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Techmeme
February 17, 2023, 9:50 PM
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Top News

Zoë Schiffer / @zoeschiffer:
Sources: Twitter plans to unveil a new policy that only Blue subscribers will be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication  —  NEW: Twitter is planning to unveil a new policy as soon as this afternoon that only Blue subscribers will be able to use SMS-based two-factor authentication, according to company sources.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Bing chats will now be capped at 50 questions per day and five per session; after five questions, Bing will prompt users to start a new topic  —  Microsoft says it's implementing some conversation limits to its Bing AI just days after the chatbot went off the rails multiple times for users.
Sheila Dang / Reuters:
Source: Microsoft is demoing the Bing chatbot to ad agencies and is testing inserting paid search ads and industry-specific ad formats into the responses
New York Times:
Microsoft is considering limiting Bing chatbot's conversation lengths and adding tools to let users restart conversations or give them more control over tone
Kurt Schlosser / GeekWire:
Amazon tells corporate staff to return to the office “at least three days per week”, starting on May 1, after previously leaving the decision to team leaders  —  Amazon wants its corporate and tech employees back in the office at least three days per week, CEO Andy Jassy said in a memo to workers on Friday.
Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:
GoDaddy discovered a multiyear security breach in early December 2022 in which unknown attackers stole some source code and installed malware on its servers  —  Web hosting giant GoDaddy says they suffered a breach where unknown attackers have stolen source code and installed malware …
Cam Thompson / CoinDesk:
OpenSea briefly removes marketplace fees to compete with no-fee marketplace Blur, which topped OpenSea in daily trading volume on February 15 for the first time  —  The top NFT marketplace's policy shift stems from competition with popular zero-fee marketplace Blur.
Yueqi Yang / Bloomberg:
Source: Binance is considering de-listing USDC and other tokens from US projects, ending US partnerships, and closing VC investments, amid regulatory scrutiny  —  Crypto giant Binance Holdings Ltd. is considering ending relationships with US business partners as regulators turn up the heat.
Thomas Claburn / The Register:
Source: the UK CMA is investigating a deal in which Google pays Apple a portion of search revenue generated by people using Chrome on iOS  —  Those billions just may have dissuaded iPhone giant from building rival search, beefing up Safari  —  EXCLUSIVE Google has been paying Apple a portion …
Clothilde Goujard / Politico:
Under the Digital Services Act, online platforms disclose their MAUs in the EU: YouTube has 401M+, Facebook ~255M, Instagram ~250M, TikTok 150M, Twitter 100.9M  —  TikTok, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have now confirmed they will face the strictest rules under the EU's content-moderation law, the Digital Services Act (DSA).
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
The SEC says Do Kwon and Terraform Labs have withdrawn $100M+ out of a cold wallet holding 10K+ Bitcoin via an intermediary Swiss bank account since June 2022  —  Crypto fugitive Do Kwon and the firm he founded transferred over 10,000 Bitcoin out of their doomed project and turned …
Bloomberg:
The SEC sues Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, accusing them of selling unregistered securities and perpetrating a fraudulent scheme that lost $40B+ in market value
Kate Clark / The Information:
Stripe's investor pitch deck says the startup needs $4B by the end of 2024 to cover a tax withholding bill when modifying employee stock grants before its IPO  —  Stripe is trying to raise a huge sum of money from investors, so it has tried to craft a compelling pitch: The payments giant …
Bloomberg:
Sources: former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh plans to plead guilty to US criminal charges over his role in an alleged multiyear fraud at the company  —  (Bloomberg) — Another former member of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle is planning to plead guilty to US criminal charges …
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Samsung says the Galaxy S23 series' Message Guard feature will prevent zero-click exploits via messaging apps by detecting malware hidden in image attachments  —  Zero-click attacks, which can install malware onto a device without the user clicking or tapping on anything, have been on the rise in recent years.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 9:50 PM ET, February 17, 2023.

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.

From Mediagazer

Sara Fischer / Axios:
PBS and a public TV affiliate in Minnesota sue the Trump administration, saying his executive order to cut federal funding violated PBS' First Amendment rights

Brian Stelter / CNN:
OAN chief Pentagon correspondent Gabrielle Cuccia says she was fired after criticizing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's media restrictions at the Pentagon

Max Tani / Semafor:
The California State Senate opens an inquiry into whether Paramount's reported $15M proposed settlement with Trump violated bribery and unfair competition laws

More News

Will Knight / Wired:
Roblox is testing a tool that lets players use natural language to create and change the appearance and behavior of items like buildings, terrain, and avatars
Cristiano Lima / Washington Post:
The FTC launches an Office of Technology, increasing the number of technologists on staff from 10 to ~22 ahead of legal battles with Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta
Victoria Song / The Verge:
Fitbit plans to remove adventures, challenges, and open groups on March 27 and replace Studio with an SDK; Google says the app's features were of “limited use”
Bloomberg:
Filing: the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund's Savvy Games Group now owns 8.3% of Nintendo, the largest outside stake, up from ~6% at the start of 2023

Earlier Picks

Josh Ye / Reuters:
Sources: Tencent cuts its 300-strong metaverse unit and drops VR hardware plans due to trouble achieving quick profitability and the need for a big investment
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Meta gave ~10% of employees subpar ratings in recent performance reviews, a potential sign of more layoffs, and cut a bonus metric to 85% of its target
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft authorizes Parallels Desktop 18 to support Windows 11 on Apple's M1 and M2 Macs, after previously only licensing ARM versions of Windows to OEMs
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Tile debuts an anti-theft mode that requires biometric data, a government ID, and a ToS letting Tile share info with police, to limit the misuse of its trackers
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