Amazon, Meta join fight to end Google Pay, PhonePe dominance in India

Amazon, Meta join fight to end Google Pay, PhonePe dominance in India

Amazon and Meta are among the big companies set to lobby India’s payments body over the dominance of Walmart-owned PhonePe and Google Pay in the country’s fast-growing instant payments network. Executives representing platforms including Amazon Pay, WhatsApp, CRED, MobiKwik, and Flipkart’s Super.money are scheduled to meet the National Payments Corporation of India on Thursday, TechCrunch…

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WhatsApp will now charge AI chatbots to operate in Italy

WhatsApp will now charge AI chatbots to operate in Italy

Meta announced Wednesday that it will charge developers for running chatbots on WhatsApp in regions where regulators are forcing the company to allow them. The move comes after the company’s ban on third-party chatbots on WhatsApp took effect on January 15.  For now, Meta will charge developers in Italy, where the country’s competition watchdog asked…

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Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

“Meta pauses teen access to AI characters” Meta is halting teens’ access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday. Meta Platforms Inc., which own Instagram and WhatsApp, said that starting in the “coming weeks,” teens will no longer be able to access AI characters “until the updated experience…

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WhatsApp’s biggest market is becoming its toughest test

WhatsApp’s biggest market is becoming its toughest test

WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging app that millions of Indians rely on daily, is facing a critical moment in India as recent government directions threaten to disrupt how the platform works for everyday users and businesses. Issued late last month and made public earlier this month, the directions ask certain app-based communication services to keep accounts continuously…

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