Ghana Government Finally Takes Over AirtelTigo, Yahoo Quits China, and Facebook Becomes Meta

Africa

Chipper Cash raises $150m

Chipper Cash has raised $150 million in its latest funding round, raising its valuation to $2 billion. Investors in this round of funding included Bezos Expeditions, Ribbit Capital, and Tribe Capital.

Ghana government takes over AirtelTigo

The Ghana government has completed its takeover of AirtelTigo. Bharti Airtel sold all its shares to the government in April as part of plans to leave the country.

Lemonade Finance raises $725k in pre-seed round

Lemonade Finance has completed a pre-seed funding round raising $725,000 in investments. Lemonade makes it easy for Africans in the diaspora to send and receive money within minutes.

Europe

UK’s Labour Party suffers cyber incident

UK’s Labour Party has suffered a cyber incident that rendered portions of its member data inaccessible. The party said it was made aware of the situation by a third-party that handled its membership database.

Tesla opens charging stations to other EVs

Tesla is opening its charging stations to other electric vehicles for the first time. Tesla has the largest charging network in the world and will begin a pilot across select locations in the Netherlands.

Online child abuse rises 81% in Northern Ireland

There has been a reported 81% surge in online child sexual abuse in Northern Ireland, reports say. The country’s police service says it is possible the numbers are underreported.

The Americas

Facebook becomes Meta

Facebook has successfully completed its name change to Meta as part of its new direction. The new name corporate name would allow the company to expand beyond social media to other areas of virtual reality and gaming.

US adds Israel’s NSO Group to blacklist

The US has added Israel’s NSO Group to a trade blacklist, banning all business dealings with the firm. The company’s Pegasus spyware has been allegedly used to act against US foreign policy interests.

Meta removes Nicaragua troll farm

Meta has removed thousands Instagram and Facebook accounts from Nicaragua that run a disinformation network at the behest of the government. The company said staff of the Supreme Court and telecoms regulator run the accounts.

Asia

Australia orders Clearview AI to remove photos taken in Australia

Australia has ordered Clearview AI to remove all photos it has taken in the country because it breaches Australia’s privacy laws. Clearview allows law enforcement to match photos with a database of 10 billion images across the world.

Yahoo leaves China

Yahoo has announced that it was pulling out of the Chinese market due to tighter government regulations in the country. China is currently in the midst of a tough tech crackdown on both local and international firms.

Epic Games closes game in China

Epic Games has decided to close its Chinese version of Fortnite in China, Fortress Night. The game had been running as a test for the past two years and will be shut down on November 15th.