Techmeme
May 18, 2023, 8:00 AM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
Montana Governor Greg Gianforte signs the country's first bill that bans TikTok in a state, set to go into effect on January 1, 2024  —  Ban is slated to take effect next year—if it survives expected litigation  —  Montana's governor signed the country's first bill that outright bans TikTok …
Huw Jones / Reuters:
A UK Treasury Committee crypto report recommends the government regulate trading and investment in unbacked crypto as gambling instead of a financial service  —  Bitcoin , ether and other cryptocurrencies should be regulated as gambling given the significant risks they pose to consumers …
Michelle Faverio / Pew Research Center:
Survey: 60% of Americans who used Twitter in the past year have taken a break from the social network; 25% say they are not likely to use Twitter in a year  —  A majority of Americans who have used Twitter in the past year report taking a break from the platform during that time …
Suvashree Ghosh / Bloomberg:
Binance Australia can no longer offer Aussie dollar deposits due to a decision by Cuscal, “our payment processor's partner bank”, and warns of disruptions  —  The Australian arm of crypto exchange Binance suffered a setback on Thursday after the local platform lost access …
CoinDesk:
Grayscale says the US SEC warned that the Filecoin token meets the definition of a security and asked Grayscale to withdraw its Filecoin Trust application  —  Grayscale announced last month that the SEC suggested FIL might be a security.  —  ): Corrects story to reflect that the SEC wants Grayscale …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Yogita Khatri / The Block:
Tether plans to invest up to 15% of its profits in bitcoin, as the stablecoin developer shifts its reserves toward crypto and away from US government debt  —  - Tether is set to purchase bitcoin on a regular basis from its profits.  — It held $1.5 billion in bitcoin as of the end of the first quarter …
Laura Cole / Wired:
An investigation reveals how hundreds of freelancers hired as customer service reps catfish users into paying for subscriptions on niche dating and hookup sites  —  Hired as customer service reps, these freelancers were instead tasked with luring in the lonely and lovestruck through a network of dating and hookup sites.
Tatum Hunter / Washington Post:
Ovulation tracking app Premom agrees to pay $200K to settle with the FTC and state AGs for allegedly sharing user information with third parties without consent  —  The app allegedly shared sensitive user information with China-based companies known for privacy problems
Alex Weprin / The Hollywood Reporter:
Netflix says its ad tier has nearly 5M global MAUs, with a median age of 34, six months after launch, and makes up 25%+ of signups in countries with the option  —  In its inaugural upfront advertising event, executives touted the the streaming service's growing ad tier, and unveiled new sponsorship options.
Financial Times:
At a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister, TSMC, Samsung, Intel, Micron, and other chipmakers announce plans to expand investment and partnerships in the country  —  Seven of the world's largest semiconductor makers have set out plans to increase manufacturing and deepen tech partnerships …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
AWS plans to invest $12.7B into its infrastructure in India by 2030, in addition to a previous $3.7B, and says its spending will support 131,700 full-time jobs  —  Amazon plans to invest $12.7 billion into its cloud infrastructure in India by 2030, the e-commerce group said Thursday …
Dietrich Knauth / Reuters:
Voyager expects users to recover ~35% of their crypto deposits as a US judge approves its liquidation plan, letting the company return ~$1.33B in crypto assets  —  Crypto lender Voyager Digital said Wednesday that customers will recover about 35% of their cryptocurrency deposits as the company winds …
Washington Post:
A survey of 70 cybersecurity experts: 64% favored reauthorization of FISA's Section 702, set to expire at the end of 2023, with some kind of change  —  Welcome to The Cybersecurity 202!  It's good to be back from Denver.  There, a 6-year-old repeatedly defeated me and/or incapacitated …
More: Politico and CircleID
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Docs: Google plans to use new AI models for ads, customer service, and to help YouTube creators, and is working on an internal Stable Diffusion-like product  —  - Google has approved several ad-related artificial intelligence projects to help advertisers and YouTube creators, internal documents show.
More: NeowinThanks:@mattrosoff
Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google:
An update to Google's Personal Safety app for Android suggests the company plans to offer a Dashcam recording feature for Pixel phones and other select devices  —  Rather than needing to buy a (sometimes pricey) dedicated gadget, you should soon be able to use your Pixel (and select other Android devices) …
Jess Weatherbed / The Verge:
Logitech partners with iFixit to help with DIY repairs, supplying spare parts, batteries, and guides for select Logitech hardware starting this summer in the US  —  / Official spare parts, batteries, and repair guides for select Logitech hardware will be available through iFixit starting ‘this summer.’
Diana Li / Bloomberg:
Grammarly announces Grammarly Business, using generative AI to summarize key points in email strings, compose replies, and more, rolling out in June 2023  —  Grammarly Inc., a software company known for its writing assistant, is trying to expand its business to the office by harnessing artificial intelligence.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
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Zoho:
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More News

Jaime Brooks / The Seat of Loss:
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Earlier Picks

Stephanie Bodoni / Bloomberg:
Heather Kelly / Washington Post:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Ryan Weeks / The Block: