Tech Roundup: Brave Browser Blunder, Google Currents & More

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

• The European Commission pushes for a new capability to investigate businesses and demand changes even when no competition rules have been broken, in a move directed at stopping companies from abusing their dominance; aims to address concerns related to "creation of powerful market players with an entrenched market or acting as gatekeepers, and markets where companies are unable to enter because of lack of access to data and other barriers, or where consumers are locked in to companies which offer a diverse range of services."
• "Privacy-oriented" web browser Brave passes 15 million monthly active users and 5 million daily active users; says it will introduce a toggle after it draws flak for automatically redirecting search queries for crypto companies such as Binance to affiliate links (using a cross-site tracking technique called link decoration) that give it a commission.
• Google pulls Remove China Apps, which enabled users to detect and rid their smartphones of Chinese apps, from the Play Store for violating Google Play Store's Deceptive Behaviour Policy; comes as the app hits over five million downloads downloads since late May due to a growing anti-China sentiment among many citizens over fresh Indo-China border dispute.
• France and Germany rally behind new proposals to create a cloud computing ecosystem, dubbed Gaia-X, that seeks to reduce Europe's dependence on Silicon Valley giants Amazon, Microsoft and Google, and establish common standards for storing and processing data on servers that are sited locally and comply with the European Union's strict laws on data privacy.
• Pinterest continues to combine visual and e-commerce on its platform; adds a new Shop tab to its Lens visual search results.
• Singapore unveils plans to launch a battery-operated wearable device for novel coronavirus contact tracing that's independent of the smartphone (no GPS, internet, or cellular connectivity) to identify and alert people who have interacted with carriers tested positive for the virus.

• Facebook-owned Instagram says websites and users may be required to seek permission from users who post photos on the platform before embedding their posts, failing which could lead to a copyright lawsuit.
• Popular video calling platform Zoom confirms the app's upcoming end-to-end encryption feature will be available only to paid users; to not extend the feature to free users in order to comply with law enforcement in case of misuse, and to catch repeat offenders for hate speech or child exploitative content.
• Google faces new class action lawsuit that accuses the tech giant of invading the privacy of millions of users without their consent by tracking internet use even when using private browsing mode; alleges the company surreptitiously continues to collect information about users' online habits via Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and website plug-ins to track what people view online and where they browse.
• China's all-in-one app WeChat rolls out its own private credit rating system, called WeChat Pay Score, nationwide, five years after Alibaba's Alipay Sesame Credit was launched in 2015; to factor users' spending habits to assess creditworthiness, with a high score associated with rewards such as coupons and easier access to loans.
• Google+ replacement for workplace, called Currents (not to be confused with Google Currents, a short-lived news app that it shut down in 2013 after it was merged with Google Play Newsstand, which was subsequently discontinued in favour of a refreshed Google News experience in 2018), to officially join the list of G-Suite products effective July 6. (The search giant shut down Google+ for consumers last year following the discovery of a security bug, but stated it would continue operating the platform for enterprise users.)

• Maker of FarmVille game Zynga acquires Peak Games, Istanbul-based creator of Toon Blast and Toy Blast, for US$ 1.8 billion.
• India announces US$ 6.6 billion in incentives to attract investments from global companies, in a bid to make the country a global hub for mobile phone production.
• The Indian government orders internet service providers (ISPs) in the country to block file-sharing website WeTransfer citing "national security" reasons. (The exact motive behind banning the app remains unclear.)
• Facebook rolls out new Manage Activity feature to help users batch-delete old posts and shrink their digital footprint on the social network; makes its photo transfer tool that lets users migrate photos and videos to Google Photos as part of the Data Transfer Project available globally, months after its initial rollout in Europe.
• LGBTQ dating app Grindr to remove ethnicity filter from its apps, coinciding with the start of the Pride month.
• Chinese handset maker Huawei announces new smartphone Honor Play 4 Pro with an IR temperature sensor that's capable of reading surface temperatures between -20°C and 100°C.
• ByteDance shuts down TopBuzz, its AI-based news aggregator and overseas equivalent of its Chinese news app, Jinri Toutiao, after it fails to replicate the blockbuster success of TikTok, one of the world's most downloaded non-game apps since its launch in September 2016.
• Google Pay usage in India surpasses more than 75 million users, putting it ahead of Walmart PhonePe's 60 million users and SoftBank-backed Paytm's 30 million users, as Facebook remains mired in a regulatory maze for WhatsApp Pay's rollout in the country.
• Photo and cloud storage service provider Dropbox trials new password manager app, Dropbox Passwords, for Android, as it attempts to compete with rivals LastPass, Dashlane and 1Password. (With Mozilla debuting Firefox Lockwise and Apple rumoured to be adding two-factor authentication features to iCloud Keychain — which currently operates as a password manager, storing passwords and help autofill them on iOS and macOS — the market for such products has only heated up.)
• Facebook begins labelling posts and pages owned by state-controlled media outlets on the social network as part of larger efforts to fight disinformation during elections.