Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday. Sign up here to get this email in your inbox every morning.
- Twitter temporarily blocked the Trump campaign from tweeting after it shared a video of the president spreading COVID-19 misinformation. The campaign tweeted a video of Trump falsely claiming to Fox News that children are "almost immune" from the disease.
- Facebook removed a Trump post containing the same video because it violated the company's policies banning "harmful COVID misinformation." Facebook said this is the first time it has completely taken down a post by Trump for pushing coronavirus misinformation.
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US wants "untrusted" Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat removed from US app stores, CNBC reports. Pompeo dubbed this plan the "Clean Network" on Wednesday, and it comes after TikTok faces having its US business forcibly sold off.
- Facebook launched its TikTok clone Instagram Reels on Wednesday. Instagram Reels launched first in Brazil in late 2019, and has since been rolling out to countries like Germany, France, and India.
- Twitter fixed a bug in its Android app that could have given hackers access to private messages. Twitter said there's no evidence this vulnerability has been exploited, and it's only said to impact 4% of those using Twitter on Android.
- Uber and Lyft got hit with another lawsuit in California over claims the companies are skirting the state's gig worker law. The suit alleges that Uber and Lyft have failed to pay drivers minimum wage, sick pay, unemployment, and other benefits guaranteed to employees under state law.
- US investors are increasing the amount of cash they invest in European fintech startups, backing nearly a quarter of all late-stage deals this year. The share of European late-stage fintech deals with at least one US investor increased to 23% in 2020, from 19% in 2019, according to a new report from Silicon Valley Bank.
- Google will once again have human workers listen to users' voice recordings — but only for people who opt in. The company shut down its practice of letting human reviewers listen to audio snippets last September following backlash over how it gathered and stored the audio.
- Swedish e-scooter startup Voi won the exclusive rights to operate in two UK markets, edging ahead of rivals. The UK opened up scooter trials for the first time in July, and Voi has been chosen to run trials in Cambridge and Peterborough.
- Samsung announced the launch of a new foldable phone called the Galaxy Z Fold 2. The phone comes with an improved design compared with the first-generation Galaxy Fold, including a more durable design and a larger front screen.
Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear