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(WSJ) The pace of startup shutdowns, fire sales and sharp business-strategy changes is picking up.  Fresh capital from venture investors and bank loans is scarce and expensive. Going public is nearly impossible. Some business models that worked when cash was cheap are unsustainable now. That means venture-backed startups are running out of money and facing hard…

(New York Times) Over the last year, state legislators concerned about a mental health crisis among the nation’s young people have passed a raft of children’s online safety measures. A new Utah law would require social networks to obtain a parent’s consent before giving an account to a child younger than 18 while a new California law would require…

(The Information) Seat belts protect children in cars. Safety standards protect children from faulty or dangerous toys. All these are the result of regulatory mandates. And yet for far too long, social media companies have been allowed to develop addictive design features such as endless scroll, autoplay and push alerts that keep kids and teens…

(Inside Climate News) Over the past dozen years, hundreds of alleged human rights abuses have been committed by over 90 corporations mining minerals critical to the production of clean energy, a U.K.-based human rights organization said in a report released on Wednesday.  The Business and Human Rights Resource Center said the alleged abuses involve global…

(Axios) Over the past three years, a group of investors has quietly donated $10 million to enable nine historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to invest in their venture capital firms. Why it matters: The Historic Fund is a unique effort to provide access to — and potential financial returns from — venture capital to HBCUs…

(Yahoo) A Kenyan court on Friday ordered the suspension of the mass sacking of scores of content moderators by a subcontractor for Facebook’s parent company Meta and directed the social media giant to provide counselling to the employees. A total of 184 moderators employed in Nairobi by Sama, an outsourcing firm for Meta, filed a…

(AP News) Racial bias built into a common medical test for lung function is likely leading to fewer Black patients getting care for breathing problems, a study published Thursday suggests. As many as 40% more Black male patients in the study might have been diagnosed with breathing problems if current diagnosis-assisting computer software was changed,…

(TechCrunch) Some high-profile venture capital and private equity firms are slashing the valuation of their holdings, causing billions in apparent profits to evaporate as the economic downturn undermines the sustained growth of the last 13 years. The California Pension System, the largest pension system in the U.S. whose investments are sprinkled across the globe, injected $368.8…

(Washington Post) Federal regulators on Wednesday announced Amazon would pay $25 million to settle allegations that its voice assistant Alexa violated a federal law protecting children’s privacy — a sign of Washington’s mounting scrutiny of the e-commerce giant’s sprawling businesses. Regulators said Wednesday that Amazon failed to delete children’s recordings and location information, in some…

(VCJ) Linking impact or ESG to financial incentives was a big topic at the Impact Investor Global Summit; it is an ‘imperative for the industry’ that requires investors and managers to adopt an experimental mindset. Read more here.