Tech Roundup: Facebook Novi, Samsung Money & More

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

• Bluetooth tracking device maker Tile files complaint against Apple in the European Union, accusing the company of anticompetitive behaviour by favouring its own devices via a new location setting introduced in iOS 13 that exempts Apple's own apps such as Find My but prohibits third-party apps from persistently accessing a user's location.
• Apple says "we introduced further privacy protections that safeguard user location data. Tile doesn't like those decisions so instead of arguing the issue on its merits, they've instead decided to launch meritless attacks."
• It's worth noting Apple is about to release a Tile competitor called AirTags that's expected to work in conjunction with the Find My app to locate keys, bags, and other common household items. You can see why that would Tile at a disadvantage, thus violating the very principle of antitrust — the idea that you shouldn't use your dominant position in one market to gain an unfair advantage over competition in another market.
• India's antitrust body, the Competition Commission of India, is looking into allegations that Google is abusing its dominant market position to unfairly promote its mobile payments app in the country, as it competes with Google Pay, Softbank-backed Paytm and Walmart's PhonePe in India's crowded digital payments market, where Facebook's WhatsApp is also planning a similar service. (On a side note, the CCI is also investigating whether Facebook's WhatsApp is taking advantage of its wide user base to offer payment services in the country.)
• The U.S. government announces plans to introduce new regulation to remove or change a provision of a law known as Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act that shields social media companies from liability for content posted by their users and gives them the ability to moderate those platforms "in good faith" and delete illicit content.
• Authorities in the Chinese city of Hangzhou propose new plans to turn its contact-tracing app into a permanent health tracker, deepening fears that surveillance tech introduced to fight COVID-19 will outlast the pandemic; unveils a new health-based monitoring system to permanently track a person's health by combining medical records, physical exam results, and other factors such as eating habits, alcohol intake, cigarette smoking, and amount of sleep to create a healthcare score (on a scale of 0-100) via an app.
• In a separate development, China has begun pushing for a new legislation that enshrines the right to privacy and ensures data collectors protect individuals' personal information and do not obtain, disclose or conduct transactions of such data without consent.
• India open-sources its widely-used coronavirus tracker, Aarogya Setu, after privacy concerns; releases source code of the Android app, with the source code of the iOS version to be released in the coming weeks, as the first App Using Apple and Google's Exposure Notification API, called SwissCovid, launches in Switzerland.
• The release comes as Qatar's mandatory contact tracing app EHTERAZ was revealed to have a security flaw that exposed sensitive personal details of more than one million users, including their names, national ID, health status, and location.
• China's Alibaba-owned Slack-like productivity app, DingTalk, draws criticism for eroding work-life balance with its GPS-based location tracking for showing up at work (provided you're connected to the company Wi-Fi) and read-receipt feature called Ding that lets users to see whether a message has been read by the recipient, and if not, keep sending Ding alerts.
• Apple fixes a security flaw in "Sign In With Apple" that could have allowed attackers hijack any user's accounts on third-party apps that offer the login option.
• WordPress-owned Tumblr adds new feature that allows users pin posts to the top of their blogs.

• Facebook rebrands its in-the-works digital wallet service from Calibra to Novi (inspired by the Latin words "novus" and "via," which mean "new" and "way"); to hand over the development of the Libra-based digital wallet to a newly instituted subsidiary Novi Financial.
• Popular video call service Zoom to roll out stronger encryption features for its paying users, but isn't planning to extend the enhanced security feature to free accounts, reports Reuters.
• Music streaming service Spotify "finally" removes 10,000-song cap, allowing users to add unlimited music to their personal music libraries.
• Facebook's internal R&D team NPE launches CatchUp that lets users make phone calls or set up audio-only group calls with up to eight people without the need for using Facebook accounts; also debuts Collab, a video-focussed app geared towards making original music videos in collaboration with other creators, and Venue, geared towards second-screen experience and engaging users during live events (aka "Venues") hosted by journalists and expert commentators.
• Google's YouTube says it mistakenly deleted comments criticising the Chinese government (containing the phrases "communist bandit" or "50-cent party"), stating the auto-deletions were a result of an error in its automated moderation systems; introduces "chapters" to navigate time-stamped videos (provided in the description) much easier and jump to a specific part of a video without scrubbing.
• A new report from The Wall Street Journal reveals that Facebook was aware that its recommendation engine stoked divisiveness and polarisation, but did little to address the problem over concerns that the changes might disproportionately affect conservatives and hurt engagement.
• "Our algorithms exploit the human brain's attraction to divisiveness. If left unchecked, Facebook would feed users more and more divisive content in an effort to gain user attention & increase time on the platform," an internal presentation slide from 2018 reads. The company has since instituted an Oversight Board to handle decisions on harassment and moderation on the platform.
• WarnerMedia's new online video service, HBO Max, launches in the U.S. for US$ 15 per month, competing with the likes of Netflix, Disney+, Disney's Hulu, NBCUniversal's Peacock, and Apple TV+.
• In a world of seemingly bottomless quantities of streaming content from a mushrooming number of services, the idea, it appears, is less about scoring tentpoles and more about earning the loyalty of audiences.
• Apple acquires Inductiv, an Ontario-based startup which develops AI to automate identifying and correcting errors in data, as part of a broader machine-learning strategy to improve Siri.
• Facebook to start verifying identities of users behind profiles that have a "pattern of inauthentic behaviour" and whose posts "rapidly go viral" in the U.S.

• Google brings Voice integration to Gmail web app on the sidebar, alongside the existing shortcuts to Tasks, Calendar, and Keep, making it possible for users to answer calls, make new outbound calls, and transfer calls; updates Google Maps with a new location sharing feature that lets users share their current location using Plus Codes, an open-sourced digital addressing system.
• Social media platform Twitter rolls out new capabilities to schedule tweets (up to 18 months in advance); allows users to save tweets as a draft or schedule it to send at a specific time –– all from the Tweet composer.
• TikTok's parent company ByteDance reportedly generated US$ 17 billion in revenue and US$ 3 billion in net profit in 2019, more than double its US$ 7.4 billion revenue from 2018, propelled by growth in user traffic that's drawn advertisers away from rivals Baidu and Tencent. (ByteDance's family of apps have drawn over 1.5 billion monthly active users, challenging the global dominance of U.S. internet giants like Facebook.)
• Zynn, a viral TikTok clone from the company behind Kuaishou, the main competitor of TikTok's Chinese version, soars to top of the iOS App Store (and in the top 10 on Google Play Store) in the U.S., surpassing TikTok after it pays users to sign up, watch videos, and convince others to follow suit.
• South Korean chaebol Samsung officially unveils Samsung Money, a debit card powered by So-Fi that's tied to Samsung Pay, allowing users to accrue rewards for every purchase made via the card.
• The strategy, as with Apple Pay and Google's expected debit card, is to offer services as a means to lock users into their ecosystems. It's working incredibly well for Apple, so why not for Samsung?
• Privacy-focused web browser Brave tests Brave Together, a built-in video call solution based on open-source Jitsi video platform, with support for unlimited video calling with an unlimited number of participants.
• Google to change how its algorithms rank websites in search results starting early next year; to factor factor "page experience" into search rankings, listing websites that have poor page experience lower on search results.