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Twitter Now Fact-Checks Tweets Mentioning Conspiracy Theories About 5G and The Coronavirus

June 10, 2020, 2:00 am
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Twitter has now started fact-checking tweets mentioning conspiracy theories about the coronavirus and 5G. The platform has taken this initiative to combat the spread of misleading information.

Twitter started to place fact-check labels on tweets over the weekend if those tweets mention the word ‘corona’ and 5G, for example on this one. If Twitter has placed fact-check label on any tweet, a link will appear under the tweet. The title of the link is ‘Get the facts related to the coronavirus.’ If a user clicks on the link added by Twitter to tweets mentioning 5G and the coronavirus, they will be re-directed to a Twitter page. That Twitter page declares, ‘No, 5G is not causing the coronavirus.’ The page also includes tweets to news stories as well as videos that debunk the 5G- coronavirus conspiracy theories.

Last month, the platform announced a plan to rein in less harmful types of misleading information related to the virus and these fact-checking labels are part of that plan. It has been seen that the platform is removing content related to coronavirus conspiracy theories that could result in death or destruction. Some of the conspiracy theories Twitter removed also include encouraging individuals to burn down 5G cell towers. However, Twitter has decided to place labels for other disputed claims about COVID-19. Twitter adds fact-checking and warning labels to tweets based on the severity of the content.

A company’s spokesman told media outlets that Twitter is developing and testing new features to scale their application of these fact-checking and warning labels properly. The platform will make some mistakes along the way, he explained.
Currently, Twitter is adding labels indiscriminately. The company also points out that adding labels is not exactly a fact-check, these labels are merely links to more accurate information related to the coronavirus. It is up to you whether you want to click on the link or not.

Twitter’s spokesman explained that the company is not fact-checking the content of the tweet. The label is added to provide extra context from authentic sources. However, not everyone like this approach as President Donald Trump claimed last month that the labels amounted to censorship after the company added fact-checking labels to his tweets. Twitter placed labels to two of Trump’s tweets as his tweets contained misleading information related to mail-in voting. He launched an all-effort to regulate social platforms, but Twitter states that the White House is now trying to erode the rights of free speech.



Read next: Artificial Intelligence Can Possibly Detect Fake News In A Better Way By Analyzing User Interaction
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Crowdsourced live data by Google Maps will now help users avoid crowds on public transit

June 10, 2020, 4:36 am
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Google Maps has recently announced that they are using imperative information of crowds for car commutes and public transit from next week onwards.

Google Maps is also rolling out relevant alerts about face mask requirements from local agencies in different regions including Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Belgium, France, Columbia, India, Mexico, Spain, Netherlands, Thailand, UK, and the US.

Google Maps has proved to be a source of important information about addresses, busy hours, alerts about rush areas through their crowdedness prediction feature. But now, the app will even show whether a transit station is busier or less crowded, based on live data aggregated and anonymized from Google Location History. This information will be available on a transit station’s listing page.

These feature are going to start rolling out in the coming weeks.

Sharing of personal experiences to contribute to help others is also encouraged by Google Maps, as they say, that through this new update, looking up for directions, tapping through various Transit details and checking out crowdedness predictions is all going to become super easy and smooth.

This feature will also provide insights into temperature, accessibility, on-board security, and information about areas designated especially for women or men. Google launched these changes with the broader Maps redesign back in February, and they added the ability to provide granular wheelchair accessibility information to the public all around the globe. Other information for the ease of ‘people with determination’ that Google Maps will add includes accessible doors, seating arrangements, and stop buttons.

When public transit directions will be searched, Google Maps will show information regarding special precautionary measures due to the COVID-19. These alerts include notifications regarding COVID-19 checkpoints while crossing national borders. This feature will be launched in Canada, Mexico, and the US first. This alert will appear on the directions screen once a user begins navigation.
Apart from alerts regarding public transit stations, from this week onwards, alerts for medical faculties like hospitals and clinics will be available in Israel, Indonesia, South Korea, and the Philippines. Testing centre alerts will be available in the US.

This is a way to verify the eligibility and facility guidelines so that no one gets turned away while also taking care that no additional burden affects the local healthcare systems. Due to the overload of cases, many people who are not very serious can be turned away from treatment in these facilities. So, insights into overloaded and fully crowded facilities will be beneficial for these people.



Read next: Google Is Revamping Its Chrome Cleanup Tool To Make Scanning And Removing Unwanted Software More Convenient
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6 Ways in Which the Coronavirus Affected Online Businesses

June 10, 2020, 4:44 am
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Our habits have changed substantially because of and during the Coronavirus pandemic. Around the globe, people’s lives are affected in many different ways, and the business sector makes no exception. While a lot of business owners are hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdown and their sale volumes are plummeting, online businesses are struggling to cope with huge demand increase. Throughout this article, we’ll take a close look at the changes that online businesses are going through amidst this unique situation:

B2B Companies selling non-essential products are facing difficulties: Many online businesses are forced to adjust their eCommerce operations and tactics daily - and even hourly. Online channels are going to play an essential part in the next phase for many B2B manufacturers and distributors. Nevertheless, online businesses that sell non-essential products and equipment such as restaurant furniture have seen a decrease in sales opportunities since the Coronavirus outbreak by even 50%. The effect of Covid-19 in the service industry, including online businesses like restaurant furniture suppliers and appliances; revenue was devastating. Many customers postponed existing orders and purchasing decisions. Nobody wants to refurbish his venue or dining space with new chairs, bar stools or restaurant tables that is closed and is losing money daily, risking shut down. This means that their cost of customer acquisition (CAC) doubled and they have to come up with new strategies to survive the outbreak.

Digital marketing is on the rise: Traditional marketing is becoming obsolete. Businesses that relied on traditional marketing are cutting back on their budget. As a result, the ad industry could see a 10.6% decline in revenue, losing nearly $26 billion. Companies are quickly realizing that slashing marketing budgets leaves them with a large amount to spend elsewhere. Investing even a small portion of that amount towards a modern-day marketing strategy can help them stay relevant and push through hard times. According to eMarketer forecasts, Amazon’s U.S. ad business is expected to grow by 50% this year, accounting for 8.8% of the digital ad market. Google’s ad business still occupies 37.2% of the market, although its share is slowly declining. Marketers are investing more of their budget towards Amazon, preferring the platform’s ability to link advertising to a point of sale.

There’s a huge global increase in online shopping for B2C companies– It shouldn’t come as a surprise that when shopping malls are closed, people will still find ways to spend their hard-earned cash. Because people have to deal with more and more restrictions, they have more time to browse the internet. And when people have too much free time, they shop. This means that many digitally mature B2C companies that invest in eCommerce are seeing an increase in sales volume. Are you wondering what people bought online during the COVID-19 pandemics? You might be surprised to learn that the food and beverage sellers had an increase in sales volume of 7.2%, the apparel and accessories sellers 14,3%, Toys and Games 7%, and Home and Garden 8.4%.

So, even if the supermarkets were still open, it seems that a lot of people preferred to order their groceries online. This rise in online shopping is a global phenomenon. A study conducted by Ipso-Mori found that over 18% of UK shoppers choose to buy things online.

Furthermore, it seems that in countries that were hit hard by the coronavirus, internet shopping is even more popular (Vietnam saw a 57% increase in online shopping, India a 55% increase, China 51%, and Italy 31%). This sudden change in people’s shopping habits meant that a lot of companies found themselves in a unique position and are now struggling to cope with the huge demand. For instance, so many people are buying things from Amazon, that the company is currently recruiting 100,000 additional staff, making its current employees work extra hours, and raising wages.

Another area that saw sudden and substantial growth is the use of grocery shopping apps. In the US, these apps are being downloaded at an unprecedented pace. For instance, an app called Instacart was downloaded in March three times as much as it was in February. The Walmart app saw a similar user behavior as it saw a download increase of 160%.

The online gaming sector is thriving - What used to be a narrower market predominantly supported by young people, is now becoming more and more popular. When people are forced to stay indoors for weeks and maybe months, they get bored and start to look for ways to entertain themselves and what better thing to do than to play video games? But online gaming isn’t the only service that’s benefiting from the COVID-19 lockdown, as retailers of downloadable video games are also seeing an increase in sales and subscriptions. For instance, over the past few weeks, the popular PC gaming platform Steam has seen the highest number of users ever, with traffic spikes of over 20 million players.

The demand for streaming services is growing at a faster rate– As millions of people are getting more and more bored as they are locked in their homes, they turn to stream services to keep them entertained. Therefore, the most popular streaming services are witnessing growth in the numbers of new customers that have finally decided the watch Game of Thrones and in the amount of time that people are binge-watching their favorite series. To ensure bandwidth capacity, Netflix was forced to reduce its picture quality by as much as 25%.

This substantial increase in streaming services demand means that in the US, Netflix is estimated to double its expected growth in new subscribers. If their expected growth rate was 1.6% before the COVID-19 pandemics, it now reached 3.8% - and we are talking about a region where most people are already using these services. Internationally, the platform’s growth rate might exceed 30%.

But this phenomenon isn’t just benefitting Netflix, other streaming services such as Hulu, Amazon Prime Video, and Now TV are also doing great. And for newer platforms like Britbox, BB-ITV, or Disney, this situation might prove to be a great opportunity to increase their user base.

Contrary to popular belief, online holiday bookings are not doing so badly– Yes, traveling is out of the question for millions of people at the moment. But think of it this way, while most avid travelers are aware that they won’t be going too far this summer, they will start to make plans for next year. While this doesn’t mean that the travel industry isn’t suffering because of the pandemics, the fact that people are willing to book trips further into the future might help holiday booking platforms to take deposits. This might help them with their current cash flow problems. Needless to say, this whole process is happening online.

It is safe to say that the devastating and unexpected coronavirus pandemics are affecting consumer behavior and online businesses in many different ways. For instance, many businesses are having a tough time staying afloat, while others are expanding their workforce and doing everything they can to meet the huge demand.

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LinkedIn May Soon Add A Current Status Feature To Let Users Provide More Context About Their Work

June 10, 2020, 6:30 am
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Microsoft acquired LinkedIn back in the year 2016, and the company has seen amazing results from its investment in the service. Microsoft made a lot of changes to the LinkedIn service and these changes have resulted in enhanced engagement. The financial reports of Microsoft for the third quarter of 2020 records a 21% increase in LinkedIn revenue and a 15% increase in Microsoft revenue.

Now it seems that Microsoft is working on new features to further improve LinkedIn engagement. Jane Manchun Wong, a famous reverse engineering expert has discovered that Microsoft is working to add a secondary ‘current status’ to the application. Microsoft is working to add this secondary current status in addition to the ‘Headline’ status line of the application.

Jane Manchun Wong shared screenshots on Twitter revealing that the company is working on this new feature. According to the Wong, the secondary current status is similar to the Headline status. However, the current status line tends to be temporary.

In the screenshot, we can clearly see that a ‘Current Status’ line has been added below the Headline. It also appears that the company has designed this secondary current status line for more short-lived status updates. With this new current status addition, users will be able to let other members of LinkedIn know the details of what they are currently working on. You can let other members know this while also maintaining a comprehensive context for your work.

The new feature will be very useful for a lot of LinkedIn members, however, it is not yet clear when if the new feature will be rolled out for public use or when LinkedIn will release the new feature.

LinkedIn Current Status Feature Will Let Users Provide More Details About Their Temporary Work Intentions

Read next: LinkedIn Introduces New Advertiser Tools and Shifts Product Plans in Response to Covid-19
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Google’s annual webspam report shows how persistent the spammers are and how the search engine giant tackles with them

June 10, 2020, 7:21 am
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Like any other search engine, Google also has to work hard to keep its search results completely spam free. The annual webspam report that Google published this week suggests that more than 99% of Google’s search results become spam-free only when the company’s webspam team discovers around 25 billion spammy pages every day, with the help of artificial intelligence!

Now, this is a lot. Google encounters these spam pages daily and filters them out of the its Search results index.

These huge figures show the extent of persistence that these spammers show and the great efforts that Google has to show to keep its search results as much spam-free as possible.

The annual webspam report covers the ways through which the company stayed ahead of these spammers in the year 2019.

Some highlights of this report suggest that the search engine giant has employed some advanced machine learning systems and time-tested manual enforcement capabilities to identify and prevent spammed results to appear in the search index for the users.

With its advanced technologies, Google managed to take action on 82% of the 230,000 reports that it received and processed regarding spam results.

There is a constant threat of Link spam that keeps the search engines on the edges, and Google also goes through the same trouble. But now Google is reportedly getting better at identifying them and taking care of them.

User-generated spam was reduced by 80% in 2018 and did not grow much since 2019. Google also claims that paid links and link exchanges are less effective now, with more than 90% of link spam caught by their systems.
Google has also made some progress in fighting off spammy sites that have auto-generated and sometimes scraped content. These sites not only annoy the users, but they also cause harm to the searchers. Such sites have elements that deceive the users and prompt them to click on fake buttons, or respond to overwhelming as, malware, or suspicious redirects.

This type of spam has been reduced by 60% in 2019 in comparison to 2018.

Google’s Webmaster Outreach also helps a lot in fighting with spammy sites. Whenever Google identifies spam on a site, it sends alerts to the site owner through its Search Console.

These messages and alerts let the site owners know about any spammy problem on their site which may get filtered out and affect their site’s digital appearance in the Google Search results.

Last year only, Google sent more than 90 million messages to site owners for this purpose. Of all these messages, around 4.3 million alerts were related to manual actions which resulted from the site’s violations of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Apart from this report, Danny Sullivan from Google has written a separate blog post in which he has highlighted this fact that spam is there, and spammers are in constant efforts to infect users’ systems and harm them as much as possible. So, search engines like Google need to keep fighting them off, because otherwise the quality of Search would be greatly affected. It will become very hard for the users to find helpful and relevant information, without getting tricked by phony sites that try to steal personal information or get their systems infected with malware and suspicious content.

So, these are the reasons why the internet behemoth - Google keeps a tight leash on spammers and spammy sites with the help of advanced technologies and complex algorithms.


Photo: Ben Gabbe via Getty Images

Read next: Crowdsourced live data by Google Maps will now help users avoid crowds on public transit
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On The Footprints Of Google: Facebook Is Now Showing Wikipedia Snippets in Search Results

June 10, 2020, 8:30 am
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Facebook has been trying to update a wide variety of its features for quite some time now, and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that it is trying to remain competitive in a tech industry that has become increasingly cutthroat, so much so that it’s fair to say that you simply won’t be able to get ahead if you rest on your laurels which is a fact that Facebook seems to be painfully aware of all in all.

One area of the social media platform that had yet to be properly optimized and updated was the search feature, but if recent indications are anything to go by then this means that the search results are finally going to have something new to offer. The way this works is that for the most part you would start seeing snippets from Wikipedia articles in your search results. This would of course only happen if you were searching for individuals or influencers that actually have a strong presence on social network but regardless it is a pretty important thing to keep in mind.

One thing to bear in mind is that by doing this Facebook is most certainly moving into search engine territory. Google has been a rival of this social media platform for quite some time now and Facebook has as of yet been unable to compete with its nemesis at least in terms of search engines which is Google’s main product, although Facebook has won in the social media sector which is where it specializes. This marks Facebook’s another real foray into search engine territory, and it indicates that a lot more changes might end up coming through in the future that are going to make Facebook search even more powerful than it currently is and this will definitely be quite exciting to see all in all. Just recently, Facebook was spotted test a Google-inspired weather card right in its search results, which shows just how the social networking giant is trying its best to keep users on its platform.



Read next: Facebook is rolling out a feature that will provide more insights about comments
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TikTok is testing a new user interface for its Creator Marketplace

June 10, 2020, 11:00 am
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Matt Navarra, a social media consultant, and industry commentator has recently tweeted that TikTok is testing an enhanced interface for its Creator Marketplace.

Previously, there was no convenient way to view campaigns, edit the Creator profile or View TikTok Creator Toolkit even.

This new interface will provide all these features and much more from the standpoint of a creator.

TikTok is a famous short-form video making an app that has gained mass popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic especially. Due to the implementations of lockdown and social distancing all over the world, people were bound within the sanctuary of their homes and turned towards different tech apps to carry on their work and education from home, along with seeking information and entertainment from these apps too.

People started turning towards TikTok because of the creative liberty that it gives. Users can create short-form videos on songs or can give out a message through the famous platform.

Due to the immense popularity, many big and small brands have started turning towards the platform for the promotion of their products and services.

Not only this, but TikTok stars are being invited by governments, as guest speakers to raise awareness regarding the coronavirus pandemic because these stars are from the general public and have an outreach far beyond any other platform at the moment.

TikTok Creator Marketplace is the official platform for brand and creator collaborations.

Through this Marketplace, creators can tap into TikTok’s exclusive first-party insights into growth trends, audience demos and preferences, best performing videos, and much more. Users can choose the best partners based on data provided by this Creator Marketplace.
By browsing through TikTok’s top storytellers, users can discover a good match for their brand and will be able to find out the right candidate who is capable to completely translate the message of the marketing campaign of the brand. Once the star discovery is made, Creator Marketplace will help with introductions through the platform, meeting the most popular creators is also possible.

TikTok’s mission is to capture and present the world’s creativity, moments, and knowledge that is useful, and that matters in everyday life. TikTok prides itself in empowering everyone to become a creator directly from their mobile phones. It also encourages users to form a community, share their talents, passion, and creative expression through their short videos.

With this motto in consideration, TikTok’s new updates regarding its Creator Marketplace will prove to be really handy and will make the user experience more profound, more efficient.

Read next: The Latest Study Reveals That Kids In Spain, US, And UK Spend Nearly As Much Time On TikTok As They Spend Watching YouTube Videos
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Microsoft Adds More Password Options To The Authenticator App For Android Users

June 10, 2020, 2:00 pm
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Finally, Microsoft has rolled out an update for the Android version of the Authenticator application that lets people change their passwords within the Authenticator app. Microsoft originally announced this update for the iOS version of the Authenticator app earlier this year. Now, the feature is finally going love for Android users too.

The new update is a highly-anticipated tool for the application, particularly if you use it as two-factor authentication to sign in to your Microsoft 365 accounts. The account details screen of the Authenticator application shows extra information for each account. The extra information displayed in the account details screen includes a one-time password and status of the smartphone log-in feature. You can use a one-time password code for authentication and you will also see controls to change the password in the account details screen of the Authenticator application.

Moreover, users can also update the security info of each account in the account details screen in the Authenticator application. The Microsoft Authenticator application also provides options for users to review recent activity. These options can be helpful for you if you want to ensure that everything is entirely secure for your account, as well as if you want to remove your account from the Microsoft Authenticator app.

Managing their accounts has become something extremely necessary for Microsoft consumers. Considering the fact that the adoption of some specific services has increased during the lockdowns, the Microsoft Authenticator application has also recorded increasing adoption. The usage of Microsoft Teams has also surged during the past few months.

The company originally shipped this update to iOS TestFlight during April. However, all the people using iPhones received the update a month later. Microsoft while originally announcing about the update stated that the company is committed to continuously enhance the consumer experiences. So, the company refurbished the user experience of how accounts of the users are displayed in the Authenticator application. According to some Microsoft consumers, staying informed about the security of their account needs to be quick, simple, as well as smooth, announced the company.

If you want to use all these new options of the Microsoft Authenticator app on your Android smartphone, you will have to download the latest version of the Authenticator Application on your Android device.



Read next: Downloading Third Party Apps Now Far More Difficult With New Android Update
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Facebook is rolling out its News section for all users in the US with inclusions of local news tab

June 10, 2020, 4:00 pm
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Last year in October, Facebook had announced to launch a News section as a limited test in the US.

Now, Facebook News has been launched as a separately dedicated section for trending stories for all the users in the US. According to TechCrunch, Facebook has also included local news tab to its News section.

Facebook News will be curated by journalists and additional algorithms that will personalize the news story selection in a better way. Users will be able to react and share the news articles, but they won’t be able to comment. They can also hide articles and topics, even the publishers that they do not wish to see again.

Facebook is claiming to use methods to detect misinformation, engagement bait, clickbait, or the use of scraped content through third-party fact-checkers. These are some of the integrity standards that the publishers will have to abide by to be qualified for inclusion in Facebook News.

The News section appears as a tab in the three-lined ‘More’ menu on mobiles as a bookmark. Soon, a button in the Facebook app will also be available for the News tab.

Facebook has also included some features in the News section that show breaking news alerts, timely news digests, and targeted notifications like ‘Coronavirus alert’ or ‘Unrest in America.’

The notifications for news will appear at the top and they may also include live video alerts or breaking news alerts covering some ongoing issue.

Facebook plans to include news videos in the News section too, along with local news that brings thousands of local and regional publications from more than 6000 cities and towns.
Facebook has more than 200 general news publishers that are like local outlets now. With so many publishers, Facebook will have to be really alert about the integrity standards to avoid misinformation and false propaganda. Unfortunately, Facebook has served its users with a lot of fake news and disinformation in the past because of extremely lenient or non-existing fact-checking systems. That is the reason why any news on Facebook is not considered completely trustworthy.

However, now that Facebook News has launched in the US, the company will have to be really uptight about fact-checking and other methods to avoid the misinformation as much as possible.

Previously, Facebook had the ‘Today In’ section that provided local stories and news to the users. This section’s content will merge with the Facebook News content in the coming weeks so that news will be present in a single place, rather than in multiple sections.

Facebook News is live for the mobile app, but the desktop tab has not rolled out yet.



Read next: This DataViz Shows Who Owns the Most Visited News Sites in the World
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Twitter Rolls Out Fleets Feature In India

June 10, 2020, 6:30 pm
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On Tuesday, Twitter announced that it is rolling out the Fleets feature in India. Fleets are Twitter’s version of Stories to allow users to post ephemeral content to its  micro-blogging platform. Twitter stated that the company is still testing the Fleets feature, and this feature is available in Brazil as well as Italy.

Fleets feature is Twitter’s way to let users share content that is less accessible to people across the globe. You can visit someone’s public profile on Twitter and see their Fleets. They are not private Stories and are placed at the top of the screen. However, Fleets will not circulate across the platform, and show up in Moments or Search. Moreover, users cannot embed Fleets on a third-party website.

Twitter India stated in a tweet that the company is testing the Fleets feature. Fleets can be a way for users to think out loud without the Retweets, Likes, or replies. Twitter India stated that the best part is that Fleets automatically disappear after twenty-four hours.

India is considered a key overseas country for a lot of US technology companies. India is the second biggest internet market and according to App Annie, a mobile insight firm, Twitter’s active users in India were around 55 million during April of this year. While, there are over 350 million monthly active users of Facebook in India.
In India, Twitter has been scrutinized for not taking immediate action against the spread of misleading information. This is the first time in many years that the platform is introducing a new feature to India promptly. Twitter India’s Managing Director, Manish Maheshwari stated that India is crucial for the platform as this region is one of the most significant as well as fastest-growing audience markets worldwide. The company is excited to make India one of the first 3 countries to experience this new feature.

Twitter is probably the last major social network to explore the Story-inspired feature. Stories feature was conceptualized by Snapchat, and the feature has been replicated by major social networks including YouTube, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Spotify has also announced that it is testing a similar feature.



Read next: Twitter Now Fact-Checks Tweets Mentioning Conspiracy Theories About 5G and The Coronavirus
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Google Meet’s New Live Noise Cancellation Feature Could Be a Real Game Changer

June 10, 2020, 11:00 pm
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In this day and age, working from home has become more common than ever. This means that people would need some kind of video conferencing app that they can use in order to keep in touch and hold all of the meetings that are going to end up defining the direction in which the company would be headed at any given point in time. Zoom swooped in to get a lot of accolades in this regard which is important because of the fact that it defined how this platform managed to get more out of the situation than a lot of far better established tech companies all in all.

