Category: Technology

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Strong quake topples houses in Indonesia’s Java; 56 dead

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CIANJUR, Indonesia — A strong, shallow earthquake toppled buildings and collapsed walls on Indonesia’s densely populated main island of Java on Monday, killing at least 56 and injuring hundreds as people rushed into the streets, some covered in blood and white debris.

Emergency workers were treating the injured on stretchers outside main hospitals, on terraces and in parking lots. Many included children, some of whom were given oxygen masks, IV lines and were being resuscitated.

Residents, some crying with children in their arms, fled damaged homes after the magnitude 5.6 quake shook the Cianjur region in West Java province in late afternoon, at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It also caused panic in the greater Jakarta area, where high-rises swayed and some were evacuated.

Rescue teams and civilians in Cianjur were looking for others who may have been buried in the debris of collapsed brick houses. The quake was powerful enough to bring down walls, chunks of concrete and roof tiles, some of which landed inside bedrooms.

“The quake felt so strong. My colleagues and I decided to get out of our office on the ninth floor using the emergency stairs,” said Vidi Primadhania, an employee in South Jakarta.

Herman Suherman, the head of Cianjur regency, said the death toll reached 56 as of Monday evening. Around 700 were injured, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency chief Suharyanto said.

Several landslides were reported around Cianjur. Among the dozens of buildings that were damaged was an Islamic boarding school, a hospital and other public facilities, the agency said.

Information was still being collected about the extent of casualties and damage.

Some victims and survivors were being taken to the government hospital in Cianjur, where emergency tents were erected and workers treated the injured.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency recorded at least 25 aftershocks.

Earthquakes occur frequently across the sprawling archipelago nation, but it is uncommon for them to be felt in Jakarta.

The country of more than 270 million people is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

In February, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed at least 25 people and injured more than 460 in West Sumatra province. In January 2021, a magnitude 6.2 earthquake killed more than 100 people and injured nearly 6,500 in West Sulawesi province.

A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed nearly 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.

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November 21, 2022
Is AI art really art? This California gallery says yes | CNN Business

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CNN Business
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As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly popular for generating images, a question has roiled the art world: Can AI create art?

At bitforms gallery in San Francisco, the answer is yes. An exhibit called “Artificial Imagination” is on display through late December and features works that were created with or inspired by the generative AI system DALL-E as well as other types of AI. With DALL-E, and other similar systems such as Stable Diffusion or Midjourney, a user can type in words and get back an image.

Steven Sacks, who founded the original bitforms gallery in New York in 2001 (the San Francisco location opened in 2020), has always focused on working with artists at the intersection of art and technology. But this may be the first art show to focus on DALL-E, which was created by OpenAI, and it is the first one Sacks has presented that concentrates so directly on work created with AI, he told CNN Business.

Using technologies such as 3D printing and Photoshop is commonplace in art. But new text-to-image systems like DALL-E, Stable Diffusion and Midjourney can pump out impressive-looking images at lightning speed, unlike anything the art world has seen before. In just months, millions of people have flocked to these AI systems and they are already being used to create experimental films, magazine covers and images to illustrate news stories. Yet while these systems are gaining ground, they’re also courting controversy. For instance, when an image generated with Midjourney recently won an art competition at the Colorado State Fair, it caused an uproar among artists.

For Sacks, generative AI systems like DALL-E are “just another tool”, he said, noting that throughout history artists have used past work to create new work in various ways.

“It’s a brilliant partner creatively,” he said.

“Artificial Imagination” spans several mediums and many different styles, and includes artists known for using technology in their work, such as Refik Anadol, and others who are newer to it. It ranges from Anadol’s 30-minute video loop of a computer’s take on an ever-changing nature scene to Marina Zurkow’s bright image collages, created with the help of DALL-E, which almost feel reminiscent of Soviet propaganda mixed with old-fashioned storybooks.

Sacks said the exhibit, which is being presented by bitforms and venture-capital firm Day One Ventures, is in many ways an educational show about the state of DALL-E and how artists are using AI.

Many pieces are more straightforward in their use of AI, and DALL-E in particular, such as August Kamp’s 2022 print, “new experimental version, state of the art”, which looks like a close-up of a retro-futuristic stereo on a spaceship. Kamp said she began creating it by typing what she calls a primer — a series of words like “grainy”, “detailed”, “cinematic”, “movie still” — intended to evoke the aesthetic she’d like, which in this case was meant to look as if she was watching a movie and had just paused it, she said. Then she added words in hopes of generating electronic synthesizers that “looked as weird as they sound,” she said.

The final piece is a combination of 30 or so different generated images, which were outpainted section by section — a process that uses AI to expand the image by adding more elements to it. Kamp also used Photoshop to tweak the overall image.

Kamp pointed out that the general idea of art galleries give the sense that good art is scarce, but she sees generative AI tools like DALL-E as a way to get people to consider that art can be plentiful (such as by making it so anyone can wake up from a vivid dream, type in a description of what they were imagining, and generate an image expressing their thoughts).

“To me art is and should be very abundant because I see it as an expression of love and feelings, which I think are abundant things,” she said.

Some of the pieces on display use AI in a more indirect (and perhaps silly) fashion, such as a 2020 sculpture by Alexander Reben called “Cesi N’est Pas Une Barriere.” Reben used AI as a sort of art director: He used text generator GPT-3 and a custom set of algorithms to generate a description of a non-existent artwork that hangs on bitforms gallery’s wall. It includes the title, a fictional artist’s name — Norifen Storgenberg, who is listed as “Swedish, born 1973” — and text such as “It has a very domestic feel, and yet it is very oppressive” and “The use of police issue handcuffs is striking. In the context of society, they are used to restrain prisoners, and yet here, they are used to create a barrier between the viewer and the work.”

Reben built his sculpture, which also hangs on the wall, around the description, with elements including green roof shingles, a porch light, metal grab bars, and handcuffs.

“I wanted to just put it out there: Here are a range of artists, here are really different ways of presenting this kind of work, living with this kind of work, connecting with this kind of work,” Sacks said. “I wanted people to ask questions about it.”

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November 21, 2022
Government officials say death toll in Indonesia earthquake rises to 46; about 700 injured

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Government officials say death toll in Indonesia earthquake rises to 46; about 700 injured

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November 21, 2022
Indonesian officials say earthquake on main island of Java kills at least 14, injures 17

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Indonesian officials say earthquake on main island of Java kills at least 14, injures 17

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November 21, 2022
Flipkart chief warns startups of turmoil and funding crunch for another 12 to 18 months

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The funding winter for the startup ecosystem may continue for another 12 to 18 months and the industry might have to grapple with a “lot of turmoil and volatility,” e-commerce giant Flipkart chief executive Kalyan Krishnamurthy has warned executives.

“This is going to be tough next year. My estimate is that a lot of startup founders will hit the market between April to June next year, and that’s the moment of truth for the ecosystem,” he said at a gathering over the weekend organized by Indian newspaper Economic Times.

Typically a reserved and soft-spoken executive, Krishnamurthy told hundreds of attendees that startup founders should embrace a down-round and restructure their firms. Many startup founders are not wiling to take a haircut on their previous valuations in new funding deliberations, investors say.

Some startup founders believe that they will not be able to attract and retain the talent if a funding event suddenly makes the employees’ existing stocks less valuable.

“In 2001, companies saw a 2x to 6x spike in valuation with some underlying growth and profitability assumptions for the next two to three years. I think it quickly became clear that those assumptions are not going to play out,” said Krishnamurthy, describing the boost to startup funding in India last year.

Indian startups raised a record $39 billion in 2021 as investors aggressively looked to double down in emerging markets. In contrast, as the market reserved its position earlier this year, funding in the quarter that ended in September slid below $3 billion.

And that means an introspection on what needs to be done to survive, he said.

Krishnamurthy, who previously worked at the investment shop Tiger Global, famously helped architect Flipkart cut its workforce by 30% five years ago to help the firm become more efficient. “We grew from there, so it’s not a problem,” he said.

Walmart-owned Flipkart, last valued at $37.6 billion, put a hiring freeze earlier this year and halted its acquisition spree, which earlier saw it spend about half a billion dollars to expand into online healthcare and travel categories. The firm — which counts SoftBank, Tiger Global, GIC, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Qatar Investment Authority, Tencent and Franklin Templeton among its backers — doesn’t plan to go public for at least a year.

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Manish Singh

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November 21, 2022
The rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes: A timeline | CNN Business

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CNN
—

More than three years after Elizabeth Holmes was first indicted and nearly four months after her trial kicked off, the founder and former CEO of failed blood testing startup Theranos was found guilty on four out of 11 federal fraud and conspiracy charges.

The verdict comes after a stunning downfall that saw Holmes, once hailed as the next Steve Jobs, go from being a tech industry icon to being a rare Silicon Valley entrepreneur on trial for fraud.

A Stanford University dropout, Holmes – inspired by her own fear of needles – started the company at the age of 19, with a mission of creating a cheaper, more efficient alternative to a traditional blood test. Theranos promised patients the ability to test for conditions like cancer and diabetes with just a few drops of blood. She attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in funding, a board of well-known political figures, and key retail partners.

But a Wall Street Journal investigation poked holes into Theranos’ testing and technology, and the dominoes fell from there. Holmes and her former business partner, Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani, were charged in 2018 by the US government with multiple counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. (Both pleaded not guilty.)

Here are the highlights of the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos.

Holmes, a Stanford University sophomore studying chemical engineering, drops out of school to pursue her startup, Theranos, which she founded in 2003 at age 19. The name is a combination of the words “therapy” and “diagnosis.”

Balwani joins as chief operating officer and president of the startup. Balwani, nearly 20 years her senior, met Holmes in 2002 on a trip to Beijing through Stanford University. The two are later revealed to be romantically involved.

A decade after first starting the company, Holmes takes the lid off Theranos and courts media attention the same month that Theranos and Walgreens announce they’ve struck up a long-term partnership. The first Theranos Wellness Center location opens in a Walgreens in Palo Alto where consumers can access Theranos’ blood test.

The original plan had been to make Theranos’ testing available at Walgreens locations nationwide.

Holmes is named to the magazine’s American billionaire list with the outlet reporting she owns a 50% stake in the startup, pinning her personal wealth at $4.5 billion.

Theranos has raised more than $400 million, according to a profile of the company and Holmes by The New Yorker. It counts Oracle’s Larry Ellison among its investors.

The FDA clears Theranos to use of its proprietary tiny blood-collection vials to finger stick blood test for herpes simplex 1 virus – its first and only approval for a diagnostic test.

The Wall Street Journal reports Theranos is using its proprietary technique on only a small number of the 240 tests it performs, and that the vast majority of its tests are done with traditional vials of blood drawn from the arm, not the “few drops” taken by a finger prick. In response, Theranos defends its testing practices, calling the Journal’s reporting “factually and scientifically erroneous.”

A day later, Theranos halts the use of its blood-collection vials for all but the herpes test due to pressures from the FDA. (Later that month, the FDA released two heavily redacted reports citing 14 concerns, including calling the company’s proprietary vial an “uncleared medical device.”)

One week after the Journal report, Holmes is interviewed on-stage at the outlet’s conference in Laguna Beach. “We know what we’re doing and we’re very proud of it,” she says.

Amid the criticism, Theranos reportedly shakes up its board of directors, eliminating Henry Kissinger and George Shultz as directors while moving them to a new board of counselors; the company also forms a separate medical board.

Safeway, which invested $350 million into building out clinics in hundreds of its supermarkets to eventually offer Theranos blood tests, reportedly looks to dissolve its relationship with the company before it ever offered its services.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) sends Theranos a letter saying its California lab has failed to comply with federal standards and that patients are in “immediate jeopardy.” It gives the company 10 days to address the issues.

In response, Walgreens says it will not send any lab tests to Theranos’ California lab for analysis and suspends Theranos services at its Palo Alto Walgreens location.

CMS threatens to ban Holmes and Balwani from the laboratory business for two years after the company allegedly failed to fix problems at its California lab. Theranos says that’s a “worst case scenario.”

Balwani departs. The company also adds three new board members as part of the restructuring: Fabrizio Bonanni, a former executive vice president of biotech firm Amgen, former CDC director William Foege, and former Wells Fargo CEO Richard Kovacevich.

Theranos voids two years of blood test results from its proprietary testing devices, correcting tens of thousands of blood-test reports, the Journal reports.

Forbes revises its estimate of Holmes’ net worth from $4.5 billion to $0. The magazine also lowers its valuation for the company from $9 billion to $800 million.

Walgreens, once Theranos’ largest retail partner, ends its partnership with the company and says it will close all 40 Theranos Wellness Centers.

CMS revokes Theranos’ license to operate its California lab and bans Holmes from running a blood-testing lab for two years.

Holmes tries to move past recent setbacks by unveiling a mini testing laboratory, called miniLab, at a conference for the American Association for Clinical Chemistry. In selling the device, versus operating its own clinics, Theranos seeks to effectively side-step CMS sanctions, which don’t prohibit research and development.

Theranos investor Partner Fund Management sues the company for $96.1 million, the amount it sunk into the company in February 2014, plus damages. It accuses the company of securities fraud. Theranos and Partner Fund Management settled in May, 2017, for an undisclosed amount.

The company also lays off 340 employees as it closes clinical labs and wellness centers as it attempts to pivot and focus on the miniLab.

Walgreens sues the blood testing startup for breach of contract. Walgreens sought to recover the $140 million it poured into the company. The lawsuit was settled August, 2017.

Theranos downsizes its workforce yet again following the increased scrutiny into its operations, laying off approximately 155 employees or about 41% of staffers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Theranos failed a second regulatory lab inspection in September, and that the company was closing its last blood testing location as a result.

Theranos settles with the CMS, agreeing to pay $30,000 and to not to own or operate any clinical labs for two years.

Theranos also settles with the Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich over allegations that its advertisements misrepresented the method, accuracy, and reliability of its blood testing and that the company was out of compliance with federal regulations governing clinical lab testing. Theranos agrees to pay $4.65 million back to its Arizona customers as part of a settlement deal.

The SEC charges Holmes and Balwani with a “massive fraud” involving more than $700 million from investors through an “elaborate, years-long fraud in which they exaggerated or made false statements about the company’s technology, business, and financial performance.”

The SEC alleges Holmes and Balwani knew that Theranos’ proprietary analyzer could perform only 12 of the 200 tests it published on its patient testing menu.

Theranos and Holmes agree to resolve the claims against them, and Holmes gives up control of the company and much of her stake in it. Balwani, however, is fighting the charges, with his attorney saying he “accurately represented Theranos to investors to the best of his ability.”

Reporter John Carreyrou, who first broke open the story of Theranos for the Wall Street Journal, publishes “Bad Blood,” a definitive look at what happened inside the disgraced company. Director Adam McKay (who directed “The Big Short”) secures the rights to make the film, starring Jennifer Lawrence as Holmes, by the same name.

Holmes and Balwani are indicted on federal wire fraud charges over allegedly engaging in a multi-million dollar scheme to defraud investors, as well as a scheme to defraud doctors and patients. Both have pleaded not guilty.

Minutes before the charges were made public, Theranos announced that Holmes has stepped down as CEO. The company’s general counsel, David Taylor, takes over as CEO. Holmes remains chair of the company’s board.

Taylor emails shareholders that Theranos will dissolve, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. Taylor said more than 80 potential buyers were not interested in a sale. “We are now out of time,” Taylor wrote.

Alex Gibney, the prolific documentary filmmaker behind “Dirty Money,” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” and “The Armstrong Lie,” debuts “The Inventor” on HBO, following the rise and fall of Theranos.

A new court document reveals Holmes may seek a “mental disease” defense in her criminal fraud trial. Later, in August 2021, unsealed court documents reveal Holmes is likely to claim she was the victim of a decade-long abusive relationship with Balwani. The allegations led to the severing of their trials. His trial is slated to begin in 2022.

Initially set to begin in July 2020, Holmes’ criminal trial is further delayed til July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

News surfaces that Holmes’ is expecting her first child, once more further delaying her criminal trial. Holmes’ counsel advised the US government that Holmes is due in July 2021, a court document revealed. She gave birth in July.

More than 80 potential jurors are brought into a San Jose courtroom for questioning over the course of two days to determine if they are fit to serve as impartial, fair jurors for the criminal trial of Holmes. A jury of seven men and five women is selected, with five alternatives.

After three months of testimony from 32 witnesses, the criminal fraud case of Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes makes its way to the jury of eight men and four women who will decide her fate. The jury would go on to deliberate for more than 50 hours before returning a verdict.

Holmes is found guilty of one count of conspiracy to defraud investors as well as three wire fraud counts tied to specific investors. She is found not guilty on three additional charges concerning defrauding patients and one charge of conspiracy to defraud patients. The jury returns no verdict on three of the charges concerning defrauding investors. Holmes faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count.

“The Dropout,” a scripted miniseries about Theranos produced by ABC, debuts on Hulu. Amanda Seyfried stars as Holmes and Naveen Andrews plays Balwani. Their romantic and professional relationship features prominently in the show.

Following delays due to Holmes’ prolonged trial then a surge of Covid-19, jury selection for Balwani’s trial gets underway. On March 22, opening arguments are held and the government’s first witness, a former Theranos employee turned whistleblower, is called to the stand.

After four full days of deliberations, a jury finds Balwani guilty of ten counts of federal wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Like Holmes, Balwani faces up to 20 years in prison as well as a fine of $250,000 plus restitution for each count of wire fraud and each conspiracy count.

Holmes asks for a new trial after claiming that a key witness visited her house unannounced and allegedly said he “feels guilty” about his testimony.

In a court filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Holmes’ attorneys said Adam Rosendorff, a former Theranos lab director who was one of the government’s main witnesses, arrived at her home on August 8 asking to speak with her. According to the filing, Rosendorff did not interact with Holmes but did speak to her partner Billy Evans, who recounted the exchange in an email to Holmes’ lawyers shortly after.

“His shirt was untucked, his hair was messy, his voice slightly trembled,” Evans wrote about Rosendorff. According to Evans’ email, Rosendorff “said when he was called as a witness he tried to answer the questions honestly but that the prosecutors tried to make everybody look bad.”

The former Theranos lab director also “said he felt like he had done something wrong,” Evans wrote.

Rosendorff takes the stand again to address concerns from Holmes’ defense team and their claims he had shown up at her home after the trial concluded asking to speak with her and expressed regrets about his testimony.

At the hearing, Rosendorff reaffirmed the truthfulness of his testimony at Holmes’ trial and said that the government did not influence what he said.

A federal judge denies Elizabeth Holmes’ request for a new trial, according to court filings, paving the way for the founder of failed blood testing startup Theranos to be sentenced later in the month.

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November 20, 2022
Marine biologists capture audio recordings of coral to analyze reef health

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Marine biologists capture audio recordings of coral to analyze reef health – CBS News

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As climate change and human activity threaten ocean life, researchers are now monitoring the sound of coral reefs in an attempt to analyze their health. And the public can listen in and help. Ian Lee has more.

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November 20, 2022
Chinese coast guard seizes rocket debris from Filipino navy

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MANILA, Philippines — The Chinese coast guard forcibly seized floating debris the Philippine navy was towing to its island in another confrontation in the disputed South China Sea, a Philippine military commander said Monday. The debris appeared to be from a Chinese rocket launch.

The Chinese vessel twice blocked the Philippine naval boat before seizing the debris it was towing Sunday off Philippine-occupied Thitu Island, Vice Admiral Alberto Carlos said Monday. He said no one was injured in the incident.

It’s the latest flare-up in long-seething territorial disputes in the strategic waterway, involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Chinese coast guard ships have blocked Philippine supply boats delivering supplies to Filipino forces in the disputed waters in the past, but seizing objects in the possession of another nation’s military constituted a more brazen act.

Carlos said the Filipino sailors, using a long-range camera on Thitu island, spotted the debris drifting in strong waves near a sandbar about 800 yards (540 meters) away. They set out on a boat and retrieved the floating object and started to tow it back to their island using a rope tied to their boat.

As the Filipino sailors were moving back to their island, “they noticed that China coast guard vessel with bow number 5203 was approaching their location and subsequently blocked their pre-plotted course twice,” Carlos said in a statement.

The Chinese coast guard vessel then deployed an inflatable boat with personnel who “forcefully retrieved said floating object by cutting the towing line attached to the” Filipino sailors’ rubber boat. The Filipino sailors decided to return to their island, Carlos said, without detailing what happened.

Maj. Cherryl Tindog, spokesperson of the military’s Western Command, said the floating metal object appeared similar to a number of other pieces of Chinese rocket debris recently found in Philippine waters. She added the Filipino sailors did not fight the seizure.

“We practice maximum tolerance in such a situation,” Tindog told reporters. “Since it involved an unidentified object and not a matter of life and death, our team just decided to return.”

Metal debris from Chinese rocket launches, some showing a part of what appears to be Chinese flag, have been found in Philippine waters in at least three other instances.

Rockets launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on China’s Hainan island in recent months have carried construction materials and supplies for China’s crewed space station.

China has been criticized previously for allowing rocket stages to fall to Earth uncontrolled. The Philippine Space Agency earlier this month pressed for the Philippines to ratify U.N. treaties providing a basis for compensation for harm from other nations’ space debris, and NASA accused Beijing last year of “failing to meet responsible standards regarding their space debris” after parts of a Chinese rocket landed in the Indian Ocean.

The Philippine government has filed many diplomatic protests against China over aggressive actions in the South China Sea but it did not immediately say what action it would take following Sunday’s incident. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila would usually wait for an official investigation report before lodging a protest.

Thitu island, which Filipinos call Pag-asa, hosts a fishing community and Filipino forces and lies near Subi, one of seven disputed reefs in the offshore region that China has turned into missile-protected islands, including three with runways, which U.S. security officials say now resemble military forward bases.

The Philippines and other smaller claimant nations in the disputed region, backed by the United States and other Western countries, have strongly protested and raised alarm over China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the busy waterway.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who is visiting Manila, is scheduled to fly to the western province of Palawan, which faces the South China Sea, on Tuesday to underscore American support to the Philippines and renew U.S. commitment to defend its longtime treaty ally if Filipino forces, ships and aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters.

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November 20, 2022
Collapsed FTX owes nearly $3.1 billion to top 50 creditors | CNN Business

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CNN Business
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Cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which has filed for US bankruptcy court protection, said it owes its 50 biggest creditors nearly $3.1 billion.

The exchange owes about $1.45 billion to its top ten creditors, it said in a court filing on Saturday, without naming them.

FTX and its affiliates filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Nov. 11 in one of the highest-profile crypto blowups, leaving an estimated 1 million customers and other investors facing total losses in the billions of dollars.

The crypto exchange said on Saturday it has launched a strategic review of its global assets and is preparing for the sale or reorganization of some businesses. A hearing on FTX’s so-called first-day motions is set for Tuesday morning before a US bankruptcy judge, according to a separate court filing.

FTX’s rapid collapse marked a stunning downfall for one of the biggest and most powerful players in the crypto industry.

There could be more than 1 million creditors in the US cases that are already filed, FTX Group said, adding that it has been in touch with “dozens” of US and international regulatory agencies including the US Attorney’s Office, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Meanwhile, authorities in the Bahamas — where FTX is based — are investigating whether any criminal misconduct occurred related to the company’s implosion, the Royal Bahamas Police Force said in a statement last Sunday. The Bahamian authorities have also taken control of cryptocurrency assets held by FTX Digital Markets, The Bahamas-based FTX unit that filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection Tuesday.

The Securities Commission of The Bahamas announced Thursday night that it had directed the transfer of all digital assets of FTX Digital Markets and that those assets are being transferred to a digital wallet controlled by the Bahamas regulator for “safekeeping.”

– CNN’s Matt Egan, Chris Isidore and Allison Morrow contributed to this report.

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November 20, 2022
What to expect from crypto regulation in the wake of the FTX scandal

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At our TC Sessions: Crypto event last week in Miami, I sat down with Bitwise Asset Management General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer Katherine Dowling, Perkins Coie Partner Sarah Shtylman and Paradigm Policy Director Justin Slaughter to talk about the crypto regulation landscape, with a specific focus on the U.S. What we didn’t know heading into the panel was just how much would change about the industry owing to the fallout from FTX’s collapse the week prior.

Slaughter in particular felt the impacts of the FTX fiasco firsthand: Paradigm wrote down a $278 million investment in the exchange following its declaration of bankruptcy. We talked about that up front, but mostly as a jumping-off point to discuss the knock-on effects for the state of regulation, which was itself already a contentious mess, particularly when it comes to U.S. lawmakers and the various federal regulators involved in the market, including the SEC and the CFTC.

The key takeaways that all three panelists essentially agreed upon is that the benefit of the FTX situation is that there’s now more impetus than ever to arrive at some kind of regulatory framework specific to crypto in the U.S., and that there’s now ample demand from the industry side, as well as an opportunity to further educate regulators since they’re looking for illumination coming out of the FTX collapse. On the incentive side, there’s harm reduction, since regulators and lawmakers don’t want more FTX scenarios to continue to unfold, as well as FOMO on the business being done abroad in markets where they’ve raced ahead to encourage crypto adoption.

Check out the full panel above for much more.

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Darrell Etherington

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November 20, 2022
The era of oil-driven foreign policy is over. Welcome to decarbonization diplomacy

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For much of the 20th century, oil dominated foreign policy. Countries spent the better part of the century scrambling to secure supply. Sometimes it happened through negotiations and diplomacy. All too often it resulted in the overthrow of governments or outright invasions.

But with fossil fuels on the wane, we’re starting to get a glimpse of foreign relations in the 21st century, and it seems like investment will be the defining characteristic. Decarbonization diplomacy is looking a lot less violent than what preceded it.

It took a while to get to this point — probably too long — but the dam appears to be breaking.

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Tim De Chant

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November 20, 2022
Twitter was already in disarray. Trump’s return will only make it more chaotic | CNN Business

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New York
CNN Business
—

With his decision on Saturday to restore the personal Twitter account of former President Donald Trump nearly two years after it was permanently banned, Elon Musk could plunge Twitter deeper into chaos — and that may be the point.

In the weeks since Musk completed his $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, the influential social network has shed so much staff that users and employees have raised concerns about its ability to continue operating. It has also suffered a “massive drop in revenue,” according to Musk, as a growing number of brands pause advertising amid uncertainty about the direction and stability of the platform.

Trump’s return won’t help either issue.

The company’s servers are “being put through quite the stress test by @elonmusk right now,” tweeted Sriram Krishnan, a general partner at VC firm Andreessen Horowitz and former Twitter employee who is working with Musk to manage the company. (He also noted Trump’s return comes a day before the World Cup is set to kick off, a high-traffic event for the platform.)

Also on Saturday, NAACP president Derrick Johnson sent an urgent warning to companies still doing business with Twitter: “Any advertiser still funding Twitter should immediately pause all advertising.”

Some advertisers had previously indicated they could halt spending on the platform if Trump were to be reinstated, potentially dealing a further blow to a company that generates nearly all of its revenue from advertising.

Before buying Twitter, Musk had repeatedly said he would reinstate Trump’s account and rethink the platform’s approach to permanent bans as part of his maximalist vision for “free speech.” But Musk also sought to reassure brands and users that he would establish a “content moderation council” to determine whether Trump and other banned account holders would be brought back on the platform.

There is no indication that group was even established, let alone involved in the decision to restore Trump. Instead, Musk tweeted a poll Friday, asking followers to vote whether or not to restore Trump’s account. “Yes” won, and Musk tweeted Saturday: “The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Latin for “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

If Musk has any strategy behind the decision and its timing, it appears to be betting that chaos makes for a good show.

Through all the mass layoffs and staff departures, the controversial paid verification option introduced and withdrawn, the prominent brands and celebrities pulling back from the platform, and the widespread criticism of his incendiary remarks, Musk has repeatedly stressed that Twitter is hitting all-time highs in user numbers.

Now, add Trump to the mix.

Throughout his time as president, Trump was the most high-profile and often the most controversial user on the platform, forcing Twitter to think about how it should handle a sitting world leader taunting North Korea with threats of nuclear destruction (allowed) and encouraging a violent pro-Trump mob to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 (which got him banned).

But Trump also made Twitter into the center of the known media and political universe. His tweets made headlines, moved markets and shaped the agenda in Washington. Celebrities, world leaders, and a long list of critics and supporters often engaged with Trump directly on Twitter. The world could not look away.

It remains unclear whether Trump will tweet as often, or at all, now that he has his own social network, Truth Social. And if he does, his tweets may not get quite as much attention as when he was the sitting president. But Musk’s decision to bring Trump back also comes days after Trump announced he would run for president again, raising the likelihood that Trump’s remarks and his tweets, if he posts them, won’t be ignored.

Musk is clearly still in the early days of setting up his so-called Twitter 2.0. Apart from reorganizing staff and racing to bolster Twitter’s bottom line through subscription products, he also has yet to formalize his policies around bans and suspensions.

But one answer seems clear: Musk appears to be betting that if users can’t turn away from the platform, neither can advertisers. And with enough eyeballs on the site, he may just be able to find new ways to make money from them.

All he has to do is find a way to keep the lights on.

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November 20, 2022
Airbnb CEO on the tech downturn: ‘It’s like we’re all in a nightclub and the lights just came on’ | CNN Business

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CNN
—

After years of seemingly unstoppable growth, the tech industry is now facing the “ultimate reality check” as it confronts broader economic uncertainty and waves of layoffs, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told CNN on Thursday.

“It’s like we’re all in a nightclub and the lights just came on,” Chesky said in an interview on “CNN This Morning.” After a period of “exuberance and euphoria,” he added, “now we all have to, like, take a hard look at things.”

His remarks come at a difficult moment for the tech industry. Facebook-parent Meta said last week it was cutting 11,000 jobs after nearly doubling its staff during the pandemic. Amazon confirmed this week that lay offs had begun in its corporate workforce, with reports saying it plans to cut 10,000 positions. And Twitter recently cut approximately 50% of its staff as new owner Elon Musk races to bolster its bottom line.

Airbnb may be an exception. Chesky said the company is not undergoing layoffs at this time, and in fact is hiring. But that is due in large part to the company cutting 25% of its staff at the start of the pandemic as the travel industry was clobbered, and losing more employees by attrition after.

“Two-and-a-half years ago, we lost 80% of our business in eight weeks,” Chesky said. “People were predicting we were going to go out of business.”

“We just hunkered down,” he added. “We rebuilt the company from the ground up, and we stayed really lean.” Now, Chesky said, “we’re stepping on the gas, we’re not putting on the brakes.”

While the reckoning hitting much of Silicon Valley is painful, Chesky appeared to suggest that a more sober reassessment of the industry could also provide an opportunity for the tech sector to rethink its place in society, after years of criticism for the impact its products can have on people.

“I think Silicon Valley has done so many amazing things for the world, but we have to be careful having a fetishization of new technology, as if the new technology is going to solve all the problems that the last technology created,” Chesky said. “We need more diversity in Silicon Valley, but that diversity should not just be demographic diversity. We need artists, humanists in this industry.”

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November 19, 2022
Elon Musk ends Trump’s Twitter ban

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Former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account has been reinstated following a permanent ban in January 2021.

On Friday, new Twitter owner Elon Musk posted a poll asking if Trump should be allowed back on the platform. Just over 15 million people voted, with 51.8% voting in favor of reinstating Trump on Twitter.

As of July 2022, when Twitter filed its last quarterly earnings report before going private, the platform has about 237.8 million monetizable daily active users. Yet when Musk’s impromptu poll ended on Saturday with a small fraction of the user base taking part, Trump’s account was unbanned.

“The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk tweeted, quoting a Latin phrase that translates to “the voice of people, the voice of God.”

Meanwhile, the former president announced this week that he will run for the nation’s highest office once again in 2024.

Trump’s controversial ban took place days after the January 6 riots on the U.S. Capitol, in which insurrectionists violently attempted to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” Twitter wrote in a January 2021 blog post.

Since taking over Twitter mere weeks ago, Elon Musk has already reversed suspensions on two high-profile accounts that were deplatformed for maliciously misgendering trans people: conservative satire publication The Babylon Bee and Jordan Peterson. He also reversed the ban on Kathy Griffin, a comedian who had impersonated Musk on Twitter.

When Musk initially announced his bid to take over Twitter, he had voiced his support for overturning the permanent ban on the former president. Now that he owns the company, Musk is using his own Twitter account to announce updates to platform policy.

“New Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach,” Musk tweeted yesterday before starting his poll about Trump’s account. “Negative/hate tweets will be max deboosted & demonetized, so no ads or other revenue to Twitter.”

Already in his tenure, Musk has gone back and forth on the implementation of new features, so it’s challenging to take his word as the end-all-be-all with regard to how Twitter will handle content moderation. Yet Musk is certainly setting a precedent for his leadership at Twitter by allowing the results of a spontaneous day-long poll to dictate complex content moderation decisions.

Regardless, it is unclear whether the former president will actually return to Twitter. After he was deplatformed from mainstream social media networks like Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, Trump created his own social platform called Truth Social. And one of Truth Social’s main selling points is that Trump actively uses it.

Image Credits: Donald Trump on Truth Social

“Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!” the former president posted on Truth Social this evening, referencing Musk’s Twitter poll.

Truth Social debuted on iOS in February with a glitchy launch, using uncredited source code from Mastodon. For the next several months, the app struggled to get approved on Google Play, since Google reportedly found numerous posts that violated its Play Store content policies. Internally, Truth Social’s parent company, the Trump Media and Technology Group, is struggling to complete a proposed merger to go public via SPAC.

As of September, data from SensorTower shows that about 3.7 million users had downloaded the Truth Social app.

This story is developing…

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Amanda Silberling

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November 19, 2022
Gopuff launches scheduled deliveries, gifting and in-store pickup

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Rapid grocery deliver startups like Getir, Gopuff and Gorillas, once heralded as the next big thing in on-demand ordering, are running up against logistical challenges that might very well be insurmountable. Even faced with competition and sky-high operating costs, though, they’re taking what steps they can to stick around. Case in point, Gopuff today launched features aimed at eliminating some of the platform’s biggest pain points, like the inability to schedule orders ahead or pick up orders from nearby stockrooms.

Starting today, Gopuff customers can place an order when the Gopuff marketplace closes — the exact hours depend on the market — to have Gopuff deliver the order as soon as it reopens. (Needless to say, this doesn’t apply to locations where Gopuff delivers 24/7.) Alternatively, customers can schedule an order in advance for a specific date and time, similar to most major food delivery apps, or arrange for an order to be picked up where Gopuff offers retail and in-store shopping.

The in-store shopping experience remains rather limited. According to Gopuff, only in BevMo! outlets — recall that Gopuff acquired BevMo!, the alcohol retailer, for $350 million in 2020 — and locations in New York City is shopping in-store an option. Strictly pickup of online orders will be offered at “many” locations, however, Gopuff says (it’s unclear just how many), with the hours mirroring that of in-app ordering.

Gopuff is also introducing gifting, which will allow customers to add gifts to their cart for recipients both on and off the platform. Once they enter the recipient’s address, name and phone number and a gift message, both the gift recipient and the sender will receive a text message confirming a gift order is being prepared. The recipient will also receive SMS alerts when the order is close by, delivered or canceled.

Gopuff didn’t initially respond to TechCrunch’s question about whether gift recipients’ information are retained for marketing or other purposes. Gopuff, like many app-based products and services, collects a broad swath of personal information that it reserves the right to use for ad targeting and promoting its subscription services, as well as sharing with third parties including business partners and “affiliates and subsidiaries.”

In a follow-up email, a Gopuff spokesperson clarified that gift recipient info isn’t retained for use in these ways.

The new features are only available via the latest Gopuff app (version 8.1.0), the company notes, which began rolling out nationwide this morning.

Gopuff has had a rough go of it lately, no pun intended. Originally intending to IPO as soon as mid-2022 after tapping ex-Disney CEO Bob Iger as an advisor and investor, Gopuff this summer pulled out of Spain, one of its markets, to slash costs, and laid off 10% of its global workforce. Further cuts hit Gopuff in October — mainly affecting various customer service departments — as the startup reportedly looked to secure a credit line as high as $300 million to buffet against inflationary headwinds.

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Kyle Wiggers

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November 19, 2022
These fireball-dropping drones are on the frontlines of wildfire prevention | CNN Business

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CNN Business
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As US wildfires have grown larger and deadlier in recent years, one company is using drones and fire-starting “dragon eggs” to help prevent extreme blazes and save firefighters’ lives.

Drone Amplified, a Nebraska-based startup, is using unmanned aerial technology to improve one of the oldest and most-effective methods of preventing wildfires: prescribed burns. This technique refers to the controlled application of fire by a team of experts to reduce hazardous fuel in areas prone to wildfires. “More prescribed fires mean fewer extreme wildfires,” according to the US Forest Service.

Carrick Detweiler, founder and CEO of Drone Amplified, told CNN that this method works by “doing a very low intensity burn that will basically burn up the dead leaves and sticks that would cause major wildfires when they dry out later in the summer.”

The company was started by two University of Nebraska-Lincoln engineering professors in 2017. In 2020, it was awarded a grant totaling $1 million for research and development from the National Science Foundation and Nebraska Department of Economic Development.

Drone Amplified

“We can reduce these huge wildfires by using more fire, when it’s safe to do so,” Detweiler added.

While the technique of prescribed burns has been around for centuries (and was even used by Indigenous Americans for wildfire management), it can be laborious and risky at times for firefighters carrying it out today.

Firefighters often must hike or ride an all-terrain vehicle through dense forest or mountainous terrain, carrying a drip torch to start small fires in specific, remote locations, according to Detweiler. “Then you have helicopters with a whole crew on board, flying really low and slow over the fire,” he added of other methods for prescribed burns.

“About a quarter of all wildland firefighting fatalities are related to aviation,” Detweiler said. “And for me, this really was a motivation to start Drone Amplified and get these systems into the hands of firefighters.”

While he said a helicopter can cover a larger amount of area than a drone, he notes that firefighters can also deploy “tens or thousands of our systems for the same cost as a helicopter.” A drone from the company costs about $80,000.

Jon Hustead

The drones carry so-called “dragon eggs,” or fireballs that ignite when they land on the ground. “They have potassium permanganate,” Detweiler said of the dragon eggs, adding that when you mix this with glycol it starts a chemical reaction — resulting in a fire. Some 400 of these fireballs can be secured onto a single 50-pound drone.

The drones allow firefighters to work at a distance from flames, according to Detweiler, and in areas that are difficult to reach due to terrain or visibility. Moreover, the firefighting technology can be used, “when it’s dark, when it’s smokey, and when other airplanes can’t be out there.”

The drones, which are controlled by an app, can also allow the fire-starting balls to be dropped in very specific locations. Precision is a critical element when conducting prescribed burns, because it is crucial for preventing fire escapes.

While escapes are rare — the US Forest Service reports just one escape for every thousand burns — the outcomes can be devastating. Two recent controlled burns in New Mexico escaped and led to the state’s largest wildfire on record.

Detweiler said his company’s equipment aims to prevent fire escapes through the use of thermal cameras, visual cameras and other technology that lets firefighters see through smoke.

“Our app also allows the firefighter to put in geofences [boundaries] to prevent any ignitions outside of that area,” he added.

While Drone Amplified is already being used by the US Forest Service and other federal agencies, Detweiler said he hopes to see the technology on the back of every firefighter’s truck in the future.

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November 19, 2022
Ok, I take back what I said about tech layoffs

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Welcome to Startups Weekly, a nuanced take on this week’s startup news and trends by Senior Reporter and Equity co-host Natasha Mascarenhas. To get this in your inbox, subscribe here.

Well, that didn’t take long. In late October, I wrote about how the tide is shifting on tech layoffs, highlighting that 70% of layoffs that happened this year were conducted over the summer. In fact, using layoffs.fyi data, I claimed that the fall was shaping up to be far less gruesome in terms of net new events and people impacted.

Then, things got worse. Since I published that post, a number of layoffs have been announced from companies including but not limited to Twitter, Meta, Amazon, Chime, Stripe, Lyft, Salesforce and Cisco. (Update: As I put this newsletter together, my colleague Kirsten Korosec broke the news that Nuro laid off 20% of its workforce). (Update #2: Now I’m hearing that Carvana is reportedly going to lay off 1,500 workers).

Just a few weeks ago, 2022 workforce reductions impacted at least 92,558 known people, per layoffs.fyi. That same data source now says that the number has grown to 134,739 known people, or a 46% increase.

Put differently, I said the summer was bad. But now, nearly as many people who were laid off in the summer months of June, July and August, were laid off in November (and the month isn’t even over).

Talk about a rough start to November. According to executives and other industry sources, founders may squeeze more layoffs into the next few days ahead of Thanksgiving and the holiday season. All seem to agree that the worst of the worst is ahead of us — and the true extent of layoffs may only materialize in Q1 2023.

I wasn’t entirely wrong in my poorly aged column. I wrote then that we may just be experiencing a reporting delay and that more layoffs may come as company runways dwindle. There are still loads of companies that raised a ton of money over the boom cycle but aren’t producing nearly enough revenue to justify their historical valuations; the late-stage market is full of them.

Still, to suggest that tech is about to have a big reality check is somewhat surprising to me. Isn’t that what this entire year has been? The only hint that I can latch onto is that some companies have shown us that layoffs have a learning curve — purely because they’ve had to do more than one round in quick succession, basically underlining, highlighting and bolding that they were unable to cut deep enough the first time.

I’ll end by saying that I’m working on an end of the year story about the human impact of layoffs, namely where tech talent goes after they’ve been let go. If you lost your job this year and have an interesting story of what you did next, and how your definition of risk changed, my Twitter DMs are open. Well, at least as long as the site is.

Otherwise, you can find me on Substack and Instagram and, well, I’m not going to share my LinkedIn just yet but maybe soon. In the rest of this newsletter, we’ll talk about Elizabeth Holmes, the FTX fall out, eavesdropping and some corners of the internet that made me smile this week.

Elizabeth Holmes gets sentenced

Elizabeth Holmes, the infamous founder of Theranos, has officially been sentenced to 11.25 years in prison for fraud. The sentencing comes months after Holmes was found guilty on four of 11 counts related to defrauding investors. Theranos COO and Homles’ former boyfriend Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani is still awaiting his sentencing after being convicted on 12 out of 12 counts in his own trial.

Here’s why it’s important: The sentencing caps off a long wait to see how Holmes would be held accountable, if at all, for her crimes. Since its launch, the Theranos story has been synonymous with the strengths, and clearly damaging weaknesses, of Silicon Valley hype culture.

Image Credits: Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

FTX update

I was out on vacation (and then out sick) while FTX’s meltdown began. Thankfully, my co-workers gifted me with a ton of content on the actual impact of a crypto exchange collapsing in such a public way. If last week was all about the how, this week was all about the now what. How do investors, startups and people in the crypto world move on? And what lasting impacts does FTX’s fall out have? (Regrets don’t count).

Here’s why it’s important: As we talked about on the pod this week, the human side of all of this is finally starting to emerge. Take Nestcoin, for example. The African web3 startup declared that it held many of its day-to-day cash used for operating expenses in FTX. As a result, it is laying off employees. We also heard about SoftBank following Sequoia’s lead in marking down its investment, but what I really care about is how former COO Marcelo Claure addressed the mistake.

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

What we lose if we lose Twitter

I’m not going to run you through the latest Twitter headlines because, similar to the introduction of this newsletter, I will probably need to update it every hour to include all the pivots, contradictions and straight up meltdowns that are happening on the platform. What I will do, however, is run through what we lose if we lose Twitter.

My earnest co-workers, and I, the most earnest of them all, put together a little post about why we value Twitter and what disappears if it disappears. Obviously, we’re not saying the platform is dead or going anywhere immediately. But, what if it did?

Here’s a bit of my excerpt from the TC+ post:

I’m nosy, curious and have a constant fear that I’m missing key comprehension or a hidden angle on a macroeconomic trend. It’s probably why I’m a reporter (and why I’m addicted to Twitter).

Twitter lets me be an eavesdropping, unassuming fly on the wall. That was important when I first re-downloaded it in college and subscribed to get a notification every single time Boston Business Journal tweeted news — and it’s important now as I try to understand what founders think in real time (versus what they want to tell a TechCrunch reporter over Zoom). It helped me get up to speed when I was an intern at the Boston Globe, and it helps me blend in and understand more as a senior reporter at TechCrunch.

Eavesdropping became even more important to me about one week into the pandemic, which happened to be one week into my job at TechCrunch. It became how I found my sources, showing up in the embeds of my stories. It also became how I balanced out my sources, aiming to not just quote the people with the spiciest takes in 180 characters. As an early-career reporter, I feel like Twitter gave me a fighting chance at catching up to all my brilliant colleagues and competitors digesting the news in real time. I mean, I literally saw their thought process every single day.

We all heard that Twitter became our town square during quarantine, but for me, it also became a map.

For the rest of the piece, check out our TC+ piece: “TechCrunch staff on what we lose if we lose Twitter.”

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin/TechCrunch

A good tweets and posts section

We’re officially at the time of year, and part of the news cycle, when I’m desperately searching for good news to highlight. On Equity this week, we started with some positive growth-focused tech news, including Maven’s growth and how that helps women’s health, and Alibaba’s expansion despite others’ retreat.

In the spirit of smiling, here are some tweets and jokes from the week that made me smile:

Image Credits: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

A few notes

Seen on TechCrunch

Daylight, the LGBTQ+ neobank, raises cash to launch subscription plan for family planning

Corporate comms for the startup soul

Fund of funds Sweetwood Ventures bets big on VC’s smallest funds

Meet Unstable Diffusion, the group trying to monetize AI porn generators

DoorDash rolls out new safety features for delivery people on its platform

Seen on TechCrunch+

The power pendulum is swinging back to employers, isn’t it?

Pitch Deck Teardown: Sateliot’s $11.4M Series A deck

Is web3 really the new phase of the internet?

How Bird clipped its own wings

5 sustainable best practices for bootstrapped startups

If you like this newsletter, do me a quick favor? Forward it to a friend, tell me what you think on Twitter and follow my personal blog for more content. In the meantime, I’m taking next week off to enjoy the holiday season with friends and family, so I hope you do the same. Startups Weekly will be back on December 4!

Best,

N

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Natasha Mascarenhas

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November 19, 2022
The Twitter alternative Mastodon: What to know

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As Twitter users chatter about the platform’s potential impending demise amid mass layoffs and resignations and reports that the app for employees had begun to slow, some users have turned to Mastodon as a potential alternative.

Founded in 2016 by German software developer Eugen Rochko, the project’s only full-time employee, the decentralized social network is a nonprofit.

While it shares some similarities with Twitter, there are also big differences.

There are no ads, as Mastodon is funded by donations and grants.

TWITTER REPORTEDLY LOSING MORE STAFF MEMBERS AFTER MUSK’S ‘HARDCORE’ ULTIMATUM

Its feed is chronological, unlike the algorithm-based feeds of Facebook, TikTok and Twitter.

It’s made up of a network of servers. While each runs independently, people on their own server – or Mastodon “instance” – are able to connect with people on different servers, as long as those servers aren’t blocked.

This photograph taken on November 7, 2022, shows the logos of social networks Twitter and Mastodon reflected in smartphone screens.
((Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images))

Some servers let anyone join, while others require an invitation or approval, according to TechCrunch.

The outlet also notes that, as part of the “Fediverse,” Mastodon grants users access to other decentralized social networks and – as it is open source – anyone can download, modify and install Mastodon on their own server.

Users can write posts of up to 500 characters, as well as share photos and videos.

They can also see a general public feed and follow accounts. Mastodon also uses hashtags.

SPAIN – In this photo illustration, Mastodon homepage is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen. It has been reported that more than 200,000 new users flocked the social media app after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk.
((Photo Illustration by Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images))

FACEBOOK AND INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS: HOW TO KEEP YOURS PROTECTED

Mastodon has officially retired the word “toot,” however, which was used to describe posts. Now, the “Toot” button has been replaced with one that says “Publish.”

There are more than a million users, nearly half of whom Rochko said signed up after Twitter chief Elon Musk took over in October.

Comparatively, Twitter reported 238 million daily active users who had seen an advert as of the second quarter of this year, and Facebook said it had 1.98 billion daily active users as of the third quarter.

A person holds a mobile phone showing the Mastodon and Twitter icon.
(REUTERS/Lisi Niesner)

Notably, it’s harder to find people to follow on Mastadon than on the centrally administered Twitter or Facebook, and fast growth has led to some glitches.

One primary difference is verification, as there is no official process for profiles.

“Document-based verification and blue ticks are not possible without a central authority. However, Mastodon can cross-reference the links you put on your profile to prove that you are the real owner of those links. In case one of those links is your personal homepage that is known and trusted, it can serve as the “next-best-thing to identity verification,” Mastodon advises.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Alternatively, people can add a checkmark emoji next to their name, according to Mashable.

Either way is less expensive than an $8 monthly fee.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Julia Musto is a reporter for Fox News and Fox Business Digital.

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November 19, 2022
Public safety accounts urge caution on Twitter after company changes

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As Twitter became knotted with parody accounts and turmoil, Rachel Terlep, who runs an account for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources that intersperses cheeky banter with wildfire and weather warnings, watched with equal parts trepidation and fascination.

“It kind of feels like a supernova moment right now — a big, bright flash before it all goes away,” she said.

So the department stepped into the fray, taking advantage of the moment with some of its signature humor. “Update: The Twitter wildfire is 44 billion acres and 0% contained,” they posted.

But under the joke, it linked to a thread that gave helpful tips about how to review a handle to see if it’s real. Some of the suggestions included looking at how old the account is and checking to see if the public safety agency’s website links to the profile.

It underscored the challenge for the people tasked with getting public safety information out to communities. Now, they don’t only have to get information out quickly. On the new Twitter, they also have to convince people they are actually the authorities.

Government agencies, especially those tasked with sending messages during emergencies, have embraced Twitter for its efficiency and scope. Getting accurate information from authorities during disasters is often a matter of life or death. For example, the first reports this week of a deadly shooting at the University of Virginia came from the college’s Twitter accounts that urged students to shelter in place.

Disasters also provide fertile ground for false information to spread online. Researchers like Jun Zhuang, a professor at the University of Buffalo who studies how false information spreads during natural disasters, say emergencies create a “perfect storm” for rumors, but that government accounts have also played a crucial role in batting them down.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, for example, an online rumor spread that officials were checking people’s immigration status at storm shelters, potentially dissuading people from seeking safety there. However, crisis communication researchers have also found that the city’s mayor reassured residents and helped the community pull together with a constant stream of Twitter messages.

Amid the slew of changes at one of the world’s most influential social media platforms, the public information officers who operate government Twitter accounts are cautiously waiting out the turmoil and urging the public to verify that it really is their accounts appearing on timelines. While it’s an issue they’ve always had to contend with, it’s especially worrisome now as a proliferation of brand impersonations spreads across the platform and changes to verification take hold.

Darren Noak, who helps run an account for Austin-Travis County emergency medical services in Texas, said Twitter’s blue checkmark has often been discussed among those who operate government Twitter accounts. The badge — up until a week ago — indicated an account was verified as a government entity, corporation, celebrity or journalist.

The AP reviewed dozens of government agencies responsible for responding to emergencies from the county to the national level, and none had received an official label — denoted by a gray checkmark — by Friday. Spoof accounts are a concern, Noak said, because they create “a real pain and a headache, especially in times of crisis and emergency.”

Government accounts have long been a target of copycats. Fairfax County in Virginia had to quash fake school closures tweeted from a fraudulent account during a 2014 winter storm. And both the state of North Carolina and its city of Greensboro have had to compete with accounts appearing to speak for their governments.

It has become even harder in recent days to verify that an account is authentic.

In the span of a week, Twitter granted gray checkmark badges to official government accounts — then rescinded them. It next allowed users to receive a blue checkmark through its $8 subscription services — then halted that offering after it spawned an infestation of imposter accounts. Over the weekend, Twitter laid off outsourced moderators who enforced rules against harmful content, further gutting its guardrails against misinformation.

Twitter hasn’t responded to media requests for information since Elon Musk took over, but its support account has posted: “To combat impersonation, we’ve added an ‘Official’ label to some accounts.”

Twitter’s changes could be deadly, warned Juliette Kayyem, a former homeland security adviser at the state and national levels who now teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Twitter has become a go-to source of localized information in emergencies, she said. But imposter accounts could introduce a new level of misinformation — or disinformation when people intentionally try to cause harm — in urgent situations. When instructing the public how to respond, the right instructions — such as sheltering in place or evacuating a certain area — can be a matter of life or death.

“In a disaster where time is limited, the greatest way to limit harm is to provide accurate and timely information to communities about what they should do,” Kayyem said. “Allowing others to claim expertise — it will cost lives.”

In the past, Kayyem had worked with Twitter to research how government agencies can communicate in emergencies. She said the leadership at Twitter’s trust and safety department “thought long and hard” about its public service role. But Twitter has lost those high-level leaders responsible for cybersecurity, data privacy and complying with regulations.

Some agencies are pushing audiences to other venues for information.

Local government websites are often the best place to turn for accurate, up-to-date information in emergencies, said April Davis, who works as a public affairs officer and digital media strategist at the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. She, like many others at emergency management agencies, said her agency doesn’t yet plan to change how it engages on Twitter, but also emphasized that it’s not the best place to turn to in emergencies.

“If it goes away, then we’ll migrate to another platform,” said Derrec Becker, chief of public information at the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. “It is not the emergency alert system.”

Twitter accounts for emergency management in Washington, South Carolina and Oregon provide public service information on preparing for disasters and weather alerts. They also tweet about evacuation and shelter orders.

Becker, who has cultivated the agency’s sizeable Twitter following with a playful presence, said emergency alerts broadcast on TV, radio or cell phones are still the go-to methods for urgent warnings.

Shortly after Becker fielded questions from The Associated Press on his agency’s plans Monday, the department tweeted: “Leave Twitter? Disasters are kind of our thing.”

Trending News

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November 19, 2022
Public safety accounts urge caution on Twitter after changes

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As Twitter became knotted with parody accounts and turmoil, Rachel Terlep, who runs an account for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources that intersperses cheeky banter with wildfire and weather warnings, watched with equal parts trepidation and fascination.

“It kind of feels like a supernova moment right now — a big, bright flash before it all goes away,” she said.

So the department stepped into the fray, taking advantage of the moment with some of its signature humor. “Update: The Twitter wildfire is 44 billion acres and 0% contained,” they posted.

But under the joke, it linked to a thread that gave helpful tips about how to review a handle to see if it’s real. Some of the suggestions included looking at how old the account is and checking to see if the public safety agency’s website links to the profile.

It underscored the challenge for the people tasked with getting public safety information out to communities. Now, they don’t only have to get information out quickly. On the new Twitter, they also have to convince people they are actually the authorities.

Government agencies, especially those tasked with sending messages during emergencies, have embraced Twitter for its efficiency and scope. Getting accurate information from authorities during disasters is often a matter of life or death. For example, the first reports this week of a deadly shooting at the University of Virginia came from the college’s Twitter accounts that urged students to shelter in place.

Disasters also provide fertile ground for false information to spread online. Researchers like Jun Zhuang, a professor at the University of Buffalo who studies how false information spreads during natural disasters, say emergencies create a “perfect storm” for rumors, but that government accounts have also played a crucial role in batting them down.

During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, for example, an online rumor spread that officials were checking people’s immigration status at storm shelters, potentially dissuading people from seeking safety there. However, crisis communication researchers have also found that the city’s mayor reassured residents and helped the community pull together with a constant stream of Twitter messages.

Amid the slew of changes at one of the world’s most influential social media platforms, the public information officers who operate government Twitter accounts are cautiously waiting out the turmoil and urging the public to verify that it really is their accounts appearing on timelines. While it’s an issue they’ve always had to contend with, it’s especially worrisome now as a proliferation of brand impersonations spreads across the platform and changes to verification take hold.

Darren Noak, who helps run an account for Austin-Travis County emergency medical services in Texas, said Twitter’s blue checkmark has often been discussed among those who operate government Twitter accounts. The badge — up until a week ago — indicated an account was verified as a government entity, corporation, celebrity or journalist.

The AP reviewed dozens of government agencies responsible for responding to emergencies from the county to the national level, and none had received an official label — denoted by a gray checkmark — by Friday. Spoof accounts are a concern, Noak said, because they create “a real pain and a headache, especially in times of crisis and emergency.”

Government accounts have long been a target of copycats. Fairfax County in Virginia had to quash fake school closures tweeted from a fraudulent account during a 2014 winter storm. And both the state of North Carolina and its city of Greensboro have had to compete with accounts appearing to speak for their governments.

It has become even harder in recent days to verify that an account is authentic.

In the span of a week, Twitter granted gray checkmark badges to official government accounts — then rescinded them. It next allowed users to receive a blue checkmark through its $8 subscription services — then halted that offering after it spawned an infestation of imposter accounts. Over the weekend, Twitter laid off outsourced moderators who enforced rules against harmful content, further gutting its guardrails against misinformation.

Twitter hasn’t responded to media requests for information since Musk took over, but its support account has posted: “To combat impersonation, we’ve added an ‘Official’ label to some accounts.”

Twitter’s changes could be deadly, warned Juliette Kayyem, a former homeland security adviser at the state and national levels who now teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Twitter has become a go-to source of localized information in emergencies, she said. But imposter accounts could introduce a new level of misinformation — or disinformation when people intentionally try to cause harm — in urgent situations. When instructing the public how to respond, the right instructions — such as sheltering in place or evacuating a certain area — can be a matter of life or death.

“In a disaster where time is limited, the greatest way to limit harm is to provide accurate and timely information to communities about what they should do,” Kayyem said. “Allowing others to claim expertise — it will cost lives.”

In the past, Kayyem had worked with Twitter to research how government agencies can communicate in emergencies. She said the leadership at Twitter’s trust and safety department “thought long and hard” about its public service role. But Twitter has lost those high-level leaders responsible for cybersecurity, data privacy and complying with regulations.

Some agencies are pushing audiences to other venues for information.

Local government websites are often the best place to turn for accurate, up-to-date information in emergencies, said April Davis, who works as a public affairs officer and digital media strategist at the Oregon Department of Emergency Management. She, like many others at emergency management agencies, said her agency doesn’t yet plan to change how it engages on Twitter, but also emphasized that it’s not the best place to turn to in emergencies.

“If it goes away, then we’ll migrate to another platform,” said Derrec Becker, chief of public information at the South Carolina Emergency Management Division. “It is not the emergency alert system.”

Twitter accounts for emergency management in Washington, South Carolina and Oregon provide public service information on preparing for disasters and weather alerts. They also tweet about evacuation and shelter orders.

Becker, who has cultivated the agency’s sizeable Twitter following with a playful presence, said emergency alerts broadcast on TV, radio or cell phones are still the go-to methods for urgent warnings.

Shortly after Becker fielded questions from The Associated Press on his agency’s plans Monday, the department tweeted: “Leave Twitter? Disasters are kind of our thing.”

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November 19, 2022