The Trump administration will ban WeChat and video-sharing app TikTok from U.S. app stores starting Sunday night, a move that will block Americans from downloading the Chinese-owned platforms over concerns they pose a national security threat. Current TikTok users will see little change on Sunday and U.S. Commerce Department officials said they will not bar ...

Alphabet Inc’s Google and Apple Inc on Tuesday announced a new system that will enable public health authorities to use smartphones to assist in contact tracing without having to build an app. The new system – called Exposure Notifications Express – will allow public health officials to submit a small configuration file to Apple and ...

  Facebook, Google and Twitter should provide monthly reports on their fight against disinformation, two senior EU officials said on Wednesday as they called out Russia and China for their roles in the spread of fake news. The comments by EU foreign policy Head Josep Borrell and the European Commission’s Vice President for values and ...

Google is adding features on its Maps service to alert users about COVID-19-related travel restrictions to help them plan their trips better, the Alphabet Inc unit said on Monday. The update would allow users to check how crowded a train station might be at a particular time, or if buses on a certain route are ...

Latvia aims to become one of the first countries to launch a smartphone app using a new toolkit created by U.S. tech giants Apple and Alphabet’s Google to help trace coronavirus infections. Early success of tracing apps in countries like Singapore and Australia has been patchy because Apple’s iPhone does not support their approach to ...

More than 30 technology and telecom firms unveiled an alliance Tuesday to press for “open and interoperable” 5G wireless systems that eliminate the need for a single supplier. The move comes amid heightened global debate over politically sensitive deployment of the ultrafast fifth-generation networks in a market-led by Chinese-based Huawei, along with European-based Nokia and ...

Google Cloud on Wednesday announced it was making Google Meet, its premium video-conferencing solution, free for users and would be rolled out over the coming weeks. Google Meet is an app used for Video conferencing, which had become the order of the day during the lockdown. Mr Javier Soltero, Vice President, G suite, said from early ...

U.S. states promoting apps that could prove essential to ending the coronavirus lockdown may be headed for a showdown with the two Silicon Valley companies that control key software on 99% of smartphones over the collection of sensitive GPS location data. Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google plan to release technology jointly in the coming ...

Facebook and Google are in talks with Washington over potentially using individuals’ personal data to track and combat the coronavirus outbreak, US media reported. The project would involve collecting location information from Americans’ smartphones and using it anonymously to map the spread of the disease and predict urgent medical needs, for example. In a statement ...

Facebook Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google on Thursday recommended their San Francisco Bay area employees work from home to minimize the risk of spreading coronavirus. Facebook said it is “strongly recommending that all Bay area employees and contingent staff work from home starting Friday.” The decision is “based on the guidance from Santa Clara County ...