Jose Antonio Lanz / Decrypt:
Anthropic rolls out identity verification that may require Claude users to provide a government-issued photo ID and live selfie to access “certain capabilities”  —  Anthropic quietly published identity verification requirements for Claude this week, asking certain users to hand …

Bloomberg:
A TTP analysis finds dozens of nudify apps in Apple and Google app stores via search, despite company policy prohibiting them; the apps earned $122M+ in revenue  —  Apple Inc. and Google have continued to offer mobile apps that let users make nonconsensual sexualized images of people despite …

Timmy Shen / The Block:
X launches Cashtags, a feature that lets users view real-time financial data on stocks and crypto directly in their timelines, in the US and Canada  —  Quick Take  — Nikita Bier, head of product at X, said the team has launched the “Cashtags” feature, which enables users to browse stock …

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes:
Former Mercor staffers describe “operational mishaps” at the $10B startup, including employee fraud, a security breach, and suspected North Korean infiltration  —  Founded in 2023 by 20-somethings, data labeling startup Mercor exploded to $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate in September.

Sean O'Kane / TechCrunch:
Filings: Caterpillar acquires self-driving electric tractor startup Monarch Tractor's assets, after it raised $200M+ and struggled to pivot to software services  —  Monarch Tractor's assets have been acquired by construction giant Caterpillar, after struggling to pivot to a software services business …