Tech Roundup: Google Russia Fines, Snapchat for Web & More

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

• Snapchat launches Snapchat for Web after more than a decade as a mobile-only app to let users send snaps and make video calls on desktop (only supports Chrome, Edge and other Chromium-based web browsers for now); says the average caller on the app spends over 30 minutes a day on calls.
• Google's YouTube debuts new feature that allows users loop individual chapters in a video, more than a year after launching the option to loop videos in its Android app.
• Apple faces new class-acton lawsuit in the U.S. state of California accusing it of using its smartphone dominance to fend off competition to Apple Pay from rival payment apps. (The fact that Apple Pay is the only service that can take advantage of the NFC feature built into its devices to facilitate mobile payments has already been a subject of scrutiny in the E.U., with the European Commission calling it anticompetitive.)
• Russian communications watchdog Roskomnadzor imposes a ~US$ 365 million (21.1 billion roubles) fine on Google for its repeated failure to delete YouTube videos that go against the country's laws, including those that allegedly promote extremism and terrorism as well as supposedly false information about the war in Ukraine; comes after the search giant filed for bankruptcy in the country following the Russo-Ukrainian war.

• Enterprise communications platform Slack revises its "Pro" subscription fee from US$ 8 per user per month to US$ 8.75 per user per month (US$ 6.67 per user per month to US$ 7.25 per user per month for the yearly plan); switches to a time-based window for users on the free tier, allowing full access to messages and uploads for the last 90 days instead of the 10,000-message limit and 5 GB of storage.
• On-demand video streamer Netflix tests new "add a home" plan in Latin America that costs users US$ 3 as an add-on fee to share passwords with users outside of their primary residence; says today's "widespread account sharing between households undermines our long term ability to invest in and improve our service."
• Google officially begins rolling out Google Wallet as a replacement for Google Pay for users in 39 countries, except in Singapore and the U.S. where Google Pay will handle P2P payments and the new Wallet app presents a unified view of loyalty cards, transit passes, COVID-19 vaccination certificates, car keys and other ID documents. (Users in India are expected to continue using the "current Google Pay" app.)
• Ride-hailing company Uber settles a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit over "wait-time" fees it charged riders with disabilities for taking more than two minutes to board vehicles; to pay more than 65,000 passengers a total of US$ 2,238,500.
• Meta-owned Instagram launches a new "payments in chat" feature in the U.S. that lets users buy products with Meta Pay and track orders from small businesses via direct messages; comes as the company's acquisition of GIPHY in May 2020 comes under renewed investigation in the U.K. after the Competition and Markets Authority was found to have failed to properly inform Meta of Snapchat's acquisition of Gfycat for nearly a year after it became aware of the ruling.