Recode Daily: Trump may be behind the roadblocks to the AT&T/Time Warner megamerger

Musical.ly, the video lip-syncing app that took off like a rocket three years ago, will sell for at least $800 million. The buyer is Jinri Toutiao, the Chinese media startup. Musical.ly itself was created in China but enjoyed huge growth in the U.S. That growth has stalled in the last year, though. [Peter Kafka / Recode]

After white supremacist Jason Kessler was verified on Twitter, the company temporarily paused all account verifications while it clarifies its policy. Twitter verification gives public figures a blue check mark next to their names, which has become a sort of status symbol. The controversy arose less than a month after CEO Jack Dorsey recommitted once again to eliminating “hate symbols, violent groups, and tweets that glorifies violence” from the platform. Meanwhile, Dorsey says he was “absolutely” willing to testify before Congress about Russia if he had been invited. But he was — repeatedly. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]

Contradicting earlier reports, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the Department of Justice did not ask him to sell CNN as a condition of acquiring Time Warner, and reiterated that he does not intend to sell CNN. If completed, the deal would transform AT&T into a colossus capable of both producing content and distributing it to millions of people via its wireless and satellite services. [Peter Kafka / Recode]

Comedian Louis C.K. has been accused of sexual misconduct by five women; last night’s scheduled premiere of his new movie, “I Love You, Daddy” was canceled, as was a scheduled appearance on Stephen Colbert’s show. And comedian Kathy Griffin, who lost high-profile jobs and was all but hounded out of the country after an ill-advised social media stunt about beheading Donald Trump, is on an international “Laugh Your Head Off” tour — and Trump’s condemnation is fueling her fierce new act. [The New York Times]

Wallpaper scored an interview with Apple design chief Jony Ive and Stefan Behling, one of the lead architects on the company’s new Apple Park HQ, which the design magazine calls “in some ways, the ultimate Apple product.” Ive goes into detail about how the unique circular structure functions, and muses on his concepts for the new iPhone X. Apple, meanwhile, released its latest diversity report, which notes that the overall racial and gender makeup of its workforce remains mostly unchanged since 2016. [Nick Compton / Wallpaper]

Top stories from Recode

Amazon faces fines following the death of a second warehouse worker in as many months.

The state of Indiana found four potential violations.

Google asked the U.S. government to consider new rules of the road for online political ads.

The FEC is weighing new rules in light of Russia’s 2016 election meddling.

J.Crew approached Amazon about a sale, chairman Mickey Drexler says.

“The thing that these big companies need is creativity.”

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi: The SoftBank deal hasn’t happened yet, but it will.

“Making changes in governance is unquestionably good,” Khosrowshahi said at the Dealbook conference on Thursday.

The model for recycling our old smartphones is actually causing massive pollution.

Millions of new iPhones will be sold this month. What really happens to the millions that get thrown out?

The night the lights went out in Napa.

Being trapped without power during the recent Northern California wildfires transformed my thinking about technology — we all need a backup plan.

Can tech make my morning routine any easier?

On the latest Too Embarrassed to Ask podcast: What apps make it easier to get going and be productive first thing in the morning?

This is cool

Holiday gift guide to connected products (privacy not included)

and

Should children form emotional bonds with robot toys?

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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