Techmeme
July 22, 2021, 2:25 AM

Top News

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Twitter is testing a way to downvote replies on iOS to understand the types of replies users find relevant to a conversation; downvotes won't be public  —  Last year, Twitter's chief product officer Kayvon Beykpour confirmed that the social network was “exploring” the idea of adding a dislike button to the app.
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
The FTC formally pledges to fight unlawful right-to-repair restrictions, says it will use its power to lower repair costs and support independent repair shops  —  It comes days after the White House endorsed similar rules  —  The Federal Trade Commission formally pledged to take on unlawful …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Clubhouse is no longer invite-only as it exits beta and says the 10M people on its waitlist will be added to the app over time  —  The app goes wide  —  Clubhouse is going wide.  Co-founders Paul Davison and Rohan Seth announced today that the app is no longer invite-only.
Shoshana Wodinsky / Gizmodo:
Grindr has a track record of saying that data shared with brokers is encrypted and unidentifiable, despite the use of such data to out a Catholic priest, others  —  The latest scandal to rock the Catholic Church was both incredibly unnerving and entirely preventable.  Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?
Washington Post:
Bloomberg Law:
California Department of Fair Employment and Housing has sued Activision Blizzard for sexual harassment of and discrimination against its female staff  —  Video game giant Activision Blizzard Inc., maker of games including World of Warcraft and Diablo, fosters a “frat boy” …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Spanish police have arrested UK citizen Joseph O'Connor at the US' request over his alleged involvement in last year's hack of high-profile Twitter accounts  —  Authorities are still cracking down on participants in the July 2020  —  Twitter celebrity hacks.  Spanish National Police have
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Facial-recognition company Clearview AI raises $30M Series B amid legal and ethical concerns, with new investors requesting they not be publicly identified  —  Clearview AI is currently the target of multiple class-action lawsuits and a joint investigation by Britain and Australia.
CNN:
Facebook hides the tag #VaccinesKill from searches, displaying a message that says it is “keeping our community safe”, two years after Instagram hid the tag  —  (CNN)Last week, even as it came under fire from the White House over its role in spreading anti-vaccine misinformation …
Nikhilesh De / CoinDesk:
SEC Chairman Gary Gensler: stock tokens and stablecoins backed by securities “are implicated by the securities laws and must work within our securities regime”  —  Stock tokens and stablecoins backed by securities might be treated as securities under U.S. law, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said.
Cameron Faulkner / The Verge:
Jon Porter / The Verge:
Google Maps expands its crowdedness predictions to 10K+ transit agencies in 100 countries, and will show how crowded individual carriages are in NYC and Sydney  —  Expanding to ‘over 10,000 transit agencies in 100 countries’  —  Google is expanding the number of cities where Maps offers information about public transport crowding.
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch:
Epic Games acquires Sketchfab, which operates a repository with 4M+ 3D assets, for an undisclosed sum; Sketchfab reduces its store commission from 30% to 12%  —  New York-based startup Sketchfab has been acquired by Epic Games, the company behind Fortnite and Unreal Engine.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube says it will test a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos, starting with a few creators and brands  —  YouTube will begin pilot testing a new feature that will allow viewers to shop for products directly from livestream videos.
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Argo AI says it plans launch up to 1,000 autonomous vehicles on Lyft's network in some US cities over the next five years, starting with Miami later this year  —  Autonomous vehicle technology startup Argo AI and its backer and customer Ford plan to launch up to 1,000 self-driving vehicles …
Katie Deighton / Wall Street Journal:
Tumblr starts testing Post+, which allows users to charge their followers a monthly fee in exchange for access to exclusive content, with Tumblr taking a 5% cut  —  Social platform is the latest to let users earn money from posting  —  Microblogging stalwart Tumblr on Wednesday began …
Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
GudangAda, a Jakarta-based B2B marketplace for fast-moving consumer goods, stationery, and more, raises $100M+ Series B led by Asia Partners and Falcon Edge  —  GudangAda, a Jakarta-based marketplace that brings wholesalers closer to retail stores and other buyers, announced it has closed a Series B of more than $100 million.
Marc Vartabedian / Wall Street Journal:
Virtually Human Studio, the startup behind Zed Run, which lets users breed and race virtual horses bought and sold as NFTs, raises $20M Series A led by TCG  —  Zed Run's parent company nets $20 million as media startups, NFTs surge  —  Virtually Human Studio, the startup behind digital …
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:
Report: only one in twelve households eligible for the FCC's emergency broadband benefit are enrolled in the $3.2B program  —  Nearly 4 million households have enrolled in the Federal Communications Commission's emergency broadband benefit program since it launched in May. But as researchers …
Katie Jennings / Forbes:
Carbon Health, which offers app-based virtual care and in-person care at 80 clinics across 12 US states, raises $350M, source says at a valuation of $3.3B  —  I am a staff writer covering healthcare.  Email me at kjennings@forbes.com.  —  Most hospital executives will say it's impossible to run a business on Medicare rates.
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
The Biden administration's promise to “review” Section 230 in response to anti-vax posts on Facebook will fail since being wrong online is protected speech  —  ‘Reviewing’ Section 230 isn't the answer to anti-vax posts  —  Last week, the White House declared war …

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