Zone’s Ross Basham handpicks and shares the five best new stories on digital trends, experiences and technologies…
1. Online Safety Bill to target paid-for scam ads
Social media sites and search engines could have to stop paid-for scam advertsappearing by law. The proposal is part of the Online Safety Bill, a piece of landmark legislation trying to determine how sites deal with harmful content. Campaign groups say being a scam victim can cause both financial and emotional devastation.
Under a new legal duty being added to the bill, platforms will be required to put in place processes to block ads appearing online and remove them if they slip through. It is intended to protect people from scams where criminals impersonate companies to steal personal data or peddle unsafe financial investments.
2. 2000s icon LimeWire reborn as NFT platform
For a class of millennials, peer-to-peer sharing platform LimeWire was a cultural touchstone of the early 2000s, before its demise at the end of the decade. But now it is being resurrected by a couple of entrepreneurs who have hopes of capitalising on the next generation of cultural phenomena: the world of Web3.
The original LimeWire was a go-to hub for people to download — often illegally — music and movies and earned a reputation as one of th early pioneers of the internet piracy boom. The buyers, two brothers from Austria, aspire to relaunch LimeWire as a cryptosphere marketplace, selling NFTs linked to music, artwork and content.
3. Zone women breaking the bias on IWD 2022
To celebrate International Women’s Day this week, we have run a series of articles on our Medium blog from women at Zone talking about their experiences working in the digital industry. In one article, client content director Laura Goss (pictured) talks about how she learned to frame vulnerability as strength.
Elsewhere, Zone account director Sophie Bliss explains why feelings of imposter syndrome are part of career progression and nothing to be ashamed of, while senior content designer Florence Buswell reveals five lessons she would teach her younger self. You can find all these and other articles on our Medium page.
4. Tinder lets users run background checks
Tinder will now let users perform a background check on the person they intend to go on a date with, a safety measure aimed to keep “Tinder Swindlers” at bay and play a crucial role in preventing any other kind of trauma. The service is offered by Garbo, a non-profit that aims to make background checks easier to access.
Thanks to a partnership with Tinder’s parent company Match Group, the dating app’s users will get two background check tickets for free, then each check costs $2.50 on Garbo. In the coming months, the background check feature will also be making its way to more Match Group-owned apps such as OkCupid, Plenty Of Fish and Hinge.
5. Uber Eats makes it tougher for bill dodgers
Uber Eats is getting a group order and bill splitting feature that should make it easier to ensure your friends and family are picking up their share of the tab. Instead of passing your phone around to everyone in the group so they can place their orders, you’ll now be able to start a group order from within the Uber Eats app.
But if you’re feeling extra generous, Uber Eats gives you the option to foot the entire bill while also letting you set spending limits to deter anyone from ordering the most expensive item on the menu (yes, we all have one friend who does that!). Whether you pay for or split the bill, Uber says all the food will get delivered at the same time.
