Author: TechBrunch

A week after being hit with a business crunch by a landmark lawsuit from the U.S. Department of Justice, Apple is firmly denying any similarities between itself and Microsoft in the 1990s. It's a comparison that U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland weighed heavily in his filing last week. Although some parts of the US v. Microsoft case were partially overturned, the Windows maker was ultimately required to correct certain business practices deemed proprietary by the government. Garland and the 16 state attorneys general who joined the Apple lawsuit are no doubt seeking similar results to rein in practices they believe…

On Tuesday, the BBC reported that Pa Edrissa Manjan, a black Uber Eats delivery worker, was receiving payments from Uber after a “racist” facial recognition test prevented her from accessing the app. He had been receiving it since November 2019. A job delivering food on the Uber platform. The news raises questions about how well UK law is adapted to the increasing use of AI systems. In particular, the lack of transparency regarding automated systems that have been rushed to market with the hope of improving user safety and service efficiency is a sign that it will take time to…

Video game giant Activision is investigating a hacking campaign aimed at stealing player credentials, TechCrunch has learned. At this time, it is unclear what the hacker's specific purpose is other than stealing passwords for various types of accounts. Sources say hackers somehow inject malware into victims' computers and steal passwords for things like gaming accounts and cryptocurrency wallets. Activision Blizzard staff are investigating, are “cooperating with the removal of the malware,” and are “working to identify and remediate the malware,” said a person familiar with the incident, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.…

Welcome to Elon Musk’s Twitter (now X), where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter. The Tesla and SpaceX CEO announced his bid to buy Twitter in April 2022, zealously driven to rid the platform of spam bots and protect free speech; now, it’s the one-year anniversary since he made his dramatic entrance to the company in October 2022, and the platform has changed so much that even its name is different. “This is just my strong, intuitive sense that having a public platform that is maximally trusted and broadly inclusive is extremely important to the…

Last time we checked on Zaver, the Swedish B2C Buy-Now-Pay-Later (BNPL) provider in Europe, the company raised a $5 million funding round in 2021. The company has now completed its $10 million extension of its Series A funding round. , the total Series A will be $20 million. The total investment amount so far reaches $30 million. In Europe, Zaver competes in BNPL with Klarna, PayPal, and incumbents such as Santander and BNP Paribas. However, Zaver claims that its risk assessment algorithm can assess the risk of BNPL cart sizes up to €200,000 in real time. Other he BNPL providers,…

Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction. This is the final version of this newsletter. I would like to personally thank everyone for reading this. If you want to stay in touch, follow me on X. here For future updates. With that, the show continues. This week saw the sentencing of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried, who was found guilty in November on seven charges related to money laundering and fraud, and Borderless Capital's acquisition of CFT Capital. , WorldCoin faces new bans in Europe, and more. Please see below for details. this week's web3 Sam Bankman…

YouTube is releasing a members-only version of Shorts that allows creators to share short videos only to paying viewers. This new feature gives paid subscribers access to their current membership benefits, plus additional content such as custom emojis, badges, and live streams. YouTube's member-only short videos can encourage viewers to sign up for a paid membership. YouTube says creators can use new options to share special announcements, product drops, or limited-time sales. Creators can use members-only Shorts for Q&A, behind-the-scenes, clips of upcoming content, and more. The announcement comes after TikTok recently began offering subscriptions to more creators. Earlier this…

This morning, Skyflow announced that it has raised $30 million in Series B extension funding led by Khosla Ventures. This deal is interesting on many fronts, including the structure of the round and how Skyflow has been impacted by the growth of AI. The new funding comes after Skyflow expanded its data privacy business last year to support new AI technologies. Skyflow co-founder and CEO Anshu Sharma said in an interview with TechCrunch that the company's AI-related software products have quickly become a significant part of its overall business. The startup has recently grown its revenue from usage related to…

The U.S. government has announced that it will extend its bounty for information on key leaders of the ALPHV/BlackCat cybercriminal organization to its affiliated members. One of them was credited with a massive ransomware attack against a US medical technology giant last month. In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. State Department said it would offer up to a $10 million reward for information identifying or locating anyone associated with ALPHV/BlackCat, including “its persons, activities, or relationships with foreign governments.” He announced that he would provide money. Russia-based ALPHV/BlackCat is a ransomware-as-a-service operation that recruits affiliates (de facto contractors who earn…

Every parent knows that raising children is expensive. Especially at a young age when clothes and toys outgrow them so quickly that parents end up in a never-ending cycle of buying new ones when the old ones are hardly worn or used anymore. . Enter Kidsy, a new e-commerce startup based in Chicago. Kidsy aims to give consumers more access to discounted baby and children's products by partnering with leading brands, retailers, and clearing companies for excess and returned inventory. It also says it can prevent excess inventory and disposal items (such as children's clothing) from ending up in landfills,…