Turkmenistan launched its first messaging app on 24 December 2018. It was named as;

WhatsApp launched an India-focused fact-checking feature to combat fake news and rumours starting with the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections. Developed in collaboration with India-based media skilling startup PROTO, the tip line feature will help create a database of rumours to study misinformation during elections as part of a research project commissioned and assisted by WhatsApp.

Alibaba and SoftBank-backed Paytm registered over 137 million UPI transactions in September, becoming the leading contributor to Unified Payments Interface (UPI) payments with over 33% of the overall market share. One97 Communications Limited, that owns the brand Paytm, is enabling BHIM UPI for offline payments and over five million offline merchants, out of its 9.5 million merchant-base, now accept Paytm UPI.

In a 747-page response to the US government, Mark Zuckerberg-led social media giant Facebook has admitted it shared its users' data with 52 technology companies including Alibaba, Huawei, Lenovo and Oppo. Facebook's data-sharing partnerships with Apple, Amazon and eye-tracking technology company Tobii are due to continue beyond October 2018.

Technology giant Google has recently announced the launch of a training programme for journalists with an aim to raise awareness against misinformation and providing new tools to the fourth estate against fake news. The Google News Initiative India Training Network will provide training to 8,000 journalists in English and six other Indian languages in the next one year. The network will select 200 journalists from cities across India, who will hone their skills in verification and training during five-day boot camps that will be organised for English and Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Marathi and Kannada. The focus of the training will be fact-checking, online verification and digital hygiene for journalists, using a curriculum built by experts.

Election Commission of India has developed cVIGIL, a mobile app, for the upcoming Lok Sabha election. 'cVIGIL' stands for 'Vigilant Citizen'. It is expected to be launched on 18th March 2019. It will be available on Google Playstore. Complaints regarding the model code of conduct and violations can be lodged in during election time. To lodge a complaint, a voter should download the app from Google Play Store. Photos and two-minute video clippings regarding the violation including threatening of voters, causing enmity between voters on caste and religious lines, character assassination of candidates, can be uploaded via the app. Complainants also have the option to remain anonymous. Within 100 minutes of filing the complaint, the complainant will receive feedback on the action taken.

Bank of Baroda has signed an MoU with agriculture services companies to develop an agriculture digital platform, Baroda Kisan, which will provide solutions for agricultural requirements. BoB has signed the agreement with Skymet Weather Services, Weather Risk Management Services, BigHaat, Agrostar India, EM3 Agri Services, and Poorti Agri Services. The platform intends to make a holistic approach towards solving agricultural plights by means of providing reliable and customised information, inputs for use, the convenience of renting farm equipment, and market linkage for sale of agriculture produce.

Prasar Bharati has tied up with Google and its video sharing platform YouTube to telecast the 72nd Independence Day programme live online on 15th August 2018 to increase digital presence. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has stated that the live stream window will be seen on the homepage of Google itself so that people do not have to look for a separate link to go to the Youtube channel. In a first-of-its-kind digital drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's speech from Red Fort will be live streamed on both Google and YouTube. This year, Doordarshan anchors will introduce the programme from Red Fort instead of the studios. Doordarshan will also translate the PM's speech in over 20 regional languages. The Independence Day coverage will open with a song composed by Shankar Mahadevan.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will roll out its new internet telephony service with brand name "Wings" from August 1. Those subscribing to "Wings", entailing one-time registration fee of Rs 1,099, will be able to make calls using any internet connection including broadband, WiFi, 3G or 4G data network of any operator, thus overcoming connectivity problems even in areas having patchy signals. Those subscribers can avail free domestic calls for one year, while the overseas calls will be priced as per international tariffs of BSNL landline.

PM Narendra Modi inaugurated supercomputer 'Param Shivay' at IIT-BHU.The supercomputer of 833 teraflop capacity built at the cost of Rs 32.5 crore. Additional Information: India's first supercomputer called PARAM 8000 was launched in 1991. He released commemorative postage stamp on completion of 100 Years of IIT BHU.

The Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) along with the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai submitted a proposal to set up a Centre of Excellence for blockchain technology in Hyderabad to drive innovation. The technology will be used to secure land records in Telangana. After this, the C-DAC's Hyderabad unit will be the first one by the government for blockchain technology.