Techmeme
September 23, 2020, 6:45 PM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Leaked audio recordings and internal posts show Mark Zuckerberg's balancing act, as employees demand a harder line against Trump but users want the opposite  —  In 2020, Facebook would be roiled by a global pandemic, internal protests over racial injustice, a deeply polarizing election …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
DOJ, in a rare legislative proposal, asks Congress to adopt a law weakening Section 230, in an effort to hold Facebook, Google, and others liable for content  —  The administration called on state attorneys general to open their own investigation on the same day it unveiled a legislative proposal …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google rolls out updates to Maps with a layer showing COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people, with labels to indicate trends, coming to 220 countries and territories  —  Google today announced an update to Google Maps that will bring a new COVID-19 layer to the service to help you better understand the number of cases in a given area.
Bloomberg:
Shopify says two “rogue members” of its support teams stole customer data from over 100 merchants; the company is working with the FBI to investigate  —  - Emails, names, addresses, order details may have been exposed  — E-commerce platform is working with FBI on investigation
David Yaffe-Bellany / Bloomberg:
ByteDance asks a US court for a preliminary injunction to prevent the US government from banning TikTok from app stores, as Trump's ban looms  —  - China's ByteDance says U.S. has exceeded its authority  — White House warns app offers Beijing access to Americans' data
Bloomberg:
Sources detail what went wrong at Magic Leap, which raised $3.5B and failed to build its much-hyped AR headset, with most blame placed on founder Rony Abovitz  —  The augmented reality startup was undone by profligate spending and its own hype.  Investors finally lost patience when the pandemic struck.
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Nick Clegg denies Facebook could pull out of EU over data transfer ban, saying legal action is “to send a signal” that the ban could be a disaster for the EU  —  Facebook's head of global policy has denied the tech giant could close its service to Europeans if local regulators order …
Crystal Tse / Bloomberg:
GoodRx, a price comparison service for prescription drugs at pharmacies, closes up 50%+ after its IPO, raising $1.14B and valuing the company at $19.4B  —  GoodRx Holdings Inc., which operates a telemedicine site and platform to track drug prices, rose as much as 50% in its trading debut …
Sarah Jeong / OneZero:
Q&A with Casey Newton on leaving The Verge to start a newsletter on Substack called Platformer, after many years as The Verge's Silicon Valley editor  —  Sarah Jeong talks to Newton about the details of his deal, subscription journalism, and the magic of email
New York Times:
Facebook removes accounts, groups, and Pages tied to China that posted about US politics; the network was followed by fewer than 3,000 US accounts  —  The social media campaign was small but targeted all sides of the debate.  Officials said Beijing had not decided whether to wade more directly in the American presidential race.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram updates Reels with longer videos, an extended timer, and better editing tools, after reports the TikTok competitor is failing to gain traction  —  Instagram is today rolling out a few changes to its TikTok competitor, Reels, after early reviews of the feature criticized its design …
Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Facebook says it will reject ads from US political campaigns prematurely claiming victory before results have been declared  —  Facebook has said it will reject political ads that spread misinformation about the outcome of the November 3 election, several hours after Fast Company reported …

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