THE NEWS WRAP: Indian company lures female customers after alleged Uber assault

An Indian taxi company is appealing to female customers worried about their safety following the alleged rape by an Uber driver in the country’s capital last month.

The Australian reports Meru Cab is now offering female customers in Delhi pink cars with female drivers and pepper spray.

The service, called Meru Eve, has an initial fleet of 20 vehicles fitted out with panic buttons. The company says it is rolling out the service in response to customer demand.

Earlier this month an UberX driver from Melbourne was arrested after allegedly sexually assaulting his teenage passenger.

Facebook to crack down on fake news stories and scams

Facebook has announced it is cracking down on hoaxes in order to improve its customer experience.

The social media platform today rolled out an update allowing users to flag posts as a hoax, which adds an annotation to the post when it appears in other people’s timelines.

“We are not removing stories people report as false and we are not reviewing content and making a determination on its accuracy,” the company says.

Twitter acquires Indian startup ZipDial

Twitter has formally announced it is acquiring Indian marketing startup ZipDial for an undisclosed amount in order to grow the social media platform’s user base.

ZipDial allows customers to dial its number and hang up before connecting, in turn receiving free app notifications in exchange for advertisements. Twitter plans to use the service to reach users who do not have access to the internet.

The deal is the latest in a string of Indian startups acquired by US companies wishing to capitalise on one of the biggest and fastest-growing markets in the world.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial average is up 0.04%, rising 6.81 points to 17,518.38. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US81.73 cents.