Author: Tech Support

    • France is hypocritical to ask Google and Apple to ease their privacy protections for a French contact-tracing app, while being such a vocal critic of big tech (Mike Masnick/Techdirt)

    Mike Masnick / Techdirt: France is hypocritical to ask Google and Apple to ease their privacy protections for a French contact-tracing app, while being such a vocal critic of big tech  —  We keep trying to explain to people that privacy is always about trade-offs, and arguing for privacy laws that protect “privacy” … France

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    • American teens, stuck at home during the pandemic, are looking to recreate the fun of prom online, with many turning to TikTok (Kaitlyn Tiffany/The Atlantic)

    Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic: American teens, stuck at home during the pandemic, are looking to recreate the fun of prom online, with many turning to TikTok  —  “I’m sitting here, crying in my prom dress,” is the chorus of a low-fi, hand-clappy track by the singer mxmtoon—and now a hyper-literal anthem for American teenagers.

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    • Twitter will remove misleading COVID-19-related tweets that could incite people to engage in ‘harmful activity’

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter has updated its COVID-19 policies to require users remove tweets making unverified claims that “incite people to action and cause widespread panic, social unrest or large-scale disorder.” The changes come as COVID-19 misinformation has spread across social media that has incited people to act rashly. For example,

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    • Nikola gets $4 million pandemic loan, as patent lawsuit against Tesla continues

    Image: Nikola Electric big rig startup Nikola received a $4.1 million loan from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) meant to help small businesses keep people employed during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to an April 15th filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It’s at least the third EV startup to receive money

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    • Herd Immunity Won't Save Us

    If we cannot stop COVID-19, can we at least look forward to the point in time when we are all survivors of the disease, and presumably immune? It’s a tempting idea, but fatally flawed. Herd immunity can protect individuals, but it won’t keep a population safe from a disease that has no vaccine. Read more…

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    • Viral texts about coronavirus lockdown were amplified by Chinese operatives, US officials say

    Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images Chinese operatives helped amplify a viral text message that falsely claimed President Trump was going to instate a nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19, reports The New York Times. US officials said the operatives were engaging in disinformation tactics similar to the ones Russia used in 2016. The rumor, which gained

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