Tech Roundup: Albania TikTok Ban, Russia Cryptocurrency Mining Ban & More

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

• Iran lifts two-year ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, as the country's government vows to remove restrictions on social media.
• Albania blocks TikTok for one year after a 14-year-old boy was stabbed to death in November 2024 by a fellow pupil following arguments between them on social media; TikTok says it "found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts."
• An undisclosed 2023 agreement between Microsoft and OpenAI defines achieving artificial general intelligence (AGI), which refers to a system that can outperform humans at most tasks, as the point when OpenAI develops AI systems that generate $100B+ in profits, according to The Information, as the two companies wrangle over the Windows maker's stake in the for-profit entity.
• Russia bans cryptocurrency mining in 10 regions from January 1, 2025, to March 15, 2031, due to its high power consumption, after legalising mining in July 2024.
• Apple says it does not plan to create a search engine like Google due to extensive costs and the fact that the search business is "rapidly evolving" due to artificial intelligence; also says the company would be required to sell targeted advertising to create a viable search business, and that it does not have specialised professionals or the infrastructure required to pull it off.
• Audio platform Pocket FM taps into AI tools to help writers brainstorm ideas and adapt stories for different regions.
• Apple reportedly plans to license some of its Apple TV+ content to competing services in an effort to save money and spread its reach; comes as the tech giant begins selling its own advertising inventory for Apple News, after taking the same step with its App Store.
• X rival Bluesky adds a new feature that displays replies by "hotness" by default, which weights liked replies that are more recent more heavily; comes as the social network also tests a trending topics feature in beta on both desktop and mobile.
• OpenAI says the company is weighing an ads model, but plans to be "thoughtful" about the approach; also said to be in discussions with Samsung to offer ChatGPT as an alternative AI engine on Galaxy phones, following a similar integration in Apple devices.
• Microsoft faces £1 billion lawsuit in the U.K. for allegedly overcharging rival cloud firms' customers, including Amazon, Google and Alibaba Cloud; alleges U.K. businesses are forced to pay more to license Microsoft’s Windows Server software on rival firms’ clouds than its own Azure platform.
• Meta teams up with GoFundMe to simplify the process by which Instagram and Facebook users donate to charitable causes; tests a new "Social Library" section in Instagram that allows users to access posts, Reels and media shared in chat threads.
• Canada's Competition Bureau sues Alphabet's Google over alleged anti-competitive conduct in online advertising, and calls for the company to sell its ad tech tools; says the company "abused its dominant position through conduct intended to ensure that it would maintain and entrench its market power."
• Amazon announces a new service for Amazon Web Services (AWS) customers called Data Transfer Terminal, a set of physical locations where customers can plug in their storage devices to upload data to the AWS cloud.
• Google releases new Android features, such as "expressive" video captions that uses AI to bring emotion to captions, new sticker combos using Emoji Kitchen, share pictures and videos using QR codes, categorisation improvements to the Pixel Screenshots app and a Spotify extension for Gemini; says it will support the Pixel 6, 7 and Fold with two extra years of operating system updates.
• Meta rolls out its Quest v71 update, including a redesign of Meta Horizon OS with improved dark and light themes, a calendar app and the ability to use Travel Mode on a train; confirms it reduces video quality for Instagram posts that don't drive many views. (The company, however, says the shift in quality "isn't huge."
• Logistics platform Uber renames its local package delivery service Uber Connect to Uber Courier.
• Google allow users in the U.S. to save their digital copy of the passport to the Wallet app; makes it easier to switch off personalised search results using a setting called "Try without personalisation" and pilots a "STOP" button in RCS-based Messages app that allows users to unsubscribe from business messages.
• Google introduces a new feature to Google Lens that aims to give users more information about products by taking a picture when shopping in physical stores; comes after the company debuted a similar feature that lets users search for items and check stock availability directly within Maps.
• Meta says it's mistakenly removing too much content across its apps and that harmless content gets taken down, or restricted, stating it will work to "improve the precision and accuracy with which we act on our rules."
• Amazon-owned Twitch confirms it temporarily blocked Israeli and Palestinian users from creating new accounts on the live video streaming service using email verification since October 7, 2023, to prevent them from uploading "graphic material"; comes as the platform grapples with allegations that it's hosting antisemitic and anti-American propaganda content.
• Hallucinations from AI tools can help scientists "track cancer, design drugs, invent medical devices [and] uncover weather phenomena," according to a new report from The New York Times, as the research community finds the use of the term "misleading."
• Robinhood launches its long-awaited desktop platform Robinhood Legend, and adds futures and index options trading to its mobile app.
• Amazon discontinues the Kindle Oasis; says third-party services like Zoom, Asana, Miro and others will be able to integrate Amazon Q Business into their own products to access generative AI-powered experiences, and unveils Nova models for Bedrock, including Micro, Lite, Pro, and Premier for text generation, Canvas for image generation, and Reel for video generation.
• Apple faces legal setback after it fails to block a U.K. class action lawsuit that accuses the company's practice of charging 15-30% commission on App Store sales creates an anti-competitive tax.
• Record label Universal Music Group partners with AI music company Klay Vision to create an "ethical" AI model for AI-generated music.
• Microsoft unveils 10 new AI agents for its enterprise-focused Dynamics 365 apps covering sales, finance and supply chain management; also adds the ability to create autonomous agents with Copilot Studio.
• Several social media companies and publishers like Facebook, Instagram, Craigslist, Tumblr, the New York Times, the Financial Times, The Atlantic, Vox Media, USA Today, and Condé Nast block Apple's Applebot-Extended AI crawler, preventing it from training its AI models on their data, per a report from WIRED.
• Apple updates Pay on its tenth anniversary with support for Klarna in the U.S. and U.K., and plans to expand installment loan options and options to redeem rewards.