Category: TECHNOLOGY
Twitter will kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1
Twitter has picked April Fool’s Day, otherwise known as April 1, to start removing legacy blue checkmarks from the platform.
Despite the significance of the day Twitter chose, the removal of legacy checkmarks has been anticipated for months now. Musk tweeted in December that the company would remove those checks “in a few months” because “the way in which they were given out was corrupt and nonsensical.”
Since then, legacy blue checkmark holders have been seeing a pop-up when they click on their checkmark that reads, “This is a legacy verified account. It may or may not be notable.”
Before Musk acquired the company, Twitter used checkmarks to verify individuals and entities as active, authentic and notable accounts of interest. Verified checkmarks were doled out for free.
Today, Twitter users can purchase a blue check through the Twitter Blue subscription model for $8 per month (iOS and Android signups will cost $11 per month, due to app store costs). There are also other checkmark colors and badges available for purchase to denote whether an account is a business or a government, for example.
Twitter says the purchase of a checkmark gives users access to subscriber-only features like fewer ads on their timeline, prioritized ranking in conversations, bookmark folders, and the ability to craft long tweets, edit tweets and undo tweets.
The news comes within hours of Twitter also announcing the availability of the Blue subscription globally.
Twitter did not respond to TechCrunch’s request for more information about how many users have already signed up for Twitter Blue.
Twitter will kill ‘legacy’ blue checks on April 1 by Rebecca Bellan originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/twitter-will-kill-legacy-blue-checks-on-april-1/
Daily Crunch: In SEC filing, Accenture reveals plans to dismiss 19,000 workers over the next 18 months
For our latest survey, TechCrunch reporter Jagmeet Singh asked four Indian investors about how their work has changed since the global tech downturn began.
Venture capital funding in the region “dried up in the second half of 2022,” so he inquired about their current pace of dealmaking, which investment trends they’re watching and how founders can reach them:
- GV Ravishankar, managing director, Sequoia India
- Ashutosh Sharma, head of India investments, Prosus Ventures
- Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO and founder, Better Capital
- Roopan Aulakh, managing director, Pi Ventures
To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important stories delivered to your inbox every day at 3 p.m. PDT, subscribe here.
Hello, and welcome to your Thursday — aka, the day the TikTok CEO went in front of Congress. Our team has been working hard all day to keep up with everything going on there, and you can read the fruits of their labor in the Big Tech section. Now, on with the news! — Christine and Haje
The TechCrunch Top 3
- More layoffs: The layoffs affecting the technology industry are now making their way to the companies that service them. Accenture announced today that it will cut 19,000 jobs, Manish reports. That represents about 2.5% of its global workforce, but an eye-opening figure nonetheless.
- Do Kwon in custody: It looks like law enforcement caught up with Terra creator Do Kwon, who was reportedly arrested at the Montenegro airport, Jacquelyn writes. You might recall that Kwon has been under investigation in South Korea following the Terra/LUNA collapse, which wiped out about $40 billion from the cryptocurrency market. Despite saying he was cooperating with law enforcement, Kwon’s whereabouts have been unknown since September.
- An excuse not to go to the mall: DoorDash users can now order from Lush Cosmetics, Victoria’s Secret and Party City. The delivery giant also added some new shopping features, like search optimization. Aisha has more.
Startups and VC
At first glance, Boston Dynamics is a strange fit for a show like ProMat, Brian writes. For decades, the firm has presented a flashy image to the world — a company well known for robotic highlight reels, from the snow-traversing Big Dog to parkour-performing Atlas. But a recent approach has found it facing one of its biggest challenges to dateputting its robots to work in the form of commercialization.
Lun, a climate tech startup out of Denmark, is on a mission to help heat-pump installers decarbonize homes and fast, Natasha L reports, starting with heating systems and swapping out boilers for electric heat pumps.
Robots, heat pumps and five more tech news stories, oh my:
- F you, pay meMary Ann reports that a former Stripe engineer raises $4 million for Beam, a fintech startup out to help contractors get paid faster.
- Moar dollars for moar skillz: Workera double downs on AI for upskilling with a $24 million infusion, Kyle reports.
- Stop, collaborate and list-in: Hex lands another $28 million as the data collaboration platform continues to gain traction, Ron reports.
- Storefronts, get yer storefronts: Vue snaps up $20 million to grow its open source–based ‘frontend-as-a-service’ e-commerce toolkit and platform, Ingrid reports.
- Nah, we good: Indian edtech giant Byju’s says it’s not acquiring Unacademy, reports Manish.
4 Indian investors explain how their investment strategy has changed since 2021
Image Credits: mtreasure (opens in a new window) / Getty Images
For our latest survey, TechCrunch reporter Jagmeet Singh asked four Indian investors about how their work has changed since the global tech downturn began.
Venture capital funding in the region “dried up in the second half of 2022,” so he inquired about their current pace of dealmaking, which investment trends they’re watching and how founders can reach them:
- GV Ravishankar, managing director, Sequoia India
- Ashutosh Sharma, head of India investments, Prosus Ventures
- Vaibhav Domkundwar, CEO and founder, Better Capital
- Roopan Aulakh, managing director, Pi Ventures
Aaaand of course there’s three more from the TC+ team today as well:
- Time’s a-tickingAs TikTok and Coinbase face regulators, some questions are simpler than others, writes Alex.
- How to spot investment-worthy founders: Look for mindset, competence and confidence, writes Sanjay Reddy.
- A de-risking hardware trilogyHaje recently covered Prelaunch’s $1.5 million round and spoke to the company’s founder about 10 tips to de-risk hardware. The final article in the trilogy is the company’s Pitch Deck Teardown, covering Prelaunch.com’s $1.5 million seed deck.
TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code “DC” for a 15% discount on an annual subscription!
Big Tech Inc.
The big news for today was obviously TikTok, and our colleagues were plugging away at everything from the Congressional hearing to who benefits if a U.S. ban happens. Find out any new developments here.
- TikTok ban will benefit Meta, Google and Snap the most: Bernstein, by Ivan.
- TikTok’s hearing in Congress is a reminder of Chinese startups’ identity crisis, by Rita.
- TikTok commits to deleting US user data from its servers ‘this year,’ by Sarah.
- China reminds US that it can and will kill a forced TikTok sale, by Taylor and Rita.
- TikTok called out for misusing Citizen Lab research, by Amanda.
- TikTok questioned on ineffective teen time limits, by Sarah.
And now here’s six non-TikTok stories for you:
- If Reddit and Stack Overflow had a baby…: It would be Daily.dev, according to Paul.
- Unplugged: YouTube is shutting down Indian social commerce app Simsim but says it is still committed to building “a seamless shopping experience for viewers and supporting creators’ businesses,” Manish writes.
- Like riding a bike: Smoov and Zoov came together a couple of years ago and formed Fifteen, which is now showing off its latest shared, docked bikes. Romain has more.
- Brian walks into a supply chain show: And ends up having the best time. He chronicles his three days at ProMat and says he “may end up becoming a regular on the supply chain and logistics circuit as a result.”
- Coming to a theater near you…: Could be your favorite Apple TV+ movies. Apple is reportedly planning to shell out $1 billion a year to release its movies in theaters, Lauren reports.
- Looking for “the perfect vehicle for chaos?”: Then look no further than the 2024 GMC Hummer EV SUV. Roberto writes, “It’s too big and not very efficient, but it shines when tackling unexpected obstacles.”
Daily Crunch: In SEC filing, Accenture reveals plans to dismiss 19,000 workers over the next 18 months by Christine Hall originally published on TechCrunch
Coinbase execs weigh in on the crypto’s future in US amid regulatory scrutiny
Coinbase was issued a Wells notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday, and executives from the company took to Twitter Spaces to discuss the decision and what Coinbase’s next steps will be to make legal frameworks for the crypto world.
“Regulators should come up with the rules, tell everybody the rules and we follow them,” CEO Brian Armstrong said during the conversation. “The current laws are not clear and we would like to get more clarity.”
Per a Coinbase SEC filing, the government agency’s staff has “advised the Company that it made a ‘preliminary determination’ to recommend that the SEC file an enforcement action against the Company alleging violations of the federal securities law.”
“I think it is easy to look at the situation right now and conclude that the SEC is trying to change the game,” Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of Coinbase, said during the Twitter chat. “What’s actually happening is the SEC is trying to cancel the game after it’s been played. And so we think it’s very important to keep a focus on what this means [longer term for Coinbase and the industry].”
In the filing on Wednesday, SEC language appeared to indicate that staking through a third-party service can run afoul of securities law.
But existing securities laws that were established roughly 90 years ago simply do not work for less intermediated digital assets that are utilizing innovative blockchain technology, said Sheila Warren, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation. “There are no current frameworks in the U.S., therefore, it is not possible for crypto companies to operate in the U.S. in a way that prevents them from facing regulatory repercussions,” she added.
Coinbase execs weigh in on the crypto’s future in US amid regulatory scrutiny by Jacquelyn Melinek originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/coinbase-sec-warning-crypto-future/
Startup says the seaweed blobbing toward Florida has a silver lining
A brown macroalgae native to the Atlantic’s Sargasso Sea is increasingly a menace to coastal ecosystems and communities across the Gulf of Mexico, ever since mats of the normally beneficial seaweed (known as sargassum) exploded in numbers in 2011. This is the backdrop for Carbonwave, which recently raised $5 million to put the hulking algae blooms to good use.
Researchers say farm and sewage runoff is likely driving the now 5,000-mile-wide “Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt.” Climate change may also be playing a role.
There’s no need to run screaming from sargassum, despite the tone of some stories covering the Florida-bound blooms. Still, they pose a threat to coral reefs and tourism-dependent livelihoods alike. When the stuff piles up on beaches, it rots, emitting skunky hydrogen sulfide.
The recent sargassum surges are forcing folks to find creative ways to get rid of it, and already, possible applications run the gamut. Researchers and entrepreneurs aim to turn it into syrup, bricks and even jet fuel. As for Carbonwave, the Boston- and Puerto Rico–based startup is using it in fertilizer, cosmetics and even faux leather.
Backed by ESG-themed investment firms Natixis and Viridios Capital, as well as ocean-focused VC Katapult, Carbonwave says the new cash will help it scale production of its seaweed-based emulsifier for cosmetics. The startup said in a statement that it “has already sold half a ton” of its emulsifier, which it created as an alternative to petroleum-based ingredients. The company also claimed that its sargassum fertilizer “reduces the need of” climate change-driving nitrogen fertilizer.
CEO Geoff Chapin said Carbonwave makes these products through a “proprietary extraction process,” which involves pressing the seaweed and removing the arsenic. The process yields a liquid fertilizer, while the leftover pulp forms the basis for the emulsifier and fake leather. The way Chapin tells it, the company uses “almost every part of the seaweed to make these products.”
Carbonwave is part of a wave of startups vying to turn algae into environmentally friendlier products. For starters, there’s H&M-backed Algiknit (now Keel Labs), which creates textiles; a slew of bioplastics companies, including Loliware and ULUU; and a firm called Umaro, which makes sea-bacon. Seaweed startups often focus on commercializing kelp in one way or another, but a few (like Carbonwave and Seaweed Generation) focus on sargassum.
“We need to put it to good use before it creates more ecological and climate harm,” Carbonwave told TechCrunch.
The startup added that it topped off its $5 million Series A with additional funding. It’s secured at least $12 million to date.
Startup says the seaweed blobbing toward Florida has a silver lining by Harri Weber originally published on TechCrunch
TikTok CEO says company scans public videos to determine users’ ages
Amid questioning about TikTok’s use of biometrics in today’s Congressional hearing, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew offered some insight into how the company vets potentially underage users on its platform. After denying the app collects body, face or voice data to identify its users — beyond what’s needed for its in-app AR filters to function, that is — the exec was asked how TikTok determines the age of its users.
Chew’s initial answer was expected: The app uses age gating. This refers to the commonly used method that simply asks a user to provide their birthdate in order to determine their age. In TikTok, there are three different experiences: for under-13 users, younger teens and adults 18+ — which experience the user receives is based on this age input.
Relying on this method alone is a problem, of course, because kids often lie about their age when signing up for social media apps and websites.
As it turns out, TikTok is doing more than looking at the age that’s entered into a text box.
In the hearing, Chew added that TikTok scans users’ videos to determine their age.
“We have also developed some tools where we look at their public profile, to go through the videos that they post to see whether…,” Chew began, before being interrupted by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA), who interjected, “That’s creepy. Tell me more about that.”
When Chew was able to continue, he explained “It’s public. So if you post a video, you choose that video to go public — that’s how you get people to see your video. We look at those to see if it matches up the age that you talked about it,” he said.
“Now, this is a real challenge for our industry because privacy versus age assurance is a really big problem,” Chew said.
An interesting follow-up question to the CEO’s response would have been to ask how TikTok was scanning these videos, what specific facial recognition or other technologies it uses, and whether those technologies were built in-house or if it was relying on facial recognition tech built by third parties. Then, of course, whether any of the data that associates the age with the user was being stored permanently rather than being used to simply boot the user off a TikTok LIVE stream, for example.
Unfortunately for us, Carter didn’t pursue this line of questioning.
Instead, he blasted the CEO for dismissing age verification as an industrywide issue.
“We’re talking about children dying!” he exclaimed, referencing the dangerous challenges apps like TikTok and others have allowed to viral, like the blackout challenge. (That challenge resulted in TikTok removing some half a million accounts in Italy to block underage users from its platform at the request of the local regulator.)
The reality is that age verification is an industrywide concern and the lack of U.S. laws around children’s use of social media leaves companies like TikTok and others to develop their own processes.
For example, Instagram began verifying users’ ages just last year by offering users a choice of three options. Users could either upload an ID, record a video selfie or ask mutual friends to verify their age on their behalf. The latter is relatively easy to bypass if you have good friends willing to lie for you.
Earlier this month, Instagram rolled out its age verification tools in Canada and Mexico, in addition to the existing support in the U.S., Brazil and Japan. The company had earlier said it had partnered with London-based digital identity startup Yoti for the video selfie part of the age verification process.
