VENTURE CAPITAL POST

India’s internet regulator, the TRAI, had officially banned Facebook’s Free Basics program. The program has been banned for a few months now, but TRAI has been willing to reevaluate the terms until it came up with the decision that the program would not be allowed in the country. The Free Basics program was banned due to concerns over internet neutrality.

GitHub is experiencing a huge inner havoc as many executives flee from the company. Chris Wanstrath has been overhauling the firm's culture backed by its board.

The social media site, Twitter has disclosed for the first time removal of more than 125,000 accounts on allegation of aiding terrorism. ISIS has been using Twitter and other social media sites as platforms for spreading their ideologies and recruiting new members. Facebook is also adopting special measures in this regard due to growing concerns over poor policing by the sites against terrorism.

The shutting down of Parse, a startup for developers that have been bought by Facebook in 2013, has received many protests from its users. Many small developers are disappointed and consider that Facebook cannot be trusted as a platform to support them.

Google has set a milestone in the field of artificial technology, with its latest innovation AlphaGo. The program has been designed to tackle the 10 to the power of 700 variations that the ancient Chinese game of Go offers. Additionally, they beat FaceBook in this race, as Zuckerberg had announced the launch of a similar program called Darkforest around the same time.

Microsoft has put a prototype of data center under the ocean to examine its efficacy to work hundreds of feet beneath the ocean surface. The underwater data centers could reduce the delay in web service.

Facebook users will soon be prohibited from coordinating private firearm sales using its platform and also through Instagram. The step evokes strict policies on regulating promotional posts on unlicensed gun businesses . The new rule is only applicable for person-to-person firearm sales, licensed gun dealers will be permitted to use the social network.

Facebook's growth is just unstoppable. The number of the active users keeps increasing, as well as the revenue it gains. Most of the revenue is said to come from the Facebook Lite, which is usually used by users with less sophisticated mobiles. Besides that, video ad also gives many contributions as well.

Facebook is expected to announce its fourth-quarter earnings soon and analyst are expecting that the company will deliver a better than expected report. The company is also expected to boost its revenue this year through the expansion of its video advertising, Instagram, and Oculus RIft.

The program aims to provide limited internet access to users, but the concept has raised concerns regarding internet neutrality. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked Facebook to discontinue the service until they provide more information on the program as requested. Facebook has responded with a campaign, but the program's ban has not yet be lifted.

Jack Dorsey will be the next product boss. Jack Dorsey, the creator of Square and Twitter, will be able to infuse bold product modification which has been lacking at the company.

HMRC has been conducting multiyear investigation to unearth Google’s tax dodging events. Though denied earlier, a Google spokesperson has narrated a deal with the Britain’s tax authority to pay taxes of £130 million due for over a decade. The deal is significant since many countries around the globe are conducting scrutiny to ascertain dodged tax amounts of Google and other multinationals. Investigations in accordance with OECD guidelines may also help France to establish its claim for $1 billion as unpaid taxes.

Facebook announced its plan to open the second data center in Clonee, Ireland. By opening the Clonee center, the company is joining a list of companies like Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon, which operate some of the European centers in the nation.

The media research firm Nielsen will enhance its methods for measuring people’s TV watching activities using the new “Social Content Ranking,” which will use Facebook and Twitter for their surveys.

Facebook has come out with yet another special feature, this time, exclusively for the sports fans. Its Sports Stadium will be a virtual hub for millions of sports fanatics to get together and post photos/videos, like them, look at a dashboard full of stats and, most importantly, chat about the games, all the while getting access to expert commentary by celebrities and their teams. Currently, this space has only been rolled out for iOS in the US.