Fake news and misinformation was a key tactic used by the Russians during the 2016 presidential election to try to sway voters against candidates and sow mistruths and mistrust.
Research out Thursday by the Knight Foundation found that more than 80 percent of the Twitter accounts that repeatedly spread false information during the 2016 election “are still active,” and are in some cases pushing more than a million tweets a day.
The foundation examined more than 10 million tweets from 700,000 accounts that were found linking to over 600 sites associated with misinformation and conspiracy theories. The researchers found 6.6 million of those tweets linked directly to fake news during the month before the 2016 election, and another four million tweets spreading fake news six months after the election.
Although that’s a decline, it’s still more fake news than anyone would want.
“Our democracy relies on access to news and information we can trust,” said Sam Gill, Knight Foundation vice president for communities and impact. “Right now, the discussion about misinformation online is based on anxiety and conventional wisdom.”
“That’s not good enough,” he said.
Twitter has spent the past year trying to clean up after the 2016 election, after which lawmakers attributed blame to the social media company for failing to do more to protect voters from misinformation. The company, with 330 million users, has stamped out tens of millions of accounts in the past year for spreading misinformation and other suspicious content.
When reached, Del Harvey, Twitter’s global vice president of trust & safety, disputed the findings:
“Firstly, this study was built using our public API and therefore does not take into account any of the actions we take to remove automated or spammy content and accounts from being viewed by people on Twitter. We do this proactively and at scale, every single day. Secondly, as a uniquely open service, Twitter is a vital source of real-time antidote to day-to-day falsehoods. We are proud of this use case and work diligently to ensure we are showing people context and a diverse range of perspectives as they engage in civic debate and conversations on our service.”
The Knight Foundation criticized Twitter for claiming it cracked down on automated and “spammy” accounts, and said that “so many easily identified abusive accounts is difficult to square with any effective crackdown.”
According to their findings, the researchers said that the accounts were densely interlinked by following each other, described as a “disinformation supercluster.” The accounts participate in “coordinated campaigns to push fake news” by tweeting links to only a handful of fake news sites.
“The core of this network remains highly active as this report goes to press,” said the researchers. “Both before and after the election, most Twitter links to fake news are concentrated on a few dozen sites, and those top fake and conspiracy sites are largely stable.”
“Reducing the social media audience of just the dozen most linked fake and conspiracy sites could dramatically reduce fake news on Twitter,” they concluded.
The company agreed to pay $892 million last March after pleading guilty to charges of violating U.S.-Iran sanctions — the same issue that triggered the initial ban from the Department of Commerce. A condition of that 2017 deal was that the company would be ‘monitored’ until 2020 to ensure against repeat offenses. That term has been extended by a further two years by a U.S. court — as Reuters reports — it had “falsely disciplined” employees who were part of the Iran trading activities.
ZTE had been required to terminate the senior members of staff and discipline the others involved.
ZTE disclosed the extension in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. It added that the court-appointed monitor will also be given access to the same information as the monitor tied to the Department of Commerce. That means copmpany documents, information, facilities and personnel.
The company is the second largest provider of telecoms equipment in the world, it has over 75,000 employees and is suspected of close ties with the government. However, it is dependent on U.S-based companies for certain components which is why it is caught up in U.S. politics and regulators.
In less than two months, thousands of the best and brightest minds from the European and international tech startup scene will attend Disrupt Berlin 2018. The conference, which takes place November 29-30, draws participants from more than 50 countries across Europe, Asia and beyond. It’s two full days of connection, collaboration and — most of all — opportunity.
We want to make that opportunity available, affordable and accessible to as many people as possible. In that spirit, we’re excited to offer special discounts to students and nonprofit and government employees. Click here for details and to apply for discounted Innovator passes.
