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Mark Zuckerberg’s recent likability blitz isn’t a presidential campaign, it’s a focus group for his 1.8 billion constituents — and part of a high-stakes campaign to win your “Likes.” Meanwhile, the Facebook CEO sold more than $1 billion worth of Facebook in the past year; WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum also sold and gifted more than $5 billion worth of Facebook stock in the last year. [Nitasha Tiku / BuzzFeed]
Facebook’s Instant Articles promised to transform journalism, evolving shared news posts into immersive multimedia experiences. But just two years after it launched, shifting priorities and inferior monetization options for Instant Articles are leading some big publishers — including the New York Times, Conde Nast and ESPN — to abandon the format. [Casey Newton / The Verge]
Here’s what you need to know about the latest data dump of classified material from the National Security Agency: The leak, by an elite hacking group calling itself the Shadow Brokers, included hacking tools used to break into various Microsoft systems, and potential evidence that the NSA had infiltrated the backbone of the Middle East’s banking infrastructure. [Andy Greenberg / Wired]
China’s DJI is running away with the fast-growing global drone market. Drone unit sales grew an estimated 50 percent last year to 2.2 million, and revenue grew 36 percent to $4.5 billion; DJI represented 36 percent of the market by $500-$1,000 devices sold in North America last year. [April Glaser / Recode]
Few people were as instrumental in shaping the computer-connected world as Robert Taylor, the Silicon Valley innovator who played key roles in the invention of Arpanet, the Alto computer and the computer mouse. Taylor died at 85 of complications of Parkinson’s disease. [John Markoff / The New York Times]
Silicon Valley needs to figure out how it can help all Americans. That’s the hope of Congressman Ro Khanna, who joined Recode’s Kara Swisher and Tony Romm on the latest episode of Recode Decode. Khanna also called the techie secessionist movement Calexit “arrogant” and “one of the worst things I had read after the election.” [Eric Johnson / Recode]
Top stories from Recode
The apps to use if you want to keep your messages private.
Protect yourself from hackers.
Facebook is deleting a bunch of spam accounts in its effort to fight fake news.
Facebook says spammers are generating fake “Likes” and comments, too.
Walmart is in advanced talks to acquire online men’s retailer Bonobos.
It would be the fourth acquisition in seven months for Walmart e-commerce CEO Marc Lore.
Apple’s self-driving car project now has a permit in California.
The Apple Car is alive — whatever it is.
This is cool
Watch the “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” trailer right here.
You may have noticed an anxious buzz on the internet Friday that had nothing to do with North Korea or Vladimir Putin. Disney’s new “Star Wars” teaser racked up well over 40 million views online in just 24 hours. Here are seven things we learned from Friday’s movie panel. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
