Axios

Last week, Twitter VP of engineering Ed Ho hinted that the company was gearing up to add more features to help curb harassment. Now they're going public:

1. New abusive accounts: Twitter will use a number of clues and signals to figure out, as often as possible, when people are creating new accounts for the sole purposes of harassing users. Many have complained that even if they succeed at getting a offending user suspended, that person just creates a new account and gets right back to it. The company declined to share details about how it will do this to avoid tipping off abusers.
2. Safer search results: When a user searches, Twitter will hide from the results tweets from accounts they've blocked or muted. Twitter will also filter the content and hide pornography or other things a user doesn't want to see when conducting a search. Users will be able to opt in and out of this search option.
3. Hiding abusive replies: Twitter will hide—or "collapse"—replies to tweets that are likely to be abusive. Replies are one area where many users often find mean or harassing tweets, so this should be helpful. Twitter will look at cues, such as the user not having any followers, and hide content it doesn't deem of high quality.

What about Trump? Asked if the company has any plans to suspend or otherwise change Donald Trump's access to the service given recent calls for his account to be shut down, a Twitter spokesman pointed Axios to the service's rules, adding it will "take action" if an account violates them. That is to say, Trump will remain on Twitter until he breaks the rules.

TechCrunch hosted its annual Crunchies award show on Monday. Highlights:

• Tech leaders who are working with Trump "are on the wrong side of history, no matter what you accomplish, this will be your legacy," said Erica Baker, co-founder of Project Include.
• Jeff Lawson, who co-founded and is the CEO of Twilio, reminded everyone "who the real enemy is"—and it's not fellow Americans.
• Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo, came out to present an award and somehow agreed to a script that poked fun at her company. Yahoo's sale to Verizon is still to be determined following the disclosures of two massive security breaches, but in any event, Mayer will need a new job.
• The team of Otto, a self-driving truck company acquired by Uber last year, showed up to pick up its award for "Hot new Startup" while wearing trucker hats—a nod at the profession Otto's technology will soon eliminate.

Why it matters: For better or worse, the Crunchies have become a public attempt by the tech industry to show off its values. The event now makes a conscious effort not to offend (too much), and award winners are increasingly more diverse—an acknowledgement of the industry's overall lack of diversity. And yet, it might no longer be the "it" event it used to be—winners like Snap didn't even bother to show up and host Chelsea Peretti didn't miss an opportunity to point out the empty seats.

The Information reports that Google has been approached by NetEase, an internet company in China, to architect an app store that would include results compliant with China's censorship regime.

And then there's this: The Information also reports that the company may be interested in expanding its cloud computing arm to China.

Why this matters: Google left the mainland in 2010 over censorship concerns. But it's been trying to return. They're not the only company eager to tap, or maintain its access to, the significant Chinese market. Facebook is engaged in a similar effort, which has included trips by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to China after being banned there in 2009. Apple, meanwhile, has been trying to shore up its relationships with officials in the country after some difficulties.

What's next: Wait and see. The company has been trying to reenter China for a long time. It remains to be seen whether this type of arrangement would be successful.

Last month, Uber sued Seattle, which is aimed at fighting the city's landmark law that allows its drivers to unionize, per The Verge. The law in Seattle, which passed in December 2015 in a 9-0 vote, is the only law of its kind and enables drivers of ride-sharing apps — like Uber and Lyft — the opportunity to bargain for better working conditions, earnings and benefits.

In its suit, Uber labeled the new rules — which didn't didn't kick in until January 17, 2017 — "arbitrary and capricious" and inconsistent with "fundamental labor lines."

The city of Seattle has since released a response, stating that it is confident the court will rule in favor of the city's authority to move forward with the law. A hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for March 17th.

Joanna Coles is the only woman on Snap's board of directors. She also earns less compensation than her male colleagues, as first noted by Fortune's Valentina Zarya.

The knee-jerk reaction has been to assume this is just another example of tech industry sexism ― again, just a single female director ― but Axios has learned that it's a bit more complicated.

The green frog emoji was the most-used emoji during Super Bowl 51, according to social analytics company Blend.

What does it mean? The emoji symbolizes Pepe the Frog, a popular internet cartoon that became a symbol of the Alt-right conservative movement in early 2016. Pepe used to be a mascot for 4chan.com, an image-posting website, used mostly for memes, linked to Internet subcultures like Anonymous and the Alt-right movement. In 2016, the Anti-Defamation League added Pepe the green frog to its database of hate symbols, alongside the swastika and the KKK blood cross.

Why it matters: The Alt-right social movement has been using the momentum of highly-publicized national events to further their message, but the effectiveness has peaked since Trump's inauguration. According to Blend President Matt Geiger, this is an ongoing trend with no sign of slowing down. "We've seen the Pepe frog emoji show up in basically every single national event since Trump was Inaugurated," Geiger told Axios. "The frog has been used more than all of the other animal emojis combined since Trump's Inauguration."

Worth mentioning: Blend also found that the rainbow emoji, a symbol for gay rights and activism, was the most used emoji during the Super Bowl 51 halftime performance. Lady Gaga sang "Born this Way" at halftime, a song about being accepted regardless of your sexuality or gender.

Uber's latest high-profile hire is an engineer, formerly of NASA, who will "work with companies and stakeholders" interested in a transportation network of aircraft capable of taking off and landing vertically. In less technical terms: that's flying cars.

The news was first reported by Bloomberg's Brad Stone. The engineer, Mark Moore, told him the company is in the right place to be influential over the nascent market:

If you don't have a business case that makes economic sense, than all of this is just a wild tech game and not really a wise investment.

Key context: Uber isn't building its own flying car yet, and WIRED reported in October that it wasn't currently in the cards. But the company has outlined an ambitious vision of a not-so-distant future where customers would travel to a central facility to get into one of the aircraft. A company official said in a statement that Uber wants to be a "catalyst" to getting the idea — no pun intended — off the ground.

The policy angle: Uber has warned that policymakers and industry should work closely with the communities that would see the effects of a network of flying cars. They identified several areas — like noise pollution and privacy — where dreams of flying cars could collide with reality.

The chart above: Patriots in blue, Falcons red and Gaga in yellow.

Total global tweets about the Super Bowl: 27.6 million in 2017. The record came in 2015, with 28.4 million.

Most tweeted moments:

1. Patriots complete comeback to win Super Bowl LI in overtime
2. Lady Gaga's memorable halftime show performance
3. Danny Amendola 2-point conversion to tie the game

The three most-mentioned players were all Patriots: 1) Tom Brady 2) James White 3) Julian Edelman

Snapchat is teaming with BBC Worldwide to bring an exclusive version — in vertical viewing format — of Planet Earth II. There will be 6 episodes beginning February 17th, a day ahead of the TV launch in the U.S. and Canada. It will feature binaural recording, an audio design technique used to create a 3-D stereo sound.

Snapchat is also rolling out two new features that will look and feel a lot like subscription television viewing:

1. Advance subscriptions: Via Snapcodes (scannable QR codes on the app), users can get an early look at the series and subscribe to the show in advance of the first episode airing on February 17.
2. Ability to watch previous episodes: Once Planet Earth II airs Snapchat, users will be able to use the show's Snapcode to view the most current previous episode, even if that episode is not currently live on the app.