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The world’s five leading tech companies – Google (now Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon and Microsoft – have taken steps to impose significant and (mainly) voluntary sanctions on Russia, in response to its invasion of Ukraine. But the decisions didn’t come unprompted. Ukraine has lobbied the major tech companies in the same way it

Netflix and TikTok suspended most of their services in Russia on Sunday as the government cracks down on what people and media outlets can say about Russia’s war in Ukraine. Pulling the plug on online entertainment — and information — is likely to further isolate the country and its people after a growing number of

Twitter may soon get a dedicated tab for Podcasts. The microblogging platform is reportedly working on a new Podcast tab. The upcoming feature is expected to be indicated by a microphone icon on the Twitter mobile app, placed in the bottom menu bar. Tapping the button will likely lead to a new Podcasts page. The

Twitter’s new chief Parag Agrawal on Thursday said it will reopen offices globally this month but let people work remotely if they wish, as many businesses end closures put in place to fight the spread of COVID-19. Google is also preparing for employees to return to its Silicon Valley offices in early April, with the

Russia is blocking Facebook in its country according to its communications regulator on Friday. Russia said that Meta Platform’s Facebook was being blocked for restricting state-backed channels. In a statement posted on Twitter, Meta’s head of global affairs Nick Clegg said the company would continue to do everything it could to restore its services, it

Twitter is expanding Birdwatch, its crowd-sourced fact checking project it started as a small and little-publicised pilot programme more than a year ago. The programme lets regular people flag and notate misleading tweets. This is separate from Twitter’s news verification partnerships with The Associated Press and Reuters. Starting Thursday, a small, randomised group of US

Facebook and multiple media websites were partially inaccessible in Russia on Friday, as authorities crack down on critical voices and fighting rages in Ukraine. AFP journalists in Moscow were not able to access Facebook, as well as the sites of media outlets Meduza, Deutsche Welle, RFE-RL and the BBC’s Russian-language service. The monitoring NGO GlobalCheck

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, global technology companies have joined governments and the international business community in cutting ties with the world’s largest country over its ongoing military actions. Companies including Apple, Google, and Meta are restricting the availability of their products and services to Russian users. Similarly, AMD, Dell, TSMC, and Intel are

Chinese social media giant Tencent will reduce transaction fees for small and medium-sized merchants using its WeChat payments system by 10 percent, the company said in a statement on Thursday. The reductions will apply beginning September 1, 2021, and extend up to September 30, 2024, the company added. In order to qualify for the reduction,

WhatsApp is found to be working on a new way to let macOS and Windows users react to messages on its desktop version. It could be an expansion to WhatsApp reactions that are reportedly in the works for the last few months. Using reactions, WhatsApp users would be able to react to a message using

Ukraine’s vice prime minister has been calling out big tech companies by name on Twitter to push them to penalise Russia over its invasion — and it’s having an impact. Marshalling his government’s social media savvy and a deep international well of sympathy, Mykhailo Fedorov’s feed has become a list of firms willing to oppose

Twitter will comply with the European Union’s sanctions on Russian state-affiliated media RT and Sputnik when the EU order takes effect, the social network said on Tuesday. “The European Union (EU) sanctions will likely legally require us to withhold certain content in EU member states,” a Twitter spokesperson said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

WhatsApp is often used for circulating fake news and misinformation. Although the instant messaging app is claiming to have implemented a list of features to restrict fake news circulation, WhatsApp users get misleading messages containing unverified information on a regular basis. It, thus, becomes important to know how you can verify the information you get

Instagram has launched auto-generated captions for the videos in users’ feeds. Instagram head Adam Mosseri said on Tuesday that the captions feature has been “a long time coming”. The photo-sharing app is also making encrypted one-to-one chats available to all adults in both Ukraine and Russia. This comes as part of a series of measures

WhatsApp appears to be working on a feature that will allow users to “react” to messages on the service using emoji, and the app was recently spotted working on the ability to view reaction information for messages. Now, the Meta-owned messaging service is said to be working on a new animation for when a user

Russia’s state communications regulator said on Tuesday it had reinstated a slowdown of Twitter’s traffic on desktop computers due to what it said were fake posts about Russia’s “special operation” in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported. The regulator, Roskomnadzor, which was already restricting traffic on mobile devices, said it had sent more than 1,700

Twitter will put warnings on tweets sharing links to Russian state-affiliated media, the platform said Monday, as Kremlin-tied outlets are accused of spreading misinformation on Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Pressure is on social media giants to squelch misleading or false information about the attack, which has drawn fierce international condemnation. Kremlin-run media outlets RT and

Meta Platforms said a hacking group used Facebook to target a handful of public figures in Ukraine, including prominent military officials, politicians and a journalist, amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country. Meta said in the last 48 hours it had also separately removed a network of about 40 fake accounts, groups and pages across