Google has been scrambling to try and compete, making Google Meets accessible from the Gmail interface among other things. However, the search engine giant is rolling out a new feature that is going to serve to be a game changer, and has the potential to secure dominance for Google in this video/group calling game that is being played within the tech industry. This handy feature that Google Meet now has is associated with can basically reduce the amount of noise that you would be hearing whenever someone speaks.

Background noise can be a real issue when it comes to live conference calls. This new feature uses tech that Google has been working on since 2018, and it seems like the time is now riper than ever to make it so that this tech can be used. It has been fed videos so that it can recognize what noises to cancel out and what to leave prominent, and this means that you would only hear what the person is saying, not any background noises that might be coming with them. This feature is being rolled out to all G Suite users and will prove to be a real game changer in the months to come.



Hat Tip: VentureBeat.

Read next: On The Footprints Of Google: Facebook Is Now Showing Wikipedia Snippets in Search Results
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How To Benefit From Lifelong Learning (infographic)

June 11, 2020, 12:30 am
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Learning new things gives us a sense of accomplishment, but not enough of us are purposefully setting out to learn new things on a regular basis. As humans, learning is essential to our growth, and when we stop growing we die. It has been shown that learning can engage our minds and protect us from loneliness, depression, and even dementia, so why aren't more people continuing their education throughout their lives? The love of lifelong learning is a gift, but even if you don't love learning you can learn to learn new skills quickly anyway.

Learning = Growth = Opportunity

73% of Americans consider themselves to be lifelong learners, and it's easy to see why they would feel that attitude is beneficial. 64% of people who learn new things also make new friends along the way, while 58% feel more involved in their communities. 43% will use those skills to volunteer within their communities, extending the benefits of their learning experience to others.

But there are plenty of advantages to the learners themselves, too. Learning can improve memory function and recall and increase language skills. It can also greatly increase emotional intelligence by broadening the learner's horizons and exposing them to new ideas and ways of thinking. Learning gives us a sense of accomplishment and can help our self-esteem, too.
Being able to learn new things and knowing you are able to learn new things can set you free. It can help you cope with unstable job markets by allowing you to know you can always learn new skills and retool your career. It can help you keep up with technological advances so your knowledge stays relevant in your career field.

Learning can help you gain a new perspective on things and can give you a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the world around you. From that understanding, you can make better, more informed decisions and become a beacon of peace and understanding during turbulent times.

There's actually science to show how our brains physically and chemically change when we learn new things. When a connection is repeatedly made between two neurons, it creates a permanent link between them. Later when one is activated so is the other, strengthening our brains as we learn more.

How To Learn New Skills Fast

The basic idea of learning a new skill fast is to chunk it up into smaller tasks that can be accomplished faster. If there is a particular skill you want to learn, think about all the steps you will need to take to get there. Make a checklist if you have to - even checking off minor accomplishments toward a goal can spur your momentum to help you achieve your next goal. 20% of your efforts will lead to 80% of your desired results, according to Pareto's Principle.

Use the DISS method to break down your task to easy to manage smaller tasks:
  • Deconstruction - breaking down what you need to know
  • Selection - choosing which steps are the most important to get you to your goal
  • Sequencing - setting the order in which to accomplish tasks
  • Stakes - understanding the consequences, good or bad, of failing
Even failure can be a great teacher if you can learn to embrace it. There's always something to be learned. Failure can give you insight into a possible solution you would not have figured out if you hadn't made the attempt in the first place.

87% of learners feel more well-rounded and capable after they learn a new skill. The value of lifelong learning is immeasurable. Learn more about how to learn new skills fast from the infographic below.

Infographic: Tricks to learn any skill fast

Read next: Declutter Your Life: The Entrepreneur's Guide (infographic)
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Search Data Shows Anticipation for Return to Normalcy After COVID-19

June 11, 2020, 1:13 am
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By Sharona Meushar, Head of Marketing, CodeFuel

As the world rapidly closes in on the year's mid-point, billions across the globe have spent most of 2020 under lockdowns and social distancing guidelines. With each pink slip, canceled vacation, postponed wedding, and business closure bringing yet another reminder of how much has changed so rapidly, it's only natural that people are increasingly preoccupied with how much longer this state of affairs will continue, and what life will look like after the pandemic. Few expect a return to the old normal – but what can people expect in the new one?

While definitive answers are hard to come by in this time of massive uncertainty, search queries provide an illuminating look at how people are feeling, and how eager the public is to get back to some semblance of normalcy. Search data compiled by CodeFuel reveals a 232% increase in queries related to COVID-19 exit phases between February 1st and May 15th, underscoring that while concern about contagion remains high, people's minds are also starting to shift toward the question of how to live in the shadow of the coronavirus.

To be sure, surveys still show widespread public support for social distancing measures. A Quinnipiac University poll released in late May, for instance, showed that 75% of Americans supported a cautious, slow reopening of the country, even if it comes at the cost of further economic damage, while only 21% support a rapid reopening even if it exacerbates the public health crisis.

But delving into online searches can offer a more in-depth look at how people in the U.S. and across the globe are thinking about their countries' exit strategies.

Back to Work

For many people, the most disruptive impact the crisis has had on their lives has been the shift to remote work. Not surprisingly, there's widespread curiosity about how long this will continue, and what returning to offices might look like.

From February 1st to May 26th, search queries related to returning to work spiked 81% in the U.S. and 80% in the U.K. With Twitter announcing that its employees can now work from home indefinitely and Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg unveiling plans for a 50% remote workforce within the next five to 10 years, it's rapidly becoming clear that COVID-19 will permanently make remote work more common. As offices around the globe mull whether to join the bandwagon and others begin reopening in the coming months, there's no reason to expect interest in this topic to wane anytime soon.

Back to School

While U.K. and U.S. internet users are about equally interested in the return (or lack thereof) to the office, there's a notable disparity when it comes to the reopening of education systems.

During the same time period, back to school queries surged 87% in the U.K., while they increased only 62% in the U.S. The significantly higher increase in the U.K. may well be attributable to anticipation of the U.K.'s reopening of schools at the beginning of June, whereas officials from 48 American states and the District of Columbia have either ordered or recommended that schools stay closed for the remainder of the academic year.

