10 things in tech you need to know today
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- Oracle announced it will become a minority investor in TikTok Global after President Trump indicated his approval. In a statement Saturday evening, TikTok confirmed the news and said it was also working with Walmart on a commercial partnership.
- The US decided to postpone its ban on TikTok downloads after parent firm ByteDance reached agreements with Oracle and Walmart. Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said in a statement Saturday that "recent positive developments" meant the deadline for the ban has now been moved to 11:59 p.m. on September 27.
- A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration's WeChat download ban. The US Department of Commerce had issued an order that would have required Apple and Google to remove WeChat from their respective app marketplaces in the US.
- The EU wants to give itself the power to kick US tech giants out of Europe. A regulatory blueprint includes massive penalties to force tech companies to sell off their European operations and even shut them out of the European single market.
- Trump said he has requested $5 billion from any TikTok deal directed toward teaching American children "the real history of our country." Trump claimed on Saturday that he had asked the leaders of Oracle, ByteDance, and Walmart for the $5 billion cut.
- Trump's travel ban likely accelerated the spread of the coronavirus in the US, according to Bill Gates. Microsoft founder Bill Gates said that the government's travel ban earlier this year may have made the coronavirus outbreak in the US worse.
- Jack Ma's Ant is lifting its IPO funding target to $35 billion putting it on track for a record debut. Ant's record IPO would value firm at about $250 billion, according to Bloomberg.
- Twitter said it would investigate whether the neural network that selects which part of an image to show in a photo preview favors showing the faces of white people over Black people. Users posted examples over the weekend, notably of Mitch McConnell and Barack Obama which seemed to prioritize white faces on the social media app's photo previews, per Mashable.
- Kindred Capital, a European tech investor which shares profits with founders, has raised a $105 million second fund. The fund has a novel model which shares profits with founders who it has previously invested in.
- Kids in the UK are now spending more money on 'Fortnite' and 'Roblox' than candy and books. Kids are also saving 14% more money than they did in 2019 — that's £104 ($135) a year, per data from RoosterMoney.
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Read the original article on Business Insider