Tech Roundup: Brave Vertical Tabs, WhatsApp Username Test & More

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

• China takes down 1.4 million social media posts following a two-month probe into alleged misinformation, illegal profiteering, and impersonation of state officials.
• Meta's WhatsApp tests a screen sharing option on mobile; also pilots a new option that allows users to select a unique username attached to their account.
• Google wins a legal reprieve after the U.S. Justice Department sides with the tech giant in an ongoing lawsuit filed by lyrics website Genius in 2019 for allegedly breaching its terms of service by copying its lyrics transcriptions in search results; says "Because website visitors need not click on the link or otherwise expressly accept the terms of service in order to view petitioner's transcriptions [i.e., lyrics], petitioner's terms of service are a 'browsewrap' agreement."
• Apple releases Apple Music Classical for Android, expanding the offering beyond the iPhone for the first time; says its App Store ecosystem generated US$ 1.1 trillion in developer billings and sales in 2022, up from US$ 519 billion in 2019.
• Amazon agrees to pay US$ 25 million to settle charges in the U.S. over the company keeping Alexa voice recordings and geolocation data collected from children for years; to also pay US$ 5.8 million to settle allegations that until 2017, Ring gave employees and third-party contractors full access to every customer video.
• Meta's Instagram sheds more light on how it ranks content across Feed, Stories, Explore, Reels, and Search; tests a new "Interested" option on recommended posts.
• Instacart launches a new AI search tool powered by OpenAI's ChatGPT to serve personalised recommendations and information about product attributes and dietary considerations.
• Snap debuts "My AI Snaps" in Snapchat that allows users to "send [its AI assistant] Snaps of what they're up to and receive a unique generative Snap back that keeps the conversation going."
• Google releases a fresh fleet of features for Android and Wear OS, including new widgets and an option called new Reading Practice to help readers improve their vocabulary and comprehension skills; updates Google Wallet with the ability to convert images into passes and integrate boarding passes with Google Messages.
• WordPress.com takes on Substack with paid subscriptions and premium content in free newsletters for all users.
• Tinder-owner Match Group announces an exclusive dating app for queer men called Archer in select cities in the U.S.
• Google kills off support for third-party notes and lists integration in Assistant, as the the company continues to steadily deprioritise the service in favor of Bard and other generative features.
• Twitter launches Community Notes for images in posts as it shifts the onus on crowdsourced moderation.
• ByteDance-owned TikTok has stored the most sensitive financial data of its biggest stars — including those in its Creator Fund — on servers in China, despite claims to the contrary, according to a report from Forbes.
• Amazon experiments with dine-in payments at restaurants using Amazon Pay in the Indian city of Bengaluru after shutting down its food delivery business in December 2022.
• Reddit is reportedly planning to charge hefty fees for third-party developer access to its APIs, as the social media platform attempts to monetise its active user base.
• Brave browser adds support for vertical tabs to "eliminate overcrowding your browser window, and to increase your on-screen real estate.
• Chinese electronics giant OPPO unveils MR Glass Developer Edition, a mixed reality headset, ahead of Apple's much-anticipated offering.
• Artifact, the news sharing app founded by Instagram's co-founders, plans to use a generative AI model to rewrite article headlines marked as clickbait by many users.
• Microsoft to retire its standalone app for Cortana, eight years after its inclusion in Windows 10 in 2015.