The long month of May is finally coming to an end. Its finally week was stocked with partnerships, product releases and mega deals across the global tech space.
Below we have curated some of the major stories around the globe you might have missed.
Amazon to buy MGM Studios
The obviously biggest news this week is the acquisition of MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer) by Amazon. The retail giant has sealed a definitive merger agreement to buy the James Bond studios for $8.45 billion.
The acquisition helps Amazon cement its place in the booming online video space with more than 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows in MGM’s catalogue.
According to the company, Amazon will help “preserve MGM’s heritage and catalogue of films” and provide customers with greater access to these existing works.
Facebook, WhatsApp, Google comply with India’s media regulations
Google, Facebook, Telegram and LinkedIn have either fully or partially complied with India’s new IT rules, according to reports.
The new rule which was announced in February and went into effect this week requires IT companies to appoint and share contact details of representatives tasked with compliance, on-ground customer support and producing originator of messages in a criminal case.
WhatsApp sued the Indian government earlier this week over the requirement about bringing a way to trace the originator of messages. According to the company, the rule compromises every user’s privacy because of its end to end encryption model.
However, sources say WhatsApp has complied with the aforementioned rules, but not with the requirement about traceability. Twitter has yet to comply with the rules. It is unclear at this point whether Apple and Signal have complied with the rules.
Iran bans Bitcoin mining after months of blackouts
This week, Iran banned Bitcoin mining due to huge energy suck from illegal mining.
This comes after four months of continuous blackouts because of the drought crippling the country’s supply of hydroelectric power.
Around 4.5% of the world’s total Bitcoin mining now takes place in Iran, making it one of the top 10 bitcoin-producing countries in the world.
According to the country, the huge amount of illegal Bitcoin mining that happens there was tapping a staggering 2 gigawatts of power each day from the already-stressed grid.
Over 10,000 women drag Google to court over gender pay disparity
Four women who worked at Google have won class-action status to proceed with their gender pay disparity lawsuit.
The latest ruling in the protracted legal battle means the suit can now apply to 10,800 women who held various positions at the tech giant since 2013. The women are seeking more than $600 million in damages.
Those affected represent a broad cross-section of vocations including engineers, program managers, salespeople and at least one preschool teacher.
The suit claims that female workers at Google earn almost $16,800 less than the “similarly situated man”. It also added that Google’s use of previous salary information was a key factor in its perpetuation of wage inequality.
Google has however denied the lawsuit’s central allegations.
Twitter’s iOS app confirms $3 ‘Twitter Blue’ subscription
Twitter may have unintentionally confirmed its plans for a subscription service. A $2.99/month in-app purchase for “Twitter Blue” was added to the iOS Store listing. However, the feature doesn’t seem to be fully enabled yet.
According to images shared by app researcher, Jane Manchun Wong, the service includes an “undo tweet” feature as well as a “reader mode” that makes it easier to view long threads. It also adds additional customization options like new app icons.
You can check out other news that happened during the week here. Have a nice weekend!!
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