Tech Roundup: E.U. Social Media Pilot, Global Smartphone Shipments & More

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

• China plans to end its regulatory crackdown on the country's Big Tech companies and give internet platforms a bigger role to boost its ailing economy.
• The European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS) launches two social media services EU Voice and EU Video as part of "decentralised, free and open-source social media networks that connect users in a privacy-oriented environment, based on Mastodon and PeerTube software."
• The U.S., all European Union member states, and 32 non-E.U. countries announce a "Declaration for the Future of the Internet" that lays out priorities for an "open, free, global, interoperable, reliable, and secure" internet.
• Apple clarifies its ‌App Store‌ Improvements policies and extends the amount of time it is giving developers to update their affected apps from 30 days to 90 days; says that apps that have not been updated within the past three years and which do not meet a minimum threshold for downloads ("not been downloaded at all or extremely few times during a rolling 12 month period") are subject to the policy.
• Global smartphone shipments fall 11% YoY in Q1 2022; Samsung leads with a 23.8% share, a five-year high, followed by Apple (18.2%), Xiaomi (12.4%), Oppo (9.5%), and Vivo (8.1%).
• The U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) seeks comments on competition in the mobile app ecosystem, including Android and iOS app store policies, as the mobile platforms continue to increasingly come under intense scrutiny by governments around the world around app sideloading and interoperability.
• Amazon and third-parties collect data from interactions with Alexa through Echo speakers and share it with as many as 41 partners for ad targeting, according to new research.
• Epic Games, which acquired Bandcamp in March 2022, files a preliminary injunction in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to bar Google from removing its app from the Play Store if it doesn't implement in-app billing requirements by June 1; Google says "Bandcamp is eligible for a service fee of just 10% through Play's Media Experience Program — far less than the fees they charge on their own platforms" or through alternative means, including through other app stores, directly to users via their website or as a consumption-only app as they do on iOS. (It's worth noting that Amazon and Barnes & Noble took the step of removing in-app purchases from their apps earlier this month in response to Google's new rules.)