EARNINGS
Spotify crosses 550 million users in Q2; paid member base jumps 17%
Spotify clocked its largest-ever member addition during the quarter, with strong growth among Gen Z listeners
BUSINESS
Twitter becomes X: Can Elon Musk stake 'everything' on it?
Twitter, as the world knew it, is probably over as Elon Musk overhauls operations and rebrands it. In an increasingly competitive market, Musk will have to start from scratch with X, the 'everything app’.
BUSINESS
Karnataka govt divided over 28% GST on real-money gaming
State IT-BT minister Priyank Kharge told Moneycontrol that he would have taken up the issue had the gaming federation approached the state government earlier.
BUSINESS
Twitter to introduce daily limit on DMs for unverified accounts
The Elon Musk-owned social media site has brought in several features that were previously available for free, under the Twitter Blue subscription.
BUSINESS
Investors to PM Modi: 28% GST on real-money gaming will lead to a $2.5 billion write-off
The investors said that the current GST proposal will set up the "most onerous tax regime for the gaming sector" across the world.
BUSINESS
Netflix to crack down on password sharing in India, other markets from today
Netflix expects paid password sharing to contribute to majority of its revenue growth this year.
BUSINESS
Global Exclusive | Meta internal memo: 'Regulatory debate around AI will intensify in coming months'
Internal post by senior Meta executive calls safeguarding of young users a ‘hot button issue’ after US antitrust watchdog bars monetisation of minors’ data.
BUSINESS
Global Exclusive | Meta's Quest for Business targets 80,000 paid subscribers by year-end
This move comes at a time when Meta continues to stake its future on its ambitious but expensive metaverse bet while pursuing its ‘year of efficiency’
BUSINESS
Mark Zuckerberg says 'tens of millions' return to Threads daily
Mark Zuckerberg's comments come amid rising concerns that Threads is witnessing declining usage after a strong initial launch.
BUSINESS
Gameskraft, Nazara, MPL, AIGF and others request govt to reconsider 28% GST on real-money gaming
The GST Council's decision will "reverse the growth trajectory" of the industry and would potentially have "devastating implications" for MSMEs and startups, founders and industry associations say.
BUSINESS
Google extends Play Games beta for PC to India, 60 other countries
In India, the service will be available in English and Hindi. Players will be able to access popular titles from Indian developers, such as Ludo King and Hitwicket Games, as well as global titles, such as Eversoul, Lords Mobile, and Evony: The King’s Return.
BUSINESS
Google's ChatGPT rival Bard now supports 9 Indian languages, adds Lens integration
This is Google Bard’s biggest expansion to date. The AI chatbot is now available in most parts of the world, and in the most widely spoken languages.
BUSINESS
28% GST levy will make Indian real-money gaming sector an 'unviable business model': IAMAI
The GST Council's decision will be a huge blow to India’s ambitious target to achieve a $1 trillion digital economy by 2025, the industry body said.
BUSINESS
28% GST levy will upend the economics of real-money gaming sector, says Nazara's Nitish Mittersain
The revenue impact on Nazara Technologies itself will be minimal since the segment contributed only a modest 5.2 percent to the company's FY23 revenue, Mittersain said.
BUSINESS
Nazara Technologies says 28% GST on online gaming to have minimal revenue impact
Nazara Technologies said skill-based real money gaming contributed a modest 5.2 percent to its FY23 revenue
BUSINESS
'Will wipe out the entire industry', say online gaming cos after GST set at 28%
GST Council's decision will lead to lakhs of job losses and will benefit "anti-national illegal offshore platforms", say industry associations
TECHNOLOGY
Instagram's Twitter rival Threads crosses 100 million users in 5 days
It took ChatGPT 2 months to reach 100 million users, TikTok about nine months and Instagram itself took about two and a half years to reach the mark
BUSINESS
Instagram launches Threads to take on Elon Musk's Twitter
People will be able to use their Instagram username on Threads and follow the same accounts as they do on Meta's photo and video sharing platform
TECHNOLOGY
Instagram provides an early look of its Twitter rival 'Threads'
Instagram's Threads is looking to capitalise on the growing trend of Twitter users looking to migrate to alternative platforms.
BUSINESS
Twitter puts 'temporary' cap on number of tweets users can read a day
Twitter owner Elon Musk said they have placed these limits to address extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation
BUSINESS
Carl Pei's Nothing bags $96 million funding ahead of Phone (2) launch
With this funding round, Nothing has raised $250 million to date. It claims to have sold 1.5 million devices until now.
BUSINESS
Google, IISc help make local apps in India more inclusive
Google said that IISc is open-sourcing the first set of speech data comprising over 4,000 hours across 38 languages to developers, with more data sets expected to be added in the future.
TECHNOLOGY
WhatsApp Business crosses 200 million users, will soon allow ad creation without FB account
WhatsApp will soon enable small businesses to send personalised messages to their customers
TRENDS
Google appeals against NCLAT order upholding Rs 1,338 crore anti-trust penalty
It is to be noted that the CCI has also challenged the NCLAT's order at the Supreme Court.
