Daily Crunch - Social media confronts election misinformation

TechCrunch Newsletter

Wednesday, November 04, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

You may have heard that the United States had a presidential election yesterday, with plenty of implications for the tech world, particularly with social media as one of the battlegrounds in the fight over. Meanwhile, major tech-relevant ballot measures, like California’s Proposition 22, also passed. I’ll do my best to cover it all in your Daily Crunch for November 4, 2020.

The big story: Social media confronts election misinformation Here’s the good news: Election Day in the United States was largely free from disruptive cyberattacks. The bad news? Well, we don’t have a winner in the presidential election yet — although Joe Biden is up 2% in the popular vote as I write this on Wednesday afternoon, and he’s leading narrowly in key battleground states. The uncertainty has created a big opportunity for misinformation, particularly from President Donald Trump and others involved with his campaign who are trying to cast doubt on the voting and vote-counting process while prematurely claiming victory. As my colleague Taylor Hatmaker put it, this is a “nightmare misinformation scenario,” with the president and his campaign doing their best to “work the misinformation ecosystem he's cultivated over the last four years.” At least Facebook and Twitter are trying to stem the spread in different ways: Twitter has added warning labels to numerous Trump and Trump campaign posts (Trump and his campaign members aren’t the only ones getting warnings labels right now, but to be clear: They’re the ones spreading dangerous misinformation about the results — while the Biden campaign is, to put it simply, not). Facebook also added messages at the top of both Facebook and Instagram noting that votes are still being counted. Read more Image Credits: Samuel Corum / Getty Images

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The tech giants Apple, Microsoft and other tech stocks roar as the presidential election narrows to several states — At the close of trading today, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 3.8%. Zynga reports record revenue and strong user growth while still losing $122M — The company predicted further growth in Q4, with revenue up 55% to $570 million. Image Credits: emrVectors / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital Intel has acquired Cnvrg.io, a platform to manage, build and automate machine learning — Intel continues to snap up startups to build out its machine learning and AI operations. Aveine's Smart Wine Aerator is a huge upgrade for wine lovers, and could create some new ones, too — This gadget from a French startup offers variable, instant aeration, along with a connected app platform. Hustle Fund, a pre-seed firm, closes $30M for a new fund — Hustle Fund was created by Elizabeth Yin and Eric Bahn, two former 500 Startups partners. Image Credits: David Becker

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Will new SEC equity crowdfunding rules encourage more founders to pass the hat? — Companies can now raise $5 million via equity crowdfunding. As tech stocks rally, bring on the IPOs — The Exchange has heard whispers that the late-November/early-December period could be active for new filings. (Reminder: Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Kris Hoobaer / Getty Images

Everything else CA ballot measure that keeps gig workers as independent contractors is projected to pass — Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash (the major backers of California's Proposition 22) are getting their way. Cannabis legalization measures set to pass in five states — Cannabis legalization was on five state ballots yesterday and ran the table. Massachusetts voters pass a right-to-repair measure, giving them unprecedented access to their car data — Under the measure, once a person buys a vehicle, they own all of its data. Image Credits: Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images

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Daily Crunch - China postpones Ant Group IPO

TechCrunch Newsletter

Tuesday, November 03, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

Yes, there’s a high-stakes presidential election underway, but tech news doesn’t stop completely: Chinese regulators pull the brakes on Ant Group’s IPO, Spotify adds standalone streaming support on Apple Watch and PayPal outlines its plans for 2021. This is your Daily Crunch for November 3, 2020.

The big story: China postpones Ant Group IPO The Shanghai stock exchange has postponed Ant Group’s IPO a day after Chinese regulators held a closed-door meeting with Jack Ma and other company executives. The company has also halted plans for its public listing in Hong Kong. Ant Group, a financial technology giant that spun out of Alibaba, was previously on track to raise $34.5 billion in the world’s largest IPO. It’s not exactly clear why the offering was called off, but Alibaba’s founder Ma recently gave a speech criticizing China’s financial regulation. “We are sincerely sorry for any inconvenience brought to investors,” the company said in a statement. “We will properly handle follow-up matters following compliance regulations of the two exchanges.” Read more Image Credits: Ant Group

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The tech giants Spotify adds standalone streaming support to its Apple Watch app — The feature was spotted in testing back in September, and it arrives roughly two years after Spotify first debuted its dedicated Apple Watch app. Twitter hides Trump tweet attacking Supreme Court's decision on Pennsylvania ballots — In a preview of what to expect in the coming days, President Trump pushed the limits on Twitter's election-specific policies Monday night. PayPal details its digital wallet plans for 2021, including crypto, Honey integration and more — The company said it plans to roll out substantial changes to its mobile apps over the next year, including support for enhanced direct deposit, crypto and all of Honey’s shopping tools. Image Credits: Spotify

