Internet

Google Maps will soon let Indian users book metro tickets directly through the app as it expands its partnership with the country’s open e-commerce network. After partnering with Open Network for Digital Commerce, Google announced at the Google for India event on Thursday that Maps users can book metro tickets. …

An Israeli official said Tuesday that Israel is in talks with SpaceX to provide Starlink internet services, especially to conflict zones. Starlink has never been offered in Israel, so this would be the first time. That official said it is considering halting cell and internet communications in Gaza to boost …

X, formerly Twitter, announced today that it will experiment with charging “new unverified” users $1 per year to interact with posts. The company said this test is live in New Zealand and the Philippines and won’t affect existing users. Users can post, like, repost, reply, bookmark, and quote for that …

Earlier this week, European Commissioner Thierry Breton sent a stark open letter to X, formerly Twitter, criticizing its failure to curb disinformation and illegal content on the platform after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. Today, X responded with a lengthy letter that was short on numbers and directly acknowledged …

In June, Vodafone and Hutchison-owned Three announced their plan to merge in a non-cash deal to create a $19B mega mobile operator. We predicted a significant regulatory hurdle. The country’s main antitrust regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority, announced an investigation into the deal today. Today’s announcement invites competitors, companies, …

Several hacktivist groups have flooded Israeli websites with malicious traffic after Hamas’ surprise land, sea, and air attack on Saturday, which prompted Israel to declare war and retaliate. The Jerusalem Post reported Monday that its website was down since Saturday morning “due to a series of cyberattacks initiated against us.” …

X, formerly Twitter, has redefined its “Public interest expectations” policy to define newsworthy posts that can be kept up despite platform rules. The company no longer requires 100,000 followers for newsworthy posts. The previous policy limited newsworthy posts to verified accounts. Since Elon Musk’s X allows people to get verified …

In order to compete with X (formerly Twitter), Instagram’s Threads will launch Trends, a popular feature. A Threads user noticed the update in a screenshot posted accidentally by a Threads employee over the weekend, which showed a numbered list of trending topics and how many “threads” were discussing each item. …

SpaceX received its first U.S. Space Force contract for Starshield, its defense-focused Starlink satellite internet service. The one-year contract can reach $70 million, a U.S. Air Force representative told Bloomberg. “The contract provides for Starshield end-to-end service via the Starlink constellation, user terminals, ancillary equipment, network management and other related …

On Wednesday, Reddit announced it was updating its privacy settings in an effort to standardize ad personalization and account visibility controls. Specifically, it’s doing away with the option to disable ad personalization based on users’ Reddit behavior. Unnamed “select countries” will still have the option to opt out, the company …