Tech Roundup: Apple App Store Reversal, China's Algorithm Regulations & More

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

• Apple to begin allowing developers to directly contact their customers, with permission, using information collected inside their apps, and inform them about alternative payment methods outside iOS, marking a reversal to its anti-steering policy (or perhaps not); rolls out new App Store rules that enables news publishers who participate in Apple News to qualify for a reduced Apple's cut of first-year in-app subscriptions from 30% to 15%, and announces plans to publish an annual transparency report about the App Store, with "meaningful statistics about the app review process, including the number of apps rejected for different reasons, the number of customer and developer accounts deactivated, objective data regarding search queries and results, and the number of apps removed from the App Store."
• However, it's worth noting that the new policy doesn't let developers advertise outside pricing or payment methods within apps themselves. The developments come in the aftermath of increasing scrutiny and criticism from app developers, competitors and regulators, with U.S. lawmakers debating new regulations that would target Apple's in-app payment system and require the company to allow app developers to use other payment processors.
• Companies including Fortnite-maker Epic have alleged Apple wields too much control over how users can purchase apps for iOS devices, forcing them to go through the official App Store which charges a 30% commission.
• China surpasses 1 billion internet users for the first time, up 8% from 2020, with internet penetration rising to 71.6% and delivery services jumping to 468 million users, as the country's government plans to implement regulations that would ban companies with large amounts of sensitive consumer data from going public in the U.S. and to control the recommendation algorithms tech companies use, forbidding practices that "encourage addiction or high consumption" as well as any activities that endanger national security or disrupt social and economic order, or be used to "set up fake accounts or falsely influence rankings and search results to benefit the provider, influence online discourse or avoid regulatory oversight," continuing its crackdown on internet services.

• The Tagansky District Court of Moscow fines WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter for flouting the country's 2015 data-localisation law that mandates storing the data of Russian users inside its borders, which has since been complied by the likes of Apple, Microsoft, LG, Samsung, PayPal, and Booking.
• Google's YouTube officially implements picture-in-picture functionality on its iOS app, starting with a testing window for Premium subscribers through October 31; confirms it's pulling the plug on Streams, a clinician support app available in the U.K., continuing the company's penchant to kill off products in quick succession.
• Twitter updates its live audio feature, Spaces, with support for ticketed events, enabling users on iOS to purchase tickets to Spaces hosted by people with access to the feature for anywhere between US$ 1 and US$ 999 for ticketed rooms.
• Video streaming service Netflix takes first stab at mobile gaming as it trials the feature inside its Android app for paying subscribers in Poland, with options to try out two games Stranger Things: 1984 and Stranger Things 3.
• Snap updates Snapchat's Scan feature, turning it into a visual search engine that identifies things in the real world, as it takes on Pinterest and Google.
• Retail giant Amazon jumps on the "buy now, pay later" bandwagon as part of new partnership with Affirm to roll out monthly installments for purchases over $50 to select U.S. customers.
• Alphabet's self-driving unit Waymo ends a two-year effort to sell light detection and ranging (lidar) sensors to other companies in the wake of an executive shakeup at the company after failing to generate significant revenue for over a decade.
• Verizon Media-owned Yahoo! shuts down its news websites in India, including Yahoo News, Yahoo Cricket, Finance, Entertainment and MAKERS India, following new foreign direct investment (FDI) regulations that prohibit foreign funding of more than 26% in digital news media outlets.