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☆ India is blocking TikTok's owner from offering music streaming as the company looks to build a Spotify competitor
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-15 | by ( Dan Whateley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

TikTok's owner is shuttering its music app Resso in India in response to government orders. The move comes as TikTok is rolling out a separate music app in five countries. AdvertisementTikTok's parent company ByteDance is shutting down its music-streaming app Resso in India at the end of this month, a company spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. The app blends some of the social features of TikTok with music streaming. The company hasn't announced plans to roll out TikTok Music in India.

Persons: TikTok, —, Resso, hasn't, ByteDance, SiriusXM, Paul Hourican, Moneycontrol Organizations: Service, Business, Apple, Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, US, BI Locations: India, China, Brazil, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Singapore, Mesa , Arizona

☆ OpenAI's GPTBot and other AI web crawlers are being blocked by even more companies now
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-28 | by ( Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Unique, high quality data, mainly scraped from the web, is vital to the performance of AI models. AdvertisementAdvertisementMore and more companies are trying to avoid having their data freely scraped and saved by web crawlers working for the benefit of AI models. Last month, OpenAI last revealed its own crawler, GPTBot, saying it would respect robots.txt, a decades-old method through which a website can tell a web crawler to ignore it. Many more companies are now also blocking CCBot, a web crawler used by Common Crawl. AdvertisementAdvertisementSee below for a full list of the biggest websites now blocking GPTBot and CCBot as of Sept. 22:Blocking GPTBotamazon.comquora.comnytimes.comtheguardian.comshutterstock.comwikihow.comcnn.comsciencedirect.comusatoday.comhealthline.comstackexchange.comalamy.comscribd.comwebmd.combusinessinsider.comdictionary.comreuters.comwashingtonpost.commedicalnewstoday.comnpr.orgcbsnews.comgoodhousekeeping.comamazon.co.uktumblr.comlatimes.cominsider.comglassdoor.comvocabulary.cominvestopedia.comslideshare.netamazon.decosmopolitan.comnbcnews.comindiamart.comstackoverflow.comhindustantimes.combloomberg.comcnbc.compeople.comtvtropes.orgamazon.invimeo.comverywellhealth.comikea.comespn.comindianexpress.comthesaurus.compbs.org123rf.comwattpad.comvariety.comtoday.compopsugar.comthespruce.comuol.com.bramazon.frgeeksforgeeks.orgelle.comeconomictimes.compcmag.comtheverge.comallrecipes.comthoughtco.comrollingstone.comwired.comnextdoor.comhollywoodreporter.comabc.net.auew.comamazon.canews18.comwomenshealthmag.comrateyourmusic.comamazon.co.jptechradar.comairbnb.comndtv.comlifewire.comtomsguide.comvulture.comeverydayhealth.compolygon.comtheconversation.comesquire.comprnewswire.combillboard.commenshealth.commetro.co.ukcountryliving.commashable.comgamesradar.comthehindu.comtimesofindia.comdeadline.comharpersbazaar.commedscape.comnymag.comrefinery29.comradiotimes.comcbssports.comtandfonline.comtheatlantic.comtrulia.comamazon.espinterest.esnationalgeographic.combhg.comeater.comsouthernliving.comhealthgrades.comvice.compicclick.combustle.comnewyorker.comeonline.comdigitalspy.comopentable.compinterest.dethepioneerwoman.comcaranddriver.combyrdie.comlivemint.commedicinenet.comteacherspayteachers.comcookpad.comthespruceeats.combizjournals.compagesjaunes.frliputan6.comdelish.commasterclass.comarchiveofourown.orgvox.comrealsimple.comaarp.orgfrancetvinfo.frpinterest.frkumparan.comtheathletic.comtravelandleisure.comvogue.comlivescience.comapartments.commarketwatch.comglamour.comamazon.itcinemablend.comthrillist.comamazon.com.brpinterest.co.ukangi.comalamy.esusmagazine.comdistractify.combbcgoodfood.comjagran.commercadolibre.com.mxandroidauthority.comcity-data.comfoodandwine.comhellomagazine.comamazon.com.augq.comingles.comamarujala.comieee.orgprevention.comstern.dekbb.comedmunds.commarthastewart.compcgamer.comjustanswer.comhealth.com20minutes.frfortune.comhomes.comscientificamerican.compopularmechanics.comverywellfit.comvanityfair.comchicagotribune.comverywellmind.comhousebeautiful.comcntraveler.comallure.comspanishdict.comneverbounce.comanswers.commoneycontrol.comarchitecturaldigest.comslate.comlonelyplanet.cominverse.comcorriere.itactu.frself.comtripsavvy.cominstyle.comeatingwell.comsuperuser.comwelt.despiegel.dewomansday.comseventeen.comhbr.orgoprahdaily.comautotrader.combonappetit.comsueddeutsche.deseriouseats.comliveabout.comseattletimes.comcoursera.orglivehindustan.comfrance24.comtownandcountrymag.comdotesports.comworldplaces.mefaz.netteenvogue.commotor1.comnj.comglamourmagazine.co.ukokdiario.combrides.comstylecaster.comalamyimages.frjagranjosh.comtheglobeandmail.comaxios.comfrancebleu.frtabelog.comthebalancemoney.comnydailynews.comsheknows.comnaomedical.comverywellfamily.comBlocking CCBot

