Technology

The last episode of the first season of Disney‘The Mandalorian& is available to stream on Disney+ today, and showrunner Jon Favreau wasted very little time confirming when we can expect season 2 of the smash hit to land: next fall.

Favreau tweeted the anticipated timeline for the sophomore series of &The Mandalorian& on Friday, accompanied by an image of a statuette of a Gamorrean, a type of alien from the Star Wars universe with a distinctly hog-like appearance. The Gamorreanmost noteworthy appearance in the Star Wars cinematic universe to date is probably in &The Empire Strikes Back,& when they served as guards for crime lord Jabba the Hutt on Tatootine.

We already knew &The Mandalorian& would be returning for a second season, after Favreau revealed in November that he&d begun filming on the second installment of episodes. But now we have a better idea of exactly how long we&ll have to wait to find out what happens next in the streaming original, which is arguably the best new Star Wars universe content since the original series of films (yes, I really believe that).

If you haven&t yet seen the show, all eight episodes are now available to stream on Disney+, and itdefinitely worth the price of admission for one month of the service just to binge the series.

Ever since the run up to the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election (and, arguably, well before that), political ads have become a major sticking point on social media sites looking to crack down on misinformation. Facebook has grappled with the issue to the satisfaction of virtually no one, while Twitter has shut them down altogether.

Ad Age noted this week that Spotify is going to follow in the footsteps of the latter — for the time being. The worldpremier music streaming service is pumping the breaks on political ads amid the 2020 presidential race.

The company confirmed the (in)decision in a statement provided to TechCrunch:

Beginning in early 2020, Spotify will pause the selling of political advertising. This will include political advertising content in our ad-supported tier and in Spotify original and exclusive podcasts. At this point in time, we do not yet have the necessary level of robustness in our processes, systems and tools to responsibly validate and review this content. We will reassess this decision as we continue to evolve our capabilities.

Therecertainly something to be said for knowing onelimitations. And because so much of the companyrevenue derives from ads run on its free offering, Spotify should be commended for opting to pull the plug on a solid revenue stream as the campaign is entering the primary season. Spotify wouldn&t comment on how much money is being left on the table, but as Ad Age notes, political organizations ranging from the Bernie Sanders campaign to the RNC use the platform to get the word out.

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunchroundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you&d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

1. Remembering the startups we lost in 2019

This yearbatch doesn&t include any story quite as spectacular as last yearbig Theranos flameout, which gave us a best-selling book, documentary, podcast series and upcoming Adam McKay/Jennifer Lawrence film. Some, like MoviePass, however, may have come close.

And for every Theranos, there are dozens of stories of hardworking founders with promising products that simply couldn&t make it to the finish line.

2. Huawei reportedly got by with a lot of help from the Chinese government

For those following Huaweisubstantial rise over the past several years, it&ll come as no surprise that the Chinese government played an important role in fostering the hardware maker. Even so, the actual numbers behind the ascent are still a bit jaw-dropping — at least according to a piece published by The Wall Street Journal.

3. Russia starts testing its own internal internet

Russia has begun testing a national internet system that would function as an alternative to the broader web, according to local news reports. Exactly what stage the country has reached is unclear, however.

4. Fintechnext decade will look radically different

Nik Milanovic argues that in the next 10 years, fintech will become portable and ubiquitous, as it both moves into the background and creates a centralized place where our money is managed for us.

5. Wikimedia Foundation expresses deep concerns about Indiaproposed intermediary liability rules

Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit group that operates Wikipedia, is urging the Indian government to rethink proposed changes to the nationintermediary liability rules. Under the proposal, the Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT requires &intermediary& apps — a category that includes any service with more than 5 million users — to set up a local office and have a senior executive in the nation who can be held responsible for any legal issues.

6. The FAA proposes remote ID technology for drones

According to the FAA, the &next exciting step in safe drone integration& aims to offer a kind of license plate analog to identify the approximately 1.5 million drones currently registered with the governmental body.

7. The year of the gig worker uprising

2019 was a momentous year for gig workers. While the likes of Uber, Lyft, Instacart and DoorDash rely on these workers for their respective core services, the pay does not match how much those workers are worth — which is a lot. Itthis issue that lies at the root of gig workers& demands. (Extra Crunch membership required.)