Here’s what you can access with an Innovator pass:
All three content stages (Main Stage, The Next Stage, Q&A Stage)
Videos of all stage content at the event (Q&A Stage programming is not recorded)
All Workshops
Startup Alley Expo with more than 500 startups and exhibitors
Full attendee list and the ability to connect with attendees via CrunchMatch
TC After Party (if you’re at least 21 years old)
Let’s talk discount eligibility, shall we?
First up: students. You must be currently enrolled in a grade school, high school, college or university program — or have graduated from a college or university program within the last six months. Note that coding schools do not qualify, and you can’t combine the student discount with any other discount offers. Your reduced Innovator pass to Disrupt Berlin will cost €130 plus VAT.
When you check in at Disrupt Berlin registration, you’ll need to show your valid student ID, proof of current enrollment or a copy of your official transcripts to receive your badge. If you don’t have your student credentials, you’ll have to pay the full on-site price of an Innovator pass.
Next up: nonprofits and government employees. The discount applies to current full-time employees of nonprofit organizations, federal, state or local government agencies, international government agencies and active military employees. The discounted Innovator pass will cost €495 plus VAT.
Nonprofit employees will need to provide their email address from their organization during the registration process. Government employees must provide their valid .gov email address during the registration process.
When you check in at Disrupt Berlin registration, you’ll need to show proof of current employment at your nonprofit (copy of 501c3 documentation) or government organization. Government contractors, including contractors working on government “Cost Reimbursable Contracts,” are not eligible for the government discount.
We accept the following forms of valid government ID:
Government-issued Visa, MasterCard or American Express
Government picture ID
Military picture ID
Federally Funded Research Development Corp (FFRDC) ID
If you don’t have your valid nonprofit or government credentials, you’ll have to pay the full on-site price of an Innovator pass. Note that you can’t combine the nonprofit or government discount with any other discount offers.
Disrupt Berlin 2018 takes place November 29-30, and this is a great way for students, nonprofits and government employees to take in everything the show has to offer for a discounted price. Don’t miss out. Apply to get your discounted Innovator passes today.
Nigerian digital payments startup Paga is gearing up for international expansion with a $10 million round led by the Global Innovation Fund.
The company is exploring the release of its payments product in Ethiopia, Mexico, and the Philippines—CEO Tayo Oviosu told TechCrunch.
Paga looks to go head to head with regional and global payment players, such as PayPal, Alipay, and Safaricom according to Oviosu.
“We are not only in a position to compete with them, we’re going beyond them,” he said of Kenya’s MPesa mobile money product. “Our goal is to build a global payment ecosystem across many emerging markets.”
Launched in 2012, Paga has created a multi-channel network and platform to transfer money, pay bills, and buy things digitally 9 million customers in Nigeria—including 6000 businesses.
Since inception, the startup has processed 57 million transactions worth $3.6 billion, according to Oviosu. He joined Cellulant CEO Ken Njoroge and Helios Investment Partners’ Fope Adelowo at Disrupt San Francisco to discuss fintech and Africa’s tech ecosystem.
The new round takes Jumo to $90 million raised from investors and also saw participation from existing backers that include Proparco — which is attached to the French Development Agency — Finnfund, Vostok Emerging Finance, Gemcorp Capital, and LeapFrog Investments.
Launched in 2014, Jumo specializes in social impact financial products. That means loans and saving options for those who sit outside of the existing banking system, and particularly small businesses.
To date, it claims to have helped nine million consumers across its six markets in Africa and originated over $700 million in loans. The company, which has some 350 staff across 10 offices in Africa, Europe and Asia, was part of Google’s Launchpad accelerator last year. Jumo is led by CEO Andrew Watkins-Ball, who has close to two decades in finance and investing.
Lagos based Paystack raised an $8 million Series A round led by Stripe.
In Nigeria the company’s payment API integrates with tens of thousands of businesses, and in two years it has grown to process 15 percent of all online payments.
In 2016, Paystack became the first startup from Nigeria to enter Y Combinator, and the incubator is doing some follow-on investing in this round.
Other strategic investors in this Series A include Visa and the Chinese online giant Tencent, parent of WeChat and a plethora of other services. Tencent also invested in Paystack’s previous round: the startup has raised $10 million to date.
Paystack integrates a wide range of payment options (wire transfers, cards, and mobile) that Nigerians (and soon, those in other countries in Africa) use both to accept and make payments. There’s more about the company’s platform and strategy in this TechCrunch feature.
South African startup Yoco raised $16 million in a new round of funding to expand its payment management and audit services for small and medium-sized businesses as it angles to become one of Africa’s billion-dollar businesses.
To get there the company that “builds tools and services to help SMEs get paid and manage their business” plans to tap $20 billion in commercial activity that the company’s co-founder and chief executive, Katlego Maphai estimates is waiting to move from cash payments to digital offerings.
Yoco offers a point of sale card reader that links to its proprietary payment and performance software at an entry cost of just over $100.
With this kit, cash-based businesses can start accepting cards and tracking metrics such as top-selling products, peak sales periods, and inventory flows.
Yoco has positioned itself as a missing link to “solving an access problem” for SMEs. Though South Africa has POS and business enterprise providers — and relatively high card (75 percent) and mobile penetration (68 percent) — the company estimates only 7 percent of South African businesses accept cards.
Yoco says it is already processing $280 million in annualized payment volume for just under 30,000 businesses.
The startup generates revenue through margins on hardware and software sales and fees of 2.95 percent per transaction on its POS devices.
Yoco will use the $16 million round on product and platform development, growing its distribution channels, and acquiring new talent.
Emerging markets credit startup Mines.io closed a $13 million Series A round led by The Rise Fund, and looks to expand in South America and Asia.
Mines provides business to consumer (B2C) “credit-as-a-service” products to large firms.
“We’re a technology company that facilitates local institutions — banks, mobile operators, retailers — to offer credit to their customers,” Mines CEO and co-founder Ekechi Nwokah told TechCrunch.
Most of Mines’ partnerships entail white-label lending products offered on mobile phones, including non-smart USSD devices.
With offices in San Mateo and Lagos, Mines uses big-data (extracted primarily from mobile users) and proprietary risk algorithms “to enable lending decisions,” Nwokah explained.
Mines started operations in Nigeria and counts payment processor Interswitch and mobile operator Airtel as current partners. In addition to talent acquisition, the startup plans to use the Series A to expand its credit-as-a-service products into new markets in South America and Southeast Asia “in the next few months,” according to its CEO.
Nwokah wouldn’t name specific countries for the startup’s pending South America and Southeast Asia expansion, but believes “this technology is scalable across geographies.”
As part of the Series A, Yemi Lalude from TPG Growth (founder of The Rise Fund) will join Mines’ board of directors.
Digital infrastructure company Liquid Telecom is betting big on African startups by rolling out multiple sponsorships and free internet across key access points to the continent’s tech entrepreneurs.
The Econet Wireless subsidiary is also partnering with local and global players like Afrilabs and Microsoft to create a cross-border commercial network for the continent’s startup community.
“We believe startups will be key employers in Africa’s future economy. They’re also our future customers,” Liquid Telecom’s Head of Innovation Partnerships Oswald Jumira told TechCrunch.
With 13 offices on the continent, Liquid Telecom’s core business is building the infrastructure for all things digital in Africa.
The company provides voice, high-speed internet, and IP services at the carrier, enterprise, and retail level across Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa. It operates data centers in Nairobi and Johannesburg with 6,800 square meters of rack space.
Liquid Telecom has built a 50,000 kilometer fiber network, from Cape Town to Nairobi and this year switched on the Cape to Cairo initiative—a land-based fiber link from South Africa to Egypt.
Though startups don’t provide an immediate revenue windfall, the company is betting they will as future enterprise clients.
“Step one…in supporting startups has been….supporting co-working spaces and events with sponsorships and free internet,” Liquid Telecom CTO Ben Roberts told TechCrunch. “Step two is helping startups to adopt…business services.”
Liquid Telecom provides free internet to 30 hubs in seven countries and is active sponsoring startup related events.
On the infrastructure side, it’s developing commercial services for startups to plug into.
“At the early stage and middle stage, we’re offering startups connectivity, skills development, and access to capital through the hubs,” said Liquid Telecom’s Oswald Jumira.
“When they reach the more mature level, we’re focused on how we can scale them up…and be a go to market partner for them. To do that they’ll need to leverage…cloud services.”
Microsoft and Liquid Telecom announced a partnership in 2017 to offer cloud services such as Microsoft’s Azure, Dynamics 365, and Office 365 to select startups through free credits—and connected to comp packages of Liquid Telecom product offerings.
On the venture side, Liquid Telecom doesn’t have a fund but that could be in the cards.
“We haven’t yet started investing in startups, but I’d like to see that we do,” said chief technology officer Ben Roberts. “That can be the next move onwards… from having successful business partnerships.”
And finally, tickets are now available here for Startup Battlefield Africa in Lagos this December. The first two speakers were also announced, TLcom Capital senior partner and former minister of communication technology for Nigeria Omobola Johnson and Singularity Investment’s Lexi Novitske will discuss keys to investing across Africa’s startup landscape.
Amazon’s announcement this week that it will raise its minimum wage for workers in the United States and United Kingdom earned it a wave of positive publicity, but backlash is already growing as reports emerge that its new pay structure will do away with monthly bonuses and stock option awards. In blog posts about the wage increase (slightly different ones were posted on its U.S. and U.K. sites), Amazon said it would replace its restricted stock unit [RSU] program with a direct stock purchase plan before the end of next year, and that the net effect of its changes would be “significantly more total compensation for employees,” but did not mention monthly bonuses.
According to Amazon employees who spoke to Yahoo News, however, monthly bonuses will end on November 1. Some workers who have been with the company for more than two years were already earning nearly $15 before the raise, but the publication reports that these workers “could lose thousands of dollars that they would have collected from the stock and monthly-bonus programs,” which include one called Variable Compensation Pay (VCP). Under VCP, workers who hit certain goals could earn up to 8% of their monthly income, with an average employee earning about $1,800 to $3,000 a year in bonuses, according to one of Yahoo News’ sources.
The pay structure change will also hurt many employees in the UK, the GMB, a major trade union, told the Guardian. The GMB says Amazon’s changes to its stock option and bonus programs could cost thousands of workers £1,500 in one year, amounting to “a stealth tax on its own wage increase.”
Amazon is increasing its minimum hourly wage in the U.S. from $7.25 to $15 an hour. In the UK, the minimum wage will increase from £8.30 to £10.50 for workers in London and from £8 to £9.50 outside of the capital. In its announcement on October 2, Amazon said “the net effect of this change and the new higher cash compensation is significantly more total compensation for employees, without any vesting requirements, and with more predictability.” Before the wage increase, Amazon faced mounting criticism after workers complained of poor labor conditions at its warehouses and low wages.
The Guardian reports that warehouse workers in the UK now receive one share of Amazon stock, currently worth about $1,953 (or £1,509), at the end of every year, along with one additional share every five years. According to the GMB, they can cash in those shares tax-free after holding onto them for two years. Therefore, the payout they would lose would be worth about half the £3,120 pay increase expected by the average Amazon warehouse worker outside of London, who earn about £17,000 a year, the union said. Furthermore, the GMB claimed workers will no longer get cash bonuses for meeting targets during the Christmas shopping period, but Amazon told the Guardian that no such bonus program exists.
TechCrunch has contacted Amazon for more information. In email sent to Yahoo News, CNBC and other media, an Amazon spokesperson said “The significant increase in hourly cash wages more than compensates for the phase out of incentive pay and RSUs. We can confirm that all hourly Operations and Customer Service employees will see an increase in their total compensation as a result of this announcement. In addition, because it’s no longer incentive-based, the compensation will be more immediate and predictable.”
SoftBank is getting into self-driving car services after the Japanese tech giant announced a joint-venture with Toyota in its native Japan.
SoftBank is invested in Uber and a range of other ride-hailing startups like Didi in China and Grab in Southeast Asia, but this initiative with Toyota is not related to those deals. Instead, it is designed to combine SoftBank’s focus on internet-of-things technology and Toyota’s connected vehicle services platform to enable new types of services that run on autonomous vehicle tech.
Called MONET — after ‘mobility network’ — the joint venture will essentially assign autonomous vehicles to various different “just in time” services. That just in time caveat essentially means more than on-demand. SoftBank suggests it’ll mean that services are performed in transit. That could be food prepared as it is delivered, hospital shuttles that host medical examinations, or mobile offices, according to examples given by SoftBank.
The plan is to use Toyota’s battery-based e-Palette electric vehicles and begin a roll “by the second half of the 2020s.” SoftBank said that the business will be focused on the Japanese market with “an eye to future expansion on the global market.”
Toyota has made strong progress on self-driving vehicles, having debuted its 3.0 self-driving research car earlier this year and then, in March, created a new $2.8 billion business that’s focused on developing requisite software systems. That latter program is designed to work alongside the Toyota Research Institute which, fueled by a $1 billion grant, is pushing the firm’s autonomous tech strategy.
Back in January at CES, Toyota said that it is working with Amazon, Uber, Didi, Mazda and Pizza Hut to develop an electric autonomous shuttle that can be used to deliver people or packages. The business alliances were created to focus on the development of the e-Palette.
Fitbit data may have helped catch one of its customer’s killers, and not for the first time.
According to numerous media reports, a 90-year-old visited his stepdaughter at her home in San Jose, Ca. earlier this month, where he says he brought her pizza and visited briefly. But according to data provided to authorities by Fitbit, data from the stepdaughter’s Fitbit Alta wristband device — which tracks one’s heart rate and the number of steps taken during the day — showed a “significant spike” in her heart rate during the man’s visit, followed by a “rapid slowing.” Eight minutes after her heart had risen so rapidly, and five minutes after her stepfather left her home, it stopped.
A concerned coworker discovered the woman at her home five days later. She had a “gaping laceration” on her neck and wounds on the top of her head, say police, who arrested the stepfather based in part on a combination of video surveillance and assistance from Fitbit, which seems to have a less contentious relationship with law enforcement than some tech companies.
Indeed, Fitbit’s newest privacy policy states that the company “may preserve or disclose information about you to comply with a law, regulation, legal process, or governmental request; to assert legal rights or defend against legal claims; or to prevent, detect, or investigate illegal activity, fraud, abuse, violations of our terms, or threats to the security of the services or the physical safety of any person.”
As the New York Times notes, if convicted, the man won’t be the first assailant whose crime may have been revealed in part by a Fitbit. Last year, a Connecticut woman’s dying moments were recorded by her Fitbit in a case that strongly suggests her husband murdered her, despite his claims that the couple was attacked in their home.
According to local media, her wristband showed that her last movements were at 10:05 a.m. the day she died, nearly an hour after her husband told police she had been killed. The man, who was discovered by first responders on the kitchen floor, still half-tied to a metal chair, later told investigators he had a pregnant girlfriend and that the pregnancy was not planned. He’s still awaiting trial.
We’ve known for a few months now that Jon Favreau was working on a live-action Star Wars series for Disney’s upcoming (but as of yet unnamed) streaming service. But that’s about all we knew.
Until now! Favreau just dropped a few huge details out of nowhere.
It’s at least tentatively called “The Mandalorian”. For the unfamiliar, Mandalorians are a group of warriors in the Star Wars universe. The most famous Mandalorians are Jango and Boba Fett, though Favreau notes that this series will focus on “another warrior.”
It’ll take place “after the fall of the Empire” but before the First Order shows up; in other words, after Return of the Jedi but before Force Awakens.
Alas, that’s it for now. No word on casting, or new characters, or even any concept art to be seen. Will the new series tap much of the existing universe, or will it intentionally be set far enough away so as to be mostly self contained? This new warrior — are they a bounty hunter, the gig their fellow Mandalorians are best known for? Will it finally answer, once and for all, whether Boba Fett survived the sarlacc pit in Disney’s hacked-and-slashed version of the canon? We’ll have to wait to find out.
Blizzard — the company behind massive game titles like World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone — is getting new leadership.
After 27 years, Blizzard President Mike Morhaime is stepping down from the company he co-founded back in 1991 (back when it was known as Silicon and Synapse.)
J. Allen Brack, previously Senior Vice President and Executive Producer on WoW, will now lead the company. Brack has been with Blizzard since 2006.
In a letter about the transition, Brack also mentions that Blizzard co-founder (and the original lead designer of WoW) Allen Adham will be joining the company’s executive team to “oversee development of several new games.” Adham left Blizzard in 2004 shortly before WoW went live, which he later called his “biggest mistake.”
Morhaime doesn’t say much about his reason for departure, besides that he’s “decided it’s time for someone else to lead Blizzard Entertainment.” He’ll stay on with the company as a strategic advisor.
Kia is finally sharing more details about its upcoming the all-electric crossover — the 2019 Kia e-Niro — that made its debut in Korea earlier this year. The upshot: it’s got some range.
The production version of all-electric crossover, which Kia is showing off at the Paris Motor Show this week, has a range of about 301 miles (for those who opt for the bigger battery pack) on the European WLTP combined testing cycle. The estimated EPA-range has yet to be released, but expect it to be lower at somewhere around 250ish miles in the U.S.
That 301 miles of range is one of the longer ranges in the world of EVs and it’s possible thanks to a 64 kilowatt-hour battery pack, regenerative braking and a feature that gives the driver suggestions on when to coast or brake to further optimize the system. The e-Niro with the 64 kWh battery pack is combined with a 150kW electric motor that produces 201 horsepower and 291 pound-feet of torque.
The vehicle comes standard with a smaller 39.2 kWh battery, which has a 100 kW electric motor and offers a driving range of up to 193 miles on a single charge under the WLTP cycle.
The all-electric crossover is based on the Niro hybrid and plug-in models. Kia has sold more than 200,000 of these hybrid and plug-in Niro vehicles worldwide since it was introduced in 2016.
The e-Niro is headed to Europe first. The company says the e-Niro will go on sale in select European markets at the end of the year. Kia’s U.S. website indicates the vehicle will also come to the states by the end of the year. However, we have yet to hear specifics on U.S. sales or whether the European rollout might push that date into 2019.
The e-Niro looks a lot like its gas-based counterparts and offers some of the same features including the option to add a driver assistance system with adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning and lane-keep assist.
However, there are a few differences. The grille on the e-Niro has an integrated charging port and the front bumper has been changed to help improve the aerodynamics, and by extension, the range of the vehicle. The vehicle also has redesigned air intakes.
The inside is a bit different too since there’s no need for a traditional gear stick and gear linkage in a vehicle with an all-electric powertrain. Nor is there a need for a transmission tunnel, allowing engineers to create a larger storage area at the base of the central console. Kia replaced the transmission with a new ‘shift-by-wire’ rotator dial drive selector.
The dial sits on a panel that extends out from the base of the central armrest. Drivers will also find buttons for the electronic parking brake, heated and ventilated seats, heated steering wheel, drive mode selector, parking sensors, and the Niro’s braking ‘Auto Hold’ function on the panel.
The vehicle is equipped with a 7- inch touchscreen at the center of the dashboard that includes a few electric-vehicle specific features such as the ability to find nearby charging stations and monitor charge levels. Owners will be able set a departure time for their next journey, enabling the car to heat itself to a set temperature before the driver departs. There’s also a charge management function designed to extend the life of the battery.
South African startup 
