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1. These are the key takeaways from tech CEOs' testimony before Congress:
- A GOP congresswoman called Facebook, Google, and Twitter her "biggest fear as a parent."
- Mark Zuckerberg said Trump "should be responsible for his words" before the Capitol siege.
- When asked if their platforms played a role in spreading misinformation, Jack Dorsey was the only executive to say "yes."
2. Amazon asked a Democratic lawmaker, "You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you?" The company was responding to Rep. Mark Pocan, who criticized Amazon for its anti-union efforts and referenced stories about warehouse workers peeing in bottles on shift. Take a look at the Twitter showdown.
3. TikTok is "definitely" sending user data to China. Author Chris Stokel-Walker, who is researching TikTok for a book, explains how the company sends data to its parent country. Read his analysis here.
4. Trump may partner with a social media app "built on the power of positivity." The former president is reportedly in talks with FreeSpace, and could be working to launch his own network. More on that here.
5. You can buy a Tesla with bitcoin - but you might not want to. The company announced it would accept bitcoin as payment, but buying a car with the cryptocurrency could come with a hefty tax bill. Plus, if you overpay, Tesla won't reimburse you. Here are some other difficulties with paying with bitcoin.
6. Medium's algorithm kept recommending erotic stories to President Biden. The company had an internal panic this week over stories suggested to the official POTUS account. Here's how the platform realized it was pedaling explicit content to the commander in chief.
7. Facebook and Amazon are now the nation's top lobbying spenders. In 2020, the country's tech giants gave around $3.2 million to members of Congress who look into big technology regulations. A look at what we know.
8. The New York Times made an NFT as a joke - then sold it for more than $560,000. The publication created a crypto copy of Kevin Roose's column titled "Buy This Column on the Blockchain!" Within 24 hours, someone did.
9. David Dobrik's camera-app startup, Dispo, is in trouble (for a number of reasons). For starters, as investors began pulling out, the company didn't get the full $20 million from its Series A round - and now $8 million of that is "on pause." Dispo's employees are also grappling with the future of a startup that's caught in the middle of a scandal. Here's what we know so far.
10. Six years and billions of dollars later, Google's med-tech spinoff Verily is still just a secretive and confusing jumble of science projects. Contributor Adam Lashinsky took a deep dive to figure out what, exactly, Verily is. This is what he found.
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Compiled by Jordan Erb. Tips/comments? Email [email protected] or tweet @JordanParkerErb.
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