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Here's the latest tech news from the last 24 hours:

💸 TikTok fined $367 million for how it handled children’s data
👥 Elon Musk’s X finally agrees to try and settle Twitter’s mass layoffs lawsuit
🚀 Controversy as ancient human fossils sent to space
🎙️ Facebook cofounder says best companies come out of downturns
🤗 Meta confirms: No ads coming to WhatsApp

💸 TikTok fined $367 million for how it handled children’s dataLINK

TikTok has received a €345 million fine, its largest ever, from its lead regulator in the EU for violating General Data Protection Regulation laws.

The fine corresponds to TikTok's mishandling of sensitive data from children below 18 years, and the company is required to make its data processing compliant by year's end.

This concludes one of two significant investigations into TikTok led by the Irish regulator, with another ongoing probe into possible unlawful transfer of European user data to China.

👥 Elon Musk’s X finally agrees to try and settle Twitter’s mass layoffs lawsuitLINK

Elon Musk's company, X, recently laid off two-thirds of its workforce, alleging huge daily losses, which led to multiple lawsuits including lack of severance pay and targeting of women.

X has now agreed to attempt to settle these lawsuits, represented by Shannon Liss-Riordan, an attorney who is advocating for nearly 2,000 former employees.

The further schedule for the settlement remains unclear, however negotiations could take place in early December.

🚀 Controversy as ancient human fossils sent to spaceLINK

Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has sparked controversy by sending ancient hominin bones into space, drawing criticism from the paleontology community who view it as a disrespectful stunt.

This marks the first time human ancestral remains have been sent into space, with the included bones belonging to the two-million-year-old Australopithecus sediba and 250,000-year-old Homo naledi, both discovered in South Africa.

Despite being legal, the act of white scientists selecting and sending African fossils into space has been viewed by some as a perpetuation of past unethical practices in palaeoanthropological research.

🎙️ Facebook cofounder says best companies come out of downturnsLINK

Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin stated that the most successful companies are created during periods of economic downturn.

Saverin cited companies like Apple, Microsoft, Alibaba, Uber, and Airbnb as examples of successful companies that sprung up during tough financial periods.

According to Saverin, these challenging times produce entrepreneurs who understand the need to create truly vital products, shaping their initial business approach.

🤗 Meta confirms: No ads coming to WhatsAppLINK

Meta has contradicted a Financial Times report suggesting that it plans to display ads on WhatsApp, stating there are no tests or plans for such an initiative.

The company currently monetizes WhatsApp through WhatsApp Business, a service for merchants boasting over 200 million monthly active users, rather than through placing ads.

Despite speculation and past considerations around integrating ads on WhatsApp, these plans have always been cancelled, with a focus instead on refining business and payment services on the platform.

Other news you might like

Unity closed its San Francisco and Austin offices, citing safety threats following a controversial decision to impose fees on its game development platform.LINK

Apple faces investigation in France over exceeding EU radiation standards with iPhone 12, plans to issue a software update for resolution.LINK

Renault-supported French firm Verkor raises $2.1B, accelerating gigafactory construction for their EV batteries, marking a major feat in France's tech scene.LINK

Google agreed on a $93 million settlement over deceptively continuing user location tracking even after they had chosen to opt-out of such services.LINK

SoftBank's Arm, a chip design firm, made a successful market debut at Nasdaq, seeing its shares open 10% above offer price and securing a $60 billion valuation.LINK

Despite massive layoffs earlier this year, Salesforce now plans to hire over 3,000 new employees across diverse departments.LINK

Anthropic partners with Boston Consulting Group, providing clients direct access to its AI models for strategic business applications; this includes accelerating fraud detection and improving productivity.LINK

Microsoft partners with Paige to create largest image-based AI for cancer detection, but concerns persist over AI causing overdiagnosis and treatments unnecessary risks.LINK

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