Today we have updates from government agencies and social media giants

Singapore, UK sign MOU to deepen govtech collaboration and exchange – Press Release

Singapore’s Government Technology Agency (GovTech) and the UK’s Government Digital Service (GDS) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 13 to strengthen collaboration in the design and delivery of digital government public services.

The signing took place at No. 11 Downing Street, the official residence of the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer. Representing the agencies to sign the MoU were Kok Ping Soon (Chief Executive of GovTech Singapore) and Kevin Cunnington (Director General of GDS UK).

For GovTech Singapore, the MOU is the first it has signed with GDS UK.

“The MoU will facilitate greater sharing of experiences and expertise in the development of digital platforms and services to better serve our citizens and businesses. It will also allow mutual exchange of officers to build capabilities and explore opportunities for collaboration to strengthen the digital partnership between the two organisations,” Kok said in a press statement.

Indonesia cancels plan to prohibit discounts for ride-hailing services – The Jakarta Post

Indonesia’s ministry of transportation announced that it would not prohibit ride-hailing companies, particularly those offering motorbike-based services, from giving tariff discounts, according to The Jakarta Post report.

On Thursday, Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi told the press that the ministry “would discuss it” upon request from stakeholders.

The statement followed an announcement that the ministry made last month on minimum and maximum tariff regulation for ride-hailing companies. The regulation itself was issued after a series of rallies by motorbike taxi drivers that demanded increased tariffs for their welfare.

Weeks into the trial of the tariff regulation, ride-hailing giants Go-Jek and Grab have given customers discounts amid complaints about the rising tariffs.

Grab Indonesia President Ridzki Kramadibrata said the ride-hailing company was open to discussion with the government over such a regulation.

Also Read: How Singapore’s GovTech is building a robust public e-services ecosystem

Facebook’s new cryptocurrency attracts investors – Wall Street Journal

Facebook’s new cryptocurrency Libra has attracted investments from big names such as Visa, Mastercard, PayPal, and Uber, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the report stated that the companies will invest around US$10 million each in a consortium that will govern the cryptocurrency.

Facebook itself will use the money to fund the creation of the cryptocurrency, which is said to be fixed to government-issued currencies to avoid swings.

The cryptocurrency is set to be unveiled in the following week.

Bytedance hires ex-Facebook executive to strengthen TikTok – Bloomberg

Chinese social media giant Bytedance has named Blake Chandlee as the first head of strategic partnerships for its app TikTok, with the official title of vice president, global business solutions.

Chandlee was previously known as an executive in Facebook, who spent about a decade working on the social media giant’s business partnerships in Europe, Latin America and the US.

According to a Bloomberg report, the recruitment is part of the company’s “big recruiting push” to expand the TikTok brand and compete with the likes of Facebook and Snap. It had recently recruited executives from YouTube.

The post Today’s top tech news, June 14: Singapore, UK sign MOU for deeper govtech collaboration appeared first on e27.