THE NEWS WRAP: Stripe raises $70 million, Twitter tackles online trolls

Global payments platform Stripe has raised a $70 million investment and is now valued at $3.5 billion, according to Re/Code.

The $3.5 billion figure is double the last valuation Stripe received after raising $80 million in January this year.

The startup has partnerships with Apple, Twitter and Facebook – allowing businesses to accept local and international payments from customers without a complicated matrix of bank accounts or third-party software.

Stripe launched in Australia in July, with the head of Stripe in Australia and New Zealand, Susan Wu, telling StartupSmart the platform was the “best thing since Vegemite”.

Twitter tackles online trolls

Twitter is improving its harassment reporting processes and has promised faster response times for people who flag abusive tweets.

A number of new controls and features will mean users can view which accounts they have blocked from their setting menu. In addition, people who block users will be able to rest easy knowing that the accounts in question will not be able to view their profile.

In an online statement, the social media giant said its users can expect to see further improvements to reporting abusive accounts in coming days.

“We’ll continue to work hard on these changes in order to improve the experience of people who encounter abuse on Twitter,” the company said.

The updates are currently available to a small group of users but will be rolled out to all Twitter users in the coming weeks.

US businesses warned of more cyber attacks following Sony hacking

The FBI has warned businesses that hackers have used malicious software to launch cyber attacks in the United States, according to Reuters.

The FBI did not say how many companies have been affected.

Last week, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s computer systems were hacked – resulting in several unreleased movies being leaked online and employee data being breached. The attack is being described as the “first major destructive cyber attack” on US soil.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 92.42 points to 17,869.22. The Aussie dollar is currently trading at around 84 US cents.