Tech Roundup: Facebook Fines, Illinois "Right to Know" Bill & More

[A recurring feature on the latest in Science & Technology.]

• India reports its first ever case of Zika virus outbreak; newly approved experimental Ebola vaccine to be used in Congo after a fresh wave of 52 cases (aside from four deaths) are confirmed.
• Linguistic analysis of WannaCry ransomware that shut down thousands of computers worldwide reveals a possible China link; new legislation in the United States called PATCH Act (aka Protecting Our Ability to Counter Hacking Act) aims to set a legal framework for federal agencies to establish policies on when to disclose software vulnerabilities (as opposed to hoarding them to develop cyberweapons).
• State of Illinois advances a new Right to Know bill that would mandate tech companies (including commercial websites and providers of online services like Google and Facebook) to be more transparent in their data collection practices (and what they share with other third-party services).
• Instagram is the most detrimental social networking app for young people's mental health, followed closely by Snapchat, according to a new report by the Royal Society for Public Health in the U.K.
• Facebook fined US$ 122 million by European Commission for providing misleading information about its acquisition of WhatsApp in 2014 (It had initially stated that it would be unable to match Facebook and WhatsApp users, however as of last August, it began to cross-match users based on phone numbers, triggering an antitrust complaint in the E.U.) and an additional US$ 166,400 by French regulator CNIL for failing to adequately inform users as to how their personal data is used and shared with advertisers; WhatsApp, for its part, is fined US$ 3.3 million by Italian antitrust watchdog for misleading users to agree to sharing their personal data with its parent company Facebook.

YouTube testing new layouts and aggressive YouTube TV full-screen ads

• Catastrophic failure of British airways IT systems causes hundreds of flight cancellations.
• Xiaomi unveils Mi Max 2 (not to be confused with its stunning bezel-less Mi MIX) with a whopping 5,300 mAh battery that lasts up to two days in a single charge for US$ 247.
• Facebook-owned Instagram adds options to hide photos from your profile through a new Archive feature; adds Story search for hash tags and locations.
• Facebook makes it easier for developers to extend Instant Articles with support for Google Accelerated Mobile Pages and Apple News with a new SDK as part of its Journalism Project; seen as a move to increase adoption of Instant Articles as platform wars escalate.
• Microsoft announces new Surface Pro with 13.5 hrs battery life and LTE.
• Social bookmarking network Pinterest adds dish recognition feature (including ingredients) to its visual search. (Google Lens has some competition!)
• Online retailer Amazon takes on indie marketplace Etsy with Handmade at Amazon.
• Japanese electronics giant Sony remains as clueless as ever about its smartphone future; says it plans to kill its awesome midrange smartphones in favour of premium flagships.
• Google brings job listings to search and adds a new Personal tab to deliver personalised search results from Gmail, Calendar and other services; begins tracking users' offline purchases in stores by partnering with data brokers that monitor credit and debit card transactions.