NewsBytes Briefing: UK bans Huawei, WhatsApp goes down, and more
In the last few hours, a lot has happened in the world of technology. UK has banned Chinese giant Huawei from its nationwide 5G upgrade program, citing security concerns. They have ordered telcos in the country to stop buying new 5G gear from the company after December 31 and remove existing equipment by 2027. US President Trump welcomed the move. Here are other developments.
WhatsApp goes down, now restored
As Huawei faced a ban, Facebook's WhatsApp suffered from an outage. The messaging service, used by over a billion people around the world, went down, keeping users from sending and receiving texts. The issue affected several countries, including India, and lasted for about two hours. But, now, it appears to have been fixed, with the service working normally.
Flipkart raised over a billion dollars from Walmart
Flipkart, the country's biggest e-commerce player, has raised $1.2 billion from its parent company Walmart and other existing investors. The round takes the valuation of Flipkart to $24.9 billion and will be used to support the company's "ongoing efforts to develop India's homegrown e-commerce marketplace as country emerges from [the] pandemic." Walmart had bought a majority stake in Flipkart for $16 billion in 2018.
Environmental sites blocked by India?
After blocking DuckDuckGo for a few days, India has blocked websites of environmental organizations, multiple reports suggested. The sites of environmental advocacy organizations There is no Earth B, LetIndiaBreathe.in (LIB), and FridaysForFuture (FFF) have been inaccessible on some networks. All three groups confirmed the act of censorship, but there is no clarity over why it was imposed in the first place.
Belgium hits Google with record fine
Belgium's data protection authority (APD) has hit Google with a fine of €600,000 for not complying with Europe's right to be forgotten rule. The penalty, largest ever by APD, was imposed after Google failed to remove links to articles that were deemed to be obsolete and damaging to the reputation of a person with a public profile in Belgium.
Other major developments
Among other things, Spotify has launched podcast charts in India to find new and trending shows. Then, Google expanded its Play Pass subscription to nine more countries beyond the US (India still not included) and launched a new, more affordable annual plan. The company also said it will not use Fitbit data for ad-targeting and added zoom-bombing protections for online classes.
