Author: TechBrunch

The Instagram thread has begun testing video ads, and Meta announced on Thursday. The test makes the thread look like a competitor X, but it is an extension of the thread's advertising initiative, which began last month when ads were opened to global advertisers. The news was presented at Meta's presentation at IAB NewFronts. There, many social media companies pitched themselves to advertisers. In the thread, Meta says that “minority” advertisers will test 19:9 or 1:1 video ad creatives. However, the company did not share any other details regarding the pricing or frequency of these ads. Image credit: Meta's Instagram…

A few months after Hacked Educational Software Maker PowerSchool paid a hacker ransom to remove a bank of stolen student data, at least one school district says it is being forced by someone who said the data has not been destroyed. PowerSchool provided K-12 software to thousands of schools to support 60 million students across North America, and was hacked in December 2024 using one stolen credential. The company said at the time it paid hackers a ransom that allegedly deleted stolen data, but repeatedly refused to disclose the amount they paid. The Toronto district school board, which now serves…

Google announced Thursday that it is deploying new AI-powered defenses to help fight Chrome scams. The tech giant will begin using Gemini Nano, the leading language model (LLM) of devices on desktops, on the desktop, to protect users from online scams. It also launches a new AI-powered warning for Chrome on Android to allow users to recognize spam notifications. According to Google, Chrome's enhanced protection mode for Chrome's secure browsing offers twice as much protection against phishing and other online threats compared to the standard protection mode of the browser. Currently, Google uses Gemini Nano to provide enhanced protected users…

It took Kareem Amin, co-founder and CEO of sales automation startup Clay, to see its products take off in 2022. Since then, startups have experienced explosive growth, reaching valuations of over billions of dollars and have expanded their employee numbers to over 200 digits. Despite his average short tenure on the team, Amin made a rare decision. Clay allows employees with at least one year tenure to sell their shares at a relatively high price to Sequoia, one of the existing investors. It's a victory for everyone. The employee tender offer cherishes the $1.5 billion company, up from the $1.25…

The dating app giant Match Group is firing 13% of its staff as part of a restructuring aimed at reducing costs, expanding margins and streamlining the organizational structure. The layoff will affect approximately 325 employees based on matches of 2,500 employees as of December 2024, as per year submissions. Open rolls are also closed. The reorganization aims to focus key features on approximately one in five managers affected, including technology and data services, customer care and content moderation, media purchases and recruitment capabilities for international markets. Spencer Laskoff, who became CEO in February, said in a statement that the move…

Venture Capital Firm Insight Partners said it would warn an unspecified number of people that their personal information was stolen during a January cyberattack. In a statement updated this week, the VC company had planned to notify affected people on a rolling basis starting from “the next few days.” The stolen data includes personal information about current and former employees, as well as information about limited partners, according to the company. This is an investor who provides capital to Insight's venture funds, but their names are usually kept private. According to Insight, the stolen data also includes information about certain…

To protect valuable revenue streams, Apple is trying to delay a court ruling that forces US iOS app developers to redirect to external payment systems and forces the company to avoid paying fees to iPhone manufacturers. The company filed an emergency motion late Wednesday, asking the Court of Appeal to grant partial stay on the previous ruling. After Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers discovered he was not following the orders taken over in 2021, a US court ruled last week that it would uphold the epic game in a long-term case against Apple. The new ruling party that allows Apple to…

Bosch's venture arm has a new $270 million fund that continues its tradition of investing in deep tech startups. However, this time, Bosch Ventures plans to put more money into North American startups. Started in 2007, Bosch Ventures is currently on its sixth fund. Additionally, while corporate VCs are technically global companies, their focus today is heavier on North America. The strategy may seem contradictory given this, given that it is an area affected by US trade war with China, volatile stock markets and US administrative policies that have led to fears of a recession. But Ingo Ramesohl, managing director…

Fintech Giant Stripe announced on Wednesday that numerous new products will be launched at its annual Stripe Sessions User Event. Highlights include: A new AI foundation model for payments. Stablecoin-driven account. New orchestration provisions and recent transitions by Chip Behemoth Nvidia. Stripe's Payments Foundation model is trained in hundreds of billions of transactions, says Emily Glassberg Sands, Stripe's head of information. So, other models might overlook “capturing hundreds of subtle signals about each payment,” she said. One use case is improving fraud detection. Stripe's previous models “gradually” reduced card test attacks by 80% over two years. Card test attacks are…

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone. We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human…