Tech Roundup: Apple Dutch Fines, Instagram Minimum Daily Time Limits & More

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

• Meta drops out of the top 10 most valuable companies globally, dropping five places since September 2021 as its market value declined by US$ 513 billion to US$ 565 billion.
• Apple gets fined another €5 million over its plans for alternative payments in dating apps, reaching a total fine of €25 million, as Dutch regulators say Apple has "refused to put forward any serious proposals"; says "Apple's so-called 'solutions' continue to create too many barriers for dating-app providers that wish to use their own payment systems."
• Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) is expected to rule on the legality of E.U.-U.S. data transfers called standard contractual clauses (SCCs), used by companies like Meta, Google, and other tech giants to legally transfer swathes of user data to the U.S. for processing.
• Snapchat to allows users to share their real-time location between mutual friends that can be enabled for 15 minutes or a few hours with individual users. (The feature is turned off by default.)
• Meta's photo-sharing app Instagram quietly removes the ability for mobile users to set a lower daily time limit reminder than 30 minutes.
• Previously the company supported a user-defined limit for Instagram that could be as low as five minutes per day, but clearly the digital well-being feature is at odds with its growth, costing it in terms of the attention users devote to eyeballing content feeds on the social network where it can cash in by targeting them with ads.
• The change is yet another signal that Instagram may be more concerned that users aren't spending enough time on the platform rather than making sure their time is being spent well.
• China's National Development and Reform Commission orders online food-delivery platforms in the country to reduce the fees they charge businesses, sending shares of industry giant Meituan tumbling by 15%.
• Universal Music Group partners with NFT marketplace Curio to develop and sell NFT collectibles for its record labels and artists starting in March.