Techmeme
October 8, 2021, 5:50 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook and its apps were inaccessible for about two hours on Friday afternoon, which the company says was caused by a “configuration” change  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook and its family of apps were inaccessible on Friday afternoon, the second time in a week that the social network …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Hackers defaced Twitch for a few hours this morning, replacing a number of background game images with photos of Jeff Bezos  —  Twitch isn't having a good week  —  Hackers have managed to deface Twitch for a few hours this morning, replacing a number of background game images with photos of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The Verge:
Sources say Twitch valued speed and profit over user safety and data security, regularly choosing not to disclose security issues, including one in 2017  —  Bad security practices made the breach seem inevitable to former employees  —  A massive security breach at Twitch has exposed a wealth …
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Washington Post:
Ex-members of Facebook's integrity team speak of demoralization as management ignored their work; at least 10 members now work in a similar division at Twitter  —  Dissidents within the company endured personal and professional setbacks for their criticisms of the powerful social network
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Google says Chrome's Follow button, for sites that support RSS, is now available to all Android users  —  Google hasn't completely given up on RSS.  Earlier this year, it started testing a Follow button in Chrome on Android, which allows users to get updates from websites on the new tab page.
Bloomberg:
Sources: the Biden administration is considering an EO on cryptocurrencies to set up a government-wide approach to the asset class  —  The Biden administration is weighing an executive order on cryptocurrencies as part of an effort to set up a government-wide approach to the white-hot asset class …
Politico:
136 countries spanning the EU, US, China, and India agree to set a 15% minimum tax rate for corporate profits; the deal must still be approved by G20  —  The world's biggest companies like Facebook and Johnson & Johnson face an extra collective tax bill of hundreds of billions of dollars …
Wall Street Journal:
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Notion raises $275M led by Coatue Management and Sequoia at a $10B valuation; the company was reportedly valued at $2B in April  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  Early this year, Notion experienced a problem unusual to enterprise software startups: it went viral on TikTok.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K Max review: improved performance with Wi-Fi 6 and a large app selection, but the banner ads on the homescreen are not subtle  —  The improvements are minor but worth the extra cash  —  The tech industry sure has put a lot of hype behind descriptors like “max” over the last few years.
Geoff Weiss / Tubefilter:
YouTube says it will stop making year-end Rewind videos, after canceling the 2020 edition due to the pandemic  —  After shelving last year's iteration of YouTube Rewind due to the hardships and heaviness of 2020, YouTube has exclusively confirmed to Tubefilter that it is doing away with the annual compendium for good.
Bloomberg Law:
Profile of privacy activist Ashkan Soltani, who was named head of the California Privacy Protection Agency on Monday  —  The California Privacy Protection Agency's new executive director Ashkan Soltani is uniquely poised to tackle enforcement and rulemaking for The Golden State's landmark …
Lucinda Shen / Fortune:
BetterUp, which provides mental health counseling and employee coaching through its app, raises $300M Series E at a $5B valuation  —  Sign up for Term Sheet, a daily newsletter on the biggest deals and dealmakers.  Sign up to get it delivered free to your inbox.  —  It's been a whirlwind 2021 for BetterUp.

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Earlier Picks

Maddie Stone / Grist:
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Anya Kamenetz / NPR:
Zeke Faux / Bloomberg: