Also, Vietnam activists say Facebook’s system could be suppressing dissent, and more
Grab Vietnam ordered to prove it has not become a monopoly after the Uber deal [DealStreetAsia]
Grab’s Vietnam operations has been ordered to prove to the country’s antitrust regulators that it has not become a monopoly after it acquired Uber’s Southeast Asia assets.
Grab Vietnam submitted a letter to Competition and Consumer Protection Department (CCPD) explaining that Grab and Uber’s combined market share in the country is less than 30 per cent, and therefore, it “does not have to inform the competition authority before proceeding and completing transactions in Vietnam”.
CCPD has rejected this response, though, and saying that adequate evidence has not been provided. It has asked Grab to evidence and evaluate its market share.
Grab Vietnam may also be required to pay Uber’s outstanding taxes in the country, which is VND53.3 billion (US $2.33 million), according to CCPD.
Grab Vietnam has rejected that claim, saying that it acquired only Uber’s Southeast Asia business, and not its legal entities, and therefore it has no obligation to foot the bill.
Vietnam activists says Facebook’s systems may be suppressing dissent [Reuters]
Activists in Vietnam say that Facebook’s system, which automatically takes down content if enough people flag it, may be suppressing dissent in the country. They have written a letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to highlight this issue.
The Vietnamese government is working with the social media giant to root out fake news and illegal content. It also has a 10,000-strong cyber warfare unit called Force 47 to monitor and eradicate “wrong” views on the internet.
Also Read: Ex-Facebook execs think social media is destroying society, but is it really?
The letter, which was signed by nearly 50 human rights and independent media groups called Force 47 “state-sponsored trolls” for using Facebook to spread fake news about the activists and quell opposing voices.
Mark Zuckerberg apologises for misrepresenting Facebook’s response to sectarian violence in Myanmar [The New York Times]
Last week, Myanmar activists sent a letter to Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, criticising him for misrepresenting Facebook’s response to the ongoing sectarian violence in Myanmar in an earlier interview in an interview with Vox.
He had claimed that Facebook’s executives detected that members on each side of the conflict were using the Facebook Messenger to spread “sensational messages”, such as warnings of an uprising and a call to arms, and were able to stop them from going through.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg responded to these activities via his personal to email to apologise for his flub, and said that the company has boosted its Myanmar-related team, including “dozens” of Burmese language content reviewers to monitor reports of hate speech. It is also working on tools that will help reduce violence.
SGInnovate invests in Singapore medtech startup NDR Medical Technology [e27]
Singapore medtech startup NDR Medical Technology has raised an undisclosed seed funding from SGInnovate.
Combining artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, and computer vision for surgical procedures, NDR has developed a proprietary smart robotic guiding system for surgeries known as Automated Needle Targeting (ANT).
The system helps surgeons visualise the 3D location of the target lesion in the patient’s body by using AI and image processing. Combined with the surgeons’ skills and dexterity, the technology helps them achieve greater accuracy for needle alignment and positioning to target lesions
Singapore mobile chat app Consentium raises US$10 million [e27]
Consentium, a mobile chat app that also allows multi-digital currency transfer between users, today announced that it has raised US$10 million in additional funding via ICO, taking its total fundraise from private sales to US$20 million.
Early last month, the Singapore startup secured US$10 million from its private ICO sale.
Consentium allows peer-to-peer (P2P), multi-digital-currency transfers between users. The fintech platform also offers a transactional fee redistribution programme as an incentive to create and cultivate strong in-app communities. Consentium uses a reward system based on creation of quality community groups, comprising both amount of users and on-app reputation of users.
—
Image Credit: hanoiphotography / 123RF Stock Photo
The post Today’s top tech news, April 10: Vietnam orders Grab to prove it is not a monopoly post-Uber deal appeared first on e27.
Source: e27