TGIF. Let’s dive straight in.
1. Snapchat+ reaches 4M subscribers in 12 months
Snapchat’s subscription service, creatively named Snapchat+, has now hit 4 million members since its launch a year ago. In a blog post, Snapchat said its + subscribers “love the frequent feature drops that enhance communication with their closest friends, favourite creators, and allow them to customise the look and feel of their app”. It gives subscribers access to exclusive and pre-release features, and costs $US3.99 a month. I don’t get it, but clearly many people do.
2. Privacy Commissioner to begin talks with Meta over Cambridge Analytica
The Guardian is reporting that this week, the federal court has ordered Australia’s Privacy Commissioner and Facebook’s parent company Meta to enter mediation over the case brought by the former over the latter’s Cambridge Analytica scandal. Australian Information Commissioner and Privacy Commissioner Angelene Falk filed proceedings against Facebook Inc and Facebook Ireland in the Federal Court in March 2020. At the time, she alleged Facebook committed serious and/or repeated interferences with privacy in contravention of Australian privacy law.
3. ACMA highlights 2023-24 priorities
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has published a list of its 2023–24 compliance priorities. On the hit list for the next 12 months is: Protecting telco customers experiencing financial hardship, supporting telco customers experiencing domestic and family violence, tackling the online supply of dodgy devices, ensuring 5G mmWave EME compliance, minimising gambling harm, enforcing e-marketing unsubscribe rules, and combatting SMS scams.
4. Google would rather shut Canadian news links than pay publishers
Google says it plans to remove Canadian news links from its search results and other major products once Canada’s hotly contested Online News Act takes effect in the coming months. The bold show of force comes less than one week after Meta announced it would cut off Canadian users’ access to news links on Facebook and Instagram to protest the law. Big Tech is engaged in a high-stakes game of tech policy chicken with the Canadian government. News organisations and millions of Canadian Internet users are caught in the middle of it. Read more here.
5. Shein to file for IPO
Shein, the Chinese online fashion retailer worth more than $US60 billion that is under scrutiny from U.S. lawmakers over its labour practices, has registered with regulators for an initial public offering in New York, Reuters has said. Per the report, Shein has confidentially submitted its IPO registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and it could make its debut on the stock market before the end of 2023.
BONUS ITEM: Yeah… Let’s not do this.
“Ivan + Hayley 23/6/23.” A tourist decided to immortalize a visit to the Colosseum in Rome by scratching their names into one of the walls of the nearly 2,000-year-old monument. He now faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to 15,000 euros. https://t.co/hS5BIPxqXi pic.twitter.com/Gl0NomFEEd
— The New York Times (@nytimes) June 28, 2023
Have a wonderful weekend!