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Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, will limit use of the platform for children to 40 minutes a day.

The rules will apply to users under 14, who have been authenticated using their real names, and who will be able to access it between 06:00 and 22:00.

Parent company Bytedance announced the app’s Youth Mode in a blog post, saying it is the first short-video company in the industry to have these limits.

It comes as China cracks down on teenagers’ use of technology.

According to Douyin’s user agreement there is no minimum age on the platform, but under 18s must obtain the consent of a legal guardian. On sister app TikTok the minimum age is 13.

New educational content – including science experiments, museum exhibitions and historical explainers – has been launched by Douyin as part of Youth Mode.

“Yes, we are more strict with teenagers. We will work harder to provide quality content so that young people can learn and see the world,” the post said.

Tech crackdown
Last month, under-18s in China were banned from playing video games during the week, and their play was restricted to just one hour on Fridays, weekends and holidays.

And in February, Chinese children were banned from taking their mobile phones into school.

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Analysis – Kerry Allen, BBC China media analyst
These regulations on China’s version of TikTok have been a long time coming.

For the last three years, official media has been warning that the growing amount of time young Chinese people are spending on the internet is having an impact on their physical and mental health.

Data from social media agency We Are Social suggests that Chinese people frequently spend more than five hours a day online, two hours of which is on social media.

Although this data doesn’t include those under the age of 16, online learning has been very present in young Chinese people’s lives over the last year because of Covid-19. Added to that, official broadcaster CGTN says 95% of China’s youth population is online nowadays – 183 million minors.

Back in 2018, China’s regulators said that they were seeking to limit the amount of time that minors spent online, because of rising levels of near-sightedness among children.

Douyin, much like TikTok, is particularly popular with young audiences, and so China’s top regulator, the Cyberspace Administration of China, has urged it to “create a good cyberspace environment for the healthy development of young people”.

Back in 2019, Douyin and rival service Kuaishou began trialling “anti-addiction measures”. They introduced child locks, and experimented with functions that could limit the amount of time children spent on these platforms.

A novel way of delivering high-speed internet via beams of light through the air has successfully transmitted data across the Congo River.

It means that citizens in Brazzaville and Kinshasa could get faster and cheaper broadband.

Project Taara is one of Alphabet X’s (formerly Google X) so-called moonshot ideas.

It grew out of Project Loon, a broadband project using balloons in the stratosphere, since shut down.

The latest experiment means that a “particularly stubborn connectivity gap” between the two African cities – Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo – has been filled, said the team in a blog.

The cities lie only three miles apart but connecting them is tricky because traditional cable has to be routed around the river, making broadband prices five times more expensive.

The wireless optical communications (WOC) system provided nearly 700 terabytes of data in 20 days with 99.9% availability, the team at X reported.

“While we don’t expect to see perfect reliability in all kinds of weather and conditions in future, we’re confident Taara’s links will continue to deliver similar performance and will play a key role in bringing fast, more affordable connectivity to the 17 million people living in these cities,” it said in the blog.

It is the latest iteration of the project which has been in development for three years. X is working with Econet Group and Liquid Telecom to bring high-speed internet to sub-Saharan Africa and has begun a commercial rollout in Kenya.

The system uses very narrow, invisible beams of light to deliver high speeds, similar to the way traditional fibre in the ground uses light to carry data but without the cable casing.

The technology, known as Free Space Optical Communications, grew out of experiments the team had previously used to beam lasers between balloons in Project Loon, which was shut down by Alphabet in February because it was no longer seen as commercially viable.

It is not perfect and the team admits it will not offer full reliability in challenging conditions, such as fog, haze or when birds fly in front of the signal.

But it has been improved by adjusting the level of laser power being transmitted, which works a bit like a telescope, relying on mirrors, lights, software and hardware to move the beam to exactly where it needs to be. The team have also found ways to reduce errors due to interruptions such as birds flying through the link.