Public Transportation

There's even greater variation across the globe regarding public transportation queries. While parts of Europe have seen a significant rise in such searches – including a 42% increase in France and a 20% jump in the U.K. – these queries have plunged 72% in the U.S.

What's behind the gap? The increased interest in public transport in Europe likely reflects an eagerness for greater mobility as countries on the continent begin easing restrictions on public gatherings. Meanwhile, in the U.S. – which has long lagged behind Europe in use of public transit – key regions that have seen the heaviest use of public transport, including the New York metropolitan area, have been especially hard-hit by the pandemic, sending ridership spiraling. With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cautioning against using public transportation, the gap between the two continents may only widen further.

Travel and Dining Out

Unsurprisingly, searches related to flights and restaurants have decreased in both Europe and the U.S. as people remain in their homes, travel remains restricted, and people express continued wariness about resuming activities like dining out even after restrictions are eased.

The continued dearth of searches for these terms through the end of May indicates that even while cities across the globe are beginning to reopen, these activities remain far from top of mind for the majority of people, who are hankering to return to the normal routines of work and school before they return to leisure activities.

Three months after the World Health Organization designated COVID-19 a global pandemic, the virus continues to spread throughout the globe, disrupting routines and ushering in long-lasting changes to economies and societies. While its long-term consequences for life, work, and education remain to be seen, one thing is clear: Even as people continue taking the virus itself seriously, they're increasingly searching for answers as to what comes next.

Infographic: Search Data Shows Anticipation For Return to Normalcy After COVID-19
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PrimeXBT Review: Key Features Offered By Advanced Trading Platform

June 11, 2020, 1:17 am
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Reviews of trading platforms are essential in assisting traders with selecting the proper platform for their unique trading style, taste in trading instruments, and features that stand out as must-haves. It can save traders a great deal of time and money, by weeding out the platforms that don’t deserve a deposit.

In our latest review, we are looking at the recent ADVFN award winner of the Best Bitcoin Margin Trading Platform, PrimeXBT. We will highlight the most important facts and features about the platform to allow you to make an informed decision of the platform is right for you.


What Is PrimeXBT?

PrimeXBT is a multi-asset Bitcoin-based trading platform known for offering long and short positions on forex, crypto, commodities, and stock indices.

The platform has enjoyed a surge in users recently due to its diversity of trading instruments. Many platforms will focus on just one category or market – Bitcoin, stocks, forex, or other. PrimeXBT has them all on one platform together.

The possibilities in portfolio building are nearly endless, with over 50+ trading instruments available according to the company website.

Technology

With Bitcoin as the base currency of all accounts, the platform must rely on its proprietary, industry best technology.

PrimeXBT is built on a custom trading engine, designed for speed, security, and reliability from the ground up. 99.9% uptime is possible due to the constant development and improvement of internal technology.



Customer BTC is kept in an offline cold storage wallet while leaving only a small portion of BTC in an online hot wallet. Multisig is provided for security against attacks and transfers between hot and cold wallets require a complicated process involving a number of company employees.

Bank-grade security infrastructure acts as the backbone of it all. Compulsory address whitelisting adds an additional layer of protection by allowing customers to whitelist specific withdrawal addresses they are certain to own. In the unlikely event that your PrimeXBT account is compromised, a hacker will not be able to transfer out any funds.



There’s also two-factor authentication, Cloudflare DDoS protection, SSL encryption, cryptographically hashed passwords, and a partnership with Bitfury’s Crystal for blockchain analysis. Combined these tools act as many lines of impenetrable defense.

Trading

The trading terminal comes equipped with helpful charting tools allowing trend lines to be drawn or indicators to be added for planning and strategy.

Traders can position themselves in whichever direction the market rises or falls by taking long and short positions. Long and short orders can be opened simultaneously to build hedge positions.

Stop loss orders let users assign a price at which position is closed at a small loss to protect from greater loss. This is an essential risk management tool used by professional traders that will also benefit newcomers.



Take profit orders prevent a trader from having to stay in front of a PC 24/7 monitoring their positions. The added control and flexibility is great for busy day traders.

OCO orders combine a stop order with a limit order. When either the stop or limit price is reached and the order executed, the other order automatically gets canceled.

Deep liquidity from multiple providers means orders execute instantly with little or no slippage.

Getting Started

Registration is fast, taking less than a minute or so. Very few details are required. It is easy enough that anyone’s grandmother could do it with their eyes closed.

PrimeXBT offers some of the lowest minimum deposits around at 0.001 BTC. This is great for traders wanting to test the waters before making a bigger commitment.

Deposits are made to a Bitcoin wallet or through a service called Changelly enabling alternative methods. It is critical that only BTC is sent to the account address or there is a risk of loss of funds. This isn’t a fault of PrimeXBT, however, but an aspect of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technology.



Because of the high level of security, withdrawals are made just once per day, also from the account BTC wallet. Only send BTC to another BTC address. Remember, this is important and the only downside to using a Bitcoin margin trading platform.

If any issues at all arise, the platform offers around the clock customer service through a live chat window. A help center and company blog also provide details on how to use the platform to its fullest.

PrimeXBT: Recommended

PrimeXBT passes our tests with flying colors. During our review, we experienced a reliable trading experience and were able to execute trades with almost no slippage. The speed at which orders execute is incredible.

We especially liked the platform’s customizations.

But by far, without a doubt, the best part about PrimeXBT is the fact that there are so many assets in one place.

All major Forex currencies pairs are included. All major stock indices are offered for index trading. Oil, gas, gold, and silver as well. The most important cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum are also available.

There are many platforms out there that cater to just one or maybe a couple of these markets at once. The value of being able to manage many positions in an all in one solution cannot be understated. 0/

A mobile app and easy to use tools mean that anyone can utilize the advanced trading platform. All it takes is a small BTC deposit and to complete registration.