Instagram has also previously explained at a high level how it identifies which users it suspects to be underage.
Beyond investigating flagged accounts, the company claims it developed AI technology that it uses to infer someone’s age. Its model has an understanding of how people in the same age group tend to interact with content. Another one of the ways it may identify an underage user who’s lying about their age is by scanning the comments on “Happy Birthday” posts where a user’s age may be referenced. Plus, Instagram said it may try to match a user’s age on Facebook with their stated age on Instagram, along with the use of “many other signals” that it doesn’t disclose.
TikTok’s technique has been less clear. The company does document how to verify your age if it identified you incorrectly — for example, if you were kicked off LIVE for looking too young. (Last fall TikTok announced it was raising the age requirement for using its in-app livestreaming service, TikTok LIVE to 18, up from 16).
Last year, Bloomberg reported that TikTok met with two providers of facial age-estimation software in 2021. Both companies offered software that could tell the difference between children and adults, but a TikTok exec nixed the deals over fears that facial scanning like this would lead to fears that China was spying on child users, the report had said.
Today, the U.S. had the TikTok CEO in the hot seat, poised to explain the actual techniques TikTok uses for age determination, and all we got were screaming, blustering politicians putting on a show instead of getting real answers.
TikTok CEO says company scans public videos to determine users’ ages by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Enter the Objaverse: 800,000 virtual props for AIs to play with
Using photorealistic imagery (captured via photogrammetry, it is clear) also brings a level of diversity and realism that is obvious in retrospect. Sure, all beds look roughly the same, but what about unmade beds? All different!
Having objects that also animate to do their “main thing” if you will is also helpful. Knowing what a refrigerator, cabinet, book, laptop or garage door look like closed is one thing and open is another, but how does it get from A to B? It sounds simplistic but if AI models aren’t provided this information, they aren’t likely to invent or intuit it.
You can read more about the characteristics and details of this huge dataset
If AI is going to work its way out of the chat box and into our living rooms, it will need to understand spaces and objects better. To further that work, the Allen Institute for AI has created a gigantic and diverse database of 3D models of everyday objects, so simulations for AI models can be that much closer to reality.
Simulators are basically 3D environments meant to represent real places that a robot or AI might have to navigate or understand. But unlike, say, a modern console game, training simulators are far from photorealistic and often lack detail, variation or interactivity.
Objaverse, as it is awkwardly yet somehow pleasingly named, aims to improve this with its collection of over 800,000 (and growing) 3D models with all kinds of metadata. The things represented range from types of food to tables and chairs to appliances and gadgets. Any relatively ordinary object you might expect to see in a home, office or restaurant is represented here.
It’s meant to replace aging object libraries like ShapeNet, an old standby database with about 50,000 less detailed models. If the only “lamp” your AI has ever seen is a generic one with no pattern or color, how can you expect it to recognize a funky cut-glass one or one with a totally different shape? Objaverse includes variations on common objects so the model can learn what defines them despite their differences.
Sure, it probably won’t be necessary for your AI assistant to identify a bookcase as “medieval” or not, but it should definitely know the difference between a peeled and unpeeled banana. But you never know what might matter.
Image Credits: AI2
Using photorealistic imagery (captured via photogrammetry, it is clear) also brings a level of diversity and realism that is obvious in retrospect. Sure, all beds look roughly the same, but what about unmade beds? All different!
Having objects that also animate to do their “main thing” if you will is also helpful. Knowing what a refrigerator, cabinet, book, laptop or garage door look like closed is one thing and open is another, but how does it get from A to B? It sounds simplistic but if AI models aren’t provided this information, they aren’t likely to invent or intuit it.
You can read more about the characteristics and details of this huge dataset in the AI2 paper describing it. If you’re a researcher, you can start using it now for free via Hugging Face.
Enter the Objaverse: 800,000 virtual props for AIs to play with by Devin Coldewey originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/enter-the-objaverse-800000-virtual-props-for-ais-to-play-with/
OpenAI connects ChatGPT to the internet
OpenAI’s viral AI-powered chatbot, ChatGPT, can now browse the internet — in certain cases.
OpenAI today launched plugins for ChatGPT, which extend the bot’s functionality by granting it access to third-party knowledge sources and databases, including the web. Available in alpha to ChatGPT users and developers on the waitlist, OpenAI says that it’ll initially prioritize a small number of developers and subscribers to its premium ChatGPT Plus plan before rolling out larger-scale and API access.
Easily the most intriguing plugin is OpenAI’s first-party web-browsing plugin, which allows ChatGPT to draw data from around the web to answer the various questions posed to it. (Previously, ChatGPT’s knowledge was limited to dates, events and people prior to around September 2021.) The plugin retrieves content from the web using the Bing search API and shows any websites it visited in crafting an answer, citing its sources in ChatGPT’s responses.
A chatbot with web access is a risky prospect, as OpenAI’s own research has found. An experimental system built in 2021 by the AI startup, called WebGPT, sometimes quoted from unreliable sources and was incentivized to cherry-pick data from sites it expected users would find convincing — even if those sources weren’t objectively the strongest. Meta’s since-disbanded BlenderBot 3.0 had access to the web, too, and quickly went off the rails, delving into conspiracy theories and offensive content when prompted with certain text.
Image Credits: OpenAI
The live web is less curated than a static training data set and — by implication — less filtered, of course. Search engines like Google and Bing use their own safety mechanisms to reduce the chances unreliable content rises to the top of results, but these results can be gamed. They also aren’t necessarily representative of the totality of the web. As a piece in The New Yorker notes, Google’s algorithm prioritizes websites that use modern web technologies like encryption, mobile support, and schema markup. Many websites with otherwise quality content get lost in the shuffle as a result.
This gives search engines a lot of power over the data that might inform web-connected language models’ answers. Google has been found to prioritize its own services in Search by, for example, answering a travel query with data from Google Places instead of a richer, more social source like TripAdvisor. At the same time, the algorithmic approach to search opens the door to bad actors. In 2020, Pinterest leveraged a quirk of Google’s image search algorithm to surface more of its content in Google Image searches, according to The New Yorker.
OpenAI admits that a web-enabled ChatGPT might perform all types of undesirable behaviors, like sending fraudulent and spam emails, bypassing safety restrictions and generally “increasing the capabilities of bad actors who would defraud, mislead or abuse others.” But the company also says that it’s “implemented several safeguards” informed by internal and external red teams to prevent this. Time will tell whether they’re sufficient.
Beyond the web plugin, OpenAI released a code interpreter for ChatGPT that provides the chatbot with a working Python interpreter in a sandboxed, firewalled environment along with disk space. It supports uploading files to ChatGPT and downloading the results; OpenAI says it’s particularly useful for solving mathematical problems, doing data analysis and visualization and converting files between formats.
Image Credits: OpenAI
A host of early collaborators built plugins for ChatGPT to join OpenAI’s own, including Expedia, FiscalNote, Instacart, Kayak, Klarna, Milo, OpenTable, Shopify, Slack, Speak, Wolfram and Zapier.
They’re largely self-explanatory. The OpenTable plugin allows the chatbot to search across restaurants for available bookings, for example, while the Instacart plugin lets ChatGPT place orders from local stores. By far the most extensible of the bunch, Zapier connects with apps like Google Sheets, Trello and Gmail to trigger a range of productivity tasks.
To foster the creation of new plugins, OpenAI has open-sourced a “retrieval” plugin that enables ChatGPT to access snippets of documents from data sources like files, notes, emails or public documentation by asking questions in natural language.
“We’re working to develop plugins and bring them to a broader audience,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. “We have a lot to learn, and with the help of everyone, we hope to build something that is both useful and safe.”
Plugins are a curious addition to the timeline of ChatGPT’s development. Once limited to the information within its training data, ChatGPT is, with plugins, suddenly far more capable — and perhaps at less legal risk. Some experts accuse OpenAI of profiting from the unlicensed work on which ChatGPT was trained; ChatGPT’s data set contains a wide variety of public websites. But plugins potentially address that issue by allowing companies to retain full control over their data.
OpenAI connects ChatGPT to the internet by Kyle Wiggers originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2023/03/23/openai-connects-chatgpt-to-the-internet/
Now is the time to invest in Black-owned banks
In the past two weeks, millions of dollars shuffled from startup and investor bank accounts housed in the collapsed Silicon Valley Bank to the JPMorgans, Brexes and Wises of the world. As founders and investors continue looking for new places to park their money, it’s essential to consider this moment as an opportunity to start banking with some of the few Black-owned banks.
Digitally, there is Intrepid, founded by Collin Thompson, which works exclusively with businesses and global remote teams. Thompson told TechCrunch+ that his company’s goal is to become a trusted partner to founders, especially those affected by the SVB collapse.
Intrepid offers similar services to Brex, in addition to more specialized assistance, such as all-in-one HR tools. In the wake of SVB’s crash, Intrepid has implemented services like higher Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insurance and sweep accounts. To create insurance beyond the typical $250,000 backed by the FDIC, Thompson said he’s building a new deposit network product with his banking partners, allowing his company to create multiple deposit accounts within the FDIC-insured limit and letting customers access those accounts through a single application. Intrepid also provides social resources, such as introductions and events, for those looking to grow their business networks.
“Given our diverse backgrounds, this informs how we manage risk, what types of customers we take on and how we serve,” Thompson said. “Our interests, experiences and character guide us, and this will impact the types of customers we attract. We believe that every customer, regardless of their background or identity, deserves to have a financial partner they can trust and rely on, and we are here to provide that.”
