SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Singapore on Monday fined ride-hailing firms Grab and Uber $9.5 million for breaking competition rules when they merged, saying the deal had increased fares and thrown up roadblocks for competitors. Singapore-headquartered Grab agreed to buy US firm Uber’s ride-hailing and food business in Southeast Asia in March, ending a bruising battle between the companies. In return, Uber received a 27.5 percent stake in Grab. However the deal came under scrutiny […]
Tag: Internet
Nation state cyber attacks on rise, says Europol
by Danny Kemp Agence France Presse THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Global ransomware attacks are increasingly linked to nation states, with the lines between politics and crime often blurring, Europe’s police agency said on Tuesday. Key ransomware attacks include the so-called WannaCry and NotPetya malware, which infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in 2017, demanding that users pay ransoms to regain access. “Ransomware retains its dominance,” said Europol’s latest annual report […]
Alibaba chairman Jack Ma to step down in 2019: company
BEIJING, China (AFP) – Alibaba co-founder and chairman Jack Ma will step down as head of the e-commerce giant on September 10, 2019, the company said on Monday. Ma is staying on as executive chairman for 12 months to “ensure a smooth transition” before handing over his role to chief executive officer Daniel Zhang, Alibaba said in a statement. “While remaining as executive chairman in the next 12 months, I will work closely with Daniel […]
Facebook to build $1 bn Singapore data center, first in Asia
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Facebook said Thursday it will invest over $1 billion to build a data center in Singapore, its first in Asia, powered by renewable energy and adapted to the city-state’s tropical climate. The center is expected to be operational around 2022, and will host Facebook servers and centralize its IT operations, Thomas Furlong, Facebook vice president of infrastructure data centers, told reporters. The 170,000 square meters (1.83 million square foot) site in the […]
Brief Facebook outage after ‘networking issues’
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)–Facebook users around the world reported the social network was briefly inaccessible Monday, with many taking to Twitter to voice their frustration. Reports of issues on the downdetector.com website began around 2100 GMT, with users particularly affected in North America and Europe. The outage lasted less than 90 minutes before normal service resumed. Some users had read-only access while others were unable to log in. “Earlier today, a networking issue caused some […]
Pagtulong ng UN sa Pilipinas para sa free WiFi, pansamantala lamang- DICT
(Eagle News) — Nilinaw ni Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Eliseo Rio Jr., na training at paglalatag lamang ng mabilis na WiFi connection ang tulong na gagawin ng United Nations sa Pilipinas. Sa panayam, sinabi ni Rio na ginawa nila ang hakbang matapos umamin ang ilang local telecommunication companies na mahihirapan silang tugunan ang demand ng libreng internet access points na nakapaloob sa free WiFi law. Dahil sa pag-aming ito ng mga […]
Facebook suspends hundreds of apps over data concerns
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Wednesday said it has suspended more than 400 of thousands of applications it has investigated to determine whether people’s personal information was being improperly shared. Applications were suspended “due to concerns around the developers who built them or how the information people chose to share with the app may have been used,” vice president of product partnerships Ime Archibong said in a blog post. Apps put on […]
Facebook to pull VPN app from App Store over data worry
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook will pull Onavo Protect virtual private network application from the App Store after getting word that it violates Apple’s data collection rules, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. The free application creates an encrypted VPN connection that routes internet activity through computer servers managed and secured by Facebook. The app also alerts users when sites they visit might be malicious. Facebook is able to gather information […]
Google sued for unwanted tracking of phone locations
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)–A lawsuit filed in federal court here accuses Google of invading people’s privacy by tracking the whereabouts of smartphones users despite “location history” settings being turned off. The suit filed Friday by a California man seeks unspecified damages along with class-action status to represent all US iPhone or Android smartphone users who turned off location history in order not to have their movements logged by Google. “Google expressly represented to users […]
Facebook moves to stop sharing of 3D gun blueprints
SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Thursday said it was moving to prevent the sharing of blueprints for 3D-printed guns on the social network, which violates its rules on regulated goods. “Sharing instructions on how to manufacture firearms using 3D printers or CNC milling machines is not allowed under our Community Standards,” a Facebook spokesman said in response to an AFP inquiry. “In line with our policies, we are removing this content from […]
Warner Music to pay artists after selling Spotify stake
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Major music label Warner said Tuesday it would give back $126 million to artists after it sold its stake in streaming leader Spotify. The Warner Music Group said the share sale from Spotify, which successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year, earned the company $504 million, or $317 million after paying taxes. Announcing its latest earnings, Warner said it would share the spoils of Spotify […]
Internet giants delete content of US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Internet giants launched an offensive Monday against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who is now banned from Apple, Facebook, Spotify and YouTube. The move, described by Jones as a “coordinated communist-style crackdown,” came after months of criticism against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube calling for them to do more to combat disinformation and hate discourse. Jones, whose site InfoWars has accused victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting of […]





