Network Support Blog

New York Times: Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have declined to remove Trump's comments on UV and disinfectants curing COVID-19, despite commitments to removing misinformation  —  Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declined to remove the president's statements about unproven coronavirus treatments. https://bit.ly/2SkNzAH

Jim Waterson / The Guardian: Amazon to cut the price of its Kindle ebooks in UK from Friday, after the government brought forward plans to stop charging 20% VAT on online publications  —  Chancellor drops 20% levy on online news subscriptions and books as industry struggles  —  Amazon has confirmed it will cut the price … https://bit.ly/2WcNalg

Jake Bright / TechCrunch: Visa and Safaricom partner to open up Visa's global network to Safaricom-run M-Pesa's extensive financial services network in East Africa  —  Visa just connected to Africa's most powerful mobile payments network.  The global financial services company and Kenyan telecom Safaricom … https://bit.ly/3aNVTQ9

Vox: Sources: Amazon has begun cracking down on communication across its widely-read email listservs after employees used them to protest and organize  —  The company says it's more widely enforcing rules around mass emails as part of a routine audit.  Some employees see it as an attack on worker organizing. https://bit.ly/2KJH7iF

Doug Palmer / Politico: Trump administration lists Amazon's websites in Canada, UK, Germany, France, and India as “notorious markets” for counterfeit goods; the move carries no penalty  —  The Trump administration Wednesday included Amazon's foreign websites in Canada, the U.K., Germany … https://bit.ly/2VPrLzB

Nabila Ahmed / Bloomberg: Stash, a money management and investment service aimed at younger, less affluent Americans, raises $112M led by LendingTree at a $800M+ valuation  —  - Latest funding round for financial startup totals $112 million  — Proceeds to be used to grow customers, brand awareness https://bit.ly/35iYsbv

Andy Greenberg / Wired: Kaspersky researchers detail a targeted espionage campaign via Play Store spyware apps, aimed at a few hundred users in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India  —  Malicious Android apps from the so-called PhantomLance campaign targeted hundreds of users, and at least two slipped past Google's defenses. https://bit.ly/35cHCLq

David Gelles / New York Times: A look at efforts by the tech industry to procure PPE for frontline workers, including one led by Salesforce's Marc Benioff to secure 50M pieces of PPE for $25M  —  A call from a university chancellor set in motion a private sector effort to procure 50 million masks, gowns and swabs for American medical facilities. https://bit.ly/3cXliZ8

David Jeans / Forbes: Cloudflare says it will dramatically scale up its presence in China, partnering with JD.com to operate and support 150 datacenters across the country  —  With U.S.-China relations at a frigid moment as the COVID-19 pandemic grinds world trade to a trickle, it might seem an unlikely moment … https://bit.ly/2KN3nrL

Dan Primack / Axios: Source: Automation Anywhere, a robotic process automation firm valued at $6.8B in its $290M Series B last fall, is laying off over 10% of its 2,600 employees  —  Automation Anywhere, a robotic process automation company valued at $6.8 billion last fall by venture capitalists … https://bit.ly/2xerLzF

Josh Constine / TechCrunch: Josh Constine says he's leaving TechCrunch after 8.5 years to join VC fund SignalFire as their head of content and a principal investor  —  How do you leave the place that made you?  You figure out what it made you for.  TechCrunch made me a part of the startup ecosystem I love. https://bit.ly/2Ya5Btp

Chris Welch / The Verge: Review of Google's second-generation $179 wireless Pixel Buds: sound quality has improved, but their silicone “stabilizer arc” can cause discomfort over time  —  Google's new earbuds finally go truly wireless and have improved sound quality  —  Google's original Pixel Buds came … http://dlvr.it/RVYpYr