Tech Roundup: Instagram Outage Alerts, Twitter's Ad Push & More

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

• Facebook to stop linking Facebook and Instagram accounts behind the scenes for advertising purposes due to privacy and regulatory changes; says "if someone does not have their Facebook and Instagram accounts linked in Accounts Center, we will consider those accounts as separate people for ads planning and measurement."
• Google's Cloud division launches a new (and free) feature that will provide its users with custom carbon footprint reports that detail the carbon emissions their cloud usage generates.
• Twitter now lets web users remove followers without having to block them, after testing the option for over a month; tests a new ad format in tweet conversations by showing ads after the first, third or eighth reply under a Tweet.
• Retail and entertainment giant Amazon allegedly used its search system and collect private data about sales to gain an edge over third-party sellers in India in what's being described as a "systematic campaign of creating knockoff goods and manipulating search results to boost its own product lines."
• Facebook adds an Audio hub to its app in the U.S., featuring podcasts, Live Audio Rooms, and short-form audio, and rolls out Live Audio Rooms globally; acquires AI.Reverie, a provider of synthetic data comprising annotated images and videos to train machine learning algorithms across domains, and tests new in-app Activity Feed notifications in Instagram that will alert users of service outages and technical issues.
• Google announces plans to drop Material Design components on iOS in favour of Apple's UIKit; company's Waze subsidiary announces a "Drive with Headspace" feature, letting users choose from five "moods" and an accompanying custom Spotify playlist with content from Headspace.

• Password manager 1Password makes it easier to share passwords with others via Psst!, a new link sharing feature akin to Google Docs, allowing users to create a link to share password credentials and set an expiry time (when the first person views it, or at one hour, one day, one week, 14 days, or 30 days), and share the password with specific people (via their emails) or for anyone with the link.
• U.S. cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase joins the non-fungible token (NFT) arms race; to let users buy, sell, and showcase Ethereum-based NFTs by the end of the year.
• Online food ordering and delivery service DoorDash introduces an ad platform, letting restaurants buy ads atop search results through a bidding system.
• Graphic design platform Canva announces Canva Video, a suite of video editing tools now part of its free tier.
• Apple warns against European Commission's proposed Digital Markets Act allowing apps to be sideloaded from outside iOS App Store, stating that "mobile malware and the resulting security and privacy threats are increasingly common and predominantly present on platforms that allow sideloading" and pointing out that sideloading is the reason why "Android smartphones are the most common mobile malware targets and have recently had between 15 and 47 times more infections from malicious software than iPhone."
• ByteDance-owned TikTok now lets Live creators mute specific viewers for up to an entire livestream, and says it removed over 81 million videos that violated its terms of service in Q2, 2021.
• Facebook tests new features in Instagram that allows Live creators to schedule and share their events up to 90 days in advance and an option called "Practice Mode" that enables creators to join their guests ahead of the scheduled Live event to test their connection, lighting and manage any other preparations that may be required prior to the show.