Tech Roundup: Apple Automatic Verification, GitHub Copilot AI & More

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

• Apple adds Automatic Verification option to iOS 16, iPadOS 16, and macOS Ventura using Private Access Tokens, which lets users bypass CAPTCHAs on websites and in apps that support the feature; to also introduce support for the Brand Indicators for Message Identification (BIMI) standard in the Mail app, helping users to easily verify authenticated emails sent by brands by displaying the brand's logo alongside the email's header.
• Dubai-headquartered Telegram surpasses 700 million monthly active users and unveils Telegram Premium, which will let users follow up to 1,000 channels, support faster downloads, create up to 20 chat folders with as many as 200 chats each, add up to four accounts in the app and pin up to 10 chats, and send files up to 4GB for US$ 4.99/month.
• Meta's WhatsApp rolls out new privacy control settings, giving users more control over who can see their Profile Photo, About, Last Seen, and Status.
• Japan passes new legislation making "online insults" punishable by up to a year in prison and fined up to 300,000 yen in an attempt to slow cyberbullying in the country.
• Samsung merges its Pay and Pass apps to create Wallet, letting users organize ID cards, keys, and cryptocurrencies in one place.
• Mozilla Thunderbird, a cross-platform email client, personal information manager, news client, RSS and chat client, takes over K-9 Mail, an open source email app for Android and rebrand it as Thunderbird for Android.
• Facebook parent company Meta updates its Community Feedback Policy in the U.S. to explicitly ban fake and paid reviews on its platforms; prohibits manipulation of reviews, incentivisation, irrelevance, graphic content and spam.
• Microsoft to phase out public access to a number of AI-powered facial analysis software, including controversial tools that it claims can identify a subject’s emotion, gender and age from videos and pictures, as part of its new Responsible AI Standard rules.
• Meta delays plans to take a revenue cut from paid events, fan subs, badges and Bulletin on Facebook and Instagram until 2024 in an attempt to lure users away from rivals like TikTok; also tests a creator marketplace where brands can share new partnership opportunities for content creators, closely mimicking TikTok's Creator Marketplace, which allows brands to discover top TikTok personalities for their marketing campaigns.
• Wikimedia Enterprise, a paid service for companies reusing and sourcing Wikimedia content in high volume, lists Google and Internet Archive as its first clients.
• Meta agrees to alter its ad targeting and pay a US$ 115,054 fine to settle a Justice Department lawsuit over claims that the company had engaged in housing discrimination by letting advertisers restrict which Facebook users were able to see ads on the platform based on their age, race, gender and ZIP code.
• Microsoft-owned GitHub officially launches Copilot AI, which suggests lines of code to developers for US$ 10/month or US$ 100/year.
• Germany's antitrust watchdog, the Federal Cartel Office, opens probe into restrictions imposed by Google to use alternative map providers when app developers and other businesses seek to combine their offerings with Maps.