Tech Roundup: Apple iOS 15.4, Brave's Unlinkable Bouncing & More

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

• Apple courts fresh trouble after a group of U.K. network operators, including EE, Virgin Media O2, Three and Vodafone, formally urge the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to regulate iCloud Private Relay, calling it anti-competitive and a threat to national security since it "impairs the insights available under the Government's investigatory powers, with implication for law enforcement" with regards to "terrorism, serious organized crime, child sexual abuse, and exploitation."
• The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) pledges to deepen efforts to monitor, review and clean up online content in the world's biggest internet market in 2022, as it continues to push for curbs against the "chaos" of celebrity fan culture, fake news and other issues online.
• Controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI says that Ukraine has started using its service for free to identify Russian troops, combat misinformation, and identify the dead.
• Meta's Instagram lets Live creators appoint moderators during streams, giving the "Live Moderators" the power to report comments, remove viewers from the stream, as well as turn off comments for a specific viewer.
• Beijing-based mobile transportation company DiDi Chuxing's apps continue to be suspended after the CAC finds it proposal to prevent security and data leaks insufficient, even as it put plans to list in Hong Kong on hold.
• Popular YouTube alternative Vanced (also a cracked illegal version of the YouTube app) gets discontinued after facing a legal threat from Google, ordering the developers of the Android app to "remove all references to 'YouTube,' change the logo, and remove all links related to YouTube products."
• Privacy-focused Brave browser rolls out new feature that aims to prohibit "bounce tracking" (aka CNAME cloaking), a method used by websites to bypass third-party cookie blocking.
• Apple rolls out macOS 12.3 with Universal Control in beta, over 40 new emoji, a new Siri voice, dynamic head tracking for Spatial Audio in some AirPods; iOS 15.4 with support for unlocking iPhones with a mask on; and watchOS 8.5 with support for Apple TV purchase authorization and irregular heart rhythm notification improvements.
• Meta partially reverses course on a controversial content moderation policy that temporarily allowed users in Eastern European countries to make violent threats against Russian soldiers, politicians, and military leaders in response to the ongoing invasion of Ukraine; says it's "narrowing the focus to make it explicitly clear in the guidance that it is never to be interpreted as condoning violence against Russians in general [and] permit calls to assassinate a head of state."
• Twitter abandons unpopular feed change that made it harder to access the chronological "latest" timeline in favour of an algorithmic feed, days after it rolled out the feature.
• Global smartwatch shipments grows 24% YoY in 2021, with a record more than 40 million shipments in Q4 2021 and shipments in India surging 274% YoY, driven local brands like Noise.