Sign up today for a free trading account on PrimeXBT.
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Google Chrome to Become The First Web Browser to Have Built In Live Captions Support

June 11, 2020, 2:00 am
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Live captions are an important part of the tech industry, and a big part of the reason why that is the case has to do with the fact that a lot of the people that are trying to use tech solutions are living with disabilities with hearing impairments being among the most common disabilities that people end up facing on a regular basis. Hence, a lot of tech companies have been working on live captions but the fact of the matter is that we haven’t seen anything quite like what Chrome has just done.

You see, the latest version of Chrome is going to feature support for live captions, marking the first time that a web browser has ever had anything of this nature all in all. Enabling the feature would make it so that you would start seeing a dedicated captions box, and any media that you play would start showing captions inside that box. This is useful because of the fact that not all companies emphasize live captions and making their technology accessible quite as much as they should be doing, and this is causing a lot of problems along the way.

If you want to toggle captions on then you need to start by having the latest version of Chrome Canary. Once you have the latest version, the next thing that you are going to have to do is type chrome://flags into the address bar, and when you see the option to search for flags put in “live captions”. A drop down menu will come up and if you select “enabled” all you would have to do is restart your browser and then you can start using the live captions. Once you have restarted the browser, go into accessibility section in your settings to switch them on or off and play any media to see if they are working properly.





Read next: Google’s annual webspam report shows how persistent the spammers are and how the search engine giant tackles with them
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Google Prompt is expanding its two-step authentication process to provide greater security to the users online

June 11, 2020, 4:38 am
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Google, in an email to its users, has recently announced that it is upgrading the Google Prompt’s two-step authentication process. This update is expanding to any eligible phone on your account.

Google Prompt is a handy two-step verification feature that improves the usability of the second verification step. It pushes a prompt to a connected smartphone, and you just need to tap on to deny or allow the sign-in request.

With a two-step verification process, you can secure your account with both your password, as well as your phone. With this type of authentication process, you basically add an extra layer of security to your account. Once you set the process up, you will have to sign in to your account in two steps. One step will ask for your password, and the other step will ask for your phone number or security key dongle.

When Google Prompt was initially launched, it had to be turned on for every smartphone or tablet device that you had your account on.

In 2018, Google enabled the users to use Prompt on every phone they have used to sign in on, which is good because usually people have multiple phones and it is easier to access their account from all phones rather than keeping one separate phone for account access. However, now Google has made this feature a default behavior for all Prompt users.
As per Google, if you use phones that do not get Google sign-in prompts, they will most likely be available after 7th July 2020. Later, every eligible phone that you will add to your account will also receive prompts. So, if you are currently not receiving the prompts by Google, do not worry as they will soon be turned on for you.

If a user does not want the feature, they can simply opt-out of it by signing out of their Google account on that phone or device.

This upgrade may sound small, but it is quite significant as it adds more security for online users. It is far easier for hackers and cybercriminals to steal your password and get access to your account than you think. Therefore, it is imperative to have a great, efficient, and secure protection system for your accounts and passwords.

It is a good step by Google, and it is commendable of them to think so much about the security of its users.

Here's the screenshot of Google's complete email announcement.



Read next: Google’s annual webspam report shows how persistent the spammers are and how the search engine giant tackles with them
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Facebook’s Messenger Is Introducing A New Business Inbox

June 11, 2020, 6:30 am
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Facebook is adding a new business inbox to its Messenger app. The business inbox will help brands to quickly respond to consumer messages through the app. It will also allow users to conveniently toggle between personal and business accounts.

The company began rolling out the business inbox for iOS users from this Tuesday. The feature will be added to the Android version of the Messenger app in the upcoming few weeks. Mike Weingert, Messenger product manager stated in a blog post that research performed by Facebook determined that over 90% of business admins on Facebook’s platform already use the Messenger app. They use Messenger to connect to their friends as well as family members.

The study also found that a lot of business administrators do not want to download or manage multiple apps on their devices just to perform basic simple tasks. The Messenger product manager also cited HubSpot’s survey finding that 90% of the consumers think that immediate responses from businesses are crucial. According to the survey, immediate responses from businesses are imperative for customers when they have queries about marketing and sales including questions about the availability of a specific product, store hours, and options for pickup and delivery.

Mike Weingert wrote in the blog post that the new business inbox added to the Messenger app will make it convenient for businesses to quickly respond to their customers. Moreover, businesses can also decide to receive notifications in Facebook’s Messenger application. These notifications will remind businesses to get back to consumers promptly.
The business inbox feature of the Messenger app also complements the Page Manager application. Businesses can manage their posts, see page insights, and create ads within the Page Manager application. Businesses can also send and receive messages on the Page Manager application.

Matt Volpert, Kern River Outfitters owner explained that its company is experiencing a massive rise of messages from guests, as they are currently experiencing a 250% increase in the number of messages received from guests who want to reschedule their trips because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Matt Volpert further elaborated that the huge increase makes it challenging for his small team to get back to these numerous guests in a timely manner. The business inbox in the Messenger application is an amazing feature that will help Matt Volpert to quickly respond to each and every one of his guests.



Read next: Facebook Is Now Featuring Wikipedia Snippets in Its Search Results
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Applying A Growth Mindset To Personal Finance (infographic)

June 11, 2020, 9:30 am
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Most people have regrets when it comes to their finances. Some people think back to all the credit card debt they racked up in college and realize the interest payments alone added up to a down payment on a house. Others look at a long line of fancy cars they’ve purchased and realize they could have gotten from point A to point B a lot cheaper. Unfortunately many people don’t realize the detrimental effects of their frivolous spending until they reach retirement age and they just aren’t physically capable of sustaining their lifestyle anymore. Choosing to look at your financial situation from a growth mindset can help get you on track to a better future.

More than 75% of Americans have at least one financial regret. More than half of people regret not saving more, and the things they are underfunding include retirement savings, college funds for their kids, and even emergency funds. We’ve all heard it said that the majority of people aren’t prepared for a $400 emergency, but that doesn’t mean we can’t turn things around.

A growth mindset applies to many different deficiencies in financial literacy. The biggest change you can make for your finances is to know what your skills are worth in the marketplace and ask to be paid what you are worth. Most people significantly undervalue their own skills, and knowing what you are worth and getting paid that amount can help you make major strides toward a better financial future.

