To fuel the rise of its app Flipagram, TikTok parent company Bytedance scraped profiles, videos, usernames and other content from Instagram and other social media platforms. Buzzfeed reported that the Chinese company scraped “hundreds of thousands” of accounts for content without users’ consent. Flipagram, which ByteDance acquired back in 2017, allowed users to create short slideshow videos set to music — sort of a simplified version of TikTok and other short-form video apps. The app has since been rebranded as Vigo Video.

The scraping strategy was meant to be a “growth hack” for Flipagram, allowing it to expand its user base, according to former ByteDance employees interviewed by Buzzfeed. Flipagram was scraping up to 10,000 videos per day from high-priority countries, according to one former employee. The three platforms that Flipagram allegedly scraped content from are Instagram, Snapchat and Musical.ly (which is owned by ByteDance and was later absorbed by TikTok). One former Bytedance employee disputes that Instagram was involved in the scrape due to the incompatible sizing of their videos at the time.

The employees also allege that the scraped content from major US social media platforms was then used to build Bytedance’s “For You” algorithm. TikTok has yet to comment on whether Flipagram’s stolen data was used to build TikTok’s “For You” algorithm.

Scraping publicly available data isn’t illegal by itself. Many social platforms find "creative" ways to boost their audience in their early days, like harvesting external content, creating fake profiles or mass-emailing potential users. But companies can also ban unauthorized scraping in their terms and conditions for users, which Instagram and Snapchat both do. Violating such contracts can often lead to lawsuits. 

There's an irony to Bytedance in its early days allegedly scraping data from Instagram, since Reels was Instagram's attempt to capture TikTok's audience and instead became a receptacle for old TikToks. In order to keep Reels from driving more traffic to its rival app, Instagram recently announced it would no longer promote TikToks. 

The world needs to cut carbon emissions by a quarter by the year 2030 to avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change, according to the latest report from the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Governments and industries must make sure to level carbon emissions by 2025. Even then, the world will need to invest in CO2 removal factories and other technologies to remove carbon dioxide from the sky. With all these measures in place, the world can still expect a bare minimum temperature increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius over the next few decades, still, a grim outcome that will eviscerate most of the world’s coral reefs and make many low-lying regions uninhabitable.

The lead author of the report, Sarah Burch, tweeted that even the 1.5 degrees Celsius target is unlikely, a sentiment that other climate scientists have expressed. In order to reach that goal, virtually every industry and country would have to make rapid emissions cuts.

“The average annual greenhouse gas emissions over the last 10 years were THE HIGHEST IN HUMAN HISTORY. We are not on track to limit warming to less than 1.5 degrees,” tweeted Burch.

But the report also expressed a few reasons to be optimistic. First, governments and the private sector at the very least know what they need to do as far as curbing their energy use. The question remains whether stakeholders will actually stick to their emissions targets and make the drastic changes needed to avoid the worst case scenario.

“Having the right policies, infrastructure and technology in place to enable changes to our lifestyles and behavior can result in a 40-70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. This offers significant untapped potential,” wrote IPCC Working Group III Co-Chair Priyadarshi Shukla in the report.

Second, even though average annual global greenhouse gas emissions between 2010 to 2019 were the highest in human history, the rate of growth has slowed. Countries have adopted policies that have decreased deforestation and ramped up the use of renewable energy. The costs of solar, wind energy and lithium ion batteries have also decreased by 85% over the past decade, making it a more viable option than ever before.

The report warned that by 2050, solar and wind power will need to supply the majority of the world’s energy. And the report also echoed the consensus shared by most climate scientists that the world must immediately and rapidly curb its use of fossil fuels. “Coal has to go. Coal without carbon capture and storage has to go down by 76% by 2030. That’s… really fast,” noted Burch.

But attaining global consensus to cut down on fossil fuels is easier said than done. China, the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitter, increased its domestic coal use in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which ramped up energy commodity prices. Leaders in the EU and US have expressed concerns that global demand for coal will only increase, with countries needing to burn more coal due to higher natural gas prices.

The Competition Commission of India (CCI) on Friday released early findings of an investigation into Google’s app store and its payment system, Google Pay. As Bloombergreported, it found that Google’s Play Store billing system for app developers is “unfair and discriminatory”. 

Back in 2020, Google decided to delay enforcing its 30% commission for app developers in India following an outcry from the country's startup community. The tech giant agreed to defer the policy until this month. But in the interim, Indian developers lobbied the nation’s government to stop Google from enacting what they felt was an unfairly high fee. Developers also believed that since Android phones are preloaded with the Play Store, it gave Google an unfair advantage over rival payment systems.

Of particular concern in India is whether Google Pay will undercut rival United Payments Interface (or UPI) apps, which allow users to directly debit payments from their bank accounts using just a virtual address. UPI payment apps like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm are currently the most popular way for Indians to make payments online. Critics have alleged that Google’s control of the Play Store and the Android operating system gives it an unfair amount of control over India's digital payment ecosystem.

India’s antitrust regulator echoed similar concerns over Google Pay. “Google’s conduct is also resulting in a denial of market access to competing UPI apps since the market for UPI enabled digital payment apps is multi-sided, and the network effects will lead to a situation where Google Pay’s competitors will be completely excluded from the market in the long run," wrote CCI in documents viewed by Bloomberg.

India’s antitrust agency has yet to finish its investigation into Google. Upon its conclusion, the tech giant may be forced to pay fines or change its policies. 

The search giant has come under fire in India, both for its developer's fees and the potential threat Google Pay poses to domestic payment platforms. Last year Google announced that all Play Store developers would have to integrate with Google’s payment system by October 2022.

Twitch is halting a feature that lets viewers pay to promote their favorite streamers after bad actors used it to push porn and other NSFW content onto its homepage. First spotted by PC Gamer, a number of Twitch users on Twitter this week noticed that streams of porn videos were on the homepage, all featuring the caption “Promoted by the streamer’s community." It appeared that a number of unidentified users were taking advantage of the platform’s “Boost Train” program, which boosts streamers if enough fans create a “hype train” by purchasing subscriptions and bits.

Since Twitch only rolled out the Boost Train feature to partners and affiliates, only a limited number of streamers have it enabled. It's still unclear how the bad actors were able to access Boost Train-enabled accounts.

In an email to Engadget, a Twitch spokesperson said the Boost Train feature was paused "due to safety reasons." Twitch would not comment on whether it identified the users who were behind pushing the offending content, or whether it had plans to bring Boost Train back. 

While sexually explicit content is against Twitch’s terms of service, some critics say the platform has been inconsistent about the kind of NSFW content it bans. The platform relies on a mix of community reports and AI to identify sexually explicit streams. Dot Esports this week reported that Twitch is considering a “mature label”, which would allow streamers to experiment with more R-rated content — though it’s still drawing a hard line on broadcasting masturbation or sexual intercouse.

Boost Train debuted just this month, replacing a widely-scorned “Paid Boosts” program that let fans pay Twitch directly to boost their favorite streamers. Boost Train, on the other hand, was aimed at rewarding smaller streamers with a growing fanbase.

Invite-only social audio platform Clubhouse will let users limit who can see their full profiles due to increased security threats related to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a company blog post. Users can now change their profile settings to “protected”, which will only allow pre-approved followers to view the rooms and clubs they’ve visited, as well as replays. Unapproved followers won’t be able to see when a user is online. Clubhouse also won’t recommend protected profile holders to other users they don’t know.

“We're grateful we've become a meeting place for people around the world to connect during this time, but we also know that times of conflict and upheaval make it increasingly important to be mindful of your presence online and what you share,” wrote the platform in its post.

The nearly two-year-old platform has been slow to roll out moderation and safety features for its many users, despite regular instances of harassment and abuse on the app. A number of Clubhouse users have faced targeted harassment on the platform, including doctors giving advice on the Covid-19 pandemic, Jews, Palestinians, women and people of color. It's also very hard to remain anonymous on the platform. Clubhouse requires a phone number to join, and (unless you opt out) will recommend other Clubhouse users in your phone’s contact list. It also requires you to use your real first and last name in order to create a profile. 

Clubhouse remains one of the few Western tech companies that hasn’t temporarily restricted services for Russian users, or been banned in Russia. For many anti-war Russians, Clubhouse remains one of few viable options for relaying information to the outside world. Meanwhile, many users from Ukraine have flocked to Clubhouse to discuss the ongoing invasion. Given the app’s lack of anonymity, it’s likely such users would need an extra security measure.

But as far as privacy goes, Clubhouse only offers the bare minimum, even with protected profiles. Users will still be able to see the names, usernames, bios and any linked social media on protected profiles. The platform also turned off its “Replay” feature for all users in Ukraine, meaning that conversations will no longer be recorded by default. Besides that, Clubhouse users are left to use their best judgment when it comes to expressing views that could get them in trouble with their government or disclosing personal information.

The days of getting kicked off of Xbox because a partner or family member decides to sign in from another room may soon be over. Microsoft is reportedly adding a family plan as a separate subscription tier to its Xbox Game Pass, according to Windows Central. 

Engadget reached out to Microsoft for confirmation of the news, but the company is keeping its lips sealed for now. “We are always looking for ways to improve the Game Pass experience and add more value for members, which includes regularly testing and refining features based on community feedback. However, we have nothing to announce at this time," wrote a Microsoft spokesperson in an email to Engadget.

Unlike Netflix, Spotify and many other subscription services, the Xbox Game Pass currently has no option for multiple users to share one account. This has been a common frustration amongst Xbox players over the years, particularly those who share a household with other people who love to play games. Xbox Game Pass subscriptions are tied to specific Xbox profiles and not specific devices, allowing players to sign-in from anywhere. While players can technically add a secondary Xbox console to their Game Pass subscription, the primary account holder must be signed in for the second person to access their games. Households with multiple gamers often get around this inconvenience by paying for multiple individual Game Pass subscriptions.

The family plan will reportedly allow up to five players on a single subscription and should debut later this year. It is unknown what the exact pricing will be, and whether the family plan will be exclusive to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, or include the other subscription tiers. 

A family plan will likely give Microsoft an extra edge over Sony Playstation, which this week announced a newly revamped set of subscription plans — none of which include a family plan — to compete with the Xbox Game Pass. 

As we’ve noted in the past, Microsoft has been very eager to grow its Xbox Game Pass subscriber base. The cloud gaming service is currently at 25 million subscribers as of this January. The company’s $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is expected to close next summer, meaning popular titles like Call of Duty, Diablo and World of Warcraft are coming to Game Pass. It’s not surprising that one of the ways Microsoft will accommodate this larger subscriber base is by making it easier for households to share a subscription.

Yelp today announced it would further expand its health grades information on restaurant listings. While the reviews platform developed its own digital standard for restaurant hygiene (called "Local Inspector Value-entry Specification" or LIVES) alongside the "the technology departments of the cities of San Francisco and New York" in 2013, it's now broadening its partnership with firm Hazel Analytics. Yelp and Hazel teamed up last year, and together the LIVES metric now incorporates "data from health departments across 48 U.S. states" as well as Toronto and Vancouver.

“The expansion of Yelp's health scores program comes at a time when people are returning to indoor dining as COVID-19 restrictions continue to lift, health inspections are restarting from the early pandemic pause, and restaurants are embracing more diner safety measures like contactless payments and virtual menus,” wrote Yelp in a blog post.

There’s a chance you’ve seen health scores on your city’s Yelp restaurant pages already. But in recent years, Yelp became even more proactive in grading restaurants, going so far as to estimate scores in cases where a city might not issue a letter grade or numerical score. Yelp listings for restaurants in Los Angeles and Chicago also include a rundown of health code violations.

Still, some in the restaurant industry have criticized Yelp’s efforts. Cities and states vary widely in their food inspection scoring, with some assigning a letter grade or numerical score, and others opting for a pass/fail system. Restaurants have complained about inaccurate or out-of-date scores on their listings. The Mercury News reported that restaurants in Bay Area counties that use a pass/fail system were taken aback when Yelp’s algorithm generated its own health inspection score for their businesses.

Yelp calculates health inspection scores using three methods: directly using a score provided by a city’s health department, generating a score from raw health data or using an estimated health score generated by Hazel’s algorithm. The third option — which Hazel defaults to in cases where cities don’t publish health inspection scores — leaves a great deal of room for misinterpretation. And as The Mercury News points out, restaurants that, deservedly or not, show low LIVES-generated scores on Yelp might see their business dry up significantly.

VinFast Automotive— the Vietnamese car startup — is set to build its first North American assembly plant in North Carolina’s Triangle Innovation Point, right outside of Raleigh. The company will invest a total of $5 billion in the facility which will eventually employ 13,000 workers, according to the Raleigh News and Observer. The Vinfast plant won’t just be North Carolina’s first EV facility, it’ll also be the state’s first car manufacturing plant. Toyota also announced plans last year to build a $1.29 billion battery manufacturing plant in Randolph County, further cementing North Carolina’s status as the next potential EV hub.

We’ve already heard about VinFast's two new electric crossover cars — the VF32 and the VF33 — that it plans to debut in the US this summer. But the North Carolina plant will focus on building two other cars: the VinFast VF 9, a 7-passenger all-electric SUV and the VinFast VF 8, a 5-passenger, all-electric mid-size SUV. The company is aiming to make both lines available for delivery in the US later this year.

As far as SUVs go, both VinFast models will be reasonably priced. The smaller car, the two-row VF 8, will retail for $39,400. The three-row VF 9 will retail for $53,700. Drivers have the option of selecting different battery sizes for each model. The VF 8 with a smaller battery has a range of 285 miles, with a bigger battery the range increases to 313 miles. Meanwhile, the VF 9 is likely to come with a larger battery pack that could give it a range of up to 423 miles, InsideEVs reported. If this actually happens, this would put the VF 9 at a higher maximum range than many of its competitors in the electric SUV space. For the sake of comparison, the 2021 Tesla Model X has a range of 360 miles and the Kia EV9 SUV has a range of 300 miles.

Even as far as EV startups go, VinFast is relatively new to the game. The company is a subsidiary of a Vietnamese conglomerate called VinGroup, and only started making cars in 2017. Both its cars and scooters are popular in Vietnam, but it has yet to sell any cars abroad, reported the Raleigh News and Observer. But with its first US manufacturing facility in the works, the Vietnamese startup is likely to gain more credibility stateside.

A Dutch foundation has hit Apple with a lawsuit over the App Store’s developer fees, seeking €5.5 billion euro in damages for what it alleges is monopolistic behavior. In a press release, the Dutch Consumer Competition Claims Foundation stated it was filing a "collective claim" for damages, on behalf of any iPhone or iPad owners in the EU who have downloaded a paid app or made purchases within an app.

Suing Apple for its app store policies on behalf of consumers— instead of developers — might seem like an unusual move on the Dutch foundation’s part. Most of the scrutiny over the tech giant’s so-called “Apple tax” has focused on its deleterious impact on the profits of developers. Just this past January, Apple agreed to settle a class-action settlement by US developers for $100 million.

The Consumer Competition Claims Foundation alleges that Apple’s developer fees were passed on to consumers, in the form of higher prices. “App developers are forced to pass on to consumers the increased costs caused by Apple’s monopolistic practices and unfair terms,” wrote the foundation in its press release.

The foundation is asking EU consumers who purchased an app in Apple’s App Store or made an in-app purchase since September 2009 to join its complaint. The lawsuit is set to be filed in the Amsterdam District Court.

This isn’t the first time Apple is taking heat from Dutch authorities. Apple has yet to comply with a January order from Dutch regulators that requires the company to offer third-party payment options for dating app customers. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is fining Apple €5 million for every week it doesn’t follow through with the order. Dutch regulators have already fined Apple more than €50 million and counting. 

But according to TechCrunch, there’s a sign of a potential compromise. Apple is working on an amended proposal of its dating app policy, which will be reviewed by ACM. But even if the two parties reach a consensus, Apple will soon have much larger battles to fight in the EU. The EU is working on finalizing the Digital Markets Act, which will (among a number of other anti-competitive measures) require companies like Apple and Google to allow alternatives for in-app payments.

The Russian developer behind the mystical RPG Loop Hero is telling players to just pirate the game if they are barred from buying it due to sanctions on Russia. In a post on Russian social media platform VK first spotted by Vice, the game’s developer Four Quarters addressed Russian fans who are currently unable to access Steam or Nintendo Switch’s eShop to buy Loop Hero. Both Steam and Nintendo have temporarily stopped accepting Russian payments, effectively barring the entire country from their inventories.

The developers invited players to torrent the game, even going as far as including a link to a torrent of Loop Hero on the Russian torrent site RuTracker in their post. “It is not known when all this will end, therefore, in such difficult times, we can only help everyone to raise the pirate flag (together with vpn) and share the most popular distribution on the rutracker,” wrote Four Quarter, according to an English translation by Google Translate.

Many fans of Loop Hero have asked if there were ways they could directly support or compensate the developers. Due to sanctions on state-owned banks in Russia, many Russian game developers haven’t been able to cash out their earnings. In lieu of sending donations, Four Quarters asked fans to take care of themselves.

“We are very grateful for your support, but the truth is that everything is fine with us, send this support to your family and friends at this difficult time,” wrote Four Quarters.

The ongoing Ukraine invasion has stalled — but not completely stopped — development of the new Loop Hero update. The update is nearly 80 percent finished, according to Four Quarters, and it plans to complete it soon. The developer is working on a new patch, as well as a completely new version of Loop Hero for the Switch. After the update is released on Switch and PC, players can expect a smartphone version of Loop Hero. But how quickly that happens all depends on the outcome of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and if and when the US and EU plan to drop sanctions. Between bans by the Russian government and sanctions from the West, Russians have been effectively blocked from Western tech companies and all their offerings.