Techmeme
April 18, 2025, 2:25 AM

Top News

David McCabe / New York Times:
A US judge says Google acted illegally to maintain a monopoly in some online advertising tech, the second time in a year a court found Google acted illegally  —  The ruling was the second time in a year that a federal court had found that Google had acted illegally to maintain its dominance.
More: United States District Court E.D. Va., Reuters, MacRumors, Washington Post, TechCrunch, Wired, AppleInsider, Reuters, CNN, Reuters, Digiday, Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Search Engine Roundtable, Vox, SammyGuru, MediaPost, Big Tech on Trial, Computerworld, Axios, NZ Herald, Common Dreams, KQED, Tubefilter, State of California, Skift, TWiT.tv, ABA Journal, PYMNTS.com, OSnews, The Western Journal, Silicon UK, PhoneArena, SFist, Gizmodo, Yahoo Finance, Euractiv, Hindustan Times, MarTech, Los Angeles Times, 9to5Google, Deadline, The Hill, New York Post, Variety, Engadget, and The Information
Bloomberg:
In her ruling, Judge Brinkema says Google did not meet the monopoly definition for tools used to buy display ads, but did for ad exchanges and website ad tools  —  Google illegally monopolized some online advertising technology markets, according to a federal judge, whose ruling marked …
Axios:
The DOJ and 17 US states that brought the antitrust case seek to force Google to sell off its “network” ad business, which is ~12% of Alphabet's total revenue  —  Google's dominance of the online advertising and ad-tech markets violates U.S. antitrust laws, a federal court ruled Thursday …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue up 12.5% YoY to $10.54B, vs. $10.51B est., net income of $2.89B, and stops reporting subscriber numbers on a quarterly basis  —  Netflix is no longer reporting number of subscribers on a quarterly basis.  But it's still motoring on a hot growth engine …
Ryan Whitwam / Ars Technica:
Google rolls out Gemini 2.5 Flash in preview, with support for Canvas for working on text or code; developers can disable thinking or set a token limit for it  —  Google's Gemini AI may have had a slow start, but it has been anything but in 2025.  Barely a week goes by that another model …
Makena Kelly / Wired:
Sources: the CFPB terminated more than 1,400 workers, leaving about 200 employees and effectively gutting the agency that Elon Musk previously said to “delete”  —  The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau terminated the positions of 1,400 of the agency's 1,700 employees …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
US consumers are flocking to Chinese shopping apps DHgate and Taobao, which let them buy direct from manufacturers, as Shein and Temu prices rise amid tariffs  —  The Chinese e-commerce marketplace app DHgate, which is now the No. 2 free iPhone app in the U.S., isn't the only one that's oddly benefiting …
Justin Ling / Wired:
New Jersey's AG sues Discord, alleging the platform's features to keep children under 13 safe from sexual predators and harmful content are inadequate  —  The New Jersey attorney general claims Discord's features to keep children under 13 safe from sexual predators and harmful content are inadequate.
Washington Post:
Sources: Tim Cook spoke to the US Commerce Secretary last week about how tariffs could affect iPhone prices before Trump exempted products from Apple and others  —  Administration officials insist that no companies received special exemptions.  Trump said he “helped Tim Cook recently.”
Steve Dickson / Bloomberg:
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Google is offering its Google One AI Premium plan for free to US college students until spring 2026; students have until June 30, 2025, to sign up  —  That's more than a year of free access to Gemini tools.  —  Google is the latest AI service provider to court users in higher education.
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
ChatGPT users are figuring out the location of photos using o3's image-analyzing capabilities paired with its web search functionality, raising privacy concerns  —  There's a somewhat concerning new trend going viral: people are using ChatGPT to figure out the location shown in pictures.
Dan Shipper / Every:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
The staffing formula for India's 10-minute gig economy  —  Leaving for an early morning meeting, but the dog ate your toothbrush?  That's how the quick commerce market was born in the post-COVID era.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Everything Google Everywhere And All At Once
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Azeem Azhar's Exponential View:
Inside Box's AI playbook with founder & CEO Aaron Levie
Azeem Azhar explores how AI and exponential technologies are shaping our future.
Subscribe to Azeem Azhar's Exponential View.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Meta's Adam Mosseri explains how Instagram really works - and how he wants to build Threads
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Spotlight On:
Tines's Eoin Hinchy on rejecting the playbooks
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Gustav Söderström - How Spotify Thinks
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on how AI can save the web, not destroy it
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 2:25 AM ET, April 18, 2025.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

The Information:
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
Kyle Barr / Gizmodo:

Earlier Picks

Rachel Metz / Bloomberg:
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Financial Times: