Tech Roundup: Meta Move Social To-Do Lists, TikTok SoundOn & More

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

• Twitter launches a Tor onion service based on a version of the Enterprise Onion Toolkit, allowing users to access Twitter via any Tor-compatible browser; introduces a new tool called the "Creator Dashboard," which enables creators to analyse payouts from monetisation features, such as Super Follows and Ticketed Spaces.
• Meta-owned Facebook adds the ability for group administrators to automatically block incoming posts flagged as false by third party fact-checkers before they're shared to the group in a bid to tackle misinformation on the platform, as WhatApp trials restricting the forwarding of all messages to just one group chat.
• The U.K. government expands the Online Safety Bill to compel social media services and search engines to restrict fraudulent ads, including "catfishing" scams.
• Apple debuts two shades of green and alpine green for the iPhone 13 lineup at its Peek Performance event, unveils third-generation iPhone SE with 5G (US$ 429), a refreshed iPad Air with an M1 chip (US$ 599), and a new Mac Studio desktop computer that comes with M1 Ultra chip (which comes with 114 billion transistors, 128GB of unified memory, 16 performance cores and four efficiency cores) and is designed to be paired with a Studio Display 5K external monitor (US$ 1,599); discontinues 27-inch iMac.
• Google acquires cybersecurity company Mandiant in an all-cash deal valued at US$ 5.4 billion with plans to integrate it into its cloud computing division, making it the second largest purchase by the company after its takeover of Motorola for US$ 12.5 billion in August 2011.
• Meta-owned Instagram to begin downranking posts from Russian state-affiliated media, add warnings against spreading content that's "partially or wholly under the editorial control of the Russian government" and hide follower counts for private Ukraine and Russian accounts.
• Meta's internal R&D group known as New Product Experimentation (NPE) Team launches a new social app, Move, to manage both personal and group to-do lists.
• Amazon takes on Clubhouse, Spotify's Greenroom and Twitter Spaces with Amp, a mobile app that lets users host live radio shows and play tracks licensed to Amazon Music; stops letting customers in Russia and Belarus open AWS accounts amid ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.
• Google says it's working on a tool that allows users "archive" certain apps to help free up space on Android devices; says it will permit "users to reclaim ~60% of app storage temporarily by removing parts of the app rather than uninstalling it completely".
• Dating platform Bumble and freelance marketplace Upwork exit Russia; Sony suspends PlayStation store and console sales; Amazon halts shipments of retail products in Russia and Belarus, as well as block access to Prime Video, joining a chorus of companies self-sanctioning the country as the war in Ukraine continues.
• Newsletter platform Substack launches a dedicated iOS app for crafting, searching and reading newsletters alongside a waiting list for the soon-to-be-released app for Android; adds new feature that enables users to pause email delivery to read only in the app.
• Twitter tests new accessibility feature that labels images with alt text with an "alt" badge to show an image's description by clicking on it; expands its e-commerce offering, Twitter Shops, to allow sellers to link a virtual storefront to their profiles and list up to 50 products.
• TikTok takes on YouTube by launching music distribution platform SoundOn in the U.S., the U.K., Brazil and Indonesia, letting artists upload music to TikTok, Resso, Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora, Deezer and Tencent's Joox.
• Italy's data protection agency, the Garante, announces a €20 million penalty against controversial facial recognition company Clearview AI for breaches of E.U. law, ordering the U.S. firm to delete any facial data that it may have of its citizens and stop further processing of such information; says "the personal data held by the company, including biometric and geolocation data, are processed illegally, without an adequate legal basis."
• Online dating service Tinder begins letting U.S. users access background checks via Garbo to screen matches for past violence and abuse; to cost US$ 2.50 per search after first two free searches.
• Uber debuts new bill splitting feature in its Eats food delivery service, allowing users to split the costs for group orders.
• Privacy-oriented messaging app Signal channels rivals like Snapchat and Meta (and also YouTube, Venmo, Netflix, and Spotify) with its own take of the self-deleting story format.
• Fitness and weight loss service Weight Watchers agrees to pay a US$ 1.5 million penalty for illegally collecting personal information from kids without parental consent through its Kurbo app.