Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has seen his personal wealth rise to $100bn (£76bn) after the launch of a new short-form video feature. On Wednesday, Facebook announced the US rollout of Instagram Reels, its rival to controversial Chinese app TikTok. Facebook shares rose by more than 6% on Thursday. Mr Zuckerberg holds a 13% stake in…
President Donald Trump has announced he is banning the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok in the US. He told reporters he could sign an executive order as early as Saturday. US security officials have expressed concern that the app, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, could be used to collect the personal data of Americans. TikTok has…
The coronavirus crisis might be causing widespread economic upheaval around the world, but the world’s biggest tech firms are thriving. Amazon sales soared 40% in the three months ending June, while Apple saw a surge in purchases of its iPhones and other hardware. At Facebook, the number of people on its platforms, which include WhatsApp…
ZIMBABWE’S telecommunication firms have been given a new lease of life after their regulator granted them the authority to charge tariffs that are reflective of their cost of service delivery. This comes as the government last week – through Statutory Instrument (SI) 185 of 2020 – allowed service providers to peg their prices in United…
MORE than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand control to others, two former employees said, making it hard to defend against the hacking that occurred last week. Twitter Inc and the FBI are investigating the breach that…
A showdown between the US government and the four big tech giants – Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google – is set to be postponed. The hearing was due to question the companies’ dominance in their fields of e-retail, smartphone software, social media and search. It is expected to be delayed to allow the politicians to…
BILLIONAIRE Elon Musk’s SpaceX is looking to raise new capital at a valuation of about $44 billion, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. The company is in talks with investors for raising about $1 billion at a price of $270 a share, the report said, adding that the round is…
Google will invest $10bn (£7.93bn) in India in the next five to seven years, the chief executive of its parent company Alphabet Inc has announced. Sundar Pichai spoke at the annual Google for India event, held online. The investment will be used to build products and services for India, help businesses go digital and use…
The UK government is preparing to change course over the role of Huawei in its 5G telecoms network. Six months after agreeing it could have a limited role, ministers look set to exclude the Chinese company, with no new equipment installed from next year. The move is in part a result of pressure from Washington….
As the ads boycott grows, Mark Zuckerberg shows no sign of backing down. “My guess is that all these advertisers will be back on the platform soon enough” the Facebook chief executive has said. Campaigners accuse the tech firm of being too slow and reluctant to remove some hateful content. But Zuckerberg added: “We’re not…
