Tech Roundup: Opera Paste Protection, OSOM OV1 Phone & More

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

• Opera web browser begins testing a new feature called Paste Protection that aims to prevent clipboard hijacking and snooping.
• Auto maker Tesla agrees to release a software update that blocks its Passenger Play gaming feature that allows drivers and passengers to play video games on the dashboard screens while vehicle are in motion.
• The Netherlands antitrust regulator, the Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM), orders Apple to let dating apps in the App Store offer alternative payment systems by January 15 or face up to a €50 million fine, in a move that aims to significantly loosen the iPhone maker's grip over one of its most important lines of business and fundamentally change how iPhone and iPad users get and pay for their apps; decision doesn't apply to other app categories, like games or productivity apps, in the country.
• Popular messaging app Telegram becomes the latest platform to add support for iMessage-like reactions to messages.
• Chinese app stores featured 2.78 million total apps by October 2021, down from 4.52 million at the end of 2018, a 38.5% drop amid the government's new data laws and clean-up campaigns.

• TikTok faces new lawsuit filed by a former content moderator working for the platform, alleging that parent company ByteDance provides inadequate safeguards to protect moderators’ mental health against a near-constant onslaught of traumatic footage.
• Russian court fines Google US$ 98 million and Meta US$ 27 million for repeated failure to delete 2,600 and 2,000 pieces of content respectively it deems illegal, as the government steps up efforts to exert tighter control over the internet.
• OSOM, a privacy-centric smartphone company founded by ex-Essential employees (the smartphone company started by Andy Rubin in 2017 and closed shop in February 2020), teases OV1, the company's first handset slated for launch in summer 2022.
• Douyin, TikTok's sister app in China, says it penalised 917,000 content creators and blacklisted 11,000 online merchants in 2021; intercepts 91 million product releases in 2021 and paid more than 180 million yuan (US$ 28.2 million) towards after-sales disputes and consumer rights claims.