In a surprise retaliatory move Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news stories, escalating a fight with the government over whether powerful tech companies should have to pay news organizations for content.

Australia's government condemned the step, which also blocked some government communications, including messages about emergency services, and some commercial pages.

Conservative-friendly social network Parler announced Monday it was relaunching after being forced offline over incitements to violence on the platform.

France's national cyber security agency said Monday  it had discovered a hack of several organizations that bore similarities to other attacks by a group linked to Russian intelligence.

The United Nations on Monday denounced Myanmar's military rulers for choking off the internet amid a crackdown on anti-coup protests.

Facebook on Thursday said it had tackled abuse on its network surrounding the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former president Donald Trump.

The social network, which has been criticized for allowing some users to orchestrate violence that played out on January 6, also said it fed information to law enforcement agencies during the insurrection.

Facebook said Wednesday it began rolling out news feeds with less political subject matter in line with a plan outlined by chief Mark Zuckerberg to reduce inflammatory content.

Instagram announced new measures to tackle online abuse on Wednesday following a spate of "horrifying" racist attacks on Premier League footballers.

Bill Gates set out to heal the world. His Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen bought sports teams. Ted Turner raced yachts. And Donald Trump went into politics.

US technology giant Microsoft offered Wednesday to fill the void if rival Google follows through on a threat to turn off its search engine in Australia over government plans to make it pay for news content.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba saw profits jump over the last three months of 2020 as economic activity returned in China and online spending continued apace.