first term.
ABC News:
A US official says the Biden administration won't force TikTok to go dark in the country on January 19 and will leave it up to Trump to implement the law  —  The ban goes into effect on Sunday unless the Supreme Court intervenes.  —  TikTok logo on a smartphone.
More: The Verge, Techdirt, ZDNET, TechCrunch, Benzinga, Associated Press, Reuters, New York Times, BBC, The Information, Adweek, TimesLIVE, DNyuz, Mashable, Politico, KTVU-TV, Flipboard, NBC News, Hypebeast, Reuters, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, thealpenanews.com, PhoneArena, Sky News, Lifehacker, Engadget, AzerNews, The Desk, Reason, KEYE, RealClearPolicy, MyNorthwest.com, Modern Retail, Digital Trends, Android Police, Just The News, PolitiFact, New York Post, Breitbart, B&T, Washington Examiner, Times of India, Variety, SheKnows, The Independent, The Hill, Voice of America, Forbes, The Post Millennial, Slate, The Daily Upside, Pixel Envy, Associated Press, Fox Business, Daily Mail, The Wrap, AfroTech, The Torment Nexus, Dallas Express, South China Morning Post, Digital Music News, Business Insider, OMG.BLOG, Al Jazeera, Social Media Today, Iowa Capital Dispatch, Entrepreneur, Blavity News & Entertainment, AppleInsider, WHDH-TV, HuffPost, Pocket-lint, New Republic, UNILAD, The Independent, The Boston Globe, Adweek, KTVU-TV, Barron's Online, Investor's Business Daily, NTD, NBC News, and Washington Post
Threads: @tomgara and @senschumer
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Apple disables notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps in iOS 18.3 beta and makes other changes to summaries, including using italicized text  —  Apple released iOS 18.3 beta 3 to developers this afternoon.  The update includes a handful of changes to the notification summaries feature of Apple Intelligence.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Trump plans an EO to elevate crypto to a national imperative or priority and create a crypto advisory council to advocate for industry priorities  —  - Executive order expected to create a crypto advisory council  — Trump allies are discussing stopping federal crypto litigation
David Yaffe-Bellany / New York Times:
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
The FTC bans GM from selling driver behavior and geolocation data to consumer reporting agencies for five years, after finding GM didn't properly inform drivers  —  An investigation by the Federal Trade Commission determined that consumers had not been aware that the automaker was providing their driving information to data brokers.
Bloomberg:
Crypto wallet Phantom raised a $150M Series C co-led by Sequoia Capital and Paradigm at a $3B valuation, more than double its $1.2B valuation in January 2022  —  Phantom raised $150 million from big-name investors.  —  Cryptocurrency-wallet provider Phantom Technologies Inc. has raised $150 million …
Zeyi Yang / Wired:
Job listings show Xiaohongshu is rushing to hire English-speaking moderators to help manage the unexpected influx of English videos and posts on the platform  —  Job listings posted in China this week indicate that Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote, is struggling to handle an influx of new users joining the platform from TikTok.
The Information:
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Nintendo teases the Switch 2, featuring a new kickstand design and backward compatibility for physical and digital games, with more details on April 2, 2025  —  The console looks a lot like the original, but it's bigger.  In the video, the Joy-Con controllers are black with colored accents, and they attach to the console magnetically.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft bundles its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions for an extra $3 per month  —  Microsoft is bundling its AI-powered Office features into Microsoft 365 Personal and Home subscriptions, but it's also raising prices as a result.
Jonathan Vanian / CNBC:
The US FTC refers a complaint against Snap to the DOJ, alleging Snapchat's My AI chatbot poses “risks and harms to young users”; SNAP closed down 5%  —  Snap shares closed down 5% on Thursday after the Federal Trade Commission said it would refer a complaint against the company to the Department of Justice.
Zoë Schiffer / Wired:
Sources: Mira Murati's AI startup has poached about 10 researchers and engineers, including former OpenAI Head of Special Projects Jonathan Lachman, from rivals  —  It's a major get for Murati's mysterious startup, which has also poached engineers and researchers from a number of other prominent AI firms.
Bluesky: @edzitron.com
Joel Khalili / Wired:
A look at Pump.Fun, a service for launching memecoins that has generated $350M+ in revenue via a 1% trading fee in the 12 months since its launch in Jan. 2024  —  Pump.Fun raked in hundreds of millions of dollars in its first year in operation.  Despite some growing pains, its creators say this is just the beginning.
Pew Research Center:
A survey of US teens aged 13-17 found 26% used ChatGPT for schoolwork in 2024, up from 13% in 2023, while 79% had heard of it, up from 67% in 2023  —  As debates continue over whether chatbots should have a role in the classroom, more teens are turning to ChatGPT to help with schoolwork.
Leo Schwartz / Fortune:
CFPB announces a $175M settlement with Block, including $120M in refunds to consumers, saying Cash App allowed rampant fraud while misleading its customers  —  On Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a massive $175 million settlement with Block, the publicly traded financial conglomerate led by Jack Dorsey.
Kathrin Hille / Financial Times:
Researchers fear TikTok is softening Taiwanese youth's stance on China with pro-China content; a report says 22% of Taiwan's population uses TikTok or Douyin  —  A growing number of researchers fear that the controversial app is promoting pro-China content and softening attitudes towards the People's Republic
More: Tech in Asia
Patrick Coffee / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta's Community Notes won't apply to paid ads, but will be enabled for organic content, which includes brands' and influencers' unpromoted posts  —  New system could make marketers more cautious about organic posts on Facebook and Instagram  —  Facebook and Instagram owner Meta …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Apple launches its dedicated Apple Store app in India, allowing customers to purchase products, receive personalized shopping recommendations, and more  —  Apple launched its dedicated Apple Store app in India on Friday, deepening its retail presence in the world's most populous country …

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