Tech Roundup: Google Pay Personalisation, Instagram Lite & More

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

• Russia begins slowing down Twitter in retalation for failing to remove over 3,000 posts containing "illegal content" such as child pornography, information about drug abuse and calls for minors to commit suicide, leading to an accidental throttling of links shared using the company's link-shortening service t.co; threatens with a total block if Twitter ignores deletion requests.
• Netflix begins running a test cracking down on password sharing for both business and security reasons with a new alert "If you don't live with the owner of this account, you need your own account to keep watching," prompting select users to enter a code sent via email or phone number associated with the account to verify the account holder's identity.
• Google rolls out new preview web page in Chrome browser app for Android, allowing users to quickly preview links in a separate tab without having to leave the current page and open the full website; to let users add missing roads and realign, rename, or delete incorrect ones in Maps simply by "drawing" on them using a desktop editing tool.
• Apple updates its privacy website with a new "Labels" section that brings privacy labels for all of Apple's apps together in one place, making it easier for users to learn about how Apple apps handle their personal data.
• Spain's Ministry of Labor and Social Economy reaches an agreement with trade unions and business associations over labour reforms that reclassify delivery couriers as employees.
• Facebook makes in-stream ads available on one-minute videos, letting creators plug ads that look similar to stickers into their Stories and receive a cut of the resulting revenue; brings back Instagram Lite for Android that takes up just 2MB of storage space to over 170 countries, as Facebook Lite surpasses 200 million monthly active users.
• Microsoft officially sunsets non-Chromium based Edge browser almost after six years of release, with a planned software update next month on April 13 set to automatically remove the legacy browser from installed Windows systems and replace it with the new Microsoft Edge variant.

• Google-owned YouTube tops 120 million connected users (i.e. streaming YouTube and YouTube TV on their TVs) in the U.S.; says it has taken down 30,000 videos that made false or misleading claims about COVID-19 vaccines over the last six months, with more than 800,000 videos containing coronavirus misinformation removed since February 2020.
• Google to start personalising its mobile payments solution Google Pay starting next week, allowing it to tap its users' transaction data for monetisation purposes, alongside giving users an option to opt-in to share their data for a more tailored experience, including receiving "more relevant offers and rewards based on your activity within Google Pay."
• Twitter starts piloting a new feature that displays full-size images instead of cropped previews in users' feeds on iOS and Android by default, in addition to testing a feature that allows individuals to upload 4K-quality images from their iPhone or Android device.
• Taiwan government assures it has enough water to keep its giant tech industry led by semiconductor manufacturers going until late May in the face of an unprecedented drought the nation has faced in 56 years.
• Epic Games sues Google in Australia, arguing the search giant forces developers to use its payments system, expanding on lawsuits in the U.S. and U.K. against Apple and Google.
• ByteDance-owned TikTok rolls out new features aimed at countering bullying by giving users the ability to approve all new comments before they appear and adding in-app prompts to discourage posting inappropriate comments.
• Apple to invest €1 billion in Germany over the next three years as it plans to make Munich its European Silicon Design Center; reportedly cuts orders for all iPhones by about 20%, with iPhone 12 mini production cut by 70% for the first half of 2021.
• Asus unveils ROG Phone 5 Ultimate with 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED screen, 8GB RAM, 256GB storage, 144Hz refresh rate, and a headphone jack for US$ 950.