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Tech NewsGoogle
Russia Demands Google Cease Sending YouTube Push Notifications for Protest Livestreams
Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) has demanded that Google cease promoting livestreams of demonstrations with push notifications, a day after “tens of thousands” of Russians “staged what observers called the country’s biggest political protest for eight years on Saturday,” Reuters reported. In a statement, Roskomnadzor warned Google … Continued
By Tom McKay -
io9ComicsDC Comics
Wow, Superman’s Good at Twitter
DC’s been doing a weird thing lately—slowly but surely, its iconic trinity has been signing up to Twitter, with their own, in-character accounts. First came Wonder Woman. Superman’s just arrived. Batman is surely inevitable, but for now? Clark Kent may be the unsuspecting king of DC twitter. As Wonder Woman’s official twitter has been around … Continued
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Tech NewsPrivacy and Security
FBI Plans to Monitor Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for Terrorism and Domestic Threats in Real-Time
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is soliciting technology firms to build a tool that can monitor social media for threats. The agency posted a request for proposals on July 8 claiming it wants a “social media early alerting tool,” that will help it track the use of the platforms by terrorists, criminal organizations, and foreign … Continued
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Tech NewsGadgets
TikTok Owner ByteDance Is Getting Into the Phone Biz [Updated]
Zhang Yiming, the founder of ByteDance—the company behind TikTok—has long dreamed of making a phone. And now, based on some new reports, it seems a TikTok phone is finally going to happen. According to Reuters, earlier today, ByteDance announced that as a continuation on a previous deal with Chinese smartphone maker Smartisan, ByteDance will follow … Continued
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Tech NewsFacebook
Report: FTC to Accuse Facebook of Using 2FA Numbers for Ads, Hiding Facial Recognition Settings
The Federal Trade Commission recently attracted scorn from congressional Democrats for fining world-spanning social network Facebook just $5 billion rather than tens of billions after the company failed to abide by the terms of a 2011 settlement with the agency on user privacy. But the FTC still has more dirt to dish out from its … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Guy Who Built Twitter’s Retweet Button Admits Maybe That Was a Really Bad Idea
The man behind Twitter’s “Retweet” button—which is pretty much the foundation of the whole site—now thinks he screwed up big time, telling BuzzFeed News in an interview that he recalled thinking, “We might have just handed a 4-year-old a loaded weapon.” “That’s what I think we actually did,” added Chris Wetherell, the developer in question. … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsFakes
Libra Scammers Are Promising Early Access to Facebook’s Digital Currency to Steal Private Information
If you search YouTube for Facebook’s Libra, you’ll find plenty of videos that tell you how to buy the digital currency. The problem is that many of the videos are published by scam artists who are apparently trying to steal your personal information. How do we know they’re scams? Libra hasn’t even been launched yet. … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFacebook
Two Cops Fired Over Facebook Post Suggesting Rep. Ocasio-Cortez Should Be Assassinated
Two police officers in Gretna, Louisiana have been fired over a Facebook post that suggested Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez should be killed. One of the officers published the content and another police officer liked it. Charlie Rispoli, a 14-year veteran of the Gretna police force, shared an article on Facebook last week that included fake … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsBest of the Week
Saving an Ice Shelf, Lunar Conspiracies, and the Butterfly Effect: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
The third week of July 2019 is past us—and if you live in much of the Midwest or the East Coast, it’s been one helluva hot one with a heat wave breaking one-day temperature records in NYC and conditions in Washington, D.C. and Cincinnati compared to Death Valley and Nairobi respectively. And while it’s difficult … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
TikTok Reportedly Experimenting With a Bunch of Instagram-Like Features
TikTok, the wildly popular short-form video platform, appears to be testing a whole host of new features that seem to take a few cues from Instagram. The tests were spotted by Jane Manchun Wong and reported by TechCrunch on Friday. According to screenshots shared by Wong to Twitter, TikTok is toying with an in-app “Discover” … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsNews
Iran Denies Claim That U.S. Military Destroyed Drone in the Strait of Hormuz
The government of Iran has denied reports that the U.S. shot down an Iranian drone this week in the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting claims by the U.S. military and President Donald Trump that an enemy drone had been destroyed. “We have not lost any drone in the Strait of Hormuz nor anywhere else,” Iran’s Deputy … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsNews
Instagram Will Now Warn You If Your Account Is Close to Being Yanked
Instagram’s recent rollouts of updates to its platform continues this week with two more changes around post and account take-downs, as well as a new process for appealing content deletion that it will expand in the coming months. The company announced in a blog post on Thursday that it will begin notifying users if their … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsNews
Top Searches on Merriam-Webster Include ‘Fascism’ and ‘Racism’ After President Trump’s Latest Rally
Donald Trump held another neo-fascist rally yesterday in North Carolina, where the crowd chanted things like “treason,” “traitor,” and “send her back,” while the president talked about Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota. Online dictionary searches in the U.S. from last night show just how bad things have gotten. Merriam-Webster reports … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsFacebook
Congressman to Facebook: Your Digital Currency Could Be Worse Than 9-11
Facebook’s new digital currency, Libra, has the potential to be worse than the September 11th attacks. At least that’s what Democratic Congressman Dril (sorry, Congressman Brad Sherman) of California said today at a House Committee on Financial Services Hearing in Washington, D.C. Sherman tore into Facebook executive David Marcus and didn’t even bother asking him … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech News
How to Infiltrate Area 51 Like a Pro
Amid renewed interest in UFOs following a series of articles detailing strange sightings by U.S. military pilots—and recognitions of those concerns by the Navy—over 1.2 million have signed up for a “Storm Area 51, They Can’t Stop All of Us” Facebook event slated for Sept. 20, 2019. Attendees are asked to breach security at the … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey Donates to Democratic Presidential Candidate Tulsi Gabbard
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has donated thousands of dollars to Democratic presidential hopeful and U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, according to newly released documents from the Federal Election Commission. Dorsey donated $2,800 to Gabbard’s primary campaign fund and $2,800 to her general election fund, the maximum amounts that are allowed for individuals under U.S. law. The … Continued
By Matt Novak -
Tech NewsNews
Twitter Finally Redesigned Its Website, Said No One
Well, folks, they managed to pull it off. Twitter has somehow made itself worse than it already was. The company on Monday announced the rollout of its new desktop design, touting it as “a refreshed and updated website that is faster, easier to navigate and more personalized.” If I may, it looks like scrambled shit. … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsBest of the Week
Poker Bots, Earthquake Scars, and What to See at SDCC 2019: Best Gizmodo Stories of the Week
2019 Comic-Con International: San Diego is coming this week, which means our team will be on the ground, providing you with on-the-scene coverage of pop culture and fandom as well as hoping our fellow attendees please, please exercise some acceptable minimum degree of basic thoughtfulness. But in the meantime, our reporters and editors have been … Continued
By Tom McKay -
Tech NewsNews
Florida Woman Charged With Felony After Daughter Is Filmed Licking Tongue Depressor in Medical Center
A woman who reportedly shared a video to social media of her daughter licking a tongue depressor at a medical facility in Jacksonville, Florida and replacing it in a jar of unused ones was arrested this week on a felony charge. Cori Ward, 30, allegedly filmed the video at the All About Kids & Families … Continued
By Catie Keck -
Tech NewsPolitics
The White House Learned Four Internet Words and Wants to Teach You How to Say Them Wrong
Today, President Trump hosted his big “social media summit,” which coincided almost perfectly with a worldwide Twitter outage. Notably, the White House invited exactly zero social media company representatives to the event, but plenty of online conspiracists and grifters to make up for their absence. Clearly needing some suitable decorations for the far-right soirée, the … Continued
By Avery Ellis