“While places like foggy San Francisco may never be an ideal spot to use WOC, there are many, many places around the world with ideal weather conditions for Taara’s links,” the blog read.

The technology has also be trialled in Kenya, India, the US and Mexico.

Other projects Alphabet X is working on include:

Mineral – an attempt to develop new technology to build a more sustainable food system
Tidal – looking at improving ocean health
Everyday Robot Project – aiming to develop robots that can do useful tasks to help in daily life

Wikipedia has suffered an “infiltration” that sought to advance the aims of China, the US non-profit organisation that owns the volunteer-edited encyclopaedia has said.

The Wikimedia Foundation told BBC News the infiltration had threatened the “very foundations of Wikipedia”.

The foundation banned seven editors linked to a mainland China group.

Wikimedians of Mainland China accused the foundation of “baselessly slandering a small group of people”.

‘Rapid response’
“This case is unprecedented in scope,” foundation vice-president Maggie Dennis said, in a note to volunteers.

And she told BBC News the foundation had been investigating the infiltration of Chinese-language Wikipedia for nearly a year.

But this summer, “credible threats” to volunteers’ safety had “led us to prioritise rapid response”.

The foundation was battling against “capture”, where a group gains control of the editing of the Wikipedia to favour a particular viewpoint, Ms Dennis wrote.

And it has recently set up a disinformation team.

‘Controlling content’
In this case, the infiltrators had tried to promote “the aims of China, as interpreted through whatever filters they may bring to bear”, Ms Dennis told BBC News.

“Controlling content was an aim,” she said.

But she also said: “I am not in position to point fingers at the Chinese state nor in possession of information that would lead me to do so.”

However, “long and deep investigations” into Wikimedians of Mainland China, a group claiming to have about 300 members, had resulted in the banning of seven users and the removal of administrator privileges from a further 12, Wikipedia said.

And there had been concern elections for powerful administrator roles were being manipulated and the process of editing risked being overwhelmed.

Other editors have also been asked to modify their behaviour.

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In a post in response to the bans, Wikimedians of Mainland China accused the foundation of acting contrary to the “feelings and opinions of the community”.

But Ms Dennis said the foundation had acted in awareness of conflict between mainland China based Wikimedians and volunteers in Hong Kong.

In July, the Hong Kong Free Press reported “battles between competing editors” over articles describing political events.

And the situation worsened after the closure of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily newspaper and the arrest of its top executives,

Mainland editors were increasingly “pushing for the use of Chinese state media as reliable news sources” in Wikipedia articles, the Hong Kong Free Press alleged.

And it revealed some had discussed reporting Hong Kong editors to the city’s national security police hotline, in online chat groups.

Some members of the Hong Kong Wikipedia community were now fearful of “commenting on politically sensitive articles”, Hong Kong Free Press reporter Selina Cheng told BBC News.

“Hong Kong users feared they may be targeted as a result of their identities being known,” she said.

And they asked the Wikimedia Foundation’s Trust and Safety team to help them.

‘Biasing information’
Weeks earlier, the foundation, responding to a security warning, had restricted access to personally identifiable information in two jurisdictions where access to Wikipedia was blocked – including China.

It had feared volunteers – some of whom are young – could be exploited or compelled to share personal data by “state actors or others with an interest in biasing information”.

Ms Dennis said the “software” showed the foundation’s actions had worked and no data had been misused.

But the latest action to counter infiltration had been necessary because individuals had inadvertently put themselves at risk by sharing information about themselves, “such as attending local meetings or sharing personal email addresses” with other users.

‘Risked harm’
“When the foundation has credible information that some volunteers may not be interacting in good faith – and in this case, there was plenty – we may feel it necessary to protect the community by removing those individuals from access,” she said.

“In such cases, users are banned.”

Ms Dennis said she was keen none of the steps taken to protect Wikipedia should discourage Chinese-speakers from joining the community – or volunteers in China who had worked “for free and open knowledge” and may have risked harm by doing so.

