The great Twitter purge begins
Twitter has begun mass-deleting fake accounts, and it’s hitting some users’ follower numbers hard. The social media company started deleting accounts it suspected were fake, compromised or inactive last week, and various media reports have been gleefully pointing out how many followers certain celebrities and organisations have lost in the process. Twitter said around 6% of follower accounts are suspected fake or compromised.
Draft rules for online gambling ads
The Australian Communications and Media Authority has released a set of draft guidelines for online gambling promotion. The proposal prohibits gambling advertising during live sport streamed between 5am and 8:30pm in order to create what ACMA calls a “safe zone” for children.
Victoria and Queensland push for tech startups
Both the Victorian and Queensland governments made plays to attracts more tech startups this week. In Queensland, the Palaszczuk Government announced the creation of the Startup Onramp Regional Queensland Program, which extends the Startup Onramp grant program for innovators to regional areas. It’s part of the $650 million Advance Queensland program for whole of government transformation in the state.
In Victoria, meanwhile, the Andrews Government has announced $13.45 million in direct funding for startups in the state. The money will fund three new accelerators, which the government will claims will host up to 170 tech startups.
Google open Melbourne office
Google has opened its new Melbourne digs this week, a 100-seat office located on Collins street in the CBD. Although it will host a substantial number of staff for the tech giant, Google said that its Australian headquarters will remain in Sydney for the foreseeable future, in spite of the best lobbying efforts of the Victorian government.
Notepad gets updated for the first time in years
Microsoft’s venerable Notepad app has received an update, the first in a very, very long time. The text editor that comes with Windows will now have a default status bar, the ability to zoom in on text and ctrl+backspace support to delete a previous word.
