Techmeme
October 15, 2020, 10:00 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Ajit Pai says FCC will start a rulemaking to clarify the meaning of Section 230, and social media doesn't have “special immunity denied to other media outlets”  —  - Agency chief says it will conduct rulemaking Trump sought  — Social media doesn't have special immunity, Chairman Pai says
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Facebook and Twitter deserve some credit for rapidly restricting the New York Post hack-and-leak operation that made allegations about Hunter Biden  —  In a New York Post report, Facebook and Twitter smell a rat  —  I.  —  In the run-up to the 2020 election, platforms have been preparing for all manner of threats.
Wall Street Journal:
Senate Republicans say the Judiciary Committee will issue a subpoena to Jack Dorsey about Twitter's blocking of a New York Post article  —  Move by GOP lawmakers on Judiciary Committee follows social-media platform's decision to limit sharing of New York Post report  —  Breaking News:
BuzzFeed News:
Facebook limits the distribution of a New York Post story that makes disputed claims about Hunter Biden, pending fact-check, while Twitter blocks sharing  —  Facebook and Twitter said they will be limiting the distribution of or blocking a New York Post story making unverified claims about former vice president Joe Biden.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google details how it is using AI to improve search, including indexing individual passages from webpages, allowing searches for songs by humming, and more  —  During a livestreamed event this afternoon, Google detailed the ways it's applying AI and machine learning to improve the Google Search experience.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Sony posts a lengthy walkthrough video of the PS5's UI, showing a significant departure from the sparse PS4 UI  —  Over 11 minutes of next-gen menus  —  Sony just revealed one of the final big questions about the upcoming PlayStation 5: what the user interface looks like.
NBC News:
YouTube bans conspiracy theory content, such as QAnon or Pizzagate, that justifies “real-world violence”, but stops short of banning QAnon content outright  —  YouTube said Thursday that it would no longer allow content that targets individuals and groups with conspiracy theories …
Matthew Leske / The Keyword:
Google says Chat will be available as a free service next year, both as a standalone app and integrated into Gmail; Google will remove Fi support in Hangouts  —  Over the past few years, we've invested in building helpful and secure products you can use to communicate and stay connected with the people in your life.
Richard Lawler / Engadget:
Access to Twitter is starting to be restored after a widespread outage; Twitter says the issue was caused by “an inadvertent change” to its internal systems  —  All Twitter can tell us is that ‘something went wrong.’  —  Just a day after Twitter got caught up in an outrage cycle …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Stripe acquires Nigerian startup Paystack, which enables integration of payments services using an API, sources say for $200M+  —  When Stripe announced earlier this year that it had picked up another $600 million in funding, it said one big reason for the funding was to expand its API-based payments services into more geographies.
Sophie Alexander / Bloomberg:
Source: Robinhood estimates that ~2,000 accounts were compromised in a recent hack; Robinhood said a “limited number” were affected by personal email breaches  —  - A fake Arizona ID offers clue on how a hacker accessed funds  — Some clients dispute assertion that email accounts to blame
Bloomberg:
International operation by UK, US, Australia, and others arrests 20 in connection with QQAAZZ group, which police say has laundered millions for cyber criminals  —  - Group used shell companies, bank accounts to move stolen funds  — Victims included Brooklyn synagogue, Michigan auto-parts maker
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Xbox Series X preview: focus on basics that matter like being quiet and cool, high frame rates, faster load times, accessory support, and backward compatibility  —  I haven't been using my Xbox One as much recently, as it just feels outdated.  As someone who plays primarily on PC …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Apple confirms an upcoming update will let HomePod, but not HomePod mini, output Dolby Atmos as well as 5.1 and 7.1 channel audio from Apple TV 4K  —  With new home cinema feature  —  Apple's HomePod is getting a lot more useful as a home cinema speaker for Apple TV 4K owners.
David Pierce / Protocol:
Pew: 92% of all tweets since last November were made by 10% of users, 69% of whom were Democrats; Trump's was the most-mentioned account followed by YouTube's  —  In case you needed a reminder that Twitter isn't the real world, the Pew Research Center found that 10% of users produced 92% of all tweets since last November.

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Earlier Picks

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
ASPI:
Kieren McCarthy / The Register: