San Francisco, United States | AFP | The Facebook-owned messaging service WhatsApp said Wednesday it now has more than two billion users around the world, as it reaffirmed its stand on the need for strong encryption to protect privacy. WhatsApp, acquired by Facebook in 2014, has grown into one of …
Read More »Huawei: UK’s Boris Johnson challenges US critics of China firm
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Tuesday challenged US opponents of Britain’s potential decision to let China’s Huawei telecoms giant develop its 5G network to come up with a better choice. Johnson’s comments came one day after a US delegation arrived in London for a …
Read More »Google parent Alphabet profits slip amid bigger research investments
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Google parent Alphabet on Monday reported a sharp drop in profits over the past quarter as it ramped up spending for the launch of a wide array of new gadgets and services. Profit dipped 23 percent from a year ago to $7.1 billion …
Read More »Fear spreads as digital threats multiply ahead of 2020 US elections
Washington, United States | AFP | It could be a manipulated video embarrassing a candidate. Or a computer voting system locked by ransomware. Or doubts about electronic voting machines with no paper backups. As Americans prepare for 2020 elections, digital threats to election security are multiplying, stoking fears of a …
Read More »Zuckerberg meets US senators, rejects call to break up Facebook
Washington, United States | AFP | Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg met privately with members of Congress Thursday on a political reconnaissance mission to Washington, where he rejected calls for him to break up the world’s biggest social network. Zuckerberg’s visit with policymakers comes as Facebook faces a myriad of …
Read More »Twitter CEO account hacked, tweets by text halted
Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter on Wednesday halted users’ ability to fire off tweets via text messages as it seeks to fix a vulnerability that led to CEO Jack Dorsey’s account being hijacked. Dorsey last week was the target of so-called “SIM swap” fraud, which enables a hacker …
Read More »Twitter back on
Twitter acknowledges outages affecting some users Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter said Thursday some users could not access the messaging service amid reports of an outage in some parts of the world. “We are currently investigating issues people are having accessing Twitter,” a spokesperson said in an email. …
Read More »Trump in spotlight as Twitter adds warnings to rule-breaking tweets
Washington, United States | AFP | Twitter announced Thursday it would add warning labels to tweets from officials and politicians that violate its rules — a move potentially affecting the prodigious output of US President Donald Trump. The new policy will also “deprioritize” inappropriate comments and enables Twitter to move …
Read More »Breakup isn’t the answer, Facebook’s Zuckerberg says
San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday rejected the idea of breaking up the social media giant as off-target, saying it could hamper the fight against deceit and harmful online content. The Facebook co-founder’s defense of the leading social network came as it …
Read More »Uber shifts into reverse in disappointing Wall Street debut
New York, United States | AFP | Uber shares skidded Friday in a disappointing Wall Street debut following a massive public offering from the global ride-hailing giant. After pricing at $45 for the initial public offering (IPO) — translating to a market value of $82 billion — Uber shares began …
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