To the 4,000 Chinese language Wikimedians she wrote: “We are committed to supporting you in doing this work into the future, with the tools you need to succeed in a safe, secure,and productive environment.”

Microsoft has announced users can now delete all passwords from their accounts and instead login using an authenticator app or other solution.

The technology giant made passwordless accounts available for business users of its products in March.

And that system is now being made available to all Microsoft or Windows users.

It said “nearly 100% of our employees” were already using the new, more secure system for their corporate accounts.

If passwordless login is enabled, users re-logging in to a Microsoft account will be asked to give their fingerprint, or other secure unlock, on their mobile phone.

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And this is far more secure than using passwords, which can be guessed or stolen, according to Microsoft.

“Only you can provide fingerprint authentication or provide the right response on your mobile at the right time,” it said.

Windows users will still be able to use quick-login features such as a Pin code, though.

Some rare exceptions will still need passwords, such as Office 2010, Xbox 360 consoles, and Windows 8.1 or earlier machines.

And if access to the authenticator app is lost – for example, if the phone it is installed on is lost or stolen or a user forgets when upgrading – backup options can be used, including:

Windows Hello facial recognition, which requires a compatible laptop or special camera
a physical security key, which must be used on the device logging in
Short Message Service (SMS) or email codes
But SMS and email are two of the most common channels for cyber-criminals targeting specific individuals

And Microsoft says security-conscious users who have two-factor authentication set up will need to have access to two different recovery methods.

Prof Alan Woodward, part of a research team investigating passwordless authentication, at the University of Surrey, called it “quite a bold step from Microsoft”.

“This isn’t just logging into PCs, it’s logging into online services as well” – including important ones such as cloud storage, he said.

Microsoft laid out its reasons for the new system in a series of blog posts.

Security vice-president Vasu Jakkal wrote: “Passwords are incredibly inconvenient to create, remember, and manage across all the accounts in our lives.

“We are expected to create complex and unique passwords, remember them, and change them frequently – but nobody likes doing that.”

Instead, people tended to create insecure passwords that technically cleared the bar for using symbols, numbers or case sensitivity – but in order to remember them, used a repeated formula or the same password on multiple websites.

And that led to hackers guessing them or revealing them in a data breach and reusing them.

“Hackers don’t break in, they log in,” the blog post read.

‘Pummelled home’
The new passwordless feature greets users with a box saying: “A passwordless account reduces the risk of phishing and password attacks.”

And once the feature is set up, a confirmation tells users: “You have increased the security of your account and improved your sign-in experience by removing your password”.

Microsoft’s claims about poor password use were largely true, Prof Woodward said.

“The message has been pummelled home about what good password hygiene looks like – but it’s easier said than done,” he said.

Passwords were a decades-old concept “and maybe the time is now right to start looking for something different”.

But there were no currently agreed standards.

“There are a number of different ways this could be done – and it would be good if everybody moved on, really, and tried to find a way of doing this,” Prof Woodward said.

Apple has issued a software patch to block so-called “zero-click” spyware that could infect iPhones and iPads.

Independent researchers identified the flaw, which lets hackers access devices through the iMessage service even if users do not click on a link or file.

The problem affects all of the technology giant’s operating systems, the researchers said.

Apple said it issued the security update in response to a “maliciously crafted” PDF file.

University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, which first highlighted the issue, had previously found evidence of zero-click spyware, but “this is the first one where the exploit has been captured so we can find out how it works,” said researcher Bill Marczak.

The researchers said that the previously unknown vulnerability affected all major Apple devices, including iPhones, Macs and Apple Watches.

Citizen Lab also said the security issue was exploited to plant spyware on a Saudi activist’s iPhone, adding that it had high confidence that the Israeli hacker-for-hire firm, NSO Group, was behind that attack.

In a statement to the Reuters news agency, NSO did not confirm or deny that it was behind the spyware, saying only that it would “continue to provide intelligence and law enforcement agencies around the world with life-saving technologies to fight terror and crime”.

