Meta hits out at Australia’s ‘news tax’ – Asian Tech Roundup

Wired reports that Meta has added facial recognition “NameTag” code for its smart glasses to the Meta AI app through multiple updates this year. The feature reportedly identifies people captured by Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley glasses and can alert wearers. Meta says it is only exploring, with nothing shipped and no central face database. Investors may weigh privacy and regulatory risks.

Ohio lawmakers held a Joint Data Center Committee hearing with lobbyists from Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft, but adjourned with unanswered questions. Companies defended long-term Ohio investments and said some issues should be handled by utilities, regulators or local governments. Microsoft said it will end local NDAs; residents criticized NDAs and lawmakers questioned tax incentives and utility impacts. The committee meets again next week.

Instagram Plus is rolling out globally, Meta said, offering a $3.99/month subscription (about £3 or AU$5.60). The paid tier adds features such as Story Spotlight, animated “Super Hearts,” longer 48-hour stories, and more customization, while the free tier remains available with existing features for now. Ads still apply even for subscribers, according to the report.

A New York Times review of internal documents cited in lawsuits by 1,400+ school districts says Meta, Snap, TikTok and YouTube targeted students despite internal safety concerns. Snap allegedly sent in-class alerts and called phone use “under the desk” time; TikTok’s team sought disabling school notifications but leadership rejected it. Meta used “teen ambassadors.” All four settled with Breathitt County Schools for $27 million; Tucson Unified seeks $1 billion.

Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, in an All In podcast interview, said investor behavior resembles the 2000 dot-com bubble, with capital chasing “new” sectors like chips, semiconductors and energy while “high-quality” stocks may be neglected. He cited past valuation swings, argued companies such as Amazon, Meta and Microsoft remain undervalued, and noted Pershing Square’s April IPO.

TerraPower is building Kemmerer Unit 1, a sodium-cooled small modular reactor (SMR) in Wyoming, after the Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted a permit in March for the first US commercial SMR. CEO Christopher Levesque said the design avoids high-pressure water cooling and can reduce emergency planning zones to 300 meters. Meta is evaluating up to eight reactors for data centers. Korean partners include SK Innovation/ SK Inc. (US$250 million in 2022) and others supplying components. Constructio