10 things in tech you need to know today

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1. Jan Marsalek, the ex-COO of collapsed German payment service Wirecard, likely fled to Russia, not Belarus or the Philippines, intelligence sources have told Insider. Marsalek entered Russia over 60 times in the past decade on six Austrian passports and three "diplomatic" passports issued by another, unidentified country, sources said.
   
2. UK companies are marketing and selling spy tech to countries accused of using such technology to abuse human rights. Data analysed by Business Insider showed firms were licensed during the first three months of 2020 to sell surveillance kit to Pakistan, Oman, and the UAE, among other nations.

3. Twitter said on Wednesday that the hackers who breached its systems last week likely read the direct messages of 36 accounts, including one belonging to an elected official in the Netherlands. In tweets from its support account and an updated blog post, Twitter said it had no indication that the private messages of any other elected officials were obtained.

4. Workplace chat service Slack filed an EU antitrust complained against Microsoft Teams, saying bundling the software within Office 365 was anti-competitive. Microsoft shot back, saying Slack had suffered from a lack of videoconferencing functionality.
5. US states are turning to NearForm, the company that made Ireland's contact-tracing app, for help with their contact-tracing efforts. Other countries and US states have already asked permission to retool the app for themselves, and NearForm told Business Insider it's started work with Pennsylvania authorities.
6. Pakistan's telecoms regulator has issued TikTok with a "final warning," threatening to ban it over complaints about "immoral, obscene and vulgar content." The regulator has already blocked live streaming app Bigo on the same grounds.
7. Uber-backed scooter startup Lime and German challenger Tier have been chosen as two of three companies that can operate electric scooters in Paris. Paris was inundated with scooters until it decided to pick just three operators, and the city is seen as Europe's most profitable market.
8. Microsoft reported earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter and the full 2020 fiscal year earnings at market close on Wednesday, beating analyst expectations for overall results but missing estimates on a key business unit including its Office products. The firm reported revenue of $38 billion, and earnings per share of $1.46.
9. Tesla will build its newest factory in Austin, Texas, the company said Wednesday, and the new plant will make the Cybertruck. Austin, Tulsa, Oklahoma, and other cities had fiercely competed in recent months to win the $1 billion investment.
10. Researchers have created a machine-learning technique that can identify disinformation campaigns on social media. The algorithm finds patterns of suspicious posts and accounts, which could help companies shut down these campaigns early on.

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