But even if you are already getting paid what you are worth, there are changes you can make using a growth mindset that can place you in a stronger financial position sooner than you think. Start by understanding that it’s ok to not know something and it’s perfectly fine to seek out new information. Most people are embarrassed that they haven’t learned basic financial literacy from their parents, and it often prevents them from being able to learn the right way to handle their finances.

If you have debts, all is not lost. There are two methods for paying off debt. The first one is the snowball method, in which you pay off your smallest debt first and build to paying off your largest debt. The second is the avalanche method, in which you pay off your highest interest rate debt first and then go from there.
As you pay off debts, you will free up more of your money to start to save enough for your emergency fund and retirement. Aim to save at least 10% of your earnings and work your way up from there. The more you save, the better off you will be in the future.

Even low earners are able to save a portion of their earnings instead of living paycheck to paycheck - it’s estimated that 30% of low income earners can save. Avoid late payments, which come with penalties - as the old saying goes, it’s expensive to be poor. Understand the risks that come along with borrowing and other forms of debt and make wise decisions. Always try to learn new things about finances and keep up with new trends and economic developments. While something may have worked for your grandparents it may now be obsolete.

If you have always considered yourself to be “bad with money” that doesn’t mean you have to continue to be that way forever. It is possible to learn financial skills as you get older that can serve you for decades to come. Learn more about having a growth mindset for your finances from the infographic below. You might be surprised how well off you could be a year from now!

Maximize Your Money With A Growth Mindset - infographic

Read next: Financially Surviving A Layoff Or Furlough (infographic)
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TikTok Is Diversifying Its Content Slate With Focus On DIY Tutorials And Live Videos

June 11, 2020, 11:00 am
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According to a report from CNet, the ByteDance-owned TikTok app is planning to expand into extra live streams as well as educational content as the video hosting app diversifies away from music and dance content. Head of content partnerships at TikTok, Bryan Thoensen stated during an interview with CNet that individuals are spending more time on the TikTok app during the coronavirus pandemic.

Content creators are expanding the range of content to include categories such as beauty videos, gaming, fashion, cooking, and sports, while Livestreams are helping creators to connect with users in real-time.

Thoensen also stated in the interview that people using the TikTok app have also branched out from regular music and dance videos to display off projects such as calligraphy, woodworking, Christmas ornaments, or preparing dalgona iced coffee. Moreover, health experts are sharing medical advice across the platform during the coronavirus pandemic.

The social video app has experienced dramatic growth during the last two years. TikTok also offers accessible features to quickly create videos, include exclusive effects, and choose a soundtrack. These features have helped a lot of users to become ‘TikTok famous’ in a short time.

Dance and music videos helped the platform to build its reputation. However, TikTok is now expanding into live videos and educational videos that may offer more variety to TikTok users, as well as advertisers during the pandemic, when sustaining growth and profit, will be important.

Around 43% of TikTok users are 16-24-years-old, and diversifying the content slate may help the platform to broaden the audience beyond this demographic. It will ultimately help TikTok to appeal to brands seeking to reach customers with higher spending power.

Live streams have specific benefits in making a sense of immediacy among TikTok viewsers. Moreover, educational content will also help to cultivate those sorts of enthusiasts that are crucial for niche advertising. Both of these areas have seen a sharp uptick in interest during the pandemic as individuals are spending more time on social platforms for entertainment as well as informational purposes.

TikTok is going to appear at the IAB’s Digital Content NewFronts for the first time later this month. The platform’s expanded range of content slate may become a major threat to rival platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. Kids between 4 and 15 years old in the US spend an average of 82 minutes, 86 minutes, and 50 minutes daily on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram respectively, per research by Qustodio.


Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images

Read next: An Insider’s Perspective on How You Can Get a Job at TikTok
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Malicious Android apps were recently removed by Google from its Play Store

June 11, 2020, 2:00 pm
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Recently, Google came across some malicious Android applications on the official Play Store. These apps were showing out-of-context ads and unnecessary intrusive browser redirects on Android mobile phones.

These apps were discovered by White Ops, a Bot mitigation company. When they informed the security team of Google, they also notified that these apps were developed by a known criminal group.

This group created 38 apps which were mostly beauty-related (such as: Lite Beauty Camera, Beauty Collage Lite, Photo Collage & Beauty Camera, and Catoon Photo Editor & Selfie Beauty Camera). Initially, when these apps were created, they contained a source code containing malicious adware functions, which bombarded the users with ads.

This time around, the developers of these apps tried to trick Google and pass through its Play Store’s security scans for the apps’ approval process. They disabled the functions of the malicious adware in the source code and appeared as thoroughly clean when passed through the security scans.

According to White Ops, this group rolled out around 21 malicious apps back in January 2019 also. But at that time, they had not disabled their code and were caught easily, and their apps were removed. All those apps were beauty related and focused on activities like taking selfies or adding new filters to photos. But these apps displayed a huge number of ads and automatically open browsers for an online ad or redirect the browser to some malicious links. When the user tried to uninstall them, they would even try to stop them from doing so by hiding their app icons!

Most of these apps survived on Google Play Store for a maximum of two weeks, and then their malicious activities were detected, and they were thrown out from the Play Store. But even with such a short life span, these apps managed to gain a considerable following, with over 565,000 downloads.
When these apps failed in January 2019, they changed their tactic and adopted two methods to hide their malicious adware code in September 2019.

The first method was to insert Arabic characters and Quranic verses in different places of their app’s source code. This prevented Google’s reverse engineers from spotting malicious content by using Arabic text instead of English.

The second method was to disable or remove their malicious code to fool Google Play Store’s security scans and add the codes later in-app updates, once these apps get approved by the Play Store.

This is an interesting and clever method, but since it was from a known threat actor, White Ops suggested Google remove these apps right away to be on the safe side.

In totality, these 38 malicious apps were downloaded more than 20 million times since January 2019 when this operation began initially.

This is still a large number of affected users because this group’s initial operation was not very sophisticatedly devised, and it even got caught within a few days.



Read next: This Dangerous Android App Has Been Downloaded Over 40 Million Times
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