Author: TechBrunch
Facebook began lowering the scope of accounts that share spammy content, making them unqualified for monetization, Meta announced on Thursday. The company also says it is increasing efforts to adjust fake engagements and remove Facebook accounts that are pretending to be others. The move comes as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has promised to return to “OG Facebook.” Social network plans to crack down on spam content can be seen as an attempt to return to Facebook's glory day, where user feeds are filled with authentic content from real people. Meta acknowledges that some accounts on that platform are trying to…
Tiktok is deploying support for ALT texts in photo posts to make content more accessible to users with visual and cognitive disabilities. The company says creators provide descriptive text to their photos, helping users with screen readers understand visual content through spoken language. Tiktok told TechCrunch via email that Creators can add ALT text during the upload process or after the post is published. With this launch, Tiktok has joined many other social networks that support Alt text, including Instagram, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), Reddit, Mastodon, and Tumblr. Alt Text includes features such as automatic video content generation captions and…
Spotify announced on Thursday that it has expanded the availability of its AI playlist feature to more than 40 additional markets, including Africa, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean countries. AI-powered tools, currently in beta for Android and iOS devices, allow listeners to create personalized playlists based on written prompts, such as “Workout Music to Make My Ex Exeal.” Spotify's AI will then curate the song's selection to suit such a vibe. The prompt can include a wide range of genres, decades, animals, colors, emojis, movie characters, and more. In April 2024, Spotify first launched its functionality for premium users in…
TechCrunch is blocking returns to Moscone West in San Francisco from October 27th-29th. We are also inviting experts from Sewing Leaders, Founders, VCS and Tech to apply for the opportunity to take the stage at one of the most anticipated technical events of the year. The application is currently open to speak in 2025. There, over 10,000 technology leaders, investors and startup experts come together to shape the future of innovation. The application deadline is May 16th. Don't miss the chance to apply here and lead the conversation. Select the session format Looking for a speaker with a high impact…
Founder, the battlefield is open. And the boldest is moving forward. TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield 200 is embracing the launch of 2025, allowing startups to compete in the ultimate pitch showdown in front of over 10,000 technology leaders from around the world. This is not a normal pitch. This is a battle for visibility, capital and legacy. If your startup has a fire, now is the time to step into the spotlight. Come to your place on the battlefield – apply now. Salva Health co-founder and CEO Valentina Agudelo Vargas is the winner of the Startup Battlefield 2024 and will destroy…
Revolut, a $45 billion neobanking startup founded in the UK, may have put its IPO plans on ice, but its balance sheet looks pretty hot. The company reported a net profit of $1 billion (£790 million) in 2024, although its customer base rose 38% to 52.5 million, according to its annual report. Revenues rose 72% annually to $4 billion (£3.1 billion). The message here is one of the strong growth overall. This is the fourth year in a row that I have been with Black people in Revolut. 2024 was a big year for the company. It more than doubled…
Companies like Google and Microsoft have their productivity suites equipped with AI capabilities and assistants, while startups like Clickup and Readai have focused on building AI integration and search capabilities. On Thursday, Dropbox upgraded Dash, the AI search tool that was first introduced in 2023. The company is adding “understanding” AI for different types of content to Dash. This means that users can search through audio, video and images in addition to text. The company also allows users to search for people who have worked on a particular project or search for subject experts. . Last year, Dropbox announced Dash…
For years, the website contained information about what crawlers were not permitted on the site using the Robots.txt file. Adobe, who wants to create a similar standard for images, has added a tool to include credentials, with the intention of giving you a little more control over what is used to train AI models. The main challenge may be to convince AI companies to actually adhere to Adobe standards. It's already known, especially given that AI crawlers are already known to ignore requests for Robots.txt. file. Content credentials are the metadata information for media files used to identify reliability and…
Government censorship has found its way to BlueSky, but now there are loopholes thanks to the structure of social networks.Earlier this month, a recent report by the Freedom of Expression Association found that at the request of Turkish government authorities it restricted access to 72 Turkey accounts. As a result, Turkish people will no longer be able to view these accounts, and their reach is limited. The report shows that 59 Blueski accounts have been blocked on the grounds of protecting “national security and public order.” Bruski also created 13 more accounts, with at least one post not visible from…
The new venture company aims to prove that the ideas of the most successful startups do not need to be born or expanded in Silicon Valley. A global early stage fund, Fluent Ventures replicates proven business models from the Western markets of FinTech, digital health and commercial across emerging markets. More ironically, we might describe this as a clone factory, but founder and managing partner Alexandre Lazarow calls the company's strategy “geographical alpha.” The premise of Fluent is that many of the world's most valuable startups are not entirely new concepts that have never been tried before, but rather more…