China bans financial institutions from cryptocurrency related transactions

In a development that marks China’s latest attempt to clamp down on speculative trading of cryptocurrency, Beijing has banned financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrency transactions, warning investors against speculative crypto trading. Under the ban, institutions including banks and online payments channels are disallowed to offer clients any services involving…

ByteDance explores sale of TikTok’s Indian operations

In a report, Bloomberg News said, China’s ByteDance is exploring the sale of TikTok’s Indian operations to rival Glance, a unicorn. Negotiations, initiated by Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, early, private, and complex, said the report citing sources people familiar with the matter at hand. InMobi’s short-video app Roposo has gained more market share in India after…

Sweden bans China’s Huawei and ZTE from 5G network

On Tuesday, in a significant development, Swedish regulators have banned China’s Huawei and ZTE from developing its 5G network ahead of the launch of its spectrum auction, scheduled for next month. The decision by the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) follows assessments by the by the Swedish Armed Forces and security service. Following widespread concerns,…

Trump does not want ByteDance to have controlling stake in TikTok: senior administration official

According to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity, regardless of how China’s ByteDance positions the divestment of its short video sharing app TikTok, U.S. President Donald Trump does not want it to have a controlling stake in TikTok, since it will place Americans’ personal information at risk. Despite China’s bravado…

Trump issues executive orders to ban TikTok and WeChat in 45 days

In a significant development, U.S. President Donald Trump stated, the United States will ban China-owned ByteDance’s TikTok video-sharing app, and Tencent’s WeChat app, in 45 days. The development comes in the wake of the Trump administration stepping up efforts to purge “untrusted” apps, including Chinese ones, from its digital networks citing “significant threats” posed by…

SpaceX bans Zoom video conferencing app citing significant security threats

SpaceX, Elon Musk’s rocket company, has banned its employees from using Zoom, a video conferencing app, following “significant privacy and security concerns”, according to an internal memo. The development comes days after U.S. law enforcement agencies warned users about security concerns regarding the popular app. With many Americans quarrantined in their homes because of the…

Facebook tweaks ads policy, continues to allow political ads in U.S. Presidential 2020 campaign

In a statement, Facebook Inc stated, it has tweaked its approach towards political ads and has introduced limited changes, which includes an option for users to turn off certain ad-targeting tools. Facebook has defied critics’ demands of barring political ads in its platform which often spew out fake news. Facebook, the world’s biggest social network,…

Launch of Huawei’s 5G compatible flagship Mate 30 smartphone clouded by lack of Android as its OS

In recent years, Huawei has shot up surprising fast into the global smartphone business. A U.S. ban citing theft of intellectual property and being a threat to U.S. national security has however crippled its sales outside China. On September 18 Huawei Technologies plans to launch its new Mate 30 line of smartphones in Munich, said…

Twitter will no longer accept advertising from state-controlled news media

While the Chinese government wants to promote its views on western social media platforms, it has blocked its citizens from accessing Twitter and Facebook in the mainland. On Tuesday, following Facebook and Twitter dismantling China’s state-backed campaign to malign and undermine concerns raised by the citizens of Hong Kong, China said it had a right…