Taylor Hatmaker
TechCrunch
Portland, OR, United States
Contact Taylor
Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Past articles by Taylor:
Bluesky officially hits 1 million users
Bluesky hit a major milestone, passing 1 million users. The app's community is small but vibrant compared to many of its peers. → Read More
Roblox is launching avatar-based voice calls with facial motion tracking
Roblox Connect weaves Roblox's existing avatars, voice chat and camera-based facial animations together into a new product. → Read More
Epic buys Brazil-based game developer Aquiris to boost Fortnite
Aquiris will become Epic Games Brasil, giving the social gaming giant a foothold in the country's fast-growing gaming market. → Read More
Twitter singles NPR out with misleading state-backed media label
After taking over last year, Twitter’s new owner has invented policies on the fly, pushed questionable design changes and generally bent the platform to suit his whims. In the latest installment of Elon Musk’s mercurial leadership saga, Twitter now classifies American news nonprofit NPR the same way that it handles RT, the infamous Russian state-backed […] → Read More
A judge dismissed Phhhoto’s antitrust suit against Meta
A U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of New York threw out a lawsuit against Meta this week that had been simmering for a year and a half. The suit, filed in late 2021 by now-shuttered social app Phhhoto, alleged that Meta violated federal antitrust law by copying its core features with the […] → Read More
What’s going on with the TikTok ban?
TikTok’s fate is far from sealed. We’ve answered some common questions about a situation that’s complex, confusing and changing as we speak. → Read More
TikTok CEO testifies before Congress
TikTok's CEO will offer reassurances that the company can safeguard the safety of minors and ward off threats to U.S. user privacy. → Read More
TikTok CEO says it wasn’t ‘spying’ when ByteDance employees surveilled journalists
The TikTok CEO's response to one question likely dug the company's hole even deeper when it comes to building trust with Washington. → Read More
China reminds US that it can and will kill a forced TikTok sale
China pushed back against the U.S. proposal to force a sale of TikTok, rejecting the possible solution to national security concerns. → Read More
Twitch says it will lay off 400 employees
The layoffs were characterized as an effort to make Twitch's business more sustainable in the face of challenging economic conditions. → Read More
The Justice Department is investigating TikTok over journalist spying incident
The FBI and the DOJ are reportedly investigating how some ByteDance employees leveraged the app to spy on American journalists. → Read More
The US government ramps up its pressure campaign against TikTok
The Biden administration's public concerns around TikTok have ratcheted up considerably in recent days, revisiting an old tension. → Read More
Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is stepping down
After serving as its chief executive for more than a decade, Twitch CEO Emmett Shear will step down as CEO. → Read More
The FTC finalizes Epic’s $245 million settlement over sketchy Fortnite purchases
The FTC slammed Epic Games with $245 million in fines this week over misleading dark pattern design and kids' privacy protections. → Read More
Fortnite’s maximalism still works in its new cyberpunk season
After a handful of eclectic recent chapters, Fortnite’s latest is taking a theme and running with it. Chapter Four, Season Two of Fortnite went live over the weekend, revamping the game’s central island (which got a full makeover last season) while going full futuristic. The result is a cyberpunk fever dream, with Fortnite’s bucolic rolling […] → Read More
VSCO is growing into a legit social network for photographers
Four years after the dawn of the VSCO Girl, the photo editing app wants you to know that it’s very much alive. → Read More
Twitch’s new experiments hub tells streamers what’s being tested each month
Twitch is giving streamers a place to find out what features the company is testing and what experiments are coming soon. → Read More
Houseparty’s founder launches Towns, an open source group chat app that comes with a blueprint
The founder of Meerkat and Houseparty is launching Towns, a vision of a decentralized future for the social web. → Read More
Supreme Court arguments this week could reshape the future of the internet
The Supreme Court doesn't sound eager to shake up Section 230, a law that protects online companies from liability for user-created content. → Read More
Roblox wants to let people build virtual worlds just by typing
Roblox is exploring how novice developers can use language-based generative AI to build out new virtual worlds. → Read More