The deplatforming of a president

After years of placid admonishments, the tech world came out in force against President Trump this past week following the violent assault of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on Wednesday. From Twitter to PayPal, more than a dozen companies have placed unprecedented restrictions or outright banned the current occupant of the White House from using their services, and in some cases, some of his associates and supporters as well. The news was voluminous and continuous for the past few days, so here’s a recap of who took action when, and...

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Why Twitter banned President Trump

Twitter permanently banned the U.S. president Friday, taking a dramatic step to limit Trump’s ability to communicate with his followers. That decision, made in light of his encouragement for Wednesday’s violent invasion of the U.S. Capitol, might seem sudden for anyone not particularly familiar with his Twitter presence. In reality, Twitter gave Trump many, many second chances over his four years as president, keeping him on the platform due to the company’s belief that speech by world leaders is in the public interest, even if it breaks the rules. Twitter...

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Twitter permanently bans President Trump

President Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter Friday. In the announcement, the company cited “the risk of further incitement of violence” and the president’s past transgressions on the platform. “In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” Twitter wrote. “… We made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules and cannot use Twitter to incite violence.” After close review of...

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Daily Crunch: Roku buys Quibi’s content library

{rss:content:encoded} Daily Crunch: Roku buys Quibi’s content library https://ift.tt/35p8I3j https://ift.tt/2CoAoqu January 09, 2021 at 12:14AM Quibi’s content will live on, Hyundai may partner with Apple and Donald Trump returns to Twitter. This is your Daily Crunch for January 8, 2021. The big story: Roku buys Quibi’s content library If you’re wondering what will happen to Quibi shows like “Most Dangerous Game” and “Chrissy Court,” wonder no longer: They’re going to Roku. The streaming TV platform announced today that it has acquired the global...

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Holographic startup Envisics partners with Panasonic to fast-track in-car AR tech

Envisics founder and CEO Dr. Jamieson Christmas launched the startup three years ago to “revolutionize” the in-car experience with its holographic technology. Now, it has a partner that could help it achieve that mission. The U.K.-based holographic technology startup said Friday it reached an agreement with Panasonic Automotive Systems to jointly develop and commercialize a new generation of head-up displays for cars, trucks and SUVs. Panasonic Automotive Systems is a Tier 1 automotive supplier and a division of Panasonic Corporation of North America....

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Extra Crunch roundup: 2 VC surveys, Tesla’s melt up, The Roblox Gambit, more

This has been quite a week. Instead of walking backward through the last few days of chaos and uncertainty, here are three good things that happened: Google employee Sara Robinson combined her interest in machine learning and baking to create AI-generated hybrid treats. A breakthrough could make water desalination 30%-40% more effective. Bianca Smith will become the first Black woman to coach a professional baseball team. Despite many distractions in our first full week of the new year, we published a full slate of stories exploring different...

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Twitter bans QAnon figures Michael Flynn, Sidney Powell and Ron Watkins

Twitter took action against a pair of President Trump’s close associates, banning them from the platform Friday. Trump ally Michael Flynn and former Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell were both suspended under Twitter’s “Coordinated Harmful Activity” policy. Ron Watkins, who previously ran 8kun (formerly 8chan) also saw his account removed. “We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm, and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behavior in the...

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What is up with Tesla’s value?

The last year taught us that the connection between the stock market and the economy is imprecise at best. Despite some useful commentary underscoring the two are at least somewhat linked, it’s clear that many Americans can lose their jobs and financial security at the same time that stocks can keep on rising like the boom times will never end. It seems that today’s market is willing to value stocks not on their past performance, current performance or analyst-expected future performance but on the rosiest future that investors have imagined...

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Jumbotail raises $14.2 million for its wholesale marketplace in India

Jumbotail, an online wholesale marketplace for grocery and food items, said on Friday it has raised an additional $14.2 million as the Bangalore-based startup chases the opportunity to digitize neighborhood stores in the world’s second-largest internet market. The five-year-old startup said the new tranche of its Series B financing round was led by VII Ventures, with participation from Nutresa, Veronorte, Jumbofund, Klinkert Investment Trust, Peter Crosby Trust, Nexus Venture Partners and Discovery Ventures. The startup told TechCrunch that the...

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SilviaTerra wants to bring the benefits of carbon offsets to every landowner everywhere

Zack Parisa and Max Nova, the co-founders of the carbon offset company SilviaTerra, have spent the last decade working on a way to democratize access to revenue-generating carbon offsets. As forestry credits become a big, booming business on the back of multibillion-dollar commitments from some of the world’s biggest companies to decarbonize their businesses, the kinds of technologies that the two founders have dedicated 10 years of their lives to building are only going to become more valuable. That’s why their company, already a profitable business,...

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