Tech Roundup: Twitter Fleets Shutdown, WhatsApp Multi-Device Encryption & More

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

• Indian financial regulator, the Reserve Bank of India, indefinitely bars payment processor Mastercard from issuing new debit, credit, or prepaid cards to customers in the South Asian market over noncompliance with local data storage rules; says "the entity has been found to be noncompliant with the directions on Storage of Payment System Data."
• European Central Bank to begin a 24-month-long "investigation phase" that could lead to the creation of a digital euro currency by around 2025; says "a digital euro would complement cash, not replace it."
• Google releases Android 12 Beta 3 with scrolling screenshots, a faster auto-rotate that employs face detection to determine the phone's orientation, and new toggles that let users turn off the camera or microphone at a system level; adds a new document scanner to Chrome OS Camera app, and to roll out HTTPS-First Mode in Chrome browser — which attempts to upgrade all page loads to HTTPS — starting with Chrome 94 that's slated for release on September 21.
• Twitter announces plans to retire its Stories-like Fleets on August 3, less than a year after debuting the feature in November 2020, citing low adoption among users; reveals that governments made 361 demands to remove content from 199 verified accounts of journalists and news outlets, and that it removed 3.8 million tweets for violating its rules in the second half of 2020.
• Facebook-owned WhatsApp trials new feature that adds support for multiple devices without the need for an active phone connection; unveils new program to pay US$ 1 billion to creators through the end of 2022 in an effort to incentivise influencers for creating and posting original content onto its platforms, as the arms race to court online content creators creates a three-way battle between Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.

• Rivals Alibaba and Tencent are reportedly considering moves to gradually open up their services to one another, as China's tech crackdown makes it harder for the two online giants to enforce exclusivity clauses and maintain virtual barriers they have erected in recent years. (Alibaba has largely been barred from WeChat's ecosystem, effectively preventing WeChat Pay users from paying for purchases on Taobao and Tmall, as well as share links of Alibaba merchants on WeChat, enabling the rapid expansion of e-commerce sites Pinduoduo and Meituan.)
• ByteDance-owned TikTok surpasses three billion installs globally on Android and iOS, making it the first non-Facebook app to achieve the milestone.
• Retail and entertainment behemoth Amazon launches its Kindle Vella serialized story service on iOS and web, which lets users unlock episodic, self-published stories via in-app purchases; reportedly considered building an Alexa-powered, GPS-enabled wearable device for kids aged 4-12 (codenamed "Seeker") as part of its 2020 product roadmap with the goal of delivering exclusive Amazon Kids Plus content
• Audio-only social platform Clubhouse debuts Backchannel, a direct message feature with support for group texts and audio chat, with the ability to send images or video to be added later, as it slowly ventures beyond its audio roots.
• Microsoft to launch Windows 365 on August 2, permitting businesses access Cloud PCs from anywhere by streaming a version of Windows 10 or 11 in a web browser or through its Remote Desktop app.
• Global PC shipments for Q2 2021 hits 71.62 million, up 4.6% YoY, following Q1's record 35.7% YoY growth; Lenovo holds 24.1% marketshare, followed by HP (20%), Dell (17.1%), and Apple (8.5%).
• Digital payments solution Square acquires Crew, maker of a messaging service for retail and other in-person workers, for an undisclosed sum to bolster the company's workforce management products.