Security experts have said that although the discovery is significant, most users of Apple devices should not be overly concerned as such attacks are usually highly targeted.

Apple said in a blog post that it had issued the iOS 14.8 and iPadOS 14.8 software patches after it became aware of a report that the flaw “may have been actively exploited”.

The announcement came as the technology giant prepared to unveil new devices at its annual launch event on Tuesday.

The company is expected to reveal new iPhones and updates to its AirPods and Apple Watch.

2px presentational grey line
Analysis by Joe Tidy, Cyber Reporter
Apple’s iMessage is one of the most secure messaging apps in the world but clearly it had a dangerous weakness that a hacking team found and exploited.

The news will embarrass Apple which prides itself on being a secure and safe system.

The revelation is potentially another blow to the reputation of NSO Group which is still reeling from recent accusations of widespread spy hacks on innocent people.

It also highlights once again that no device is fully safe if a determined, well-funded team wants to hack it and is paid enough to do so.

The good advice from all corners is for iOS users to update the security software of their devices as soon as possible to patch up the security hole.

But for the vast majority of users, the risk of being a target of this expensive and highly-skilled hacking, is low.

IPhone owners should beware picking up bad vibrations from powerful motorbikes, as they may damage camera systems, Apple has said.

The technology giant published a warning iPhones should not be attached to powerful bikes, in a support document spotted by MacRumors.

Engine vibrations can harm phones’ optical-image stabilisation or closed-loop autofocus systems, it says.

Owners of scooters and mopeds should also use “vibration-dampening mounts”.

On social media, several users have said their phones have been damaged after being attached to a motorcycle.

And Apple says several models of iPhone are susceptible to the damage.

‘High-amplitude vibrations’
The affected systems are designed to improve picture quality by counteracting movement, vibrations, and the effects of gravity.

But high-power or high-volume motorcycle engines generate “intense high-amplitude vibrations”, the support page says, which can be transmitted through the frame and handlebars.

“Direct exposure to high-amplitude vibrations within certain frequency ranges may degrade the performance of these systems and lead to reduced image quality for photos and videos,” it says.

The solution is to refrain from attaching iPhones to the bike in the first place – something commonly done for navigation.

Apple has been dealt a major blow in its ongoing trial against Fortnite-maker Epic Games.

A court in Oakland, California, has ruled that Apple cannot stop app developers directing users to third-party payment options.

Apple had argued that all apps should use Apple’s own in-app payment options.

In a high profile trial, Epic Games had challenged the up-to-30% cut Apple takes from purchases – and argued that the App Store was monopolistic.

On Friday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez-Rogers ruled that “the court cannot ultimately conclude that Apple is a monopolist”.

However she also issued a permanent injunction, stating that Apple could no longer prohibit developers linking to their own purchasing mechanisms.

For example, a movie-streaming service will now be able to tell customers to subscribe via its own website, without using Apple’s in-app purchasing mechanism.

Epic has also taken legal action against Google over its Play Store.

Apple’s closed payments system is hugely lucrative for the tech giant, although the company says it does not know exactly how much it makes.

The ruling effectively states that Apple cannot ban developers from communicating with customers. Often there are cheaper options for consumers away from the App Store, however Apple did not allow companies to tell consumers this.

Epic had argued that this was unreasonable and that developers should be able to inform users that they could make purchases away from the App Store.

However in a win for Apple, the judge also ruled Epic failed to demonstrate Apple was operating an illegal monopoly.

Judge Yvonne Gonzales-Rogers said: “Apple enjoys considerable market share of over 55% and extraordinary high profit margins.”

But added: “These factors alone do not show antitrust conduct. Success is not illegal.”

A spokesperson for Apple said: “Today the Court has affirmed what we’ve known all along: the App Store is not in violation of antitrust law.

