Instagram to block adults sending messages to children

A look at the warning messages Instagram will send underage users
A look at the warning messages Instagram will send underage users Credit: Instagram

Instagram will block adults from sending messages to children on the app as part of a raft of new features aimed at protecting underage users.

Adults will be unable to direct message (DM) any users under the age of 18 that do not follow them as part of the new rules. The app will issue a notification stating that it is not possible to message the child as they are underage.

Instagram will also send alerts to underage users to encourage them to be cautious in conversation with adults that they are already connected to but have demonstrated potentially suspicious behaviour. A high amount of friend or message requests to teenage users is among the tells of a suspicious user, Instagram said.

Elsewhere, Nokia has announced up to 10,000 job cuts over the next two years to cut costs and invest more in research, as part of a restructuring plan. 

Meanwhile, Israeli stockbroker app eToro is set to go public through a merger with a blank cheque company that will value it at around $10.4bn (£7.48bn).

                                                                                                    

That's it from us

Have a lovely evening and check back tomorrow for more tech news

Network Rail pledges to fix mobile reception hole on commuter line

Network Rail has signed a 25 year contract with mobile towers operator Cellnex to provide “uninterrupted” mobile and fibre services along the length of the Brighton Mainline Route in a welcome upgrade for commuters returning to the office, Matthew Field writes.

The mobile upgrade will cover London Victoria and London Bridge stations, via Clapham Junction and East Croydon and south to Brighton.

Mobile phone signals on trains have long been notoriously poor, with a review by the National Infrastructure Commission last year labelling them as “stuck in the digital dark ages”.

Sir John Armitt, the Commission’s Chair, said at the time: “As coverage improves elsewhere, people will find it increasingly frustrating that it doesn’t extend to the railway. It would be like finding that the railway only accepts cheques for payment and not debit cards or contactless.”

A 2019 survey found half of passengers complained they lost mobile phone signal half way through calls while two thirds struggled to connect to train Wi-Fi.

Currently, the signal on the London to Brighton Mainline, which is 51 miles long and carries 300,000 passengers and 1,700 trains across its branch lines each day, varies from strong areas to zero coverage due to the local geography and many tunnels along the route. 

Cellnex will provide broadcasting towers, fibre along the whole length of the line and bespoke equipment to provide signal at busy stations and in tunnels.

Spain’s Cellnex has been on an acquisition spree, snapping up the £2bn masts business of Arqiva and last year buying up Three mobile’s tower portfolio in a deal worth €10bn (£8.6bn). 

Reddit executive says Wall St Bets level of activity 'happens pretty regularly'

Jen Wong, chief operation officer at Reddit, today discussed the disruption to the financial markets earlier this year which was spurred by retail traders on the digital forum. 

In January, a group of traders who communicate through Reddit pumped up the value of little-known or unfavourable stocks, mainly struggling video game retailer GameStop. 

"That happens pretty regularly," Wong said, adding that it was common for "products to fly off the shelf" if someone had recommended them in a forum. 

"It is not a new phenomenon," she said.

Sotheby's to sell a digital artwork after success of Christie's $69m 'NFT'

Auction house Sotheby’s has announced that it will collaborate with the digital artist Pak on the sale of a Non Fungible Token, or NFT. 

“We wanted to partner with Pak because we are entering a whole new world with digital art, and we felt it was important to work with an artist who has been active in the community for many years,” a Sotheby’s spokesman said.

“While we can’t yet reveal full details of what’s to come, we want to be true to the democratic spirit of crypto and will be working together to attract as many people as possible to take part in this next adventure, so prepare for some surprises.”

Digital assets – the equivalent of a collectible limited-edition poster  which are bought and traded securely through a digital ledger called a blockchain– have become big business in recent months. 

A digital artwork by “Beeple” was sold for more than $69m at Christie’s last week.

Mobility firm Bird plots $150m European expansion

Bird, a mobility company best known for its electric scooters, is to invest $150m into its expansion plans across Europe this year.

The company said it was betting big on the "green recovery" in the wake of the pandemic. Bird will use the funds to open programs in over 50 new European cities. It also said it will be launching new products and safety initiatives.

Among the new programmes will be the Global Ride Pass, where users can pay for unlimited usage passes of Bird's devices.

“Europe is playing a leading role not only in embracing micro-EVs, but in redesigning cities to safely promote their use,” said Travis VanderZanden, founder and chief executive of Bird. 

“We’re committed to working with cities to advance these incredibly positive initiatives by investing in the technology, as well as the safety, equity and sustainability programs, that will usher in the next generation of clean urban mobility across the continent.”

Bird's scooters have become increasingly popular across Europe Credit: AFP

 

Hipgnosis bows to pressure to disclose how songs are performing  

The FTSE 250 company owns the rights to the back-catalogues of artists including Blondie and Neil Young. As my colleague Hannah Boland reports:

Music IP owner Hipgnosis has bowed to mounting pressure over transparency disclosures, and pledged to provide more information on how its song catalogue is performing following a flurry of swoops on hits by the FTSE 250 firm. 
Hipgnosis, which raises money from investors to buy the intellectual property rights to songs, currently owns rights to the back-catalogues of artists including Neil Young, Take That and Blondie. 
Despite recently emerging successful in the scramble to secure the rights to hits by some of the best-known artists, concerns have been growing among analysts over the lack of clarity on how its portfolio of songs is performing. 

Read the full story here.

Google’s Nest listens while you sleep 

Google says it wants to listen to you while you're sleeping to make sure you get a good night's rest. 

The tech giant today unveiled a new Nest Hub, a 7-inch smart screen which includes sensors that can track sleep when placed on a bedside table.

The feature, which Google intends to offer for free through at least this year, relies on a new chip Google calls Soli, which uses radar to detect motion, including the depth of a person's breathing.

Read more here.

Google's Nest

 

Facebook to open paid partnerships with independent journalists

Facebook is set to start trailing paid deals with a group of independent journalists for a new publishing offering, Axios reported, citing sources familiar with the plan.

The social media giant will allow writers it has partnered with to explore a range of new tools, including one that will allow them to build a website and another that will help in newsletter publishing.

Axios said the as yet unnamed offering will be free to use but that Facebook will eventually allow writers to monetise their websites and newsletters.

The new tools will vastly improve the range of methods journalists can post on Facebook. It is believed Facebook is pursuing the tools to help build a more loyal and engaged user base.

 

eToro to go public in $10.4bn SPAC deal

Israeli stockbroker app eToro is set to go public through a merger with a blank cheque company that will value it at around $10.4bn.

The company, a favourite of retail investors and rival of Robinhood, will combine with Fintech Acquisition Corp. V, a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) set up by banking entrepreneur Betsy Cohen.

eToro allows users to buy and sell apps as well as cryptocurrencies. In the past year alone it added 5m new customers and generated revenues of around $605m, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

The trading app does not make money based on commission but instead makes money through the “spread”, which is applied each time a trader opens a position on the app. The company also accrues revenue from a host of non-trading fees like inactivity and withdrawals.

The SPAC set up to conduct the deal will include $650m of investment from the likes of SoftBank, ION Investment, Third Point, and Fidelity. The trading app, which was founded in 2007, is expected to list on the Nasdaq once the deal closes.

The company has experienced a spike in interest throughout the pandemic as retail investors bet big on high-profile stocks and digital currencies.

In 2019, eToro executed 8m trades per month on average. That figure grew to 27m in 2020 with it rising even further to 75m trades in January alone. The company now has over 20m registered users.

Yoni Assia, chief executive of eToro, said the deal marked a “momentous milestone” for the company.

“We founded eToro with the vision of opening the global market for everyone to trade and invest in a simple and transparent way,” he said.

“Today, eToro is the world's leading social investment network. Our users come to eToro to invest, but also to communicate with each other; to see, follow, and automatically copy successful investors from all around the world.”

Mr Assia said the company had created a new category of wealth management called “social investing”.

The US listing will come as a blow to London, where eToro was considering an IPO. In 2018, Mr Assia said that the company had a "very good relationship with the London Stock Exchange". He also said at the time that the company was "open to discussions for an IPO".

Betsy Cohen, the chairman of Fintech V, said she sought companies with “outsized growth, effective controls, and excellent management teams”.

“eToro meets all three of these criteria,” Ms Cohen said.

“In the last few years, eToro has solidified its position as the leading online social trading platform outside the US, outlined its plans for the US market, and diversified its income streams. It is now at an inflection point of growth, and we believe eToro is exceptionally positioned to capitalize on this opportunity.”

Instagram to prevent adults from messaging underage users who don't follow them

Social media app Instagram is to introduce a new feature that will prevent adults from messaging people under the age of 18 that don't follow them.

In the instance where an adult tries to message someone underage they will receive a notification stating that sending them a direct message is not an option.

"This feature relies on our work to predict peoples’ ages using machine learning technology, and the age people give us when they sign up," Instagram said in a blog post on Tuesday.

"As we move to end-to-end encryption, we’re investing in features that protect privacy and keep people safe without accessing the content of DMs."

The notifications form part of a range of features Instagram is bringing in to improve the safety of teenagers.

