“We do not believe that legislation is the best approach to addressing the issue,” said Alvin Tan, Facebook’s head of public policy for Southeast Asia

Tech giants express concern over Singapore plan to fight fake news [Reuters]

Global tech giants including Facebook and Twitter on Thursday expressed concern about a possible Singapore plan to bring in a new law to tackle the threat of fake news, saying sufficient rules are already in place.

Officials of Facebook, Twitter and Google attended a parliamentary hearing on how to counter the threat that Singapore said it was particularly vulnerable to due to its size, its role as a global financial hub and its ethnic and religious mix.

They were among 79 people asked to speak in parliament over the eight days set for the hearing. The wealthy city state is among the countries looking to introduce legislation, so far unspecified, to rein in fake news, a trend that has stirred concern that such laws could be used to exert government control over the media.

“We do not believe that legislation is the best approach to addressing the issue,” Alvin Tan, Facebook’s head of public policy for Southeast Asia, said in a written submission.

Ansarada, a virtual data room provider, raises US$19M in Ellerston-led round [Financial Review]

Ansarada, a Sydney-based provider of virtual data rooms and organiser of business information, has raised $19 million led by Ashok Jacob’s Ellerston Capital.

The company, which made $31 million revenue for a $1.2 million profit after tax in 2016-17, plans a public listing within two years of this raise, which included three more local cornerstone investors in Tempus Partners, Belay Capital and Australian Ethical Investments.

The six-figure advisory fee for the raise will go to anti-poverty projects in Uganda and Nepal, because Ansarada used Adara Partners, whose panel of investment bankers work on a pro bono basis.

Oyo in talks to raise up to US$800 million in fresh funding [Mint]

Oyo Rooms has initiated talks to raise US$500-800 million in fresh funding, six months after the company raised its last round, four people aware of the development said.

Oyo Rooms is in early talks with existing investors led by SoftBank Group and two new investors to raise its next round in order to increase its presence in the country as well as accelerate its international expansion, the people cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Mint could not ascertain the names of the new investors Oyo is talking to.

Zuckerberg apologizes for Facebook mistakes with user data [Reuters]

Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg apologized on Wednesday for mistakes his company made in how it handled data belonging to 50 million of its users and promised tougher steps to restrict developers’ access to such information.

The world’s largest social media network is facing growing government scrutiny in Europe and the United States about a whistleblower’s allegations that London-based political consultancy Cambridge Analytica improperly accessed user information to build profiles on American voters that were later used to help elect US President Donald Trump in 2016.

“This was a major breach of trust. I’m really sorry this happened. We have a basic responsibility to protect people’s data,” Zuckerberg said in an interview with CNN, breaking a public silence since the scandal erupted at the weekend.

Malaysia’s e-sports brand Kitamen to raise US$128K via Ata Plus platform [press release]

Kitamen, an e-sports lifestyle brand in Southeast Asia, has launched an equity crowdfunding (ECF) campaign on Ata Plus, a licensed ECF platform in Malaysia.

The startup will use 40 per cent of the fund to build the dedicated spaces, 20 per cent for marketing, 20 per cent for operations, 10 per cent for the integrated database system and 10 per cent for contingencies.

Kitamen is a lifestyle brand for eSports, with a community hub that delivers a platform for all eSports titles under one roof with multiple outlets across Klang Valley and growing throughout Malaysia. It works with global brands as a pathway to the elusive gamer community, and act as a vehicle for brands to connect with an exclusive user segment.

As of today, Kitamen has 15 licensed e-sports DOJO’s nationwide with growing community members of 90,000.

The post Today’s top tech news, March 22: Tech giants express concern over Singapore plan to fight fake news appeared first on e27.