Tech Roundup: Meta Quest+, Twitter Reading Limits & More

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

• Meta publishes a deep dive into the company's social media algorithms in an attempt to demystify its recommendation algorithms for Instagram and Facebook users.
• A new analysis of WeChat's mobile app reveals that the all-in-one app tracks users' activity within Mini Programs, posing a privacy risk; also uncovers gaps in privacy policy that allows WeChat to collect usage data related to Mini Programs.
• IBM to acquire Apptio, which offers financial and operational IT management and optimisation software, for US$ 4.6 billion.
• Google adds options for polls in Docs with new voting chips and integrates Google Sheets with mail merge in Gmail, allowing users to send emails using data pulled from a spreadsheet; plans to offer DIY repairs for the Pixel Fold via its iFixit partnership and add payment support through QR codes to Wallet.
• Movie streaming service Netflix to discontinue its ad-free Basic plan for new subscribers, forcing users to either downgrade to an ad-supported tier or upgrade to the Standard plan.
• AI company Databricks agrees to purchase generative AI platform MosaicML in a transaction valued at approximately US$ 1.3 billion.
• Japan orders Apple and Google to allow users of the twin mobile operating systems to download apps by using services other than their own app stores.
• E.U. countries and lawmakers reach a provisional agreement on the Data Act, establishing rules on how Big Tech and other firms use EU consumer and corporate data.
• Meta's WhatsApp Business crosses 200 million monthly active users, up from 50 million in 2020, as it adds a tool to let users create "click-to-WhatsApp" ads without a Facebook account and allow businesses to send personalised messages to their customers; debuts a QR code-based method to transfer chats between devices.
• OpenAI reportedly plans to create a "supersmart personal assistant for work," a move that could put it at odds with Microsoft; comes as the company rolls out a new feature to ChatGPT called Browsing for its subscribers to search Bing for answers to questions.
• Meta launches parental controls for Messenger in the U.S., the U.K., and Canada, letting parents view their child's contacts and activity but not message contents.
• TikTok launches the TikTok Creative Challenge, which lets U.S.-based creators with over 50,000 followers submit video ads for brands and make money based on performance; to discontinue TikTok Now, its BeReal clone announced in September 2022. (The development comes amid a 61% drop in BeReal daily active users between October 2022 and March 2023, declining to under six million in March 2023.)
• Google cancels its "Iris" AR glasses project to focus on creating AR software platforms to license the tech to headset manufacturers.
• Apple says that the proposed U.K. law, also called the Online Safety Bill, poses a serious threat to end-to-end encryption, joining the likes Signal and WhatsApp in opposing a provision that would mandate messaging platforms to scan for child sexual abuse content, fundamentally undermining all privacy and security protections. (Apple previously abandoned plans to scan iCloud images on users' devices for CSAM after a backlash from privacy advocates.)
• Proton launches its E2E encrypted open-source password manager Proton Pass across iOS, Android, and web browsers Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Brave; also offers support for masking emails when signing up for a service.
• Google's YouTube tests a more aggressive approach that urges users to enable ads or risk entirely disabling the video player after watching three videos; to remove Canadian news links from Search, News, and Discover and close Google News Showcase in response to a new legislation called Online News Act that would require tech platforms to compensate publishers for content that appears on their sites, following Meta's footsteps.
• Mozilla announces plans to migrate all Pocket users accounts to Firefox accounts by August 15, 2023.
• A huge chunk of video advertising (i.e., TrueView) displayed on sites other than YouTube are in violation of Google's own standards, according to findings from Adalytic; says "many TrueView in-stream ads were served muted and auto-playing as out-stream video or as obscured video players on independent sites."
• Meta plans to let users in the E.U. directly download apps through Facebook ads as part of a pilot with select Android app developers, in a move that that could allow the company to compete with Google and Apple's app stores; announces Quest+, a VR subscription service that gives Quest 2, Quest 3, and Quest Pro users access to two games every month for US$ 7.99/month or US$ 59.99/year.
• Microsoft adds AI-powered shopping tools, including GPT-generated buying guides and review summaries, to its Bing search engine and the Bing AI chatbot in Edge's sidebar.
• Snap's Snapchat+ subscription service cross four million paid users in the first year, as the company plans to roll out exclusive features to make more money from subscriptions and licensing.
• Adult content site Pornhub faces GDPR complaint in Italy for illegally handling user data in violation of data protection laws in the bloc; says the company "doesn't allow people to easily opt out of being tracked by cookies; the site isn't clear about the data it shares with third parties; and its algorithm 'assigns' people sexual preferences, based on the videos they watch."
• Brave browser adds a new privacy feature for "controlling which sites can access local network resources, and for how long."
• Spotify is reportedly talking to its partners about adding full-length music videos, as part of growing efforts to establish video as a core part of its service.
• The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposes penalising companies for shady review practices, including fining companies for fake reviews, suppressing honest negative reviews and paying for positive reviews.
• Twitter blocks users from browsing tweets, user profiles and comment threads on the web without logging in as a "temporary emergency measure" and imposes reading limits amid reports that it's wrestling with "extreme levels of data scraping" and "system manipulation;" comes more than two months after it eliminated the platform's search feature for unregistered users entirely.
• Apple becomes the first publicly traded company to close a trading day with a US$ 3 trillion market value.
• OpenAI faces fresh lawsuit in the U.S. for allegedly stealing "vast amounts of private information" from internet users without consent in order to train ChatGPT, reigniting a debate about the legal and ethical concerns surrounding data scraping. (The company has also sought to push back against classifying its AI systems as high risk, characterising its offerings as general purpose tools that "can potentially be employed in high risk use cases."
• The U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to launch an in-depth probe into Adobe's acquisition of Figma, citing concerns about "a substantial lessening of competition" for screen design software.
• Major third-party Reddit apps Apollo, Sync and BaconReader shut down, as Reddit prepares to enforce its new API rate limits in the coming days.