Social media platform TikTok says that a bill banning the app in the U.S. is “unconstitutional” and that it will fight this latest attempt to restrict its use in court. The bill in question, which President Joe Biden signed Wednesday, gives Chinese parent company ByteDance nine months to divest TikTok …...Read More
Breaking down TikTok's legal arguments around free speech, national security claims
Gen Z is losing its political voice on social media
President Joe Biden signed the bill this week that could ban TikTok from the U.S. if its parent company ByteDance doesn’t sell the platform. According to young political content creators, the ban could decimate Gen Z’s access to political news and information. “An unfortunately large amount of 18- to 24-year-olds …...Read More
FCC officially votes to reinstate net neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission made its official vote today to reinstate net neutrality, passing an order entitled Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet. This restores, with some changes and protections, the rules passed back in 2015 allowing the FCC to enforce basic rules of connectivity and fairness in broadband. Since …...Read More
Rubrik's shares climb 20% in its public debut
Rubrik shares hit the New York Stock Exchange Thursday debuting at $38 a share. The cybersecurity company priced it shares at $32 apiece Wednesday night, just a hair over its initial target range of $29 to $31 after raising $752 million. This share price gives Rubrik a fully diluted valuation …...Read More
Bluesky backs a project that would let Mastodon apps, like Ivory, work with its network
Social networks Bluesky and Mastodon may soon be accessible from within a single app — at least, that’s what Bluesky hopes. The new decentralized social network, originally incubated inside Jack Dorsey-run Twitter, is backing a project that would connect — or “bridge” — Mastodon requests into Bluesky requests so that …...Read More
Threads launches custom mute filters, teases controls for quote posts
Threads and Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced today that Threads is launching a new feature that lets users filter out words and phrases from their feeds and mentions. The “Hidden Words” feature automatically mutes common words, phrases, and emojis that might be offensive to users. In addition to these preset …...Read More
After 6-year hiatus, Stripe to start taking crypto payments, starting with USDC stablecoin
Stripe, the fintech giant, continues to inch its way back into the cryptocurrency market. On Thursday the company announced that it would start to let customers accept cryptocurrency payments, starting with just one currency in particular, USDC stablecoins, initially only on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon. This will be the first …...Read More
Chilean instant payments API startup Fintoc raises $7 million to turn Mexico into its main market
Open banking may be a global trend, but implementation is fragmented. The fintech startups doing the legwork to make it a reality in smaller markets could become M&A targets for incumbents like Visa. One of these is Y Combinator alum Fintoc, a B2B fintech startup that has raised a $7 …...Read More
Watch: FTC bans noncompetes, court challenge incoming
The Federal Trade Commission voted 3-2 this week to ban noncompete agreements. While the FTC estimates that nearly one in five American workers is subject to a noncompete, these agreements haven’t been a huge issue in Silicon Valley, because they’re not enforceable in California. This has arguably been one of …...Read More
RevenueCat raises $12M Series C as it expands its subscription management to the web
RevenueCat, a top subscription management platform for apps that monetize via in-app purchases, is now flush with new capital as it expands to the web. The company has closed on a $12 million Series C led by Adjacent, following the launch of a new product, RevenueCat Billing, that allows web …...Read More
