The Taylor Swift deepfake debacle was frustratingly preventable
You know you’ve screwed up when you’ve simultaneously angered the White House, the TIME Person of the Year, and pop culture’s most rabid fanbase. That’s what happened last week to X, the Elon Musk-owned platform formerly called Twitter, when AI-generated, pornographic deepfake images of Taylor Swift went viral. One of
Read moreNavigating media’s ups and downs with theSkimm co-founders
Welcome back to Found, where we get the stories behind the startups. This week Becca flew solo with Carly Zakin and Danielle Weisberg, the co-founders and co-CEOs of theSkimm, a digital media company delivering news through newsletter targeted at millennial women. Zakin and Weisberg talked about what market gap they
Read moreTwitterrific’s team is back with Tapestry, an app for tracking social media, news, RSS, and more
The Iconfactory, the maker of a popular third-party Twitter client, Twitterrific, that was among those killed off by Twitter under Elon Musk’s management, is hoping to recover from its losses with a new app that combines your social media, news feeds, and alerts into one experience. The app, dubbed “Project
Read moreIconic streamer Pokimane is leaving Twitch
One of the most popular streamers on Twitch, Pokimane announced today that she is leaving the platform. It’s not yet clear if she’s retiring from content creation altogether, or if she’s moving from Twitch to another platform. “twitch has been my home for a decade,” Pokimane wrote on X. “but
Read moreElon Musk won’t get his $55 billion pay package after all
Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Elon Musk isn’t going to get that $55 billion pay package after all, a Delaware Court of Chancery judge has ruled. The ruling means Tesla’s board will need to come up with a new proposal. The ruling threatens Musk’s fortune if
Read moreBlock becomes the latest fintech to lay off workers
Block, the fintech company whose subsidiaries include Square, Cash App and Afterpay, is laying off staff at a tumultuous time for tech industry workers. That’s according to an internal memo from CEO Jack Dorsey, obtained first by Business Insider, which states that “the growth of [Block] has far outpaced the
Read moreCanadian CEOs worried about economic outlook, but expect turnaround with AI: Report
Over the past year, an increasing number of companies have worried that they will not survive amid rapid technological change and growing economic uncertainties unless they reinvent themselves, PwC’s 27th annual global CEO survey found. The report finds that artificial intelligence could be the key to reinvention, and consequently, to
Read morePayPal begins more layoffs
PayPal has begun company-wide layoffs, according to multiple reports, including an article published by The Information. It is not yet clear how many people will be affected by the job cuts but one source told TechCrunch it was expected to be in the “thousands.” TechCrunch has reached out to PayPal
Read moreSome IRS employees still access TikTok despite ban on government devices
The TikTok ban on U.S. government devices is proving hard to enforce. A month after the IRS was found to be in non-compliance with the federally mandated ban on the Beijing-based video app, two Republican senators are asking the IRS why it’s still allowing some of the agency’s employees to
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