Techmeme
September 1, 2024, 12:10 AM

Top News

New York Times:
How Brazil's experiment to fight fake news during the 2022 elections, giving a justice broad power to order social media content removal, led to the ban on X  —  To combat disinformation, Brazil gave one judge broad power to police the internet.  Now, after he blocked X, some are wondering whether that was a good idea.
Associated Press:
Brazil blocks X, following an order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes after Elon Musk refused to name a legal representative in the country  —  The blocking of social media platform X in Brazil divided users and politicians over the legitimacy of the ban, and many Brazilians …
More: BBC, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Associated Press, The Verge, Vulture, CNN, Times of India, Bitcoin Insider, Truthout, Axios, The Post Millennial, Benzinga, Washington Post, Boston Herald, iThinkDifferent, Android Headlines, Game Rant, Digital Journal, Trying to make sense of Brazil, Agence France-Presse, American Greatness, Cointelegraph, NBC News, DevX, Washington Examiner, The Desk, SlashGear, Cryptopolitan, Mashable, The Crypto Times, Fox Business, The Hill, CoinGape, DNyuz, The Gateway Pundit, TechCrunch, Metro.co.uk, RTÉ, CNBC, The US Sun, The Sun, Human Events, Wired, The National Pulse, The Daily Caller, Reuters, Reuters, TechRadar, PCMag, Quartz, MEDIANAMA, Silicon Republic, The Atlantic, Know Your Meme, and Advanced Television
New York Times:
Bluesky reports a record spike in usage as many X users in Brazil move to Bluesky and Threads; Brazil is X's fifth-largest international market, with 20M+ users  —  The platform went dark across Brazil on Saturday, sending online commentators to new digital town squares.
New York Times:
Brazilian judge amends his order, no longer requiring Apple and Google to prevent downloads of X's app; those using a VPN to access X still face a ~$9K/day fine  —  The social network will go dark in the nation of 200 million, the result of an escalating fight between Elon Musk and a Brazilian judge over what can be said online.
Nick Burns / Americas Quarterly:
A profile of Alexandre de Moraes as even some supporters wonder if the Brazilian Supreme Court judge has become too powerful and gone too far by banning X  —  An escalating clash with Elon Musk and damaging revelations in the press are intensifying a long-running debate about whether Alexandre de Moraes is too powerful.
Mike Masnick / Techdirt:
X is right to stand up to Brazil's unjust “hostage laws,” but Musk's fight highlights his cynical free speech stance after he caved to Modi's censorship demands  —  In the battle between Elon Musk and Brazil, there are no heroes — only two sides engaged in an epic display of hypocrisy and overreach.
Wall Street Journal:
Big YouTube shows including Hot Ones and Good Mythical Morning attract large audiences but aren't yet getting Primetime Emmy nominations and ensuing ad revenue  —  ‘Hot Ones,’ ‘Chicken Shop Date’ and ‘Good Mythical Morning’ draw big audiences but aren't getting the kind of ad dollars and accolades TV shows do
More: AV Club, The Wrap, and Mashable
Threads: @simondowensX: @cleoabram and @thesimonetti
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Amazon hires the founders of industrial robot maker Covariant and ~25% of its staff, and signs a non-exclusive license to Covariant's robotic foundation models  —  Amazon is hiring three of the founders from Covariant, a Bay Area startup that develops AI for advanced warehouse robotics systems.
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
A reporter tries fixing his reputation with AI chatbots, including by adding a “strategic text sequence” to data sources, and via an AI optimization startup  —  When I set out to improve my tainted reputation with chatbots, I discovered a new world of A.I. manipulation.
More: Digital Journal, Longreads, and Axios
Threads: @kevinrooseBluesky: @g026r.leftblank.orgX: @ashleevanceForums: r/technology

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Savoir for Zoho Books  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
Saudi Arabia Enters The AI Race
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Grit:
How Matt Murphy Made Marvell Essential to AI and Cloud
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
How Palantir built the ultimate founder factory | Nabeel S. Qureshi (founder, writer, ex-Palantir)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Bad Apple + The Rise of the AI Empire + Italian Brain Rot
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Yotam Segev (CEO, Cyera) on Growing One of the Fastest Security Startups on the Planet
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:10 AM ET, September 1, 2024.

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

Ed Newton-Rex / Music Business Worldwide:
Matt Stoller / BIG:
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / TechCrunch:
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:
New York Times: