Global Tech Roundup: Ex-Manchester United star, Anderson investigated for £4.7m crypto fraud

Hello guys, we trust you’ve had a very productive and stress-free week. Quite a lot happened on the local tech scene this week, from the proposed amendment to the NITDA Bill to several fintechs coming under the regulatory hammer of Nigeria’s Central Bank.

The global scene isn’t any less interesting too. And to help you round off the week, we present you the tech stories that trended around the world this week.

Former Man United midfielder investigated for crypto fraud

A former Manchester United midfielder, Anderson has come under investigation by Brazilian authorities on suspicion of laundering £4.7 million through cryptocurrencies.

According to the Brazilian newspaper, Globo, the former Brazil international was named as one of 8 suspects under investigation by a state prosecutor into a fraudulent scheme designed to divert 35 million Brazilian reals (£4.7m) from the state stock exchange and launder the money using cryptocurrencies.

The midfielder who made 181 appearances for Manchester United reportedly admitted his company sold Bitcoin to one of the companies involved in the scheme but denied knowing the money came from illegal sources, according to Globo.

The UCL winner who has been investing in cryptocurrencies since 2019 is allegedly also under investigation for theft, belonging to a criminal organisation and the laundering of goods, property or valuables.

Facebook removes friends list of Afghan users to protect them against Taliban

Facebook has moved to protect users in Afghanistan in the wake of Taliban takeover in the country. The social media giant is removing the ability to view and search through the friends’ list of the users in a bid to protect them from an extremely repressive Taliban government.

The new feature which is a one-click tool for Afghanistan users to quickly lock their accounts was announced by Facebook’s head of security policy, Nathaniel Gleicher.

“We’ve launched a one-click tool for people in Afghanistan to quickly lock down their account. When their profile is locked, people who aren’t their friends can’t download or share their profile photo or see posts on their timeline”

Nathaniel Gleicher, Head of security policy at Facebook

There are increasing worries that the Taliban which retook control of the Afghan capital, Kabul on Sunday, are using social media to track down their opponents. Professional networking platform, LinkedIn and microblogging platform, Twitter have also taken steps by hiding the connections of anyone in the country.

China hits 500 million 5g users

The world’s most populous country, China, has crossed the half a billion mark in 5g subscriptions as demand for the latest broadband technology continues to soar around the world. This feat makes China the global leader in 5g adoption.

For emphasis, according to a World Bank and African Development Bank report, there are 650 million mobile users in all of Africa. China alone has 1.6 billion mobile subscribers, with nearly a third of them on the 5g network.

According to reports, the largest economy in the world now has over 1 million 5G base stations, many of them co-owned by different mobile operators. Globally, the total number of 5G connections is projected to rise to reach 3.2 billion by 2026.

5G-compatible smartphones will also account for more than half of all handset revenue by 2025 as smartphone sales are predicted to rise from $108 billion in 2021 to $337 billion in 2025, powered by massive 5G adoption and pent-up demand post-pandemic.

Elon Musk unveils ‘friendly’ Tesla robot

Founder and CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk has unveiled a robot called the Tesla Bot. According to the world’s second-richest man, the humanoid robot which is 5-foot-8-inch tall, weighs 125 pounds and is built from “lightweight materials” runs on the same AI used by Tesla’s fleet of autonomous vehicles.

“It’s intended to be friendly and navigate through a world built for humans”

Elon Musk

Tesla Bot’s head will be outfitted with autopilot cameras normally used by Tesla vehicles to sense the environment. It will also contain a screen to display information. It will be operating via Tesla’s Full Self-Driving computer. The CEO also stressed that the robot won’t be physically dangerous as the average person could “outrun” and “overpower” it.

“We should be worried about AI. What we’re trying to do here at Tesla is make useful AI that people love and is … unequivocally good,” he said.