"We'll start using prompts — or safety notices — to encourage teens to be cautious in conversations with adults they’re already connected to," Instagram said.

"Safety notices in DMs will notify young people when an adult who has been exhibiting potentially suspicious behavior is interacting with them in DMs."

Instagram already requires people to be at least 13 to sign up to its service but stated that it was working to do more to stop people lying about their age. It said it was using AI and machine learning to help apply age-appropriate features.

London payments company SumUp raises €750m

London payments firm SumUp has raised €750m  (£646.3m) as it looks to build out its product offering.

The company, which provides businesses with mobile card readers to allow them to take card payments from anywhere with internet, will use the funds to expand into existing markets as well as for acquisitions.

Goldman Sachs, Temasek, Bain Capital Credit, and funds managed by Oaktree Capital Management poured capital into the round. SumUp also intends on using the funds to refinance its existing debt facilities.

The company said it had entered the year in its “strongest position to date”, despite the impacts of the coronavirus.

Marc-Alexander Christ, the SumUp co-founder, said that he was “impressed” with how his staff had dealt with the challenges of the last year.

“As one of the fastest growing technology companies in the world, this cash injection - in addition to having the built-in option to expand the financing - will significantly accelerate the growth of our customer base, enhance SumUp’s technology leadership position, and drive the development of new services to support our merchants globally,” he said.

SumUp has raised more funds to back its expansion Credit: SumUp

 

Britain's tech start-ups get record $8bn in funding  

Seven more UK tech companies became unicorns in 2020, achieving valuations of over $1bn. My colleague Hannah Boland reports:

Britain's tech start-ups were able to attract a record $8bn (£5.7bn) in investment in the first three months of this year, with the UK gaining a lead on rival European tech hubs.
New figures from Government-backed Tech Nation today also found that investment into UK tech companies jumped to $15bn last year, surpassing the record set in 2019 by $200m. The US attracted $144.3bn of VC cash last year, and China $44.6bn.
Investors have more than doubled the amount of cash they are pouring into Britain's green start-ups over the past two years. Impact start-ups received $2.6bn of backing last year, a 160pc jump on 2018 which put the UK as the third biggest hub for impact investment.

Read the full story here.

Alibaba browser dropped from app stores as China crackdown on Big Tech continues 

The internet browser of Alibaba, Jack Ma’s e commerce giant, has been dropped from a host of app stores in China as the country’s clampdown on tech companies intensifies.

The UC browser was pulled over concerns around allegedly misleading online medical advertising, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.

A consumer watch programme by CCTV, China’s state-owned broadcaster, alleged the browser allowed private hospitals to bid to appear in the search results of larger hospitals. It claimed such targeted ads could lead to some patients going to private websites instead of the public ones that they had searched for.

The FT reported that Huawei, Tencent, and Xiaomi, had all removed the app from their stores.

The Telegraph has contacted Alibaba for a comment on the story.

The withdrawal of the UC browser is the latest in a line of heavy blows for Mr Ma since his planned IPO was scrapped last year. He had intended to list his fintech giant Ant Group in a $37bn public listing but regulators pulled the deal to a halt.

Last week, Simon Hu, the chief executive of Ant Group, resigned from the company amid intensifying scrutiny from regulators.

Alibaba's browser being pulled is the latest in a line of heavy blows for Jack Ma Credit: AFP

 

Huawei to license 5G patents to tech giants like Apple

China’s Huawei will license its 5G patents to fellow tech giants such as Apple in a bid to create a new revenue stream for the company.

Speaking to reporters in Tuesday, Song Liuping, Huawei’s chief legal officer, said it would begin charging a “reasonable” fee for access to its trove of patents on the next generation of mobile network tech.

Huawei holds the largest portfolio of 5G patents and it intends to monetise them despite efforts by US lawmakers to clamp down on its international trade.

Huawei is confident it will earn around $1.3bn in licensing fees between 2019 and 2021, Bloomberg reported.

The company plans to offer its patents at lower rates than that of its rivals like Qualcomm, Erisson, and Nokia.

Qualcomm charges  $7.50 royalty per iPhone but Huawei intends on offering prices as low as $2.50. Bloomberg reported that Huawei execs insist the existing US sanctions should not affect its plans to ramp up the licensing of 5G patents.

Huawei plans on licensing its 5G tech Credit: Reuters

 

Inovia Capital to build out UK team

Canadian venture capital fund Inovia Capital is to expand its European presence and build out its London team under former Google chief financial officer and current Twitter board chair Patrick Pichette. My colleague Matthew Field reports:

Inovia has closed a $450m (£325.7m) fund, bringing its total assets under management to $1.5bn and making it the latest North American venture fund to bolster its presence this side of the Atlantic.
The fund opened in London under Mr Pichette two years ago and has focused more of its funding on Europe. Among its UK investments include Yasa, an Oxford-based electric vehicles technology company.
“We are super enthusiastic about the growth stage opportunities in Europe. Europe plays host to an amazing array of up and coming entrepreneurial and tech talent, and more companies are raising early-stage investment every year.” Pichette said.

