At Code, CEOs and politicians voiced concerns about TikTok’s power, rapid growth, and surveillance potential, with some calling for it to be banned altogether (Alexandra S. Levine/Forbes)

Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Police and other sources say Block’s Cash App has become one of the primary payment tools for sex traffickers, including due to lax user ID rules  —  The Twitter and Block billionaire made Cash App into a $700 million monster.  Now police officers, nonprofit critics and current and former employees …

Matt Levine / Bloomberg:
An in-depth look at crypto and blockchains: the underlying tech, its uses and meaning, the crypto financial system, and trust, money, and community  —  – What If You Don’t Like It?  — Digital Cash  —  Part II  —  What Does It Mean?  — A Store of Value  — A Distributed Computer

Emily Baker-White / Forbes:
Web novel apps backed by ByteDance and Tencent are running hundreds of Facebook and Instagram ads showing sexual assault, violent erotica, and acts of self-harm  —  Some of the ads include descriptions of sexual violence, paired with images of battered women and photos of male fitness influencers, which were used without permission.

Eileen AJ Connelly / The Wrap:
SEC sues two former MoviePass CEOs, charging them with misleading investors about profit potential, data operations, studio relationships, and revenue sources  —  The Securities and Exchange Commission filed suit against two former CEOs of MoviePass, charging them with misleading investors …

Paul Thurrott / Thurrott:
Google’s latest Pixel drop brings VPN by Google and Clear Calling to Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, automatic speaker labels in the Recorder app to Pixel 6 and up, and more  —  Google today announced the latest Pixel drop, which brings new features to Pixel phones, Pixel Watch, and Pixel Buds.

Tage Kene-Okafor / TechCrunch:
African e-commerce giant Jumia announces co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec have stepped down as co-CEOs, replaced by executive Francis Dufay  —  African e-commerce giant Jumia has made a new change in management as co-founders Jeremy Hodara and Sacha Poignonnec step down effective today …