Tech Roundup: Facebook Fact Check, YouTube Monetisation & More

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

• Major U.S. carriers distance themselves from location aggregators LocationSmart and Zumigo after reports emerged that service meant to monitor prison inmates' calls could be used to track users from their cell phones, triggering widespread privacy concerns.
• Privacy concerns mount after it is revealed that Amazon is selling police departments in the U.S. facial recognition software (called Rekognition) that allows them to scan mug shot photos against real-time footage; city of Orlando's police department ends its test of the program following outcry.
• U.S.-based movie subscription service MoviePass to add surge pricing in the coming weeks.
• Facebook expands fact checking to 14 countries across the world; adopts machine learning to fight fake news on the platform.
• Twitter acquires anti-abuse technology provider Smyte.
• Microsoft takes on Google Lens with improved Bing Visual Search.
• Google announces improved Google Account settings page that puts privacy front and centre.
• YouTube announces new monetisation options for content creators; begins rolling out paid memberships (thats gives members access to exclusive perks like limited livestreams, shoutouts etc.), options to sell branded merchandise, and enable channel owners to upload pre-recorded moment as a live moment (called Premieres).
• Facebook crosses US$ 200 a share for the first time; exploring ad-free subscription options to determine it would spur more people to join the platform, according to Bloomberg.
• Facebook prototypes new feature to show how much time users waste browsing it how users are spending time on the social network in its first step towards digital wellness.
• Google Assistant gets personal previews to consolidate all the stuff you care about (stocks, ETA to home or work, upcoming reservations, things to do, purchases etc.) in one place. (For a bit of context, personal previews were available with Google Now, but was removed in favour of a newsy Google Feed last year.)
• Google Chrome on Android now allows users to cache articles on Wi-Fi for offline reading.
• Opera releases a new mobile web browser called Opera Touch (available only for Android) that's optimised for one-handed use.