Tech Roundup: Facebook Messenger's 10th Anniversary, OnlyFans Porn Ban Reversal & More

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

• South Korea to pass new regulation that will require Apple and Google to allow third-party payment methods in their app stores in the country, in addition to letting developers use independent payment systems; Apple says the legislation "will put users who purchase digital goods from other sources at risk of fraud, undermine their privacy protections, make it difficult to manage their purchases."
• London-based online subscription platform OnlyFans suspends its plans to ban sexually explicit content starting October 1, days after the company decried "unfair" treatment by banks, including Bank of New York Mellon, Metro Bank and JPMorgan, adding BNY Mellon specifically had "flagged and rejected" every wire transaction involving OnlyFans, threatening its ability to pay creators, and that "we didn’t make this policy change to make it easier to find investors"; development comes as credit card networks like Mastercard and Visa intensify crack down on the use of their cards to pay for sexual content, ostensibly to cut off platforms that allow child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual pornography.
• ByteDance-owned TikTok partners with e-commerce platform Shopify to launch a pilot program that allows merchants to add a shopping tab to their profiles and link to products in their posts.
• Google's YouTube says it has removed 1 million videos since February 2020 for dangerous COVID-19 misinformation, noting it purges 10 million videos a quarter, most of which have less than 10 views; Groovy Bot, which allows Discord users play music from YouTube videos and other services, to shut down August 30 after YouTube sends a cease-and-desist notice, citing violations of its Terms of Service, including modifying the service and using it for commercial purposes.

• Microsoft to expand its Xbox Cloud Gaming beyond PC and mobile to its Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, and Xbox One consoles later this year; ends support for Android Office apps on Chromebooks.
• Google updates its Meet videoconferencing service to better detect echo — which occurs when system feeds back audio into a call — alerting "you when we detect a notable echo from your system which may be heard by other call participants with a red dot on the more options button, along with a text notification."
• Facebook-owned Instagram to introduce ads on its Shop tab globally, rolling them out in all countries where the feature is available, as the company increasingly pivots toward e-commerce; updates Messenger with tighter Facebook Pay integration, message effects, contact sharing, and support for conducting polls within group chats as the messaging app marks its 10th anniversary.
• Meditation app Headspace unveils plans to merge with Ginger, an on-demand mental health service, in a deal valuing the combined company at US$ 3 billion.
• Wing, the drone delivery company operated by Google-parent Alphabet, racks up 100,000 deliveries, with Logan, Australia, accounting for more than 50,000 of its total deliveries, as its Fitbit subsidiary announces Charge 5 fitness tracker with a rounded design, a larger and brighter colour AMOLED display, GPS, and more, for US$ 179.95.