Chipper Cash Raises $30m in Funding, Apple to Pay $113m in Batterygate, and Twitter Faces Censure in India

Africa

Chipper Cash raises $30m in funding round

African cross-border fintech, Chipper Cash, has secured a $30 million investment in funding round that saw the participation of Jeff Bezos’s Bezos Expeditions. The company will not offer crypto-payment options and more investment offers to clients across seven African countries.

Facebook launches #FBSuccessStory to celebrate Ghanaian online businesses

Facebook has launched “FBSuccessStory campaign in Ghana to celebrate online creatives using Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp platforms to engage with their audience. The campaign is in partnership with BellaNaija and Guardian TV.

Nigeria’s AutoCheck raises $3.4m in pre-seed funding

Nigeria’s AutoCheck has secured a $3.4 million investment in a pre-seed funding round to help it scale operations. AutoCheck is an automotive platform that helps car dealers to trade and finance the sales of their vehicles.

Europe

Northern Ireland to improve rural broadband in £165m deal

The government of Northern Ireland is looking to improve rural broadband with a £165 million deal signed with service provider, Fibrus. Up to 76,000 homes will benefit from the full-fibre service when it’s complete.

UK’s Labour party wants laws against anti-vaccine fake news

UK’s Labour party wants emergency laws to stamp out dangerous online fake news about vaccination. The party is calling for severe financial and criminal penalties against social media platforms that don’t remove said news.

EU looking to remove online extremist content

UE leaders are looking to draft new legislation that forces internet companies to remove extremist content within an hour of their publication. They are also calling for more data-sharing among member countries.

The Americas

Apple to pay $113m to settle ‘batterygate’ scandal

Apple will pay a reputed $113 million to settle claims that it intentionally slowed down old iPhones in a bid to increase sales in new devices. Aside that, the company also settled a $500 million class action suit to pay off affected users.

Facebook accused of forcing workers back to office

More than 200 workers of Facebook from around the world have accused the firm of forcing its staff to return to the office despite coronavirus fears. The staff made their claims via an open letter in which they charged Facebook to make room for more remote workers.

Twitter and Facebook grilled over US elections coverage

Both Mark Zuckerberg and Jack Dorsey were grilled by the US Senate over how Facebook and Twitter respectively handled news dissemination during the US elections. While the republican side wondered if social media outlets had the editorial license to label tweets, the Democrats wondered if they were doing enough to stop the spread of false news.

Asia

Huawei to sell off Honor brand

Huawei is looking to sell of its youth-focused gadget brand, Honor, due to difficulty in securing parts. US sanctions on Huawei have made it difficult for the Chinese firm to secure vital parts for some of its devices.

Vietnam threatens to shut down Facebook over censorship

Vietnam is threatening to shut down Facebook unless it is willing to censor local political content. While Facebook had heeded to censorship calls in the past, it has refused to double down on regulating “anti-state” posts in Vietnam.

Twitter called to book over anti-court posts

Twitter faced further censure threats from Indian legislators after it failed to remove posts critical of the country’s top courts and its judges. An Indian parliamentary panel added that Twitter apologised for labelling a Himalayan region as part of China.