Natasha Lomas
TechCrunch
Philippines
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Recent articles by Natasha:
Even years later, Twitter doesn’t delete your direct messages
When does “delete” really mean delete? Not always or even at all if you’re Twitter . → Read More
Biotech AI startup Sight Diagnostics gets $27.8M to speed up blood tests
Sight Diagnostics, an Israeli medical devices startup that’s using AI technology to speed up blood testing, has closed a $27.8 million Series C funding round. → Read More
Apple is selling the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 in Germany again
Two older iPhone models are back on sale in Apple stores in Germany — but only with Qualcomm chips inside. → Read More
Europe agrees platform rules to tackle unfair business practices
The European Union’s political institutions have reached agreement over new rules designed to boost transparency around online platform businesses and curb unfair practices to support traders and other businesses that rely on digital intermediaries for discovery and sales. The European Commis… → Read More
GoEuro rebrands as Omio to take its travel aggregator business global
European multimodal travel booking platform GoEuro has announced a change of name and destination: Its new ambition is to go global, scaling beyond its regional grounding to tackle the challenge of intercity travel internationally — hence needing a more expansive brand name. The name it’… → Read More
DJI is updating its geofencing system across Europe after Gatwick drone debacle
Following the pre-Christmas drone debacle in the UK — which plunged thousands of people into travel misery after repeated drone sightings closed the runway at Gatwick, and later also briefly suspended departures at Heathrow — consumer drone maker DJI has announced it’s upgrading i… → Read More
The UK now has a law against upskirting
A law change that comes into force in the UK today makes the highly intrusive practice of ‘upskirting’ illegal. The government said it wants the new law to send a clear message that such behaviour is criminal and will not be tolerated. → Read More
Facebook urged to offer an API for political ad transparency research
Facebook has been called upon to provide good faith researchers with an API to enable them to study how political ads are spreading and being amplified on its platform. → Read More
Dating apps face questions over age checks after report exposes child abuse
The UK government has said it could legislate to require age verification checks on users of dating apps, following an investigation into underage use of dating apps published by the Sunday Times yesterday. → Read More
Is Europe closing in on an antitrust fix for surveillance technologists?
The German Federal Cartel Office’s decision to order Facebook to change how it processes users’ personal data this week is a sign the antitrust tide could at last be turning against platform power. → Read More
Tech platforms called to support public interest research into mental health impacts
The tech industry has been called on to share data with public sector researchers so the mental health and psychosocial impacts of their service on vulnerable users can be better understood, and also to contribute to funding the necessary independent research over the next ten years. The UK’s… → Read More
German antitrust office limits Facebook’s data-gathering
A lengthy antitrust probe into how Facebook gathers data on users has resulted in Germany’s competition watchdog banning the social network giant from combining data on users across its own suite of social platforms without their consent. → Read More
Fabula AI is using social spread to spot ‘fake news’
UK startup Fabula AI reckons it’s devised a way for artificial intelligence to help user generated content platforms get on top of the disinformation crisis that keeps rocking the world of social media with antisocial scandals. → Read More
UK moves towards driverless car tests without safety drivers
The UK government has announced it’s working on a process to support so-called ‘advanced trials’ of autonomous vehicles — i.e. trials without human safety drivers. → Read More
Europe’s highest human rights court to hear challenge to UK’s bulk surveillance regime
The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has agreed to hear a legal challenge to the use of bulk data collection surveillance powers by UK intelligence agencies. → Read More
Thriva expands its range of test-at-home kits to add female hormone and cortisol stress tests
U.K. home health analysis kit startup Thriva is adding three more products to its range later this month: A saliva-based cortisol stress test and two female hormone kits. The Seedcamp-backed U.K. → Read More
Instagram’s Adam Mosseri to meet UK health secretary over suicide content concerns
The still fresh-in-post boss of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, has been asked to meet the UK’s health secretary, Matt Hancock, to discuss the social media platform’s handling of content that promotes suicide and self harm, the BBC reports. → Read More
Online platforms still not clear enough about hate speech takedowns: EC
In its latest monitoring report of a voluntary Code of Conduct on illegal hate speech, which platforms including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube signed up to in Europe back in 2016, the European Commission has said progress is being made on speeding up takedowns but tech firms are still lagging when … → Read More
WhatsApp adds support for Face ID/Touch ID biometric lock on iOS
WhatsApp users updating to the latest version of the messaging app on iOS will find a new setting lurking at the bottom of the ‘Privacy’ menu that adds support for Apple’s biometric authentication technologies. → Read More
Facebook warned over privacy risks of merging messaging platforms
Facebook’s lead data protection regulator in Europe has asked the company for an “urgent briefing” regarding plans to integrate the underlying infrastructure of its three social messaging platforms. → Read More