Spamalot: The rise of spam texts in the US

9/27/22 7:00PM

Spamalot

‍The Federal Communications Commission is finally taking steps to crack down on those annoying spam texts that have been popping up more frequently on your phone.

Yesterday the FCC revealed plans to stop spam at the source, proposing that mobile carriers must block numbers known for spewing out illegal scams.

That's likely to be a popular crackdown, as new data shows the extent of the spam text problem in America. In August an estimated 10.9bn spam texts were sent in the US according to numbers from RoboKiller, an app that blocks potentially-dangerous calls and texts. That works out to nearly 39 spam texts per person per month — a number that's risen substantially in the last year.

Efforts to tackle spam have thus far concentrated mostly on robocalls, requiring networks to meet strict authentication requirements to prevent annoying automated callers. Scammers, as a result, seem to be phoning in their call operations and turning to texts as an alternative.

Jon Keegan

Here’s what to look for in today’s Microsoft earnings report

All eyes will be on Microsoft’s Azure cloud revenue growth, and just how much it’s increasing its capital expenditure.

Millie Giles

INSTA PLUS MAX

Meta is testing out premium subscriptions on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp

Ahead of its earnings, expected after the bell today, Meta has announced plans to trial a paid tier on its apps.

Meta Apps - Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Threads

Rani Molla7h

Amazon cuts another 16,000 roles after laying off 14,000 workers in October

Amazon announced Wednesday that it’s cutting 16,000 roles across the company, having laid off 14,000 workers only three months ago.

“As I shared in October, we’ve been working to strengthen our organization by reducing layers, increasing ownership, and removing bureaucracy,” Senior Vice President of People Experience and Technology Beth Galetti wrote in the press release. “While many teams finalized their organizational changes in October, other teams did not complete that work until now.”

CEO Andy Jassy previously said that the October layoffs were “about culture” rather than AI-related cost cutting. Galetti says layoffs, now totaling 30,000, won’t become a regular occurrence.

“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm — where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan.”

Update on our organization

CEO Andy Jassy previously said that the October layoffs were “about culture” rather than AI-related cost cutting. Galetti says layoffs, now totaling 30,000, won’t become a regular occurrence.

“Some of you might ask if this is the beginning of a new rhythm — where we announce broad reductions every few months. That’s not our plan.”

Jon Keegan22h

Anthropic reportedly doubles current fundraising round to $20 billion

Anthropic has doubled its current fundraising round to $20 billion on strong investor demand, according reporting from the Financial Times. The new fundraising round would value the company at a staggering $350 billion. That’s up 91% from September, when it raised at a valuation of $183 billion.

The company reportedly received interest totaling 5x to 6x its original $10 billion fundraising goal, and it’s expected to haul in several billion more than that tally before the current round closes.

Anthropic’s success with enterprise customers and the popularity of its Claude Code product are boosting the company’s momentum as it chases the current valuation leader of the AI startup pack: OpenAI.

Anthropic doubles VC fundraising to $20bn on surging investor demand

Produce At Whole Foods Market's Flagship Store

Amazon says it’s doubling down on opening Whole Foods stores. That sounds familiar.

The company says it’ll open 100 Whole Foods locations in the next few years. That sounds similar to plans Whole Foods’ CEO laid out in 2024 for opening 30 stores a year. Since then, it appears to have added 14, total.

Rani Molla23h