On September 14, 2021, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) launched an investigation into Bytedance-owned TikTok, the popular video sharing app. This investigation comes as TikTok is already facing backlash regarding data privacy concerns. To know more about the app’s highs and lows in 2020, check out this article.
On September 13, 2021, Wall Street Journal (WSJ) came out with a detailed investigation surrounding Facebook’s content policies titled, “The Facebook Files”. Learn more about the incident here. What jumped out from this investigation was that the “X-check” or cross-check program used by Facebook, which allegedly gives some of the company’s high-profile users special treatment.
Every minute, nearly US$3 million is lost to cybercrime. And by 2025, cybercrime is set to cost the world over US$10 trillion. That cybercrime demands our immediate attention is evident. Cybercrimes are becoming easier and more prominent than ever before. A 2019 Global Data Risk Report revealed that, on average, only 5% of companies have properly protected their folders.
The popularity of Bitcoin has given way to concerns surrounding its ecological impact. As of writing this article, Bitcoin is trading at US$45,106. The global impact of Bitcoin has been so tremendous that El Salvador adopted it as legal tender and Ukraine legalized Bitcoin exchanges.
Deep technology is the latest addition to the startup universe and to the world of innovative problem-solving. The term “Deep Tech” was coined by Swati Chaturvedi, the founder of the digital investment platform PropelX. It refers to startup companies based on substantive scientific or technological innovation.
Twitter has been grabbing headlines for the past few months. First, it was 140 free non-fungible tokens (NFTs) as a giveaway. Now, it is the shareholder lawsuit against the social media giant. On Monday, Twitter Inc said that it would pay US$809.5 million to settle a shareholder class-action lawsuit which alleged that the company misled investors about its user base growth and user engagement.
China’s second-largest property developer, Evergrande, is undergoing a severe liquidity crisis. The company’s shares are down 85% since January 2021, and they are US$300 billion in debt. In a bourse filing on September 14, 2021, Evergrande warned people of a possible liquidity crisis.
Over the last couple of years, tech giant Google has been getting caught up in antitrust lawsuits across the world. From 2017 to 2019, the tech company has been fined US$9.4 billion in Europe alone. In 2021, Google has been hit with a US$177 million fine in South Korea and is undergoing an investigation by the Competition Commission of India (CCI).
Veganism is an ideology that discourages the consumption of any animal products in diet or daily life. This ideology is gaining massive popularity as startups explore the market for vegan products and services. The boom in easily available vegan products is making veganism a more achievable lifestyle than before. Thousands of people across the world have adopted such a lifestyle for various reasons in recent years.
The beauty industry has been actively making strides to adopt sustainable practices in recent years. Skincare companies have dominated this shift towards clean beauty, with sustainable skincare brands making up 28.5% of the global clean beauty market.
Among the hundreds of carmakers worldwide, few are as self-assured as Elon Musk, the CEO of the world’s top electric car manufacturing company. That’s why Musk’s comment on car production being “hard” turned heads.
In August 2021, Uber began showing ads in its core app in an attempt to find new avenues for revenue generation. The company aims to earn US$300 million in revenue from ads by 2022. The first company to be featured in Uber’s core app advertisements is Marriott Hotels. The ads pop up on user screens after they book a ride with the app.
In August 2021, the cryptocurrency market hit the US$2 trillion mark. The NFT market has been doing equally well, with sales volume surging to US$2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2021. The common thread between these figures is the use of blockchain technology and smart contracts.
Your WhatsApp chats are anything but private, as per a new report by ProPublica. Facebook pays over 1,000 contract workers across Austin, Texas, Dublin and Singapore hourly to sift through millions of private messages, images and videos. The workers can only access the messages that users report.
This autumn Sotheby’s is collaborating with the K11 group on Sotheby’s highly anticipated Autumn Auctions Preview at K11 Musea between September 18-21. This exhibit will be the grand reveal of over 40 art pieces that the auction house will have for sale between September and October.
On September 14, 2021, OpenSea, a popular NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) marketplace startup, admitted to insider trading on their website. Insider trading happens when people—employees or otherwise—use a company’s non-public knowledge to their financial advantage. OpenSea did not reveal the employee’s name; however, Twitter users took advantage of blockchain’s public access and transparency to ascertain who did it.
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