Persons: —, OpenAI, GPTbot, Conde Nast, Masterclass, Kelly, robots.txt, verywellhealth.com, indianexpress.com Organizations: Service, Amazon, Guardian, NPR, CBS News, CBS Sports, NBC News, CNBC, Yorker, Hearst, New York Times Locations: USA, Europe, Originality.ai, androidauthority.com

☆ Byju's business head resigns amid reorganisation at Indian startup
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

A man walks past an advertising hoarding of Byju's, an Education Technology company and one of India's biggest startup, outside one of its branch in New Delhi, India, June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsBENGALURU, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Byju's Chief Business Officer, Prathyusha Agarwal, and two other senior executives have resigned as the struggling Indian ed-tech startup restructures its business and operations, a company spokesperson said on Tuesday. Two other business heads - Himanshu Bajaj and Mukut Deepak - have also left, the company, once India's most valuable startup, said. Byju's has let go of thousands of employees this year as it grapples with multiple legal and financial woes. Reuters has reported that Byju's will file 2022 audited earnings by September and 2023 results by December.

Persons: Adnan Abidi, Prathyusha Agarwal, Agarwal, Himanshu Bajaj, Mukut Deepak, BYJU'S, Moneycontrol, Byju's, Mohandas Pai, Rajnish Kumar, Pranav Kiran, Navamya Ganesh, Nivedita Organizations: Education Technology, REUTERS, Rights, Byju's, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, Prosus NV, Deloitte, Reuters, State Bank of India, Thomson Locations: New Delhi, India, Bengaluru

☆ A Meta exec appeared to mock Elon Musk by saying that its Twitter competitor will be 'a platform that is sanely run' — reportedly drawing cheers from staff
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-09 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta first confirmed in March that it's working on a Twitter competitor codenamed "Project 92." The audience reportedly cheered as he said people wanted a platform that's "sanely run." A Meta executive appeared to make fun of Elon Musk when telling staff about its Twitter competitor, The Verge reported. Twitter has sparked several controversies since Musk took over the platform, like its Twitter Blue subscription service which lets anybody get an official-looking blue checkmark. Executives added Meta's Twitter competitor will work with other apps like Mastodon and Bluesky because it uses the same protocol, ActivityPub, which is made up of decentralized servers, The New York Times reported.

Persons: Meta, Elon, Elon Musk, Chris Cox, We've, Cox, Musk, That's, –, zed him, Oprah, Dalai Lama, Moneycontrol's Organizations: Elon Musk, Twitter, Disney, Street, Meta, New York Times

☆ Twitter's new CEO joked that it was 'game on' as Instagram reportedly works on a competitor, while other staff poked fun at rival's outage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Meta is working on a Twitter competitor called "P92" which could be released next month, per Bloomberg. Twitter's new CEO, Linda Yaccarino, tweeted "Game on!" And as Instagram suffered an outage, Elon Musk and his staff couldn't help but comment. Instagram is reportedly working on a new competitor to Twitter, and employees of Elon Musk's company aren't shying away from the contest. It reported that users would log in with their Instagram details, and the app would use decentralized servers like Mastodon.

☆ Meta is building an 'Instagram for your thoughts' that could take on Twitter competitor — and it could be a 'great opportunity'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is building a decentralized text-based social network that will integrate with Instagram. It's no longer a secret that Meta is building out its own decentralized text-based social network. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement when asked about the prototype. "It's a great opportunity for them to fill that void with Twitter going through such a transition." Meta's decentralized social network could very well face the same fate.

☆ Meta is working on its own Twitter-like social network. Here's why an 'Instagram for your thoughts' could win as competitors multiply.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sydney Bradley | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta is building a decentralized text-based social network that will integrate with Instagram. It's no longer a secret that Meta is building out its own decentralized text-based social network. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a spokesperson for Meta told Insider in a statement when asked about the prototype. "It's a better idea than a lot of other things that have come out of Meta recently," Morgan added. Meta's decentralized social network could very well face the same fate.

☆ Indian edtech startup Unacademy to lay off 12% of staff - document
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 30 (Reuters) - Indian edtech startup Unacademy is laying off 12% of its workforce, citing a funding winter and pressure to turn profitable, according to an internal mail from the company's chief executive seen by Reuters on Wednesday. "Today... funding is scarce and running a profitable business is key," CEO and co-founder Gaurav Munjal said in an email sent to all staff. A spokesperson for Unacademy declined to comment on the layoffs and did not disclose the number of job cuts or the current headcount. Indian business news publication Moneycontrol reported earlier in the day that the SoftBank-backed startup laid off about 380 employees, reducing its total employee count to under 3,000. Companies that have cut staff include Tiger Global-backed Vedantu and Byju's - India's biggest startup valued at $22 billion.

☆ Meta says it's working on a Twitter-like social network
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Meta confirmed that it's exploring plans for its own Twitter-like social network, per Platformer. It follows a score of problems at Elon Musk's Twitter, and Meta's launch of paid verification. People familiar with the plans told the outlet that Meta's app will be decentralized and use the same protocol that powers Mastodon, known as ActivityPub. Users will be able to sign into "P92" with their Instagram logins, and Meta hopes to harness all Instagram users' data to improve the product even if they don't use the new social network, Moneycontrol reported. Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider made outside normal working hours.

☆ Meta explores decentralized social network app for text updates
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

March 10 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms Inc (META.O) is exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates, a company spokesperson said on Friday, in what could be a direct competitor to billionaire Elon Musk's Twitter Inc."We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates. We believe there's an opportunity for a separate space where creators and public figures can share timely updates about their interests," a Meta spokesperson told Reuters in an emailed statement. The report said Meta's new content app would support ActivityPub, the decentralized social networking protocol that powers Twitter-rival Mastodon and other federated apps. Meta's new app would be Instagram-branded and will allow users to register or login through their Instagram credentials, according to the Moneycontrol report. Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sherry Jacob-PhillipsOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Meta exploring a new social network that could compete with Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Rohan Goswami | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Meta is exploring a new decentralized, text-based social network that could compete with Elon Musk's Twitter. The move could help Meta attract some of the Twitter users who are looking for alternatives after Musk took over and changed some of the site's rules. "We're exploring a standalone decentralized social network for sharing text updates," a Meta spokesperson told CNBC on Friday. The effort by Meta would expand its offerings beyond Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram, and into a space that has been dominated by Elon Musk's Twitter. Meta is also exploring integrations with existing social networks like Twitter or Mastodon, in part relying on a protocol called ActivityPub, Moneycontrol reported.

☆ Meta considering a standalone social network that sounds a lot like Twitter
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

The concept is similar to Reddit or Discord, but a departure from how Meta’s other platforms function. If Meta’s new platform were decentralized, it could allow third parties to build apps and features into the platform, potentially giving users experiences beyond what Meta itself might build. Meta declined to comment beyond its statement, including in response to questions about the new platform’s potential features or a timeline for launch. Many of them had an early jump in users following Musk’s takeover at Twitter, but have since struggled to gain widespread adoption. But its growth has slowed in recent months, in part as users struggle with the somewhat less straightforward and user-friendly nature of a decentralized platform.

☆ Walmart paid most of $1 bln tax for PhonePe shifting base to India - source
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Nandan Mandayam | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Walmart Inc (WMT.N) has already paid the Indian government most of the nearly $1 billion in tax after digital payments company PhonePe shifted its headquarters from Singapore to India, a source with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Bloomberg News previously reported that Walmart and other PhonePe investors would have to pay nearly $1 billion after its domicile change. Tiger Global, an existing PhonePe investor, was not required to pay the tax, according to the source. While PhonePe declined to comment, Walmart did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Moneycontrol reported last year PhonePe was raising funds at a $12 billion valuation in a round led by General Atlantic.

☆ U.S. hopes India will take advantage of Russian oil price cap - media
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

NEW DELHI, Nov 8 (Reuters) - India stands to gain from a price cap on Russian oil and the United States hopes that it will take advantage of it, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said ahead of a visit to India this week, media reported on Tuesday. The G7 nations plan to cap prices of sea-borne oil shipments from Dec. 5, with a second cap on oil products from Feb. 5. India imports 85% of its crude needs and has emerged as Russia's second-largest oil customer after China, taking advantage of discounted Russian oil shunned by some Western buyers. "But even if they use other financial services, we believe the price cap will give them leverage to negotiate good discounts from world markets. Yellen will travel to India on Friday to participate in a meeting of the U.S.-India Economic and Financial Partnership.

☆ Walmart-backed PhonePe in talks to raise funds at $12 bln valuation- Moneycontrol
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Indian digital payments firm PhonePe is in talks to raise funds in a round led by General Atlantic at a valuation of $12 billion, financial news website Moneycontrol reported on Friday, citing people aware of the matter. U.S. private equity group General Atlantic is likely to lead the round with an investment of $450 million to $500 million, the report said. PhonePe, which earlier this month said it had moved its domicile to Singapore from India, did not immediately respond to an email from Reuters seeking comment. General Atlantic also did not immediately respond to an email outside office hours. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterReporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'SouzaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India halts cough syrup production at factory linked to Gambia deaths
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Indian authorities have halted production of cough syrup at a factory of Maiden Pharmaceuticals, a state minister said on Wednesday, after a WHO report that the medicine may be linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia. The WHO said last week that laboratory analysis of four Maiden products - Promethazine Oral Solution, Kofexmalin Baby Cough Syrup, Makoff Baby Cough Syrup and Magrip N Cold Syrup - had "unacceptable" amounts of diethylene glycol and ethylene glycol, which can be toxic and lead to acute kidney injury. He told Reuters last week that the company was trying to find out from its buyer what had happened in Gambia. Maiden says on its web site it has an annual production capacity of 2.2 million syrup bottles, 600 million capsules, 18 million injections, 300,000 ointment tubes and 1.2 billion tablets at three factories. The cough syrups had been approved for export only to Gambia, India says, although the WHO says they may have gone elsewhere through informal markets.

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