Financial Times:
Similarweb: active UK Telegram users hit 3.1M on July 29 and 3.7M on July 30 after a stabbing, as rioters turn to chat apps, up from 2.7M average in early 2024  —  Messaging service, known for ‘hands off’ approach to content moderation, faces pressure to tackle extremist groups

Bloomberg:
South Korean prosecutors charge Kakao founder Brian Kim with stock manipulation during the takeover of SM Entertainment, after Kim was arrested in July 2024  —  – Prosecutors will lay out charges against Kakao founder Kim  — The case has enthralled Korea’s internet and business sectors

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
A look at AI age scanners, which websites use to verify a person’s age by analyzing their facial patterns via webcam to help safeguard kids online  —  “Age assurance” checks are increasingly popular among lawmakers trying to wall kids off from the open internet.

Tim Stevens / The Verge:
YouTube channels focusing on cars, like Car Throttle and Donut, have seen an exodus of popular on-camera talent, often after investors acquired their channels  —  From Car Throttle to Donut, countless YouTube creators are fleeing.  But is this a new trend or a tale as old as venture capital?

Axios:
Anduril Industries raised a $1.5B Series F co-led by Founders Fund and Sands Capital at a $14B valuation, up from ~$8.5B after raising ~$1.5B in December 2022  —  – Sands Capital and existing investor Founders Fund co-led the Series F round, which is at a 65% post-money premium to where Anduril last raised money in late 2022.

Financial Times:
Sources: Google and Meta ran a pilot program in the US in May 2024 to target Instagram ads to teenagers on YouTube, which prohibits targeting ads to under-18s  —  Campaign on YouTube to boost Instagram’s appeal to young people skirted search group’s rules for marketing to under-18s

Jared Newman / Fast Company:
An interview with Mozilla interim CEO Laura Chambers on investing in Firefox, privacy-preserving ad measurements, becoming less dependent on Google, and more  —  But can it avoid upsetting its most loyal users along the way?  —  Last month, Mozilla made a quiet change in Firefox that caused some diehard users to revolt.

Lauren Feiner / The Verge:
A group of VCs, including Reid Hoffman and Ron Conway, hosted a “VCs for Kamala” Zoom call to support Harris’ campaign with up to 600 attendees, raising $150K  —  It started with a “rage tweet.”  —  “Gonna start ‘VCs for Democracy,’” Leslie Feinzaig, founder and general partner at Graham & Walker, wrote on X in late July.

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Researchers: hackers have used an 18-year-old flaw in how Safari, Chrome, and Firefox on macOS handle queries to a 0.0.0.0 IP address to breach private networks  —  Weaknesses in Chrome, Firefox and Safari gave hackers a route into internal networks, even those protected by firewalls, security researchers warn.

Dominic-Madori Davis / TechCrunch:
Techstars lays off 17% of its workforce, and says it will end the JP Morgan-backed $80M Advancing Cities fund after it is fully deployed at the end of 2024  —  Techstars is laying off 17% of its workforce and will end its $80 million J.P. Morgan-backed AdvancingCities program once the fund …