The upcoming video game Thirsty Suitors recently took top honors in the gaming category at the Tribeca Festival, but its lead developer Chandana Ekanayake says he's inspired by recognition of a different kind: players who can relate to its largely non-white characters.
Why it matters: Video game content, especially in story-driven adventures like Thirsty Suitors, typically centers on the experience of white or Japanese lead characters.
Substack is laying off 13 people, around 14% of the company, according to a note sent to employees Wednesday by the company’s co-founder and CEO Chris Best obtained by Axios.
Why it matters: The company is trying to reach profitability without having to rely on fundraising amid a weak economy.
Snapchat on Wednesday confirmed it's debuting a new subscription product called Snapchat+, "a collection of exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features" for $3.99 monthly.
Why it matters: Snapchat is using the feature as a way to test new products with a dedicated group of its most loyal fans, instead of on a country-by-country basis.
Privacy experts fear the Supreme Court's decision to overturn federal abortion rights will erode other key protections and expose daily life online to criminal investigations.
Why it matters: The federal right to an abortion provided by Roe v. Wade had its foundation in the conception of a personal right to privacy, broadly believed to cover everything from contraception use to same-sex marriage.
Crypto exchange CoinFlex is locked in battle with once-VIP customer and Bitcoin evangelist Roger Ver, trying to recoup funds to make many of its other customers whole, Axios has learned. Only Ver denies he owes the firm any money.
Why it matters: CoinFlex suspended withdrawals last week, saying that a big-time customer owed them money and that the firm had to "resort" to such measures.
Monday morning, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Gary Gensler, said on CNBC's Squawk Box that the only token he would lump in with commodities was bitcoin.
Why it matters: Gensler pointedly declined to name any cryptocurrency other than the original one, notable because the market has been operating under the assumption that there is a sort of wink-and-nod understanding that ether is also not a security.
When law enforcement authorities demand personal data belonging to those suspected of getting an abortion, tech firms will likely hand it over.
Why it matters: Companies like Google and Facebook collect enormous volumes of personal data, including information about where we've been, what we've bought, who we've talked to and what we've said. States that have made abortion a crime are making anyone who miscarries a potential target for a police data demand.
The U.S. is "far worse off than you think" when it comes to social media undermining its democracy, Nobel Peace Prize laureate and journalist Maria Ressa told Axios.
Why it matters: Ressa, a Filipino American co-founder of news organization Rappler, says the next wave of elections around the world, including the U.S. midterms in November, provides another opportunity for social media to spread disinformation, divide people against one another and incite violence.