There are also brick-and-mortar Black banks, such as Unity National Bank, currently the only Black-owned bank in the state of Texas, which has a branch in Atlanta; Liberty Bank, which has branches in nine states, including Louisiana; and OneUnited, which is based in Massachusetts with branches in Los Angeles, Miami and Boston.
Many Black-owned brick-and-mortar banks are based in the U.S. South, which aligns with the latest venture migration pattern to states such as Georgia, Texas and Florida. Though these banks do not have many branches, they could still be important when considering financial diversification.
Now is the time to invest in Black-owned banks by Dominic-Madori Davis originally published on TechCrunch
TikTok questioned on ineffective teen time limits in congressional hearing
In hopes of heading off concerns over the addictiveness of its app, TikTok earlier this month rolled out new screen time controls that limited minors under the age of 18 to 60-minute daily screen time limits. But in a congressional hearing today before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, TikTik CEO Shou Zi Chew was questioned on the new tool’s inefficiency, forcing the exec to admit that the company didn’t have data on how many teens were continuing to watch beyond the default limits.
The line of questioning is notable because TikTok’s algorithm and vertical video-based feed are among the most addictive products to emerge from the broader tech industry in recent years. Each swipe on the app’s screen delivers a new and interesting video personalized to the user’s interests, leading users to waste an inordinate amount of time on TikTok compared with older social media services.
In fact, a recent study found that TikTok was now even crushing YouTube in terms of kids’ and teens’ app usage in markets around the world thanks, in part, to its addictive feed.
The format has become so popular, it’s also since been adopted by nearly all other major U.S. tech companies, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Snap. So an examination of any sort of addiction mitigation techniques is certainly warranted.
That said, the time limit TikTok designed for teens is really more for show — it doesn’t actually prevent younger users from watching TikTok.
A hard limit on TikTok viewing is still up to the teen’s parents, who would have to use the app’s included parental controls to set screen time and session limits. Otherwise, they could turn to other parental controls bundled with the mobile OS from Apple or Google or those from third parties.
In the hearing, Chew touted how TikTok was the first to launch a 60-minute watch limit for teen users, and had other teen protections, like disabled direct messaging for users under 16. He noted also that teen content couldn’t go viral on the app’s For You page, if the creator was under 18.
However, when pushed on the teen time limit’s real-world impact, the exec didn’t have any substantial data to share.
“My understanding is that teens can pretty easily bypass the notification to continue using the app if they want to,” suggested Representative John Sarbanes (D-Md.). “I mean, let’s face it, our teens are smarter than we are by half and they know how to use technology and they can get around these limits if they want to,” he said.
Sarbanes is correct. There’s really nothing to bypassing the feature — it only takes a tap of a button before you’re returned back to the feed when your time limit is up. A more effective mitigation technique would actually force a teen user to take a break from the app entirely. This could better disrupt the dopamine-fueled addiction cycle by requiring a short time-out where they’d be forced to find something else to do than continue to scroll more videos.
When asked if TikTok was measuring how many teens were still exceeding the 60-minute time limit after the new feature was added, Chew didn’t know and didn’t share any sort of guess, either. Instead, he avoided a direct answer.
“We understand those concerns,” the TikTok CEO responded. “Our intention is to have the teens and their parents have these conversations about what is the appropriate amount of time for social media,” he added, noting that the app offered a Family Pairing feature that does enforce a real screen time limit.
In other words, TikTok doesn’t think real teen protections are up for it to decide. To be fair, neither do any U.S.-based social media companies. They want parents to shoulder the responsibility.
This answer, however, showcases how a lack of U.S. regulation over these platforms is allowing the cycle of app addiction to continue. If lawmakers won’t create rules to protect kids from algorithms that tap into human psychology to keep them scrolling, then it really will be up to parents to figure step in. And many do not know or understand how parental controls work.
Sarbanes asked TikTok to follow up by providing the congressional committee with research on how the time limits were implemented, how they’re being bypassed, and the measures TikTok is taking to address these sorts of issues.
In a further line of questioning, this time from Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), TikTok’s addictive nature of the app and the dangerous stunts and challenges it showcased were suggested to be “psychological warfare…to deliberately influence U.S. children.” While that may be a bit of a leap, it’s worth noting that when Carter asked if the Chinese version of TikTok (Douyin) had the same “challenges” as TikTok Chew also admitted he didn’t know.
“This is an industry challenge for all of us,” he said.
The TikTok CEO later reiterated how kids’ use of its app is ultimately up to parents. When responding to questions about the appropriate age for TikTok use, he noted there were three different experiences aimed at different age groups — one for under-13 year-olds, another for younger teens, and another for adults. As an interesting side note, where Chew is based in Singapore, there’s no under-13 experience available, meaning his own kids are not on TikTok.