“Apple faces rigorous competition in every segment in which we do business, and we believe customers and developers choose us because our products and services are the best in the world.”

Epic Games’ chief Tim Sweeney said the ruling was “not a win for developers or consumers” and vowed to “fight on”.

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Music streaming site Spotify said: “We are pleased with [the decision that] Apple engaged in anti-competitive conduct and has permanently prohibited their anti-steering provisions.”

The ruling also revealed that gaming apps account for 70% of App Store revenue.

It’s likely the decision will be appealed, perhaps by both sides.

Apple’s share price has fallen by 3% since the decision, wiping billions of dollars from its valuation.

Apple has been quick to claim victory – calling it a “resounding win”.

It is true that the judge mainly sided with Apple on Epic’s major contention, stating it is not a monopoly.

However the characterisation that Apple has “won” here is misleading.

Epic’s case against Apple was speculative. Many believed they didn’t stand a chance.

That the court has moved to allow in app purchases to be redirected away from the App Store could be a major blow to Apple’s business model.

It was revealed that 70% of Apple’s App Store revenue comes from gaming apps – an astonishing figure.

I say “could be” because it’s unclear how many people would choose to purchase away from the App Store, or to what extent that would dent Apple’s profits.

During the trial, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said he didn’t know how much the company generates from the App Store. That makes trying to assess the damage this ruling could have on the company difficult.

Epic is saying it is disappointed in the ruling, and certainly the judge could have given them more.

But the decision has been welcomed by anti-trust campaigners, who believe Apple use their market dominance to bully developers.

Stickers that claim to protect users against electromagnetic fields (EMF) from phones remain for sale on Amazon.

The listings remain eight months after scientists told the BBC the smartDOT stickers had “no effect”.

This week the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also criticised the claims on the makers’ website.

The firm has told the BBC it is changing its website, product descriptions, advertising and marketing – including on Amazon.

On Wednesday, the ASA found that Global EMF Solutions Ltd had made unsubstantiated claims on the Energydots website that EMF were harmful and that its stickers offered “protection”.

It told the company it must no longer use phrases such as: “SmartDOT protected users from EMF emitted from wireless devices and helped users feel energised, more focused and less stressed.”

It must also not suggest that EMF from wireless devices were harmful to health, the ASA ruled.

In January, as part of the BBC’s investigation, the University of Surrey tested 4G mobile phones and wi-fi access points with and without the smartDOT stickers applied to them.

The researchers found no evidence of any effect, although Energydots said that measuring the “harmonising” effect of the stickers would require “biological testing”.

At the time of the investigation, SmartDOT was available for sale on Amazon and the firm told the BBC it would investigate.

Eight months later, the Energydot store on Amazon was still selling smartDOT stickers, even after the ASA ruling.

But after the BBC contacted both firms the smartDOT product listing was removed from the Energydot Amazon store, although the stickers remain for sale elsewhere on Amazon.

The product description says the stickers provided “everyday protection from EMF”. The listing said the stickers “can be stuck on all devices to reduce everyday harmful magnetic radiation”.

Energydot told the BBC that it was changing its website, marketing materials, product descriptions and adverts in line with the ASA ruling.

It said its new listings with Amazon were currently “under review” and that changes would be completed by Monday 13 September.

When asked what it would say about smartDOT, given that it can no longer claim it “protects” against EMF, the company said its marketing materials would be “legally compliant”.

PayPal is introducing new fees for payments between businesses in the UK and those in Europe, from November.

British businesses will be charged a 1.29% fee for payments from the European Economic Area and vice versa.

Most currently pay about 0.5% in similar charges, which have remained unchanged since before the UK left the EU customs union and single market.

PayPal said it was now incurring extra costs, such as the rise in interchange fees between the UK and EEA.

European rules capping credit and debit card interchange fees at 0.2% and 0.3% no longer apply to UK businesses.

And both Visa and Mastercard have announced they will raise them fivefold from mid-October.

‘Highly competitive’
The EEA is made up of the 27 remaining European Union states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

And the new charges apply to the whole of the UK, Guernsey, Jersey, Gibraltar, and the Isle of Man.

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Most businesses will see their current 0.5% fee raised to 1.29% – still lower than PayPal’s standard 1.99% for the rest of the world – but some of those with their own customised agreements with PayPal will have their existing rate raised by 1.29%.

The new fee was first mentioned on the same day the company announced it would accept cryptocurrency Bitcoin but details were not released until this week.

PayPal said it was “simplifying” its cross-border fees.

“In a highly competitive market, this will make it easier for these businesses to compare PayPal’s pricing with that of other providers and to better appreciate the value we provide,” it said.

‘Stronger support’
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said any rise in payment-platform fees “is unwelcome news for small businesses and entrepreneurs”.

“Since the start of the year, around one in four small exporters have stopped exporting to the EU, citing amongst other reasons the costs involved in selling to EU-based customers,” vice-chairman Martin McTague said.

And over the past three months, a little over 40% of small exporters said the value of their exports had dropped.

“We need to see stronger support for small exporters from the government, including a relaunched SME [Small and Medium Enterprises]Brexit Support Fund and a reformed Tradeshow Access Programme,” McTague added.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer should take inspiration from US President Joe Biden in promoting workers’ rights, the head of the UK’s unions has argued.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said better pay and conditions must become “absolutely central” to the party’s pitch to voters.

She praised Mr Biden for making the “dignity of work” a major slogan in his successful presidential campaign.

Ms O’Grady also urged the government to clarify what “levelling up” means.

Speaking to the BBC ahead of the TUC’s annual congress, which starts on Sunday, she said a government “of any colour” needed to prioritise tackling inequality.

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Over the summer, Labour pledged to give workers “full” employment rights – including flexible working and ending the practice of fire-and-rehire, where staff are dismissed and taken back on, often on worse terms – from their first day in a new job.

Ms O’Grady called these policies “really encouraging”, but urged Sir Keir to promote them more vigorously when he addresses TUC delegates on Tuesday.

“He’s got another opportunity to set out in primary colours what his agenda for working people in this country is,” she said.

“I hope he will take some inspiration from what we’ve seen from President Biden and in New Zealand and a number of other countries, with that whole issue of dignity at work becoming absolutely central to the public policy agenda and that recognition that there has to be a major reset on workers’ rights.”

At the 2019 general election, which his Conservative Party won by a landslide, Boris Johnson promised to “level up” all parts of the UK, including boosting transport links, skills training and business opportunities in poorer areas.

The prime minister said in July that this would mean giving more power to local leaders, but critics have described the plan – on which more detail is expected later this month – as vague.

“The pressure is on the government to define levelling up,” said Ms O’Grady. “People in the country want a sharp definition. It must include making working lives better.

“There’s a sharp picture of a Covid class chasm between those who kept on going into work throughout the pandemic, keeping us fed, safe and looked after, and the better-off in society.”

This year, the UK’s two biggest unions – Unison and Unite – have elected female leaders for the first time.

This followed a damning report last year about the former leadership of the third-largest union, the GMB, which found it was “institutionally sexist”, with bullying, misogyny, cronyism and sexual harassment “endemic”.

Ms O’Grady said she was “absolutely delighted” that Sharon Graham and Christina McAnea – two “very strong” figures – were now in charge of Unite and Unison.

“When the GMB story came out I felt really let down and angry. Too often it was discussed around the politics of the union,” she added.

“Those women [who made complaints] should have been front and centre of everybody’s considerations, because no woman should have to put up with that kind of behaviour.”

Unions were working hard to prevent harassment at work, she said, adding: “When it comes to the union movement, people need to be able to look and see themselves, in terms of leadership, so the changes we’ve seen will make a difference.”

The TUC annual congress, held in central London with most delegates taking part online, runs from Sunday to Tuesday.