Tech Roundup: Broadcom's VMware Acquisition, Twitter Privacy Fines & More

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

• Chipmaker Broadcom enters into an agreement to acquire virtualisation services provider VMware for US$ 61 billion in cash and stock, making it one its biggest purchases after buying CA Technologies in 2018 for US$ 18.9 billion and Symantec in 2019 for US$ 10.7 billion. (The deal also would be one of the largest technology acquisitions of all time, behind Microsoft’s pending US$ 68.7 billion deal to purchase Activision Blizzard and Dell's US$ 67 billion purchase of EMC in 2016.)
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) opens fresh investigation into whether Google "illegally favour its own ad exchange services, while taking steps to exclude the services offered by rivals."
• Twitter agrees to pay US$ 150 million to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to settle allegations that it abused information collected for security purposes to serve targeted ads between May 2013 and September 2019.
• Meta Platforms consolidates its privacy policy and terms of service to "make it easier to understand and clearer about how we use your information" and "better explain what is expected from us and those who use our platforms"; to go into effect starting July 26, 2022.
• The U.S. state of California passes new bill that could hold social media companies responsible for harming children who become addicted to their platforms, allowing parents to sue social-media platforms for up to $25,000 per violation on behalf of children.
• Google to roll out new Google Docs feature that allows users to "make multiple text selections at once, and apply actions such as delete, copy, paste, or format to all selections"; brings ads to YouTube Shorts globally.
• Facebook parent company Meta accuses Apple of harming competition in the mobile app marketplace through restrictions on iOS software surrounding game streaming and restrictions on third-party web browsers; comes as Epic Games challenges Apple’s position that third-party app stores would compromise the iPhone's security, stating that macOS allows sideloading and that it "relies on security measures imposed by the operating system rather than the app store."
• Swiss-based ProtonMail unifies encrypted mail, calendar, VPN, and storage services under a new centralised "Proton" brand; bumps storage limit to 1GB and adds access to a basic version of its VPN and Calendar tools.
• Apple stops accepting debit and credit cards as a payment method for apps and recurring subscriptions on its App Store in India, citing new anti-fraud regulations surrounding auto-debits that require banks to send a pre-debit notification 24 hours before the automatic payment is processed. (On a related note, companies operating in India have also been mandated to purge payment information stored in their platforms and apps effective July 1, 2022.)
• New investigation by The Markup reveals that Apple, Meta, Amazon, Google, and Microsoft have launched a coordinated campaign in 31 states in the U.S. against data privacy legislation since 2021.
• Dell reports Q1 2022 revenue of US$ 26.1 billion, up 16% YoY, commercial PC revenue up 22% YoY to US$ 12 billion, and net income up 62% YoY to US$ 1.07 billion.