Brady Dale / Axios:
SEC chair Gary Gensler will step down on January 20; it has been traditional for SEC chairs to resign if the administration changes in the middle of their term — – “I thank President Biden for entrusting me with this incredible responsibility. … The agency had resisted launching exchange …
In its latest security report, Meta says it removed 2M+ accounts this year connected to pig butchering scams conducted from Southeast Asia and the UAE (James Reddick/The Record)
James Reddick / The Record:
In its latest security report, Meta says it removed 2M+ accounts this year connected to pig butchering scams conducted from Southeast Asia and the UAE — Meta has taken down more than 2 million accounts this year connected to pig butchering scams conducted from Southeast Asia and the United Arab Emirates, the company said Thursday.
Meta is rolling out voice message transcripts on WhatsApp globally over the coming weeks in select languages, and says they are generated on users’ devices (Aisha Malik/TechCrunch)
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Meta is rolling out voice message transcripts on WhatsApp globally over the coming weeks in select languages, and says they are generated on users’ devices — WhatsApp announced on Thursday it’s rolling out voice message transcripts. The Meta-owned company says the new feature will come …
Crypto mining company Mara Holdings raised $1B through convertible notes, mostly to acquire bitcoin, as it expects bitcoin mining to flourish under Trump (Josh O’Sullivan/Cointelegraph)
Josh O’Sullivan / Cointelegraph:
Crypto mining company Mara Holdings raised $1B through convertible notes, mostly to acquire bitcoin, as it expects bitcoin mining to flourish under Trump — Mara Holdings has secured $1 billion through convertible notes for strategic debt management and aggressive Bitcoin investment. — Total views
Rabbit releases its teach mode in beta for all R1 users, letting them create and ask their own AI agents to automate tasks on websites (Igor Bonifacic/Engadget)
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Rabbit releases its teach mode in beta for all R1 users, letting them create and ask their own AI agents to automate tasks on websites — It’s a major milestone for the AI startup. — When the Rabbit R1 arrived earlier this year, it was an unfinished product.
Sources: two congressional Republicans prepare an age verification bill that puts the onus for age verification on app store operators, boosting Meta’s campaign (Washington Post)
Washington Post:
Sources: two congressional Republicans prepare an age verification bill that puts the onus for age verification on app store operators, boosting Meta’s campaign — The Washington Post’s essential guide to tech policy news — Happy Thursday! Today’s edition comes to you from newsletter anchors past and present.
Adam Mosseri says Threads is rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people that users follow, warns that creators’ “unconnected” reach may go down (Jay Peters/The Verge)
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Adam Mosseri says Threads is rebalancing ranking to prioritize content from people that users follow, warns that creators’ “unconnected” reach may go down — As Bluesky’s user numbers continue to rise, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri says Threads will change its For You page to show fewer posts from accounts you don’t follow.
SpyCloud researchers say Chinese black market operators are openly recruiting insiders working for government surveillance agencies to sell their access online (Andy Greenberg/Wired)
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
SpyCloud researchers say Chinese black market operators are openly recruiting insiders working for government surveillance agencies to sell their access online — Chinese black market operators are openly recruiting government agency insiders, paying them for access to surveillance data …
Hawaii’s The Garden Island stops using AI-generated newscasters on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram after two months, likely due to the negative public response (Guthrie Scrimgeour/Wired)
Guthrie Scrimgeour / Wired:
Hawaii’s The Garden Island stops using AI-generated newscasters on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram after two months, likely due to the negative public response — A local newspaper in Hawaii experimented with AI-generated presenters to engage and boost its readership. After two months, the bots have been shelved.
Las Vegas-based Monkey Tilt, which combines online gambling with a chat function and content made by influencers, raised a $30M Series A led by Pantera (Catherine McGrath/Fortune)
Catherine McGrath / Fortune:
Las Vegas-based Monkey Tilt, which combines online gambling with a chat function and content made by influencers, raised a $30M Series A led by Pantera — Monkey Tilt launched just eight months ago and has amassed $200 million of monthly betting volume. — Online gambling used …
