Taylor Hatmaker
Senior Reporter
The Latest from Taylor Hatmaker
Google gets hit with a new lawsuit over ‘deceptive’ location tracking
Washington, DC, Texas, Washington state and Indiana announced the latest lawsuit against Big Tech Monday, alleging that Google deceived users by collecting their location data even when they believed
Google asks a judge to dismiss Texas antitrust lawsuit about its ad business
Google filed a motion Friday asking a federal court to dismiss most of the counts in an antitrust lawsuit led by the state of Texas. In the filing, the company argued that the Texas lawsuit isn’
The first big tech antitrust bill lumbers toward reality
A major Senate bill that would prevent tech companies from giving preference to their own products and services just passed a significant hurdle in Congress, bringing it one step closer to becoming la
New privacy bill would put major limits on targeted advertising
A new bill seeks to dramatically reshape the online advertising landscape to the detriment of companies like Facebook, Google and data brokers that leverage deep stores of personal information to make
Snapchat says it’s getting better at finding illicit drug dealers before users do
Snapchat has faced increasing criticism in recent years as the opioid crisis plays out on social media, often with tragic results. In October, an NBC investigation reported the stories of a number of
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. B
House committee investigating Jan. 6 subpoenas Meta, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit
The House committee leading the investigation into the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol issued subpoenas to four major tech companies Thursday. January 6 select committee chairman Benn
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 stra
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
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 time
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
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 c
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
TikTok rumor warning of threat to schools prompts closures and extra safety measures
A proliferation of ominous, non-specific rumors on TikTok and other social platforms suggested that schools across the U.S. faced threats of violence on Friday, December 17. While a number of schools
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
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
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 S
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
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 mos
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