Thursday, 18 August 2022

Partner(s)

Good morning!

Dennis here!

You haven't even seen the half of it. Airbnb is staying true to its promise to excommunicate rowdy guests off its services. In a new statement, the company said that it will be using "anti-party technology" to crack down on rowdy guests.

Good riddance!

Below are the tech stories and news you need to know to start your day, carefully curated by Technext.

Summary of the news

Elon Musk wins access to files from Twitter’s former head of product
Bolt now serves only corporate customers in Tanzania
Apple is reportedly in talks to make Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam
Airbnb said it will use "anti-party technology" to crack down on rowdy guests
South Africa’s Uber and Bolt drivers go on strike, demand higher pay

Elon Musk leads legal war with Twitter

Elon Musk’s lawyers notched a partial win this week in their Delaware Court of Chancery standoff against Twitter with a motion requesting information from 22 Twitter employees, or “custodians,” in addition to 41 others that both sides already agreed on for sharing data.

The Verge reports that Judge Kathaleen McCormick ruled on the issue Monday afternoon, deciding Twitter has to “collect, review, and produce documents” from just one of the people listed: Kayvon Beykpour, the former head of consumer product at Twitter.

With the October 17th trial date for Twitter’s lawsuit against Musk for trying to break up their $44 billion deal drawing closer — and Musk selling billions of dollars worth of his stock in Tesla — his lawyers are trying to find something to shore up their arguments that Twitter committed fraud, while Twitter’s legal team issues subpoenas to help out the case on their side.

Insider reports, based on anonymous sourcing, that Musk’s lawyers were pursuing information from Twitter employees who ranged from mid-level execs to lower-level employees, and noted that his legal team filed another motion to compel pursuing info on Twitter’s user data, as well as the methods used to collect and analyze it.

As described in a lengthy countersuit (that Twitter already responded to), they argue the company put walls in the way of Musk’s attempts to verify data about how many daily active users are actually bots, as Musk disputes the company’s claim that spam bots account for fewer than 5 percent of the accounts it measures.

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Bolt now serves only corporate customers in Tanzania

Ride-hailing company, Bolt, has announced that it will only serve corporate customers in Tanzania beginning yesterday. As part of the ride-hailing company’s operational changes to comply with the regulatory environment, all retail cash users will not have access to the service.

This comes after Tanzania’s Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA), an authority that establishes and approves fares for ride-hailing operators, raised fares and reduced commissions for ride-hailing companies, Techpoint reports.

Bolt has reduced its customer base in the country, its drivers will no longer receive ride requests as expected, forcing some of them to seek new employment. Also, Bolt would cede the market to smaller players like Little, a ride-hailing service in the country that charges a 15% commission.

Apple to make Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam

Apple is in talks to produce Apple Watches, MacBooks and HomePods in Vietnam for the first time, Nikkei Asia said yesterday. It again shows how Apple is trying to expand its manufacturing outside of China, as it battles supply chain disruptions related to Covid lockdowns and increased U.S.-China trade tensions.

CNBC reports that Apple has asked suppliers to set up a MacBook test production line, and suppliers have started testing Apple Watch production. The company is reportedly still in talks to build HomePod speakers in the country.

Apple already makes some AirPods in Vietnam and reportedly began to move some of its iPad production to the country in June.

Airbnb to use ‘anti-party technology’ to crack down on rowdy guests

Airbnb says it will deploy “anti-party technology” in an effort to crack down on guests who trash houses they have booked with massive bashes.

According to the Guardian UK, the technology, which has been trialled in Australia, will look at “factors like history of positive reviews (or lack of positive reviews), length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, weekend vs weekday, among many others” to determine whether a particular booking was likely to be intended for hosting a party, the company said. It will initially be used in the US and Canada, and will continue to operate in Australia.

See an excerpt from the statement from Airbnb below:

The primary objective is attempting to reduce the ability of bad actors to throw unauthorised parties which negatively impact our hosts, neighbours, and the communities we serve.

It’s integral to our commitment to our host community – who respect their neighbours and want no part of the property damage and other issues that may come with unauthorised or disruptive parties.

South Africa’s Uber and Bolt drivers go on strike, demand higher pay

Uber and Bolt drivers in Cape Town, South Africa, have embarked on a two-day strike, Techpoint reports. The ride-hailing drivers are protesting lower commission fees, demanding higher pay rates, and faster approval processes for ride-hailing companies operating in the Western Cape, a South African province.

Drivers also want a moratorium on vehicle impoundment, which is currently experiencing a significant backlog. Remember that in March 2022, South Africa’s ride-hailing services, including Uber and Bolt, embarked on a three-day strike to protest record-high gasoline prices and pressure the government to pass industry regulations to protect their rights.

And now, this strike, which started on Wednesday, August 17, 2022, is scheduled to last until Thursday, August 18, 2022.