Tech Roundup: China Data Privacy Law, Tesla Bot & More

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

• China passes new data privacy law, effective November 1, mandating that data collection has a reasonable purpose, user consent, and limited to the "minimum scope necessary to achieve the goals of handling" data, in addition to laying out guidelines for ensuring data protection when data is transferred outside the country; comes amid a broader regulatory tightening on industry from Chinese regulators.
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) recommends an in-depth investigation into Nvidia's planned US$ 40 billion acquisition of Arm, stating there are "serious competition concerns" about the deal; says it's concerned that "the merged business would have the ability and incentive to harm the competitiveness of NVIDIA's rivals by restricting access to Arm’s intellectual property."
• Social audio app Clubhouse resets tens of thousands of its Afghan users' bios and photos, and makes their accounts more difficult to discover in search, joining social platforms like Facebook in taking steps to protect the privacy and safety of its users in Afghanistan in the wake of Taliban's takeover of the country.
• Google to shut down standalone Android Auto for Phone Screens app with Android 12, in favour of Google Assistant driving mode in Google Maps; to make app ratings on the Play Store more personalised by localising by users' country from November 2021 and device type from early 2022.

• Apple launches Siri Speech Study, an iOS app that lets invited participants share their voice requests and other feedback with Apple.
• PayPal launches its cryptocurrency service in the U.K. this week, the product's first international expansion since it debuted in the US in 2020.
• Tesla announces it's working on a 5'8" humanoid robot called "Tesla Bot" that will handle "tasks that are unsafe, repetitive or boring", with a prototype "sometime next year."
• Facebook begins running a test in the U.S. to bring voice and video calling back to the main Facebook app as part an effort to reduce the need to jump between Facebook and Messenger; Instagram to retire its swipe-up link feature, which allows users to visit external links by swiping up, in favour of tappable stickers starting Aug. 30.
• ByteDance-owned TikTok launches Effect Studio, which allows developers to build AR effects for use in the app, in private beta in select markets including the U.S.
• Newsletter publishing platform Substack starts accepting bitcoin as payment for subscriptions, initially to "a select group of crypto-focused publications," using payments processor OpenNode.
• Chinese handset maker Xiaomi confirms its plans to drop "Mi" branding across its products and services; to use "Xiaomi" as its brand name as the company emerges the world's number one smartphone brand in 2021, surpassing Samsung and Apple.