Techmeme
July 16, 2020, 4:25 PM

Top News

@twittersupport:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Sources say a Twitter insider helped them hijack accounts; Twitter says it's probing whether the insider hijacked the accounts themselves or gave hackers access  —  After a wave of account takeovers, screenshots of an internal Twitter user administration tool are being shared in the hacking underground.
Reuters:
Sources: the FBI is leading a federal inquiry into the Twitter hack  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is leading a federal inquiry into the Twitter hacking, two sources familiar with the situation said, after hackers seized control of accounts belonging to Joe Biden …
TechCrunch:
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it will offer its game streaming service, currently called Project xCloud, for free to its Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers in September  —  xCloud will get a new name and some bigger ambitions  —  Microsoft is planning to launch its game streaming service …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says it is halting production of its Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition consoles, ahead of Series X launch  —  The Xbox One S will continue to be manufactured  —  Microsoft is officially halting production of its Xbox One X and Xbox One S All-Digital Edition consoles.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
EU's top court strikes down flagship EU-US data transfer mechanism Privacy Shield, in a ruling that could impact thousands of companies including Facebook  —  A highly anticipated ruling by Europe's top court has just landed — striking down a flagship EU-US data flows arrangement called Privacy Shield.
Wall Street Journal:
US and UK say state-backed Russian hacking group APT 29 is responsible for ongoing cyberattacks against orgs involved in the development of coronavirus vaccines  —  Targets include universities, private companies and other organizations working on vaccine research and testing globally
Aoife White / Bloomberg:
EU launches an antitrust inquiry into how tech giants might be using data collected through voice assistants like Siri and Alexa to push out competition in IoT  —  - Vestager warns that voice assistants may offer less choice  — Some 400 firms to be quizzed, EU to present results in 2021
Ryan McCarthy / ProPublica:
Analysis shows voting misinformation flourishes on Facebook: about 50% of top 50 posts that have mentioned voting by mail since April 1 were false or misleading  —  ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.  Sign up to receive our biggest stories as soon as they're published.
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky tells employees that the company's IPO plans are back on track, despite the COVID-19 pandemic  —  After a financial hit from the pandemic, the San Francisco company said business was starting to return from its nose-dive.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Airbnb has resumed …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Facebook confirms it will launch Instagram Reels, its answer to TikTok, in the US, UK, Japan, Mexico, and ~50 other countries in the coming weeks  —  Instagram confirmed it's preparing to soon launch its TikTok competitor, known as Reels, in the U.S. The company expects to bring the new video feature …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Twitter unveils a new, fully rebuilt developer API with features like conversation threading, poll results in tweets, and pinned tweets, launching next week  —  Twitter is still recovering from the fallout of yesterday's sizable attack on high-profile accounts, but it's continuing to move forward …

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