Taylor Hatmaker
TechCrunch
Portland, OR, United States
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Discover and connect with journalists and influencers around the world, save time on email research, monitor the news, and more.
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Recent articles by Taylor:
The FTC is reportedly probing Meta’s VR business for antitrust violations –
Following news that the FTC’s antitrust suit against Meta cleared a critical hurdle earlier this week, the agency is apparently also taking a sharp interest in the company’s VR business. Bloomberg reports that the FTC and multiple state attorneys general are probing Meta’s virtual reality division for “potential anti-competitive practices.” New York reportedly leads the […] → Read More
House committee investigating Jan. 6 subpoenas Meta, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit –
The House committee leading the investigation into the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas to four major tech companies Thursday. Jan. 6 select committee chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) sent letters to YouTube parent company Alphabet, Facebook and Instagram parent company Meta, Reddit and Twitter demanding for those companies to provide additional […] → Read More
Second Life’s creator is returning to advise the original metaverse company –
The creator of one of the earliest and most enduringly iconic virtual worlds is returning to his roots. Second Life’s founder Philip Rosedale will rejoin the company he founded in 1999 as a strategic advisor after High Fidelity, the spatial audio company Rosedale co-founded in 2013, invested in Second Life’s developer Linden Lab. The deal […] → Read More
Fact checkers write open letter urging YouTube to get serious about Covid misinformation –
A group of more than 80 prominent fact checking organizations around the world is pressing YouTube to take action against Covid misinformation, which still prevails on the platform now two years into the pandemic. “As an international network of fact-checking organizations, we monitor how lies spread online — and every day, we see that YouTube […] → Read More
Meta is testing a new meta privacy control center across apps –
Meta, formerly Facebook, is tinkering around with how it tells users about their privacy options. The company has switched up where this information lives and how it’s explained a number of times over the years and now appears to be centralizing some privacy FAQs and controls in one place across its family of apps. The […] → Read More
Twitter wants you to retweet with TikTok-like reaction videos –
Everybody wants a little of that TikTok magic. To that end, Twitter is rolling out a new test feature that invites people to post video reactions to tweets instead of quote-tweeting the old-fashioned way. It’s a very un-Twitterlike feature, but the company has been actively experimenting with new products for a while now, including the […] → Read More
Instagram’s chronological feed is back –
Instagram is making good on the promise it made last month to bring back the chronological feed. In a tweet Wednesday, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced that the platform is rolling out some big changes to the way the core feed experience works, letting users choose between three different feeds. Two new options, Favorites and […] → Read More
Go Disco curates local events to get you doing cool stuff around town –
Foursquare’s heyday is long over, but the problem of finding cool local stuff to do lives on. Most people seem to make it work through a sometimes reluctant combination of Facebook or Instagram and word of mouth, but the reality is that there aren’t many good apps that help us get off of apps and […] → Read More
Unverified viral rumors of threat to schools spreads nationally on TikTok –
A proliferation of ominous, non-specific TikTok rumors suggested that schools across the U.S. faced threats of violence on Friday, December 17. While a number of schools responded to the trend by closing their doors, many local law enforcement agencies and at least one federal one have weighed in, disclosing that the threat doesn’t appear to […] → Read More
The most prominent group lobbying for Silicon Valley’s interests in DC just fell apart –
The trade group representing Silicon Valley’s biggest companies will disband, even as tech enters a new era of intense regulatory scrutiny in the nation’s capital. The Internet Association has fought for tech’s interests in Washington for the last nine years, lobbying lawmakers to advance the combined interests of Facebook, Amazon, Google, Airbnb, Uber, Twitter, Ebay, […] → Read More
Facebook Oversight Board calls on Meta to evaluate its role in spreading violence in Ethiopia –
The Oversight Board, a group Facebook created to review its policy decisions, weighed in on a case of misinformation in war-torn Ethiopia Tuesday, warning the company about the risks of allowing hate speech and unverified information to spread freely in conflict zones. The Oversight Board reviewed a post in Amharic from an Ethiopia-based Facebook user […] → Read More
Instagram’s Adam Mosseri defends the app’s teen safety track record to Congress –
Head of Instagram Adam Mosseri testified before Congress for the first time Wednesday, defending the app’s impacts on teens and its aspirations to bring younger children formally into the fold. In September, leaked documents from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen painted a picture of a company that knows it takes a toll on the mental health […] → Read More
Twitter will use new data from reported tweets to identify platform problems earlier –
Twitter is trying out some changes to the way that users report tweets that they believe might break Twitter’s rules. Like most social media companies, Twitter has long relied on user reporting to flag potentially policy-violating tweets. But in its new imagining of that system those reports would provide the company with a richer picture […] → Read More
Discord is working on premium memberships, a new monetization option for creators –
Discord is introducing a new way for creators to make money by offering community members access to paid, subscriber-only content. The new premium membership offering was among the company’s most requested features and would bring a new stream of revenue in-house while giving Discord-based communities the option to streamline the tools they use to grow. […] → Read More
Facebook Gaming wants viewers to hop into the game with their favorite streamers –
Facebook Gaming might not be a hot streaming destination like Twitch or YouTube Gaming, but the social network is steadily adding interactive features to build its appeal. Facebook is trying out a new layer of interactivity the company is calling “play with streamer” that lets viewers hop into game streams with their favorite streaming personalities. […] → Read More
Gift Guide: 10 great cameras for when a smartphone lens just isn’t enough –
As we wade into the second pandemic-era holiday season, there's no better time to throw yourself headlong into a new hobby. Or that's what you should tell your loved ones when you gift them one of the cameras on our list of photography gift ideas this year. → Read More
Twitch’s newest moderation tool spots accounts trying to get around channel bans –
Twitch introduced a new way for streamers to fight accounts that evade channel-level bans Tuesday. The automated tool is called “Suspicious User Detection” and can spot users trying to get around bans, giving anyone moderating a Twitch channel more recourse for dealing with potentially disruptive behavior before it starts. The company announced that the new […] → Read More
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will talk Section 230 reform with Congress this week –
Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen will go before Congress again this week, this time offering her unique perspective on the company’s moderation and policy failures as they relate to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, the key legal shield that protects online platforms from liability for the user-created content they host. The House Energy and […] → Read More
Facebook tests News Feed controls that let people see less from groups and pages –
Facebook announced Thursday that it’s running a test to give users a sliver more control over what they see on the platform. The test will go live on Facebook’s app for English-speaking users. It adds three sub-menus into Facebook’s menu for managing what shows up in the News Feed: friends and family, groups and pages […] → Read More
Streamlabs changes its name after backlash from Twitch stars and open source software maker –
One of the most popular streaming software makers is in hot water after being called out by top Twitch personalities and the open source project that served as a backbone for the company’s success. Streamlabs, formerly Streamlabs OBS, changed its name Wednesday after backlash spread on Twitter against the company over alleged sketchy business practices. […] → Read More