“Our approach is to give differentiated experiences for different age groups — and that the parents have these conversations with their children to decide what’s best for their family,” Chew said.
TikTok questioned on ineffective teen time limits in congressional hearing by Sarah Perez originally published on TechCrunch
Fifteen shows off the latest generation of its shared, docked bikes
New bikes and new docks
A few months ago, Fifteen launched a new bike-sharing service in Marseille. This isn’t the first public bike share scheme in the city, but it represents a big overhaul compared to the previous service.
“It was a city with an old school bike service managed by JCDecaux with mechanical bikes that were rarely used — only one or two rides per bike and per day,” Fifteen CEO Benoît Yameundjeu said.
But if you’ve seen the bikes in Marseille, they look nothing like Fifteen’s bikes (Smoove’s bikes) in Paris or in other cities. That’s because the company’s revamped bikes and docking stations are the next iteration of Zoov’s bikes and stations.
These electric bikes come with a magnetic docking system. Instead of ‘slotting’ the bike in a dock, you put it next to the most recently used bike. Once the bike is locked, it is secured to the rest of the station with magnets — the station also acts as a charging hub for the batteries.
As a user, it means that you can’t pick a specific bike. You can only unlock the bike that is currently at the end of the station — unless it’s a big station and there are multiple charging stations.
If there is an issue with the bike that you just unlocked, you set it aside and lock it again in a specific area next to the station. This way, faulty bikes are quickly isolated from the rest of the fleet.
You can see how it works with this picture. There are four different charging stations and an area in the middle for faulty bikes:
Image Credits: Fifteen
“We wanted to build a dense parking system that is easy to install with our proprietary energy transfer system,” Fifteen chief product and technology officer Arnaud Le Rodallec said. With these stations, you don’t have to dig large holes for individual electrified docks.
As for the bike, Fifteen’s electric bike is more modular. Cities can pick and choose some features with multiple options for the front basket, an optional high-capacity battery with a range of 120km, etc.
“We’ve also worked on the frame. The more pieces there are, the more complicated it becomes,” Le Rodallec said. “It allows us to save 1kg in weight for the frame, to reduce costs and to improve reliability.”
But the most interesting feature is that it hasn’t been specifically designed for a dock-based bike-sharing service. Fifteen’s clients can offer long-term rentals as users can potentially unlock the battery with an app and charge it at home — more on that later.
There are also some built-in sensors so that cities can create virtual stations — it can be useful for special events for instance. They draw a rectangle on a map and users can then lock and unlock the bike in this area by scanning a QR code on the handlebar with an app.
Fifteen is already thinking about what’s next for Paris and other existing cities as the company says cities can get the new bikes with existing docking stations. There’s an adapter that you can attach at the front of the bike.
Augmented bike networks
Fifteen has deployed a fleet of 52,000 bikes across more than 30 cities. In 2022, 1.5 million people interacted with a Fifteen bike-sharing system at some point.
The company is now thinking about other use cases for its bike. For instance, it has designed a new service for Auxerre and its surrounding cities. In May 2023, 320 Fifteen bikes will be deployed across 42 docking stations.
“The first project that I want to talk about perfectly embodies our vision. We want to offer a solution that addresses all needs,” chief marketing and sales officer Amira Haberah said. “If I need a bike for five minutes, I use it for five minutes. If I need a bike for two days because I’m visiting the Yonne department, I take it for two days. And If I want to keep it for ten months, I can keep it for ten months.”
Whether you’re looking for short-term or long-term rentals, you can go to the nearest docking station and unlock a bike with the app. When you’re done, you go back to a station. 200 bikes will be available for short-term rides to help you move from A to B. The rest will be allocated for personal long-term rentals.
Fifteen is also working on another project with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region around the regional train line that connects Royan to Angoulême. Many people still drive to work because their office isn’t next to a train station.
There are eight stops on that line, and Fifteen will deploy a docking station at each train station. When you get off the train, you can unlock a bike, use it for the day and bring it back to the train station in the evening.
So, Fifteen is now focusing on a single, unified platform that should address the needs of local governments of all sizes — from cities to regions — and for all needs — traditional bike-sharing service and long-term rentals. The company now has one bike, one docking station and one software stack.
Image Credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
Fifteen might not be a familiar name, but you may already know some of Fifteen’s bikes. Fifteen is the new name of the companies formerly known as Smoove and Zoov — these two companies with weird names merged a couple of years ago.
Smoove is one of the companies behind the Vélib’ bike-sharing service in Paris (along with Indigo, Mobivia and Moventia). And Zoov offered a hybrid bike share program for short-term and long-term rentals. While Zoov never reached the scale of Smoove, its bikes and docks serve as the basis for Fifteen’s new offering. Essentially, Fifteen combines Smoove’s reach with Zoov’s technology.
