YAHOO FINANCE - DatChat, privacy-focused social media, has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Avila Security, effectuating the Company to secure four issued patents and two pending applications, subject to customary closing conditions. The transaction terms include $1M in cash and the greater of 739,650 shares of restricted common stock or $2.5M of restricted common stock [of DatChat] based on the previous 30-day average closing share price at closing.
DatChat Enters Into Letter of Intent to Acquire Avila Security
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YouTube Shuts Division for Original Programming
WALL STREET JOURNAL - YouTube folds its effort to create original programming and focuses on the millions of creators who populate the video platform with content. CBO Robert Kyncl said that the platform would invest in live shopping programming, Black Voices Fund, and YouTube Shorts. Its head of YouTube Originals, Susanne Daniels, will exit in March. YouTube Originals will continue limitedly through unscripted children's and another programming.
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ByteDance Reorganizes Strategic Investment Team, Causes Panic
TECH CRUNCH - ByteDance has dissolved its strategic investment team, sending worrying messages to other internet giants that have expanded aggressively by investing in other companies. Some members from its strategic investment team, which has backed 169 companies, will be reassigned roles in other business departments and continue to invest there. The "restructuring" still stirred up a wave of panic in the industry.
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Tencent Just Made Its Biggest Metaverse Move Yet
THE MOTLEY FOOL - Tencent would be acquiring Black Shark. Started in 2017 and funded by Xiaomi, Black Shark currently makes gaming-oriented mobile phones and accessories. However, according to a report, Black Shark will be changing its business model to invest in AR/VR headsets after Tencent buys them. According to sources, Tencent pays between $410M to $425M.
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Germany Takes on Telegram to Fight Extremism
DW - Extremists use Telegram service to stoke hate and violence. The German government plans to get tough on Telegram - but even if Berlin gets the firm to cooperate, this alone will not solve the problem. Telegram refuses to cooperate with authorities in many ways. Since it was founded, the company has promised that users could communicate beyond the reach of governments.
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TikTok Posts Feedback Form Under 'Localization' Law
TASS - TikTok has posted an electronic feedback form for Russian users under the law "On the Activities of Foreign Persons in the Information and Telecommunication Network "Internet" on the Territory of the Russian Federation." Under the law, overseas Internet companies with a daily audience of ~500K users must open their authorized representative offices in Russia.
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Instagram Allow Verified Business Accounts to Restrict View of Followers & Following
DIGITAL INFORMATION WORLD - An under-development update to the Instagram feature may limit the number of followers that a user can view from a different user's account. The feature is entirely limited to verified Business accounts with ~4K followers.
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Twitter Expands Misinformation Reporting Feature to More International Markets
TECH CRUNCH - Twitter is rolling out its misinformation reporting feature to more markets as its test expands. In addition to the U.S., Australia, and South Korea, where the feature had already gone live, Twitter is rolling out the reporting option to Brazil, Spain, and the Philippines. Since its debut, the company has received more ~3.7M user-submitted reports from the feature.
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Yubo Launched a Program to Pay Creators
FAST COMPANY - Yubo, the video-based social media platform, has launched the Pixel Reward Program in December, allowing people who create streamers to receive Pixels, which are essentially trading-card-style images available for purchase on the platform from their fans. When they receive the Pixels, they also get 30% of the purchase price in YuBucks, Yubo's internal currency, which can be used to pay for features like boosting a stream's placement in the app.
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Court Fines MyHeritage $19.6K Over Personal Data Law Violation
TASS - The Magistrates' Court of the Tagansky District of Moscow fined MyHeritage $19.6K due to the service's refusal to localize the database of its Russian users on the territory of the Russian Federation. MyHeritage was founded in Israel as an international social network and genealogy site where members can create their family websites, family trees, search for ancestors, and do genealogical DNA tests. It has ~70M users.
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UAE's Hayi Raises $325K to Expand Hyperlocal Social Network
ARABIAN BUSINESS - UAE-based start-up Hayi has raised $325K in its latest funding round. The funding will be used to solidify Hayi's presence in the UAE and grow it further ahead of their launches across the MENA region.
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Facebook Faces $3.2B Class-action Lawsuit in UK
WIO NEWS - Facebook faces a $3.2B class-action lawsuit for allegedly exploiting user data in the UK. It has been accused of abusing its market dominance by exploiting the personal data of ~44M users. Facebook said that people used its services because they were valued as "they have meaningful control of what information they share on Meta's platforms and who with."
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LinkedIn Is Accused of Monopolizing the Professional Social Networking Services Market
LAW STREET MEDIA - 3 LinkedIn users who pay for its premium subscription service filed suit against the company, alleging it exacts supra-competitive prices from users and sells their data out from under them. The putative Northern District of California class action asserts that LinkedIn maintains its monopoly through various anticompetitive means that entrench its position while keeping competitors at bay.
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Nigeria Lifts Ban on Twitter After 7 months
DW - Nigeria's government reversed its ban on Twitter. ~200M people could reconnect to the social networking site 7 months after authorities had blocked it. Twitter was blocked in Nigeria on Jun 4 as the government cited "the persistent use of the platform for activities that are capable of undermining Nigeria's corporate existence."
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Instagram Became the Top App by Download in Q4
TECH CRUNCH - Instagram benefits from TikTok's ban in India and has now reclaimed the top spot in terms of total global downloads in Q4 of 2021. Instagram just had its best quarter since at least 2014, with app installs ~10% over Q3. Instagram was also the first Meta app to take the No. 1 position on the top downloads chart since WhatsApp held that spot back in Q4 2019.
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