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“UK Launches Comprehensive Investigation on Three and Vodafone’s Proposed $19B Merger”

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The U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has confirmed that it’s launching a formal “phase 2” investigation into the planned merger between Vodafone and Three UK. The CMA says that the deal could lead to higher prices for consumers, while also impact future infrastructure investments. However, the CMA has given both parties a token five working days to address its concerns with “meaningful solutions” before it formally progresses the investigation. Such a scenario is precisely why the U.K. introduced the National Security and Investment Act back in 2022, with previous form in blocking deals between U.K. entities and Chinese companies. “This case has more moving parts than the CMA’s other recent big decisions, and is arguably more important for the U.K. economy,” Smith said.

Google confirms global limitations on election-related searches using Gemini

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TechCrunch has learned that the search giant has started to restrict queries made Gemini when they relate to elections, in any market globally where elections are taking place. The search giant confirmed to TechCrunch that it started rolling out the restrictions on Gemini to limit surfacing answers about election-related queries globally. TechCrunch found the AI tool did show answers when passing on queries with typos. The AI tool, responding to a query about whether Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was a fascist, responded that Modi had been accused of implementing policies that some had characterized as fascist. It is unclear whether Google will unblock Gemini for answering election-related queries after the elections end later this year.

YouTube Affirms Site Downtime as Outages Strike

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Several social media websites are experiencing outages on Tuesday morning. YouTube confirmed that some users are having trouble loading videos on the platform; meanwhile, platforms like Discord and Meta’s Threads, Facebook and Instagram are down as well. YouTube also shared an update on its X account, which links to the support page. thanks to everyone who sent notes about loading issues with YouTube: we're on it! 🔍 will follow up here once things are back to normal, you can also follow our Help Community post for details ➡️ https://t.co/4Ezmtku3Em — TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) March 5, 2024The root cause of these widespread outages remains unclear.

Europe’s Tech Investment Slump: A Report of Renewed Hope

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New report confirms Europe’s tech investment doldrums, but there are signs of lifeEurope is suffering from a big hangover after the tech investment party of the 2020-2021 period. That said, compared to pre-pandemic levels, VC investment in European startups is up, historically speaking, and reached $60 billion, according to a new report. 2023 marked a reset and major correction in investment levels globally. According to the report, Europe is sitting on “record levels of dry powder” and “producing more new founders than the U.S.”, funding remains slow. Climate Tech overtook FinTech as Europe’s most popular sectorAI’s share of total investment in Europe soared to a record high of 17%5.

“UnitedHealth Definitively Identifies Ransomware Group Responsible for Change Healthcare Breach During Ongoing Disruptions in Pharmacy Services”

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American health insurance giant UnitedHealth Group has confirmed a ransomware attack on its health tech subsidiary Change Healthcare, which continues to disrupt hospitals and pharmacies across the United States. “Based on our ongoing investigation, there’s no indication that except for the Change Healthcare systems, Optum, UnitedHealthcare and UnitedHealth Group systems have been affected by this issue.”In a post on its dark web leak site on Wednesday, ALPHV/BlackCat took credit for the cyberattack at Change Healthcare. Change Healthcare merged with U.S. healthcare provider Optum in 2022 as part of a $7.8 billion deal under UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurance provider in the United States. Change Healthcare said it took much of its systems offline to expel the hackers from its systems. Do you work at Change Healthcare, Optum or UnitedHealth and know more about the cyberattack?

ICO investigates data breach while UK cyberattack debilitates local councils

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Three local councils in the United Kingdom continue to experience disruption to their online services, a week after confirming a cyberattack had knocked some systems offline. Robert Davis, a spokesperson for Canterbury City Council, told TechCrunch last week that the council’s initial investigation suggests that no customer data was accessed. However, the U.K.’s Information Commissioner’s Office told TechCrunch on Friday that the data regulator has received a breach report from the three councils. Thanet District Council spokesperson Clare Winter shared an updated statement with TechCrunch, which has also been published on the council’s website. “Thanet District Council is currently limiting access to a number of its online systems,” the statement reads.

Amazon Announces Additional Job Cuts in Buy with Prime Division

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As Amazon initiates job cuts across its entire business, including its streaming division, the e-commerce giant is now laying off employees within its Buy with Prime segment. Launched in 2022, Buy with Prime is a service that enables third-party merchants to offer Prime benefits like free shipping and returns. Buy with Prime expanded its availability in early 2023, adding more U.S. brands like BigCommerce and Sustainable Glam. “Buy with Prime is a top priority for Amazon, with strong adoption from merchants and positive feedback from customers, and we will continue investing significant resources in Buy with Prime to build on that momentum. Earlier this month, Amazon laid off 500 Twitch workers and hundreds of employees at Prime Video and MGM Studios.

Plex to Launch New TV and Movie Rental Services in Upcoming Month

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Media streamer Plex’s long-delayed plans to launch a marketplace for TV and movie rentals are finally being realized after multiple false starts. The media startup originally announced its plan to expand its streaming service to include rentals just ahead of the Covid-19 pandemic, which impacted launch plans alongside other technical concerns. Then, at CES a year ago, Plex said the rentals market was due for a second-quarter launch. With those headaches behind it, the rentals service is finally nearing launch — for real this time, Plex says. In addition to the TVOD store, the report noted Plex’s plans for the year ahead included a redesign and additional social features, too.

Netflix announces no plans for dedicated app on Apple Vision Pro

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Netflix isn’t planning on releasing a dedicated app for the Apple Vision Pro, nor will the company modify its iPad version to run on the headset. Instead, users will have to resort to the web version, meaning they can’t access features like downloading titles for offline viewing. “Our members will be able to enjoy Netflix on the web browser on the Vision Pro, similar to how our members can enjoy Netflix on Macs,” a Netflix spokesperson said in a statement provided to TechCrunch. One user wrote:Mixed reality headsets are still niche products and Netflix likely believes the Vision Pro won’t be a huge hit with customers – at least not right away — especially given the outrageous price point ($3,500). The Apple Vision Pro will be available for purchase on February 2 and will include the ability to download and stream movies and TV shows from popular services like Disney+, Apple TV+, Max, Discovery+, Paramount+, Prime Video, Peacock, Pluto TV and Tubi, among others.

Bolt, the One-Click Checkout Company, Announces Additional Layoffs

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E-commerce and fintech company Bolt, which was at one time the subject of a federal probe, confirmed it laid off 29% of its staff, according to a company spokesperson. This latest round of layoffs, which the spokesperson said happened last week, follow a handful of other layoffs made by the company since 2022. It’s not clear how many employees the company had at the time of the layoffs or which roles were impacted. The company, which provides software to retailers to speed up checkout, raised around $1 billion in total venture-backed funding and at one time was valued at $11 billion. The company announced partnerships with retailers, including Saks OFF 5TH, Shinola, Filson, Lafayette 148 and Toys”R”Us, in November.