Tech Roundup: Facebook Australia News Blackout, Trello Overhaul & More

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

• Facebook to no longer allow Australian users to view or share news articles, opting to cut the country off entirely rather than pay its publishers for news content (interestingly, international publishers will no longer be able to reach Australian users on Facebook, and international users will not be able to view or share Australian news content on the platform); shelves plans to launch Facebook News as the government prepares to pass a law that would require companies like Facebook and Google to pay news publishers to carry their stories.
• The nuclear response is likely to have the benefit of users visiting websites directly — at the cost of pushing lower-quality content on Facebook — but the company's decision to ban Australian news stories from its service stands in stark contrast to Google, which announced a multi-year global revenue-sharing agreement with News Corp — which owns The Wall Street Journal, The Australian and others — so it can continue displaying news story links from the company on its services.
• Exactly how Facebook will define news and how it will enforce the ban remains unclear, but the social media giant intends to use "a combination of technologies to restrict news content" and will establish "processes to review any content that was inadvertently removed."
• The company also noted its platforms have a "fundamentally different relationships with news" unlike Google Search and that "publishers willingly choose to post news on Facebook, as it allows them to sell more subscriptions, grow their audiences and increase advertising revenue." Indeed, removing links to news stories from Google would break the search engine, opening it up to rivals. So, it's easy to see why Google caved in.
• Australia's News Media Bargaining Code — which is expected to pass the Senate and become law as early as next week — threatens to splinter the internet by leaving out small publishers that are more likely to be at the mercy of the Facebook-Google duopoly to reach audiences via referral traffic (and thus favouring the large traditional media companies), with the episode potentially becoming a misguided template for other countries looking to reset the balance of power between platforms and governments who seem to be ill-equipped to regulate Big Tech.
• Under the code, Australia will require Facebook and Google (Why don't Twitter or LinkedIn have to pay too?) to negotiate for fees with publishers. If the platforms and media companies cannot agree on a price, the case is settled via binding arbitration.
• While there's no doubting that high-quality news sources make Facebook and Google a lot more useful to surface trusted information, it doesn't take away the fact that flawed regulation aimed at reducing the power of the tech giants will only have the contrary effect of entrenching their market power even further, not to mention the "news link tax" is nothing but an attack on the internet that goes against the principles of open web.

• Atlassian updates Trello with a visual overhaul, new card customization, and five new board views, as the project management platform surpasses 50 million active users.
• Popular password manager LastPass revises its pricing structure by limiting free tier usage to either mobile or computers (but not both) for syncing passwords starting March 16 (unlimited device access across the two categories will require LastPass Premium or Families, which costs between US$ 36 and US$ 48 a year); to restrict email support to paid plans starting May 17.
• Amazon partners with Foxconn to establish its first device manufacturing line in India to make Fire TV sticks locally starting later this year.
• Microsoft begins testing a Kids Mode for Edge browser, with Bing SafeSearch on and tracking prevention set to strict by default, among other safety features aimed at a child-friendly browsing experience; releases a unified Office mobile app, which combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint into a single application, for iPad.
• ByteDance-owned TikTok faces a volley of complaints in the E.U. from consumer protection watchdog European Consumer Organisation (BEUC) over "misleading" privacy practices and "ambiguous" terms; alleges the app deploys "hidden advertising", where users are "triggered to participate in branded hashtag challenges where they are encouraged to create content of specific products."
• Consumer group Which? uncovers as many as 10 websites that were found peddling fake reviews "in bulk" for products sold on Amazon's Marketplace from £5 each and incentivising positive reviews in exchange for payment or free products.

• Google rolls out new feature in Maps that lets users buy public transit passes and pay for parking spots directly from within the app across 400 U.S. cities; adds a built-in screen recorder feature to Chrome OS and debuts new Classroom features with better offline support, Google Meet integration, and catch potential plagiarism as it officially rebrands G Suite for Edution as Workspace for Education.
• Twitter begibs testing voice memos in direct messages (which can be up to 140 seconds long) for users in India, Brazil and Japan.
• Epic Games files fresh antitrust case against Apple in the European Union for what it says is a "fairer digital platform practices for developers and consumers" alleging that "through a series of carefully designed anti-competitive restrictions, Apple has not just harmed but completely eliminated competition in app distribution and payment processes;" claims "Apple uses its control of the iOS ecosystem to benefit itself while blocking competitors and its conduct is an abuse of a dominant position and in breach of EU competition law."
• Amazon comes under spotlight over concerns that it has been giving preferential treatment to a small group of sellers on its India platform, publicly misrepresented its ties with the sellers and used them to circumvent foreign investment rules; retail giant says "the reporting appears based on unsubstantiated, incomplete, and/or factually incorrect information, likely supplied (maliciously) with the intention of creating sensation and discrediting Amazon."
• The U.S. state of North Dakota blocks bill that would have exempted developers from using digital app distribution platforms such as Apple App Store or Google Play Store and their own payment systems as the exclusive mode of distributing apps.