Techmeme
October 15, 2020, 3:43 PM

Top News

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.
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.
More: Washington Post, The Daily Beast, New York Post, Mother Jones, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, The Atlantic, New York Post, Politico, The Intercept, Poynter, CNBC, Protocol, Metacurity, VICE, Input, and The Daily Beast
@twittersafety:
Wall Street Journal:
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.
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.
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accessory support, and backward compatibility  —  I haven't been using my Xbox One as much recently, as it just feels outdated.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 …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Snapchat now lets iOS users add song clips from a curated catalog of music to their Snaps and Stories  —  Snapchat today is launching a new feature called Sounds — which, taking a page from TikTok, lets app users add song clips to their Snaps and Stories.  Currently, though, it's available only in the app for Apple's iOS.
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.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Telegram says when Apple recently ordered it to delete specific posts, Apple demanded it not leave a notice explaining why, because such info was “irrelevant”  —  Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has been writing about a controversy that I think is fairly summarized as follows …
Kieren McCarthy / The Register:
Barnes and Noble confirms it was hacked, says some users' personal information may have been stolen; some customers were unable to download purchased e-books  —  Nook, line and sinker: Servers restored from backups, punters unable to download purchased e-books
Mary Ann Azevedo / FinLedger:
Argyle, which allows businesses to access employment records via an API or a web interface, raises $20M Series A led by Bain Capital  —  Argyle, which is building a “gateway to access employment records,” announced Thursday a $20 million Series A funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
How “Among Us”, an online social deduction game from 2018, took off among people of all ages during social distancing; one Discord server has 98,000+ fans  —  YouTubers, influencers and streamers popularized the multiplayer game.  Then their fans started playing too.
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.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) 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:
Building a more inclusive web experience: Our journey toward better accessibility  —  Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD)Technology has the power to connect, empower, and transform lives, but only if it's built for all.
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.

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Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
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Lily Hay Newman / Wired: