Daily Crunch - The UK is creating a big tech watchdog

TechCrunch Newsletter

Friday, November 27, 2020 • By Darrell Etherington

The UK’s getting a dedicated regulator to try to encourage more competition and limit the power of big tech. This is your Daily Crunch for November 27, 2020.

The big story: UK sets up pro-competition regulator The UK is looking to do more to actively limit the power of big tech companies within the country, with a new pro-competition regulator designed to oversee web platforms including Facebook and Google. This body could impose restrictions like forcing ad platforms to opt out of behaviour-based advertising altogether. Read more Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

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The tech giants Alibaba gets into the EV market in China with SAIC — The EV market in China is massive, so a massive company like Alibaba getting into the business is not really surprising. It’s partnering up with local automaker SAIC, which makes sense given it’s an entirely new market for Alibaba. Google-Fitbit merger approval requires human rights safeguards, says Amnesty International – A major international NGO has sent a letter to the EU’s competition chief urging them to build in human rights protections as part of allowing Google’s Fitbit acquisition to proceed. India sets rules for Ola and Uber fee structure – Uber and Ola (as well as other ride-hailing firms) are now subject to a maximum fee of 20% on rides in India, thanks to a new rule structure put in place on Friday. Image Credits: Fitbit

Startups, funding and venture capital College students create an undergraduate hacker house for women – Lacking any options for a good way to take a break from traditional schooling and live and work together building something, a group of college-aged women created their own. Bigblue aims at ecommerce fulfilment automation – A French startup just raised a seed round to create an automated, end-to-end fulfilment solution for ecommerce companies looking to operate in Europe. Image Credits: Bigblue

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Remote work is the new normal and Wall Street needs to wise up – After stocks for companies focused on remote and home-based work and play took a beating on positive news about COVID-19 vaccines, Ron and Alex explain why this is a short-sighted reaction from public market investors. Slack could be overpriced on Salesforce tip – Alex looks into the ramifications of the potential Salesforce Slack acquisition and more in The Exchange. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Ron Miller/TechCrunch

Everything else Facebook’s Libra could debut in January – Facebook’s forthcoming cryptocurrency might actually be available by January. I’m surprised it still exists, tbh. Image Credits: Facebook

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Daily Crunch - Amazon Web Services stumble

TechCrunch Newsletter

Wednesday, November 25, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

An Amazon Web Services outage has a wide effect, Salesforce might be buying Slack and Pinterest tests new support for virtual events. This is your Daily Crunch for November 25, 2020. And for those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving: Enjoy! There will be no newsletter tomorrow, and then Darrell Etherington will be filling in for me on Friday.

The big story: Amazon Web Services stumble Amazon Web Services began experiencing issues earlier today, which caused issues for sites and services that rely on its cloud infrastructure — as writer Zack Whittaker discovered when he tried to use his Roomba. Amazon said the issue was largely localized to North America, and that it was working on a resolution. Meanwhile, a number of other companies, such as Adobe and Roku, have pointed to the AWS outage as the reason for their own service issues. Read more Image Credits: David Becker / Getty Images

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The tech giants Slack's stock climbs on possible Salesforce acquisition — News that Salesforce is interested in buying Slack sent shares of the smaller firm sharply higher today. Pinterest tests online events with dedicated 'class communities' — The company has been spotted testing a new feature that allows users to sign up for Zoom classes through Pinterest. France starts collecting tax on tech giants — This tax applies to companies that generate more than €750 million in revenue globally and €25 million in France, and that operate either a marketplace or an ad business. Image Credits: Thomas Trutschel / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital Tiger Global invests in India's Unacademy at $2B valuation — Unacademy helps students prepare for competitive exams to get into college. WeGift, the 'incentive marketing' platform, collects $8M in new funding — Founded in 2016, WeGift wants to digitize the $700 billion rewards and incentives industry. Cast.ai nabs $7.7M seed to remove barriers between public clouds — The company was started with the idea that developers should be able to get the best of each of the public clouds without being locked in. Image Credits: Unacademy

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Insurtech's big year gets bigger as Metromile looks to go public — Metromile, a startup competing in the auto insurance market, is going public via SPAC. Join us for a live Q&A with Sapphire's Jai Das on Tuesday at 2 pm EST/11 am PST — Das has invested in companies like MuleSoft, Alteryx, Square and Sumo Logic. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Nigel Sussman

Everything else Gift Guide: Smart exercise gear to hunker down and get fit with — Smart exercise and health gear is smarter than ever. Instead of yule log, watch this interactive dumpster fire because 2020 — Sure, why not.

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Daily Crunch - Twitter will bring back verification

TechCrunch Newsletter

Tuesday, November 24, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

Twitter prepares to hand out more blue checkmarks, YouTube suspends OANN and Discord is raising a big funding round. This is your Daily Crunch for November 24, 2020.

The big story: Twitter will bring back verification Twitter paused its blue checkmark verification system in 2017 as it faced controversy over who gets verified — specifically over the decision to verify the organizer of the infamous and deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. Since then, Twitter has done occasional verifications for medical experts tweeting about COVID-19 and candidates running for public office, but it hasn’t brought back the program in a systematic way. Now Twitter says it will relaunch verification in 2021, and that it’s currently soliciting feedback on the policy. Initially, verification will focus on six types of accounts: government officials, companies/brands/nonprofits, news, entertainment, sports and activists/organizers/other influential individuals. Read more

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The tech giants YouTube suspends and demonetizes One America News Network over COVID-19 video — YouTube said, “After careful review, we removed a video from OANN and issued a strike on the channel for violating our COVID-19 misinformation policy.” Instagram businesses and creators may be getting a Messenger-like 'FAQ' feature — This new feature will allow people to start conversations with businesses or creators' accounts by tapping on a commonly asked question within a chat. Fortnite adds a $12 monthly subscription bundle — The $11.99 monthly Fortnite Crew fee entitles players to a full season battle pass, 1,000 monthly bucks and a Crew Pack featuring an exclusive outfit bundle. Image Credits: Olly Curtis/Future / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital Discord is close to closing a round that would value the company at up to $7B — The new funding comes just months after a $100 million investment that gave the company a $3.5 billion valuation. Dija, a new delivery startup from former Deliveroo employees, is closing in on a $20M round led by Blossom — Few details are public about Dija, except that it will offer convenience and fresh food delivery using a "dark" convenience store mode. Marie Ekeland launches 2050, a new fund with radically ambitious, long-term goals —  Ekeland used to be an investor at French VC firm Elaia, where she backed adtech firm Criteo. Image Credits: Discord

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch As edtech grows cash rich, some lessons for early stage — The valuation bumps for both Duolingo and Udemy underscore just how much investor confidence there is in edtech's remote learning boom. Working to understand C3.ai's growth story — As its IPO looms, how quickly did C3.ai grow in its October quarter? Decrypted: Apple and Facebook's privacy feud, Twitter hires Mudge, mysterious zero-days — Zack Whittaker’s latest roundup of cybersecurity-related news. (Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. And until November 30, you can get 25% off an annual membership.) Image Credits: skynesher / Getty Images

Everything else Biden-Harris team finally get their transition .gov domain — This comes after the General Services Administration gave the green light for the Biden-Harris team to transition from political campaign to government administration. India bans 43 more Chinese apps over cybersecurity concerns — India is not done banning Chinese apps. Image Credits: TechCrunch

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