Ten African Startups Flown to Asia For Pitchdrive, Twitter and Facebook Block China-backed Misinformation in Hong Kong, and Walmart Sues Tesla

Africa

PitchdriveAsia sends ten African startups to Asia

PitchdriveAsia, a product of Co-Creation Hub (CcHUB), is sending ten African tech startups on a tour to Asia, it has been reported. The Pitchdrive tour is in its second edition and would see startups across Africa using deep technology tools make stops in mainland China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The techs startups will pitch their products and solutions and also engage with partners and collaborators in those countries. “We find that there’s a lot of interest from Asia in Africa and we believe there are opportunities for collaboration that could help strengthen the hardware and deep tech ecosystem in Africa,” Damilola Teidi, Director of Incubation at CcHUB, told reporters. CcHUB is an innovation centre that galvanizes social capital and technology to foster economic prosperity.

Developers invited to MTN Business App of the Year and IoT Conference and Awards

Developers across Africa will be hosted at the 2019 MTN Business App of the Year and IoT Conference and Awards to be held in South Africa, it has been announced. The awards are designed to reward disruptive and out-of-the-box thinking that bring about positive change. The MTN App of the Year Awards has 4 categories namely, Best Women in STEM Solution, Best Incubation Solution, Best Enterprise Solution, and Best Consumer Solution. There are five entries in the IoT Conference and Awards. Each winner would have a sponsored trip to Silicon Valley, Tech Crunch in Germany, or an international tech event. The winners of the competition will be announced on 24th October, 2019 at the Sandton Convention Centre. Submissions to both competitions will close on 25th September, 2019.

Asia

Facebook and Twitter block Chinese misinformation on Hong Kong

Facebook and Twitter have taken steps to block fake news about the Hong Kong protests, according to a BBC report. Twitter reported that it had deleted over 900 accounts originating from mainland China that were used to sow discord in Hong Kong. The network also proactively suspended some 200,000 accounts before they became active in false news dissemination. Meanwhile, Facebook removed five accounts, seven pages, and three groups in a similar raid. “They frequently posted about local political news and issues including topics like the ongoing protests in Hong Kong. Although the people behind this activity attempted to conceal their identities, our investigation found links to individuals associated with the Chinese government,” Facebook’s head of cybersecurity, Nathaniel Gleicher, said.

WhatsApp to launch mobile payments in Indonesia

WhatsApp is rumoured to be in talks with digital service providers in Indonesia to create its own payment solution, Reuters has reported. If successful, Indonesia would become the second market where WhatsApp has this service following ongoing negotiations with Indian regulators. Rather than offer peer-to-peer payment services, WhatsApp aims to provide a platform that supports local e-money wallets. Some of the service providers currently in talk with WhatsApp include Go-Jek, DANA, and OVO. WhatsApp has over 100 million users in Indonesia alone, making it one of the Facebook-owned company’s top 5 largest markets in the world.

Google and Mozilla fight Kazakhstan surveillance attempt

Google and Mozilla have blocked efforts by Kazakhstan’s government to use Chrome and Firefox for an internet surveillance system, Reuters has reported. The system was a government-sponsored programme that allowed the state to decrypt information shared on the two browsers. This would have allowed the government to read messages, posts, and any other type of content shared via both Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. Realizing this, Google and Mozilla blocked the specific government certificate from being able to decrypt content on those browsers. The government of Kazakhstan said it had since halted the implementation of the system, saying it had been a test. The government added that it had only intended to protect its citizens against hackers.

The Americas

Texas government agencies suffer ransomware attack

Cybercriminals have infected 23 government organisations in the US state of Texas with ransomware, it has been revealed. Texas officials said the attack was co-ordinated and occurred over the weekend. Since then, cyber experts, anti-terrorism agents, and military units have been deployed to help resolve the situation. Authorities have also concluded that the attack came from a single source. Ransomware is used by cybercriminals to disable computer function until a ransom is paid.

Walmart sues Tesla over fires

Walmart is suing Tesla after solar panels in seven of the supermarket’s stores caught fire, according to the BBC. The fires were reported to have occurred in Ohio, Maryland, and California between 2012 and 2018. Walmart alleges that Tesla’s energy division was negligent in its installation of the solar panels, leading to the fires. Court documents indicate Walmart citing Tesla’s workers who inspected the panels as lacking basic training in solar energy. As such, Walmart expects Tesla to remove all the solar panels and to pay it damages. The US National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating Tesla over fires in some Tesla vehicles.

Europe

DHL stops delivery of Amazon Fresh

Deutsche Post DHL has announced that it would no longer deliver fresh foods for Amazon in Germany, Reuters has said. Amazon bought Whole Foods in 2017 but has seen slow growth since then. This is despite the fact that Germany is Amazon’s largest market outside of the United States. The slow growth of Amazon Fresh could also be attributed to the availability of alternatives like Aldi and Lidl. “The market for online ordered fresh food has been far behind expectations to date. Due to this reason and the complexity of the whole process, we have significantly reduced our activities in this area,” a DHL spokesperson is reported to have said. Meanwhile, Amazon is believed to continue offering its Amazon Fresh services via its own delivery network of planes and trucks.

France’s Macron wants global digital tax

French President, Emmanuel Macron is pursuing a global tax on digital services while France implements a first of its kind, Reuters has stated. Donald Trump has described the effort as foolishness because he thinks US firms were being unfairly targeted. Macron is adamant about the need to tax big tech companies, and would look to other G8 members to push through with a common tariff for large corporations. Currently, large tech companies are able to pool their profits in low-tax regions like Luxembourg and Ireland even if these profits were accumulated in other jurisdictions. While France has failed to reach an agreement with other EU leaders like Ireland and Denmark, Macron’s administration has introduced a 3% levy on profits of tech giants who make €750 million worldwide of which €25 million was in France. The French president faces a stiff challenge from low-tax countries who are dependent on foreign direct investment as a result of their low rates. Macron calls the tax social justice.