Startups, funding and venture capital REEF Technology raises $700M from SoftBank and others to remake parking lots — REEF began its life as Miami-based ParkJockey, providing hardware, software and management services for parking lots. Udacity raises $75M in debt, says its tech education business is profitable after enterprise pivot — The online learning company is now focused on winning over business customers. Walmart reportedly ends contract with inventory robotics startup Bossa Nova — Walmart has reportedly pulled the plug on one of its highest-profile partnerships. Image Credits: Arctic-Images / Getty Images

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Four takeaways from fintech VC in Q3 2020 — The latest on insurtech, banking, wealth management and payments startups. Gaming rules the entertainment industry, so why aren't investors showing up? — Venture activity doesn't seem to match the size of the games market. How startups can shake up their first idea and still crush the market — Some thoughts on the ol’ startup pivot. (Reminder: Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: adamkaz / Getty Images

Everything else Tech stocks rip higher on Election Day — The gains came long before any results that would indicate the election’s winner. NBC News launches an iOS 14 widget that puts election results on your home screen — NBC News allows users to customize a series of widgets with information related to early voting stats, polls, current election results and more. Image Credits: Spencer Platt / Getty Images

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Daily Crunch - Apple announces its next big event

TechCrunch Newsletter

Monday, November 02, 2020 • By Anthony Ha

Apple is closing out the year with another big event, Twitter details its plans to fight election-related misinformation and WeWork employees used an embarrassingly insecure printer password. This is your Daily Crunch for November 2, 2020.

The big story: Apple announces its next big event Yes, almost everyone’s attention is locked onto tomorrow’s U.S. presidential election, but Apple is giving us an excuse to look beyond November 4 — it’s holding another big event, themed “One More Thing,” on November 10 at 10 a.m. Pacific. What’s the one more thing? Most likely, Apple will unveil the first Macs built with the company’s ARM-based processors and also provide a release date for macOS Big Sur. The transition to “Apple silicon” was announced earlier this year at WWDC, with Tim Cook describing it as “a historic day for the Mac.” But now we’ll actually get some product details. Read more Image Credits: Apple

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The tech giants Twitter explains how it will handle misleading tweets about the US election results — The platform says it will prioritize labeling tweets about the presidential election and any other "highly contested races" where there may be significant issues with misleading information. Spotify will now allow artists and labels to promote tracks in your recommendations — Spotify announced today it will begin to test a new service that gives artists more of a say in how their music is discovered on the Spotify platform. WeWork employees used an alarmingly insecure printer password — The password (“9999”, the same as the user name) was so simple that a customer guessed it. Image Credits: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket / Getty Images

Startups, funding and venture capital YC-backed nonprofit VotingWorks wants to rebuild trust in election systems through open source — The startup has twin goals of improving the technology that underpins elections through more affordable and secure voting systems, as well as using modern statistical science to improve the quality and efficiency of voter audits. Rocket Lab's next launch will deliver 30 satellites to orbit, and a 3D-printed gnome from Gabe Newell — The gnome is a test of a new manufacturing technique, as well as a philanthropic endeavor from the gaming industry legend. Email creation startup Stensul raises $16M — With other marketing channels paused or diminished during the pandemic, email has only become more important. Image Credits: Facebook

Advice and analysis from Extra Crunch Pandemic's impact disproportionately reduced VC funding for female founders — Bias, seed-stage bottlenecks and slow structural change continue to hold women back. Booming edtech M&A activity brings consolidation to a fragmented sector — Edtech M&A activity is buzzier than usual. Starling Bank founder Anne Boden says new book 'isn't a memoir' — In “Banking On It,” Boden relates how she came up with the idea to found a challenger bank and the many obstacles she faced along the way. (Reminder: Extra Crunch is our membership program, which aims to democratize information about startups. You can sign up here.) Image Credits: Bryce Durbin

Everything else Raspberry Pi Foundation announces the cute little Raspberry Pi 400 — The Raspberry Pi 400 is a computer integrated in a compact keyboard that costs $70. Original Content podcast: Bill Murray's charm can't hide the sadness of 'On the Rocks' — The film reunites Murray with his "Lost in Translation" director Sofia Coppola. Image Credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch

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