BIDEN DROPS TRUMP ATTEMPT TO BAN TIKTOK
US President Joe Biden has signed an executive order that sets out criteria for assessing the risks of apps associated with foreign opponents.
Biden also revoked and replaced three executive orders from former President Donald Trump that sought to ban transactions with TikTok and WeChat in the US. One of the decrees also aimed to block TikTok, which led to a lengthy legal battle.
GOOGLE ADS API VERSION 8.0 NOW AVAILABLE
Google has released version 8.0 of the Google Ads API that includes a ton of new features including cross-account bidding strategies, label retrieval, CallAdInfo support, cart data support for conversions, smart campaign support and much more.
Version 7.0 of the Google Ads API was released on April 28, 2021. Updated libraries and code samples will be published next week.
BITCOIN JUMPS 13% AFTER EL SALVADOR PASSES LAW TO ADOPT IT AS LEGAL TENDER
The country has struck a partnership with digital wallet company Strike, to build the country’s modern financial infrastructure using bitcoin technology as a replacement for paper currency. In the evening after the official announcement, the cryptocurrency was trading at $37176,44, which is 13% higher than in the previous 24 hours.
DOWNLOADS OF FINTECH APPS UP 132%
Financial and banking app downloads have increased 132% globally according to the latest report from app marketing expert AppsFlyer.
Marketing-driven installs jumped by a whopping 300% between 2020 and 2021 in Western Europe as marketers began to more aggressively acquire users last year.
INSTAGRAM ANNOUNCES NEW MONETIZATION OPTIONS FOR CREATORS
Instagram is now announcing several new monetization options for creators, including a new affiliate tool, new Shops features, and new Stars donations options.
The new “native affiliate tool” will allow creators to discover more products on checkout and share them with followers to earn commissions on the sales they drive.
Creators who have their own product lines will now be able to link their shop to their personal profile – not just their business profile.
INSTAGRAM IS SHEDDING MORE LIGHT ON THEIR FEED RANKING ALGORITHM
In the feed, the platform first shows the content of the accounts that the users are subscribed to, and then predicts what content they might like based on the collected data.
In the "Explore" section, the platform ranks content primarily based on information about which posts the user likes, saves and reposts.
APPLE INTRODUCES ICLOUD+, OFFERING VPN-LIKE FEATURE AND MORE
In the Mail app, Mail Privacy Protection will appear, which hides the IP address of the recipient of messages: it will not allow senders to "piece together" data using a pixel, as well as determine the user's location.
Updates will also appear in the Safari browser. In addition to Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which blocks all third-party cookies by default, the IP address is hidden.
APPLE WILL ADD NEW PRIVACY FEATURES TO IOS 15
One of the innovations of iOS 15 will be a panel that will provide detailed information about what data each third-party application collects.
In iOS 14.5, Apple has already released the App Tracking Transparency (AT) feature, which limits the ability of developers to track users for advertising purposes.
ELON MUSK THREATENED BY A GROUP OF HACKERS
The head of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, was targeted by hackers from the Anonymous group. They believe that Musk exerts an excessive influence on the cryptocurrency market and suffers from megalomania.
Anonymous activists declared war on the entrepreneur and talked about it in a video, where they listed in detail the cases of fluctuations in the bitcoin exchange rate caused by Musk's statements on Twitter.
WALMART’S FLIPKART IN TALKS TO RAISE $3 BILLION FROM SOFTBANK
The startup is aiming for a valuation of about $40 billion and is in talks with Singapore's GIC Pte., Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority. SoftBank could invest $300 million to $500 million of the total through its Vision Fund II, according to the report.
CHINA BANS CRYPTO-LINKED SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS
This follows the announcement by Chinese authorities last month to intensify their crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior.
At least a dozen popular Weibo accounts featuring content about cryptocurrencies have been suspended or shut down over claimed violation of the Chinese social media platform’s relevant laws and regulations.