#WeeklyRecap: PUBG banned, PM Modi's Twitter account hacked, and more
This week, a number of developments were reported in the world of technology, but two events gained particular attention. First, as many would expect, was India's decision to ban PUBG in a crackdown on Chinese apps, while the other one was the hacking of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Twitter account. Here are more details about the week gone by.
118 Chinese apps banned, including PUBG
After fresh tensions along the border with China, India banned 118 apps from the neighboring country, including Tencent's highly popular PUBG Mobile. The fans of the game expressed annoyance over the move, but the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has maintained that these platforms "engaged in activities prejudicial to Sovereignty and Integrity of India, Defense of India, Security of State and Public Order."
A day later, PM Modi's Twitter account was hacked
Mere hours after the announcement of the ban, the Twitter account linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's personal website was hacked. The hackers tweeted out a bitcoin address in a bid to trick PM's followers into donating money and later identified themselves as members of the 'John Wick' hacker group. The Twitter account has since been recovered and is functioning normally.
Paytm quashed reports of hack
A US-based cyber intelligence company also suggested that the John Wick group has hacked Paytm's e-commerce arm, Paytm Mall. However, the payments giant issued a statement clarifying that its systems have not been compromised, and all user and company data is completely safe. In the tweets posted on PM Modi's account during the hack, the hackers also clarified that they haven't hacked Paytm Mall.
Google removed deceptive apps, Apple delayed privacy tool
This week, Google launched a crackdown on an undisclosed number of giveaway apps tied to an ad fraud botnet called Terracotta and expanded its flood prediction tool to cover all of India. Meanwhile, Apple delayed the enforcing of the privacy tool that is aimed at letting users to allow or reject ad tracking on an app-by-app basis.
Facebook pushed some major product updates
Facebook, on its part, pushed major updates for its key products. The social network first limited forwarding messages on Messenger to five people or groups at a time. Then, WhatsApp launched a dedicated website to keep people updated on bugs and Instagram gave a prominent place to Reels, its TikTok rival, by putting it at the place of the Explore tab in its app.
Finally, some important hardware update
In the hardware segment, a number of devices were revealed, including Samsung Galaxy M51, Galaxy Z Fold2, A42 5G, Tab A7, Lenovo Tab Pro 11, Moto One 5G, TECNO Spark Go, Redmi 9A, Realme V3, Realme 7, 7 Pro, ZTE Axon 20 5G, and OPPO F17 and F17 Pro. Beyond that, Google is said to be planning the Pixel 5 launch on September 25.