Digital art worth thousands stolen from leading NFT marketplace 

Users of a leading NFT marketplace are reporting thousands of dollars worth of digital artwork has been stolen from their accounts while others say their credit cards details have been used to make NFT purchases of up to $20,000.

"Someone hacked into my @niftygateway account, transferred my NFTs to another account AND purchased >$10K worth of NFT," said Twitter user @michaelmiraflor. 

He added his NFTs were being re-sold using the social network Discord.   

Another Twitter user said: "Someone hacked my @niftygateway account tonight and used my credit card attached to the account to buy like $20k worth of art.." 

Nifty Gateway confirmed "a small number of users" had been impacted by an "account takeover" but the platform said users were not using recommended security protocols 

"None of the impacted accounts had 2FA enabled, and access was obtained via valid account credentials," said the platform in a statement. 

"We encourage our users to enable 2FA that we provide on the platform and never reuse passwords." 

Advocates describe NFTs or non-fungible tokens as the first system able to prove ownership over digital assets, using blockchain technology to verify whether an online image or other collectible is an original. 

But reports of theft at Nifty Gateway demonstrate that, even with backup from the blockchain, NFT ownership is only as secure as the platform they're stored on. 

My colleague, Laurence Dodds, has more on how fraudsters are taking advantage of the crypto art craze here

Safety agency investigating "violent" Tesla crash in Detroit

The US auto safety agency said on Monday it is investigating a crash involving a Tesla vehicle that left a passenger in a critical condition. 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said it was "aware of the violent crash that occurred on March 11 in Detroit involving a Tesla and a tractor trailer." A Special Crash Investigation team has been launched. 

According to Detroit police, the crash took place around 3am when a Tesla drove through an intersection and became wedged under a tractor-trailer. 

The NHTSA has launched at least 14 SCI teams to investigate if Tesla crashes were possibly linked to the company's autopilot driver assistance system. However no action against the car maker has ever been taken as a result of these investigations and it is not clear if the company's autopilot system was involved in the Detroit incident. 

Tesla did not immediately reply to a request for comment. 

Nokia to cut up to 10,000 jobs 

Nokia has announced plans to cut to 10,000 jobs over the next two years, as part of a cost-efficiency drive. 

The company has said it plans to downsize from 90,000 employees to an organisation of between 80,000 and 85,000, with the exact number depending on market developments. 

“Decisions that may have a potential impact on our employees are never taken lightly. Ensuring we have the right setup and capabilities is a necessary step to deliver sustainable long-term performance. My priority is to ensure that everyone impacted is supported through this process,” said Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO.

According to Nokia, the job cuts are part of efforts to reset the company's cost base and invest in 5G, cloud and digital infrastructure. 

Amazon's second till free shop opens in London 

A  shopper leaves the UK's first Amazon Fresh supermarket in Ealing, London Credit: HENRY NICHOLLS /REUTERS

Amazon has opened it's second till-free shopping site in London today, with plans to expand across the capital. 

Amazon Fresh, which sells the "by Amazon" brand, now has two shops in the city, in Wembley Park and in Ealing. They are the tech giant's first physical supermarkets outside of the US.

Shoppers are able to enter the stores by scanning their Amazon app on the way in. That enables them to be tracked by Amazon's "Just Walk Out" technology, which includes cameras, sensors and artificial intelligence, meaning they are automatically billed when they leave without needing to queue at a checkout. 

Five things to start your day  

1) Rupert Murdoch's News Corp for content in Australia The social media giant inked a three-year accord with Rupert Murdoch's publishing empire

2) Mother charged with making 'deepfake' videos to frame teenage daughter's cheerleading rivals Prosecutors accused a small-town mother of harassing cheerleaders with digitally manipulated videos

3) Pressure for Stripe float grows as founders' wealth doubles to $23bn Stripe's founders have repeatedly distanced themselves from rumours of a public listing despite a valuation of $95bn 

4) Amazon motivates warehouse staff with 'virtual pets' for packing items quickly Company's plan to turn repetitive tasks into arcade-style video games draws comparisons to Black Mirror 

5) The crypto-art market is being infiltrated by fakes, thieves and scammers The craze for 'non-fungible tokens' was supposed to help artists keep control of their work, but has created juicy incentives for fraudsters 

License this content