The past few years have been both challenging and promising for Fifteen. When the city of Paris picked Smoove and its partners for the new Vélib’ service, it wasn’t a smooth transition. After some serious hiccups (including financial difficulties), the service has now reached hundreds of thousands of subscribers and tens of thousands of rides per day — Vélib’ is now arguably the world’s biggest bike sharing service.
Fifteen has now shifted its attention to other cities. The company has been working with local governments to design bike share programs with new use cases. In a press conference before the Autonomy Mobility World Expo in Paris, Fifteen unveiled the next generation of its bike system and talked about upcoming launches.
Image Credits: Fifteen
New bikes and new docks
A few months ago, Fifteen launched a new bike-sharing service in Marseille. This isn’t the first public bike share scheme in the city, but it represents a big overhaul compared to the previous service.
“It was a city with an old school bike service managed by JCDecaux with mechanical bikes that were rarely used — only one or two rides per bike and per day,” Fifteen CEO Benoît Yameundjeu said.
But if you’ve seen the bikes in Marseille, they look nothing like Fifteen’s bikes (Smoove’s bikes) in Paris or in other cities. That’s because the company’s revamped bikes and docking stations are the next iteration of Zoov’s bikes and stations.
These electric bikes come with a magnetic docking system. Instead of ‘slotting’ the bike in a dock, you put it next to the most recently used bike. Once the bike is locked, it is secured to the rest of the station with magnets — the station also acts as a charging hub for the batteries.
As a user, it means that you can’t pick a specific bike. You can only unlock the bike that is currently at the end of the station — unless it’s a big station and there are multiple charging stations.
If there is an issue with the bike that you just unlocked, you set it aside and lock it again in a specific area next to the station. This way, faulty bikes are quickly isolated from the rest of the fleet.
You can see how it works with this picture. There are four different charging stations and an area in the middle for faulty bikes:
Image Credits: Fifteen
“We wanted to build a dense parking system that is easy to install with our proprietary energy transfer system,” Fifteen chief product and technology officer Arnaud Le Rodallec said. With these stations, you don’t have to dig large holes for individual electrified docks.
As for the bike, Fifteen’s electric bike is more modular. Cities can pick and choose some features with multiple options for the front basket, an optional high-capacity battery with a range of 120km, etc.
“We’ve also worked on the frame. The more pieces there are, the more complicated it becomes,” Le Rodallec said. “It allows us to save 1kg in weight for the frame, to reduce costs and to improve reliability.”
But the most interesting feature is that it hasn’t been specifically designed for a dock-based bike-sharing service. Fifteen’s clients can offer long-term rentals as users can potentially unlock the battery with an app and charge it at home — more on that later.
There are also some built-in sensors so that cities can create virtual stations — it can be useful for special events for instance. They draw a rectangle on a map and users can then lock and unlock the bike in this area by scanning a QR code on the handlebar with an app.
Fifteen is already thinking about what’s next for Paris and other existing cities as the company says cities can get the new bikes with existing docking stations. There’s an adapter that you can attach at the front of the bike.
Augmented bike networks
Fifteen has deployed a fleet of 52,000 bikes across more than 30 cities. In 2022, 1.5 million people interacted with a Fifteen bike-sharing system at some point.
The company is now thinking about other use cases for its bike. For instance, it has designed a new service for Auxerre and its surrounding cities. In May 2023, 320 Fifteen bikes will be deployed across 42 docking stations.
“The first project that I want to talk about perfectly embodies our vision. We want to offer a solution that addresses all needs,” chief marketing and sales officer Amira Haberah said. “If I need a bike for five minutes, I use it for five minutes. If I need a bike for two days because I’m visiting the Yonne department, I take it for two days. And If I want to keep it for ten months, I can keep it for ten months.”
Whether you’re looking for short-term or long-term rentals, you can go to the nearest docking station and unlock a bike with the app. When you’re done, you go back to a station. 200 bikes will be available for short-term rides to help you move from A to B. The rest will be allocated for personal long-term rentals.
Fifteen is also working on another project with the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region around the regional train line that connects Royan to Angoulême. Many people still drive to work because their office isn’t next to a train station.
There are eight stops on that line, and Fifteen will deploy a docking station at each train station. When you get off the train, you can unlock a bike, use it for the day and bring it back to the train station in the evening.
So, Fifteen is now focusing on a single, unified platform that should address the needs of local governments of all sizes — from cities to regions — and for all needs — traditional bike-sharing service and long-term rentals. The company now has one bike, one docking station and one software stack.
Image Credits: Romain Dillet / TechCrunch
Fifteen shows off the latest generation of its shared, docked bikes by Romain Dillet originally published on TechCrunch