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All change in the capital as the Biden administration takes charge, and thankfully without a hitch (or violence) after the attempted insurrection two weeks earlier.
In this week’s Decrypted, we look at the ongoing fallout from the SolarWinds breach and who the incoming president wants to lead the path to recovery. Plus, the news in brief.
THE BIG PICTURE
Google says SolarWinds exposure “limited,” more breaches confirmed
The cyberattack against SolarWinds, an ongoing espionage campaign already blamed on Russia, claimed the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics as another federal victim this week. The attack also hit cybersecurity company Malwarebytes, the company’s chief executive confirmed. Marcin Kleczynski said in a blog post that attackers gained access to a “limited” number of internal company emails. It was the same attackers as SolarWinds but using a different intrusion route. It’s now the third security company known to have been targeted by the same Russian hackers after a successful intrusion at FireEye and an unsuccessful attempt at CrowdStrike.
Today, I disclosed publicly that @Malwarebytes had been targeted by the same nation state actor that attacked SolarWinds. This attack is much broader than SolarWinds and I expect more companies will come forward soon.
— Marcin Kleczynski (@mkleczynski) January 19, 2021
Facebook announced Thursday that its newly established external policy review group will take on one of the company’s most consequential acts: The decision to suspend former President Trump.
On January 7, Facebook suspended Trump’s account indefinitely. That decision followed the president’s actions the day prior, when he incited a violent mob that stormed the U.S. Capitol, leaving American democracy on a razor’s edge and a nation already deep in crisis even more shaken.
Facebook VP of Global Affairs and Communications Nick Clegg called the circumstances around Trump’s suspension an “unprecedented set of events which called for unprecedented action” and explained why the Oversight Board would review the case.
“Our decision to suspend then-President Trump’s access was taken in extraordinary circumstances: A U.S. president actively fomenting a violent insurrection designed to thwart the peaceful transition of power; five people killed; legislators fleeing the seat of democracy,” Clegg said in a blog post.
“This has never happened before — and we hope it will never happen again.”
Mark Zuckerberg announces Trump banned from Facebook and Instagram for ‘at least the next two weeks’
In its own statement on taking the case, the Oversight Board explained that a five-member panel will evaluate the case soon with a decision planned within 90 days. Once that smaller group reaches its conclusions on how to handle Trump’s Facebook status — and, potentially, future cases involving world leaders — the decision will require approval from the majority of the board’s members. After that, the pace picks up a bit and Facebook will have one week to implement the board’s final decision.
Facebook likes to say that the board is independent, but in spite of having the autonomy to make “binding” case-by-case decisions, the board grew out of Facebook itself. The company appointed the board’s four original co-chairs and those members went on to expand the group into a 20-member body.
As we’ve previously reported, the mechanics of the board bias its activity toward Facebook content taken down — not the stuff that stays up, which generally creates larger headaches for the company and society at large. Facebook has responded to this critique, noting that while the board may initially focus on reviewing takedowns, content still up on the platforms will be part of the project’s scope “as quickly as possible.”
Given some of the criticism around the group, the Trump case is a big moment for how impactful the board’s decisions will really wind up being. If it were to overturn Facebook’s decision, that decision would likely kick up a new firestorm of interest around Trump’s Facebook account, even as the former president recedes from the public eye.
The most interesting bit about the process is that it will allow the former president’s account admins to appeal his own case. If they do so, the board will review a “user statement” arguing why Trump’s account should be reinstated.
Facebook’s external decision-making body is meant as a kind of “supreme court” for the company’s own policy making. It doesn’t really move quickly or respond in the moment, but instead seeks to establish precedents that can lend insight to future policy cases. While the per-case decisions are binding, whether the broader precedents it creates will impact Facebook’s future policy decisions remains to be seen.
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/01/21/facebook-oversight-board-trump-facebook-suspension/
If you’re somewhat famous on various social networks, chances are you are exposed to hate speech in your replies or in your comments. French startup Bodyguard recently launched its app and service in English so that it can hide toxic content from your eyes. It has been available in French for a few years and the company has attracted 50,000 users so far.
“We have developed a technology that detects hate speech on the internet with a 90 to 95% accuracy and only 2% of false positive,” founder and CEO Charles Cohen told me.
The company has started with a mobile app that anyone can use. After you download the app and connect the app with your favorite social networks, you choose the level of moderation. There are several categories, such as insults, body shaming, moral harassment, sexual harassment, racism and homophobia. You can select whether it’s a low priority or a top priority for each category.
After that, you don’t have to open the app again. Bodyguard scans replies and comments from its servers and makes a decision whether something is OK or not OK. For instance, it can hide comments, mute users, block users, etc. When you open Instagram or Twitter again, it’s like those hateful comments never existed.
The app currently supports Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Twitch. Unfortunately, it can’t process content on Snapchat and TikTok due to API limitations.
Behind the scenes, most moderation services rely heavily on machine learning or keyword-based moderation. Bodyguard has chosen a different approach. It algorithmically cleans up a comment and tries to analyze the content of a comment contextually. It can determine whether a comment is offensive to you, to a third-party person, to a group of persons, etc.
More recently, the startup has launched a B2B product. Other companies can use a Bodyguard-powered API to moderate comments in real time on their social platforms or in their own apps. The company charges its customers using a traditional software-as-a-service approach.
As 2020 fades into the rearview mirror of history (huzzah!), it’s time to map out strategies to transform your early-stage startup dream into reality. If there’s one thing every early founder needs it’s information, and you’ll find it in abundance at TechCrunch Early Stage 2021.
Introduced last year — and one of the most popular events in TechCrunch history — TC Early Stage provides new startup founders (pre-seed through Series A) access to top experts to help them develop and strengthen their core entrepreneurial skills.
We’re talking everything from legal issues, fundraising, marketing, growth, product-market fit, tech stack, recruiting, pitch deck teardowns and more. Think of it as a condensed accelerator experience packed with workshops and highly interactive Q&As.
This conference was so popular that we’re hosting two virtual TC Early Stage events this year. Early Stage part one (April 1-2) and Early Stage part two (July 8-9). Even better, each event stands on its own merit with different topics, content, speakers and perspectives. Attend both to double your knowledge, double your networking, double your opportunities.
We might be biased, but we’re not the only people raving about TC Early Stage. Listen to what these early-stage founders said about TC Early Stage 2020.
“I recommend going to Early Stage. The virtual aspect helps in terms of scheduling, it offers community-building through networking and it gives early stage founders a framework for navigating the startup ecosystem. This is the stage where founders need more support, especially if they haven’t done this before.” — Ashley Barrington, founder, MarketPearl.
“Sequoia Capital’s session, Start with Your Customer, looked at the benefits of storytelling and creating customer personas. I took the idea to my team, we identified seven different user types for our product, and we’ve implemented storytelling to help onboard new customers. That one session alone has transformed my business.” — Chloe Leaaetoa, founder, Socicraft.
“Early Stage 2020 provided a rich, bootcamp experience with premier founders, VCs and startup community experts. If you’re beginning to build a startup, it’s an efficient way to advance your knowledge across key startup topics.” — Katia Paramonova, founder and CEO of Centrly.
Here’s the skinny on passes. Founder passes for either April or July event cost $199. Investors and startup enthusiasts can purchase Innovator passes for $299. Note: Early bird pricing ends Feb 27 and May 1, respectively.
Pro Tip: Save more when you buy a dual-event pass. Attend both Early Stage events for just $299 (Founder) or $349 (Innovator). Remember: The events feature different speakers, topics and content.
Don’t miss this unparalleled, interactive opportunity to learn best startup practices from leading experts, investors and successful founders. Mark your calendar and buy your Early Stage passes today!
Is your company interested in sponsoring or exhibiting at Early Stage 2021 – Operations & Fundraising? Contact our sponsorship sales team by filling out this form.
The enterprise-focused Alchemist Accelerator is hosting its 26th Demo Day today, with twenty companies expected to debut.
This is Alchemist’s third Demo Day to be fully virtual due to the ongoing pandemic. Alchemist Accelerator Director Ravi Belani tells me that this virtual format has thus far “outperformed the in person Demo Day format,” with Alchemist’s internal data indicating that follow-up meetings have increased by around 20%.
Want to watch along with the presentations? They’re scheduled to start at 10:30 am Pacific, and you can find a livestream here.
Meanwhile, here’s a list of all twenty companies in the order they’re expected to present, along with a bit about what they’re working on based on what’s publicly available:
G-71: A system that helps prevent and track leaks by automatically marking company documents “in a way that is invisible to the naked eye.”
Tazi.ai: A platform meant to help businesses apply machine learning to their own data to make decisions with things like retail demand prediction, or customer churn prediction.
Impruver: A platform for rolling out and analyzing the effectiveness of “continuous improvement” strategies.
Vardo: Monitors Jira and aims to predict when a project will be delayed based on a model of how each team works.
Image Credits: Seasony
Seasony: Building a robot to automate tasks involved in vertical farming operations, such as transporting plants to the appropriate section of a farm as they grow.
EcoSync: A retrofittable solution meant to help avoid heating empty rooms in older buildings (think colleges, office buildings, etc.). Ties into your existing room scheduling system, but they’ve also built a WiFi-based occupancy sensor.
BestPlace: AI tools for retail chain optimization, meant to help businesses figure out the best location for a store or the best mix of products to sell there.
Kwali: Automated quality control for food franchises. Their example is a pizza place using cameras to check if each pizza is being made to specifications (Correct ingredients? Are ingredients evenly distributed? How thick is the crust? etc.)
BigOmics Analytics: A “self-service analytics platform” for biologists to better understand and analyze their omics data.
FotoNow: AI system for detecting mistakes/defects in manufacturing, using cameras to detect things like scratches, dents, or missing parts as components move through a facility
Predictive Wear: Smart, non-invasive wearables meant to detect dehydration in athletes, flagging it for said athletes and their coaches before it’s an issue.
Raxel: A telematics SDK for teams building apps that involve cars, scooters, etc, providing tools for analyzing driver safety, efficiency, location tracking, and flagging any accidents.
Rebolet: A service meant to optimize the process of reselling your store’s returned/overstock items. You send them your returns, they analyze the condition of an item, then either sell, donate, or recycle them.
Image Credits: UVL
UVL Robotics: Drones purpose-built to help businesses track and count the inventory in their warehouses.
AutoCloud: A reimagined interface for monitoring and identifying outages on services like AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.
SmallTalk: AI-based tool meant to assess the language proficiency of a potential hire
Sensegrass: A “soil intelligence” platform that uses smart sensors, satellite data, and public data to help optimize crop yield.
PostureHealth: Camera-based posture correction for individuals and companies
Apis Cor: 3d printed buildings, including one the company says is already the largest 3d printed building in the world.
Via.delivery: A network of brick-and-mortar stores willing to act as local pickup locations for your shipments. They say they currently have roughly 15,000 locations across 12 time zones.
