Online platforms take action against President Trump, Lenovo tries a swivel screen, and Roblox raises $ 250 million. This is your Daily Crunch for January 7, 2021.
The big story: Facebook banishes Trump for two weeksAfter a pro-Trump mafia stormed the United States Capitol yesterday, several online platforms moved to suspend accounts linked to the outgoing president.
For example, Twitter blocked Trump's account for 12 hours after posting several tweets (later deleted) that repeated his baseless claims of election fraud and expressed support for rioters (while also calling for an end to the violence). Twitch has also disabled its channel until the end of its term, and Shopify has shut down stores related to the president and his campaign.
But the most notable move came from Facebook, which banned Trump from both Facebook and Instagram for "at least the next two weeks," until the end of his term. Mark Zuckerberg wrote that this was necessary due to "the use of our platform to incite violent insurrections against a democratically elected government".
The tech giantsWaymo is moving away from the term "autonomous driving", but not everyone in the industry agrees: Waymo, owned by Alphabet, will no longer use the term "autonomous driving" to describe its technology.
Lenovo's new all-in-one has a swiveling screen, why sure, why not? - When it comes to serious product categories, why not try something weird?
Samsung makes it easy with a premium Chromebook for a lower price: Samsung just dropped what's almost certainly one of its biggest news for CES, with the arrival of the Galaxy Chromebook 2.
Startups, financing and venture capitalSoFi will go public in merger with Chamath Palihapitiya's most recent SPAC - The deal, confirmed by SoFi, would value the fintech company at $ 8.65 billion.
Roblox Rises to $ 29.5 Billion Valuation, Ready for Direct Listing: Roblox is now one of the most valuable private companies in the world.
Local News App News Break Raises $ 115 Million - CEO Jeff Zheng said there is "strong user demand" for local news, but "weak supply".
Extra Crunch Tips and AnalysisDecrypted: How serious was the US Capitol cybersecurity breach? - The breach is likely to be an important task for Congressional IT departments.
The Tech Wave of Smart, Not Slow Mentoring Sessions - While starting a mentoring marketplace is easy, downsizing is often where the problems begin.
With 5 new unicorns in the first week of 2021, do we expect a stampede this year? - The pace at which new unicorns are announced is incredibly fast.
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All the restHopin May Be The Fastest Growing Story Of This Era - Equity Team Discusses Hopin's Acquisition Of StreamYard Live Streaming Company.
Elon Musk Has A New Title: Richest Person In The World - He peaked on Thursday thanks to Tesla's skyrocketing stock price, along with a hefty salary package.
Remembering Hirohide Yoshida of ProWellTech Japan (1971-2020) - On New Year's Eve, ProWellTech Japan's chief editor Hirohide Yoshida passed away at the age of 49.
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