Tech Roundup: Discord's Misinfo Fight Plans, U.K. Tackles Online Trolls & More

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

• Twitter temporarily pauses ads and its recommendations feature in Ukraine and Russia to minimize "risks associated with the conflict" and reduce misinformation amidst Russia's invasion of Ukraine, as the latter urges Apple to stop product sales and block App Store access in Russia. (Russia's telecommunications and internet regulator, for its part, has moved to partially block access to Facebook within the country, accusing the U.S. social media firm of "censoring" state media, including Zvezda, RIA Novosti, Lenta.ru and Gazeta.ru.)
• Twitter rolls out its content warning feature worldwide, allowing users to obscure photos and videos with warnings for nudity, violence and "sensitive" content.
• Discord to enact new guidelines effective March 28 prohibiting "harmful misinformation" that's "likely to cause physical or societal harm," which includes posts with false or misleading health information, such as anti-vaccine content, "medically unsupported" cures for diseases and another that could "hinder the resolution" of a public health crisis.
• The U.K. government proposes new rules to its Online Safety Bill to fight anonymous abusers and trolls; mandates social media sites to introduce identity verification tools and give adult users the "ability to block people who have not verified their identity on a platform" and "provide users with options to opt out of seeing harmful content."
• Global smartphone market revenue crosses US$ 448 billion in 2021, up 7% YoY, with the top five brands – Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, OPPO (which also includes OnePlus as of Q3 2021), and vivo – accounting for more than 85% of the total.
• Users spent US$ 18.3 billion on top 100 non-game subscription-based apps in 2021, up 41% YoY (iOS: US$ 13.5 billion, Android: US$ 4.8 billion), according to new insights from Sensor Tower; top earners include YouTube, Google One, Disney+, Twitch, Tinder, Line, Piccoma and Tencent Video.
• New investigation undertaken by The Markup reveals that third-part app developers are increasingly shifting to a new data-sharing agreement with Belarus to supply user information directly through "server-to-server" transfers that happens outside of the view of Android and iOS app stores after the Google and Apple cracked down stealthy methods that previously enabled the sharing of such data to third-party data brokers through SDKs embedded straight into the apps.