Techmeme
September 2, 2021, 8:10 AM

Top News

Apple:
Apple will let developers of “reader” apps worldwide link to a website to set up or manage accounts early next year, closing an antitrust investigation by Japan  —  Apple will let developers of “reader” apps around the world link to an external website to set up or manage an account beginning early next year
Aditya Kalra / Reuters:
Sources: Apple is facing an antitrust investigation in India over forcing developers to use its in-app payment system  —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O) is facing an antitrust challenge in India for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the apps market by forcing developers to use its proprietary …
The Verge:
Apple's updated rules allowing web signup links appear to apply only to apps that don't make much money for Apple, like Netflix and Spotify  —  It's for apps that don't make Apple any money anyways  —  While vocal app developers accused Apple last week of spinning a lawsuit settlement …
Kait Sanchez / The Verge:
Twitter launches Super Follows for iOS, letting a select group of US test users charge either $2.99, $4.99, or $9.99 per month for their tweets  —  Select users in the US can now charge for tweets  —  Twitter is starting to roll out Super Follows, its new feature that lets users charge for subscriber-only content.
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
Ireland's Data Protection Commission, on behalf of the EU, fines WhatsApp €225M for privacy violations, the second-largest under GDPR; WhatsApp will appeal  —  Regulators say chat-service unit failed to disclose fully how it collected and shared data about its users
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
Apple says Arizona and Georgia will be first to support adding IDs to Wallet in iOS 15, with six states, including Utah, Maryland, and Iowa, expected to follow  —  Apple's plan to digitize your wallet is slowly taking shape.  What started with boarding passes and venue tickets later became credit cards …
Jonathan Stempel / Reuters:
Filing: SEC sues Satish Kumbhani, the founder of now-defunct BitConnect, and a promoter over alleged $2B crypto fraud scheme; Kumbhani's location is unknown  —  The top U.S. securities regulator on Wednesday sued the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange platform BitConnect …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft announces an online-only Surface hardware event for September 22, where an updated Surface Duo and Laptop are expected  —  New Surface hardware is on the way  —  Microsoft is holding a special Surface hardware event on September 22nd.  The software maker has started sending media invites …
Jarrod Doherty / Twitter:
Twitter introduces Safety Mode, which blocks harassing accounts for seven days, in beta for some English-language accounts  —  Feeling safe on Twitter looks different for everyone.  We've rolled out features and settings that may help you to feel more comfortable and in control of your experience …
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg:
Source: the DOJ is preparing to file a second antitrust lawsuit against Google by the end of this year, targeting Google's digital ads business  —  U.S. antitrust officials are preparing a second monopoly lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.'s Google over the company's digital advertising business …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Texas Senate passes bill banning social media companies with 50M+ users from censoring users' political views; Gov. Abbott is expected to sign it into law  —  But experts argue it's unconstitutional  —  Texas is one step closer to enacting a law that would make it more difficult …
Amy Lewin / Sifted:
French grocery delivery startup Cajoo raises $40M Series A from Carrefour and others and plans an expansion into Europe early next year  —  Landing a supermarket as a strategic investor gives Cajoo an edge, argues Capoul.  —  “Some competitors have much more money than us, but we have an advantage in Carrefour,” he says.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
FTC bans “stalkerware” company Support King, whose Android app allegedly secretly harvested users' location and other data, from the surveillance business  —  - The Federal Trade Commission voted unanimously to ban what it called a “stalkerware app company” and its CEO …
Joe Williams / Protocol:
Sources: Andy Jassy overruled an internal recommendation to fire a top AWS executive after a probe of claims the executive made discriminatory comments in 2019  —  Amazon CEO Andy Jassy intervened to prevent the firing of a top executive after an internal HR report recommended …
Bloomberg:
HomeLight, which offers AI-powered tools for home buyers, sellers, and real estate agents, raises $100M led by Zeev Ventures at a $1.6B valuation  —  Real estate technology company HomeLight has more than tripled its valuation to $1.6 billion, vaulting it to so-called unicorn status.
Tweets: @orenzeevThanks:@ivanlevingston
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Swedish startup Stravito, which offers cloud-based market research tools, raises €12.4M Series A led by Endeit Capital  —  Market research and insights are often underutilized assets for enterprises but it's usually too hard to find content and there's a lot of duplication, or information isn't used well.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Profile of Li Jin, an aggressively pro-worker VC who founded Atelier Ventures, which manages $13M, to invest in influencer-related startups  —  Li Jin, 31, began backing creators years ago.  She has raised her own fund to invest in influencer-related start-ups.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:10 AM ET, September 2, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

Oscar Gonzalez / CNET: