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Hello and welcome to Daily Crunch for Friday, March 25, 2022! This is one of the last Daily Crunch intros that I will write for you. I will miss our daily chats and hellos. But there’s no time on a Friday for relaxing. We have work to do! Let’s go! - Alex

The TechCrunch Top 3

• EU, US come to tentative data deal: If you aren’t following Natasha Lomas, our ace reporter on all things regulatory and privacy-related when it comes to the technology world, it’s past time you did so. Lomas reports that the EU and the United States have reached “an agreement in principle ... on a revived trans-Atlantic data flows deal,” possibly ending a lengthy period of uncertainty regarding moving bits across the Atlantic.

• And speaking of huge regulatory changes: The EU made news again today for securing agreements for what we called “major competition reform” in the area. On the docket are things like forced messaging interoperability. Which means that the days of closed iMessage could be heading for their end? It’s not clear what impact the rule changes will have in the United States, but big things are brewing across the pond.

• Instacart looks to make its equity more competitive: There’s nuance to the mechanics at play, but after raising at an equity valuation of nearly $40 billion last year, Instacart has repriced the value of its equity for purposes of employee compensation. To a much lower price. TechCrunch was curious if we’re seeing the start of a trend for the year, as other unicorns might choose to make a similar move to ensure their ability to hire.

Startups and VC

The creator economy is :chart-up-and-to-the-right: like there’s no tomorrow, and everybody wants a slice of the action. Marketing automation stalwart HubSpot launched a new podcasting program aimed at advanced marketers looking to up their content production game, including paying the creators for their following, depending on the number of content consumers. Of course, the creator economy has a downside, too; content moderation continues to be a challenge, and a couple of ex-TikTok moderators are trying to scrape together enough support to put together a class-action lawsuit against the social media belle de jour for the psychological trauma they claim they experienced in the course of their roles as moderators.