Swiggy’s Genie service halted (for now) in major cities
The Swiggy app feature that lets users request items to be picked up or dropped off is temporarily offline in Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad, according to Inc42. Why only these three cities? It might have to do with surges in demand due to the “cricketing and festive season” coupled with difficulties in hiring delivery workers, as per ET.
Byju’s to acquire executive education firm for $100 million
Singapore-based Northwest Executive Education has been snapped up by a Byju’s subsidiary called Great Learning in a stock and cash deal estimated to be $100 million, Economic Times reported. What does this mean for Byju’s? It has been looking to beef up its presence in the executive education sector that offers learning programmes designed for working professionals.
Zomato is trading below its last private valuation
The Indian food delivery platform’s shares fell below 52 rupees apiece, bringing its market cap down to $5.3 billion from its last private valuation ($5.4 billion) in 2021. Why is it important? The drop in Zomato’s market cap could deter retail investors from major IPOs by LIC and Delhivery, even as global tech stocks crumble, TechCrunch said in its report.
Forensic audit of CCTV cameras stayed by Supreme Court
The Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) was supposed to undertake a forensic analysis of CCTV footage showing poll booths during the recently-held municipal elections in Contai, West Bengal. Directions to conduct the audit were issued by the Calcutta High Court based on a BJP leader’s petition alleging rigging of votes and large-scale violence. But the Supreme Court has intervened and stayed the High Court order, remarking that it will set a dangerous precedent for post-electoral interventions. Read more.
Banning Trump from Twitter was a mistake: Elon Musk
Elon Musk, the future owner of Twitter, attempted to address a question that’s been on everyone’s minds since news of his acquisition: Will Trump be allowed to return to the platform? “I do think that it was not correct to ban Donald Trump,” Musk reportedly said at a recent conference. The former US president was booted off Twitter for inciting violence when thousands of his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol building.
Meta to revisit partnerships with news publishers
News publishers who have struck up deals with Facebook’s parent company are given a percentage of the platform’s ad revenue. However, according to The Information, Meta is now considering reducing their share, in order to scale back costs (after it recorded the slowest revenue growth in a decade) and prioritise short-form videos (known to rake in user engagement on the Facebook app).
Facebook junks location-based features
Tracking the real-time location of Facebook users allowed the platform to provide weather alerts, detect nearby friends, etc. But the platform has chosen to get rid of these features due to “low usage”, a report by 9to5Mac revealed. Users were informed that all data associated with these features will be erased on August 1. However, users aren’t off the hook yet as Facebook will “continue collecting location information for other experiences” such as targetted ads and location check-ins.
Also Read:
- ECI looking to use AI for monitoring voters at poll booths: What could go wrong?
- BJP MP Tejasvi Surya Criticises Twitter For Deplatforming Trump, Wants Intermediary Liability Reviewed
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