Techmeme
December 3, 2021, 7:40 PM

Top News

Reuters:
Sources: the iPhones of at least nine US State Department employees were hacked using NSO's spyware in the past several months  —  Apple Inc iPhones of at least nine U.S. State Department employees were hacked by an unknown assailant using sophisticated spyware developed by the Israel-based NSO Group …
Wall Street Journal:
The US plans to work with friendly nations to limit the export of surveillance tools and other tech used by authoritarian governments to suppress human rights  —  Administration official cites China's use of monitoring technologies, which Beijing has defended, in calling for tighter export rules
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sources: Sony plans to launch a subscription service, codenamed Spartacus, next spring that merges PlayStation Plus and PS Now, to compete with Xbox Game Pass  —  - Subscription offering would blend PlayStation Now and PS Plus  — Code-named Spartacus, launch is targeted for next spring
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
An anti-fascist researcher says Twitter suspended her account after someone reported a 2019 tweet of hers following Twitter's updated Private Information Policy  —  Researchers fear the new ban on posts sharing people's private information will be ‘emboldening to the fascists’ eager to keep their identities concealed.
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
Journalists and activists worry Twitter's new privacy policy will be weaponized and make their jobs harder, due to vague terms like “the public interest”  —  On Tuesday, Twitter said it is expanding its privacy policy to include what the company calls “private media.”
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft backtracks on Windows 11's controversial default browser changes, adds a “set default” button for browsers in a preview build  —  Windows 11 will now make it easier to change default browsers  —  Microsoft is backtracking on changes it made to Windows 11 that made it more difficult to switch default browsers.
Washington Post:
Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal announces a major reorganization, in which head of engineering Michael Montano and design lead Dantley Davis will step down  —  Engineering, design leads out as Parag Agrawal announces big changes.  —  Twitter's new CEO, Parag Agrawal, announced a major reorganization …
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Google says it will not require US employees to return to the office on January 10 as expected but encourages them to come in to build “muscle memory”  —  - Google's security VP, Chris Rackow, sent a companywide email Thursday that said Google will not require employees to return to offices on Jan. 10 as expected.
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Meta says it is testing a Split Payments feature for Messenger in the US that lets users share the cost of bills and expenses  —  Facebook Messenger announced today that it's starting to test out a new “Split Payments” feature that introduces a way for users to share the cost of bills and expenses through the app.
Dalvin Brown / Wall Street Journal:
Instagram has quietly rolled out a pop-up over the past year encouraging users to “try a new account” so they can “keep up with a smaller group of friends”  —  An in-app notice calls on users to ‘try a new account.’ Can a fresh start keep people from losing their enthusiasm for the platform?
Wall Street Journal:
The FTC sues to block Nvidia's acquisition of Arm, arguing the chip deal is anticompetitive; the $40B deal has risen to ~$75B due to Nvidia's share price  —  The agency alleges the semiconductor deal is anticompetitive  —  WASHINGTON—The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday sued …

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Reuters:
The Verge:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Tim Copeland / The Block:
Carly Page / TechCrunch: