Following days of controversy stemming from Spotify’s handling of allegations that Joe Rogan has used the platform to spread COVID-19 misinformation, the company said on Sunday it would take new measures to point its users to accurate information about the pandemic. In a blog post attributed to CEO Daniel Ek, the company admitted it hasn’t been transparent enough about its content policy, but stopped short of detailing any specific action against Rogan.

Sometime in the next few days, Spotify says it will add a content advisory to any podcast episode that includes a discussion about COVID-19. That advisory will direct listeners to the company’s COVID-19 Hub. In its current iteration, the page includes links to podcasts from the BBC, ABC News and Foreign Policy. “To our knowledge, this content advisory is the first of its kind by a major podcast platform,” according to Ek. However, social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter have employed similar measures.

Spotify has also pledged to publicly share its content guidelines. As of today, you can read them through the company’s Newsroom website. In the future, they’ll also be accessible through Spotify’s main website, and the company has promised to translate them into a variety of other languages. Lastly, the company says it plans to start testing ways to highlight its content guidelines in the tools it offers to podcast producers and other creators.

“We know we have a critical role to play in supporting creator expression while balancing it with the safety of our users,” Ek said. “In that role, it is important to me that we don’t take on the position of being content censor while also making sure that there are rules in place and consequences for those who violate them.”

The action comes after musicians like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell pulled their music from the streaming platform in protest of its handling of Rogan’s podcast and misinformation more broadly. Earlier today, author Brené Brown said she would not release any new episodes of her Spotify-exclusive podcast “until further notice.”

After Young first pulled his catalog from the platform, the company defended its record against misinformation by claiming it had removed 20,000 COVID-related episodes since the start of the pandemic. However, as part of that sweep, Spotify appears to have not removed any episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience. For instance, you can still listen to the controversial episode where Dr. Robert Malone falsely claims “mass formation psychosis” has led people to believe vaccines are effective against COVID-19. The Verge subsequently published the company’s COVID-19 content guidelines. In an internal memo, Spotify said Rogan's content did not "meet the threshold for removal.”

Paramount+’s live-action Halo series will debut on March 24th, according to a teaser the streamer shared today ahead of the AFC Championship Game on CBS. At approximately the 53-second mark of the clip, you can hear the announcer state the release date.

After sharing the first-look teaser back at The Game Awards in December, Paramount+ promised to release a longer trailer partway through today’s match between the Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs. CBS will air the trailer during halftime, with the game scheduled to start at 3:05PM ET. We’ll update this article with the full-length trailer once it drops.

First announced back in 2013, the Halo live-action series spent years in development hell before ViacomCBS announced last year the show would premiere on Paramount+ instead of Showtime, as previously planned. Pablo Schreiber, of American Gods fame, is the one donning Master Chief’s signature Mjolnir armor, and the entire project oozes high production values.

Ever since the omicron variant arrived in the US, there’s been a testing shortage in the country. Stuck between long lines at dedicated clinics and overly expensive at-home tests, many Americans have understandably given up the idea of getting tested to ensure they’re not sick with COVID-19. However, a solution to some of those problems could be on the way.

University of California, Santa Barbara

In a newly published paper spotted by Gizmodo, researchers from the University of California, Santa Barbara, detailed a system you can start using for about $100 should you already have access to a relatively modern phone. What’s more, they say early results show their process is nearly as accurate as a PCR test (and thankfully doesn’t involve tickling your brain).

In its current iteration, the system involves downloading the team’s Bacticount app to your phone, as well as making use of a hot plate and a cardboard box with a LED light. When you need to test yourself, you place a saliva sample onto a testing kit that costs about $7. You then drop a reactive solution that makes it easier for your phone’s rear camera to detect any viral RNA in the sample. The solution turns a bright red as it bonds with the viral material in your saliva. The Bacticount app then conducts a real-time analysis based on how quickly the solution turns red.

As you might imagine, there’s still plenty of work to be done before you can start using the SmaRT-LAMP test at home. The initial study is based on a small sample size involving 50 symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. Moreover, the Bacticount app is so far only optimized to work with the Samsung Galaxy S9. Still, the system shows promise. While it was developed primarily to aid with testing in places that don’t have access to adequate resources, Dr. Michael Mann, the lead researcher on the project, told Gizmodo that it could be adapted for at-home use. He also said it could be modified to detect new COVID-19 variants and other pathogens like the flu.

The Federal Communications Commission is ready to authorize more than $1.2 billion in funding through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. Announced in 2019, the 10-year program seeks to expand broadband internet access across rural America. In an announcement spotted by The Verge, the FCC says the funding wave will see 23 broadband providers bring internet service to more than 1 million locations across 32 states.

Additionally, and maybe even more importantly, the FCC also announced the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan, a program to ensure recipients of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund are properly spending the funding they receive from the public.

As part of the program, the FCC plans to double the number of audits it conducts in 2022 compared to 2021. It will also subject the largest dollar recipients to on-site audits and random checks to ensure compliance. What’s more, the FCC plans to post the results of its audits, speed tests and latency testing to the USAC website so that the public can take part in the accountability process. “These new measures will help ensure that the providers we fund in this program will do the job,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said.

The announcement of the Rural Broadband Accountability Plan comes after the FCC said last year it was taking steps to “clean up” the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. In July, the agency revisited winning bids from the program’s December 2020 auction, which was overseen by former Chairman Ajit Pai, after it received complaints it “was poised to fund broadband to parking lots and well-served urban areas” rather than rural communities. The FCC sent letters to 197 organizations and companies, including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, giving them the opportunity to withdraw their funding requests.

“This program can do great things, but it requires thoughtful oversight,” Rosenworcel said at the time. “That’s why we are refocusing the program on unserved areas and putting winning bidders on notice of their obligation to ensure that support goes to the areas that need it.”

T-Mobile will fire corporate employees who aren’t fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by April 2nd, reports Bloomberg. The carrier confirmed the deadline after the outlet obtained an internal email in which Deeanne King, T-Mobile’s chief human resources officer, said the company will put employees who have gone out and only gotten one dose as of February 21st on unpaid leave.

“T-Mobile’s badge-controlled offices continue to be accessible only to those who are vaccinated against COVID-19 and we have shared with employees that we are requiring office workers to be fully vaccinated by April 2nd,” a spokesperson for T-Mobile told Engadget. “We understand that this is a deeply personal decision for some employees but we believe that taking this step will put us in the best position to protect our T-Mobile community.”

The carrier told The Verge it will have some exemptions in place “for certain roles, locations and legally mandated accommodations and exemptions.” For instance, per Bloomberg, T-Mobile won’t put customer service employees on unpaid leave if they only have one dose of the vaccine by February 21st. It also won’t subject field technicians and store employees to the mandate.

Other large US companies have imposed similar deadlines on their employees. Workers at Google, for instance, have until January 18th to declare their vaccine status. The company will place those who refuse to get their shots or fail to secure a valid exemption on paid administrative leave for 30 days. It will then place those workers on unpaid leave for up to six months and eventually fire them if they don’t comply with the policy.

The Treasury Department is reconsidering the Internal Revenue Service’s use of ID.me for access to its website, according to Bloomberg. A department official said the agencies are exploring alternatives to the controversial facial recognition software, though that official didn’t specifically cite the privacy concerns around ID.me for the decision.

“The IRS is consistently looking for ways to make the filing process more secure,” Treasury Department spokesperson Alexandra LaManna told Bloomberg. “We believe in the importance of protecting the privacy of taxpayers, while also ensuring criminals are not able to gain access to taxpayer accounts.”

Citing a “lack of funding for IRS modernization,” LaManna also said it’s been “impossible” for the agency to develop its own in-house identification solution, and noted US taxpayers aren’t required to file their taxes online. Toward the end of last year, the IRS began requiring individuals to use ID.me to access certain parts of its website, including those sections related to services like the American Rescue Plan. Starting this summer, the agency will also require that people enroll with ID.me before they can file their taxes online. That’s a process that will require taxpayers to provide their government ID, a copy of a utility bill and a video selfie to the Virginia-based company.

The Treasury Department’s decision to reevaluate its use of ID.me comes in the same week that the company disclosed its use of one-to-many facial matching. Blake Hall, the CEO of ID.me, said the company employs the technology to verify selfies tied to government programs that are frequently targeted by organized crime elements. Hall made the statement after previously claiming the company did not use the “more complex and problematic” one-to-many approach.

Privacy advocates have criticized both approaches. Research indicates most facial recognition systems struggle to identify people with darker skin tones. Experts have also voiced concerns about the security risks of storing biometric data.

This week, America’s first blockchain-based stock exchange obtained regulatory approval from the Securities and Exchange. In a filing the SEC uploaded to its website on late Thursday evening, it said the Boston Security Token Exchange (BSTX) could use the nascent technology to offer faster trade settlements. Compared to a traditional exchange where it typically takes two days to settle a trade, BSTX will offer same-day and next-day settlements. It will also use a private blockchain to offer a market feed that will allow members to see their own trades, as well as that of others, on an anonymous basis.

What it won’t offer members is the option to trade digital tokens, meaning it’s not a new venue for buying and selling cryptocurrencies and other virtual assets. Jay Fraser, a director with BSTX, told Reuters the exchange plans to potentially allow trading of stock tokens at a later date. BSTX had planned to exclusively focus on tokenized securities, but the SEC rejected those plans in a prior filing. Still, Fraser said the goal is to create an exchange that eventually looks more like Coinbase than something like the NASDAQ or NYSE. Until then, BSTX will operate more like a traditional exchange when it opens before the second half of the year.

Apple has introduced a new feature that could help declutter the App Store somewhat. Per support documentation spotted by MacRumors, the marketplace now supports unlisted apps that users can only access through a direct link. Should a developer feel their software isn’t suited for public use, they can make a request through Apple’s website to distribute it as an unlisted app.

If the company grants the request, the app won’t appear “in any App Store categories, recommendations, charts, search results or other listings,” according to Apple. Outside of a direct link, it’s possible to access unlisted apps through Apple’s Business and School Manager platforms.

The company suggests that the new distribution method is ideal for apps that were designed for specific organizations, special events, research studies and other similar use cases. It notes, however, that unlisted apps aren’t a replacement for its TestFlight process since it will decline software that’s in a pre-release or beta state.

Otherwise, Apple notes it will consider both new and existing apps. Once an app is approved, its status as an unlisted app will apply to any future versions of the software a developer may release. In the case of any existing apps, their App Store link will remain the same.

A federal appeals court voted unanimously on Friday to uphold California’s SB-822 net neutrality law, reports The Verge. One year after the Federal Communications Commission repealed net neutrality rules that applied nationwide, the state passed its own set of laws. Those rules barred internet service providers from blocking, as well as throttling select websites and services. However, California could not begin enforcing those laws due to two separate legal challenges.

The first came from the Department of Justice. Under former President Donald Trump, the agency sued the state, arguing its laws were pre-empted by the FCC’s repeal of the Obama-era Open Internet Order. In February 2021, the Justice Department dropped its complaint. Later that same month, a federal judge ruled in favor of the state in a separate lawsuit involving multiple telecom trade groups. This week’s ruling upholds that decision.

In its ruling, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals said the lower court “correctly denied” the preliminary injunction brought against California by the telecom industry. It said the FCC “no longer has the authority” to regulate internet services in the way that it did when it previously classified them as telecommunications services. “The agency, therefore, cannot preempt state action, like SB-822, that protects net neutrality,” the court said.

The four trade groups behind the original lawsuit – the American Cable Association, CTIA, the National Cable and Telecommunications Association and USTelecom – said they were “disappointed” by the decision and that they plan to review their options. “Once again, a piecemeal approach to this issue is untenable and Congress should codify national rules for an open Internet once and for all,” the groups told CNBC.

After months of stalemate at the FCC, federal action on net neutrality could come soon. Next week, the Senate Commerce Committee will decide whether to advance Gigi Sohn’s nomination to a full vote of the Senate. President Biden picked Sohn to fill the final empty commissioner seat on the FCC. Her confirmation would give Democrats a three to two edge on the FCC, allowing it to advance the president’s telecom-related policies.

Days after he was permanently banned from YouTube, Dan Bongino has also lost his ability to earn revenue from Google ads. On Friday, the Bongino Report Twitter account sent out a tweet suggesting Google had revoked the pundit’s AdSense account. Later that same day, Tech Policy Press confirmed the suspension with Google. The company told the outlet Bongino’s website had violated its AdSense publisher policies.

“We have strict publisher policies in place that explicitly prohibit misleading and harmful content around the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrably false claims about our elections,” a Google spokesperson told Engadget. “When publishers persistently breach our policies we stop serving Google ads on their sites. Publishers can always appeal a decision once they have addressed any violating content.”

Bogino’s YouTube ban came down from Google after the Fox News host attempted to evade a prior suspension related to the platform’s COVID-19 misinformation policy. He posted a video to one of his accounts questioning the effectiveness of masks against the coronavirus. At that point, YouTube temporarily suspended Bogino. It then permanently banned him after he attempted to post that same video to another channel, thereby violating the platform’s terms of service.

On an episode of his podcast titled “I’m Daring YouTube to Do This,” Bogino said before the initial suspension he would continue to post videos about his claims on masks until the company took action. And while it appears he actively courted Google to ban him in both instances, the loss of AdSense revenue has the potential to hurt Bongino more than losing access to YouTube. On Twitter, Claire Atkin, the co-founder of Check My Ads, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting disinformation in the digital advertising industry, said the Gateway Pundit, a website that spread COVID-19 and election misinformation, lost $1.1 million in annual revenue after Google revoked its AdSense account.