Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
A screenshot seems to show TikTok circumventing Apple’s App Store fees by showing some users a link to a site for buying digital coins, instead of using IAPs — TikTok may be routing around the App Store to save money on commissions. According to new findings, the ByteDance-owned social video app …
Amazon reports Q1 ad revenue up 24% YoY to $11.8B, vs. $11.7B est., driven by the growth of its Stores and Prime Video businesses (Todd Spangler/Variety)
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Amazon reports Q1 ad revenue up 24% YoY to $11.8B, vs. $11.7B est., driven by the growth of its Stores and Prime Video businesses — Amazon raked in $11.82 billion in ad revenue for the first quarter of 2024, well over analyst expectations, fueled by the ecommerce giant’s move to serve advertising …
Letter from US senators: only five of 14 automakers require police to have a warrant before requesting user data, and only Tesla tells users about such requests (Kashmir Hill/New York Times)
Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
Letter from US senators: only five of 14 automakers require police to have a warrant before requesting user data, and only Tesla tells users about such requests — Modern cars are internet-connected and have hundreds of sensors. Lawmakers and regulators have concerns about what’s happening with all that data.
The US DOJ says it has charged Roger Ver, a well-known figure from the early days of Bitcoin, with filing false tax returns and more, evading ~$50M in taxes (Jeff John Roberts/Fortune)
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
The US DOJ says it has charged Roger Ver, a well-known figure from the early days of Bitcoin, with filing false tax returns and more, evading ~$50M in taxes — The Justice Department announced on Tuesday it has charged Roger Ver, a well-known figure from the early days of Bitcoin, with mail fraud and filing false tax returns.
US judge sentences Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison (Elizabeth Lopatto/The Verge)
Elizabeth Lopatto / The Verge:
US judge sentences Binance founder Changpeng Zhao to four months in prison — Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to four months in prison for failing to establish adequately anti-money laundering protections. Zhao, once the head of the largest crypto exchange in the world, pleaded guilty in November 2023.
Game emulator Delta has been the top US iOS app for weeks, after Apple lifted its ban on such apps, likely due to regulatory pressure and alt stores in the EU (Shira Ovide/Washington Post)
Shira Ovide / Washington Post:
Game emulator Delta has been the top US iOS app for weeks, after Apple lifted its ban on such apps, likely due to regulatory pressure and alt stores in the EU — Antitrust crackdowns on Apple are already changing your iPhone for the better — The hottest iPhone app in America may owe …
SCOTUS declines to block a Texas online porn restriction law, after critics said an age-verification mandate violates 1A by forcing viewers to submit their info (Lawrence Hurley/NBC News)
Lawrence Hurley / NBC News:
SCOTUS declines to block a Texas online porn restriction law, after critics said an age-verification mandate violates 1A by forcing viewers to submit their info — The pornography industry challenged the state law’s age-verification provision, saying it places an unlawful burden on adults wishing to access content.
SafeBase, which helps companies automate software security reviews using AI, raised a $33M Series B led by Touring Capital, bringing its total funding to $50M+ (Kyle Wiggers/TechCrunch)
Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
SafeBase, which helps companies automate software security reviews using AI, raised a $33M Series B led by Touring Capital, bringing its total funding to $50M+ — Entrepreneurs Al Yang and Adar Arnon met at Harvard Business School and quickly realized that they had an interest in common: cybersecurity.
Marriott quietly admits it did not encrypt certain user data impacted by a 2018 breach, after arguing in court encryption was used so lawsuits should be tossed (Evan Schuman/CSO)
Evan Schuman / CSO:
Marriott quietly admits it did not encrypt certain user data impacted by a 2018 breach, after arguing in court encryption was used so lawsuits should be tossed — Marriot revealed in a court case around a massive 2018 data breach that it had been using secure hash algorithm 1 …
The Browser Company debuts Arc on Windows, after testing began in December 2023, and says the Windows app has 150K+ users; the macOS app shipped in July 2023 (Ivan Mehta/TechCrunch)
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
The Browser Company debuts Arc on Windows, after testing began in December 2023, and says the Windows app has 150K+ users; the macOS app shipped in July 2023 — The Browser Company, makers of the Arc web browser, released its Windows version today. The company started testing the Windows client …
