Meta and X questioned by US legislators over AI-generated political deepfakes
US legislators are calling on social media platforms X, Facebook and Instagram to explain why they are not imposing labels on deceptive AI-generated political advertisements that could fake a candidate’s voice or actions. Two Democratic members of Congress have sent a letter to Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg and X boss Linda Yaccarino expressing “serious […]
Google AI ‘miles ahead’ of rivals and helps Pixel phones stand out, exec says
Google’s artificial intelligence tech is “miles ahead” of the competition, one company executive has said, as the firm unveiled its latest flagship smartphones. The new Google Pixel 8 and 8 Pro include the tech giant’s latest Tensor G3 processor, which Google says will allow AI to help users more easily carry out daily tasks. The […]
EU digital chief warns Musk over misinformation on X about Israel-Hamas war
The European Union’s digital policy chief has said misinformation about the war between Israel and Hamas abounds on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, in a letter to owner Elon Musk. X says it is trying to take action on a flood of posts sharing graphic media, violent speech and hateful conduct about […]
UK Competition regulator to investigate £7.5bn cloud services market
Britain’s £7.5 billion cloud services market is to be investigated by the UK competition watchdog, after regulator Ofcom raised concerns about the dominance of technology giants Amazon and Microsoft. Ofcom confirmed it has referred the cloud services market, a backbone of the online world, to the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for an in-depth probe, […]
X (aka Twitter) removes article headlines in latest platform update
The X social media site has stopped showing headlines on articles shared on the platform. The site formerly known as Twitter now only displays an article’s lead image and a link to the story. Plans for the change were first reported by Fortune in August, when owner Elon Musk confirmed in a tweet that he […]
TikTok trials advert-free paid subscription plan
TikTok is trialling a new paid subscription service for people who do not want to see adverts on the video-sharing platform. The social media giant is offering the service as part of a limited test in one market outside of the US. It did not specify exactly where it is. Some users of the app […]
TikTok ends retail business in Indonesia after ban on social media shopping
TikTok has said it will halt its online retail operation in Indonesia to comply with the country’s decision to ban e-commerce transactions on social media platforms – a big blow to the video platform’s fastest-growing market. The Indonesian government announced the new regulation, which prohibits social media companies from facilitating sales of products on their […]
Apple says it will fix software problems blamed for iPhone 15 overheating issue
Apple is blaming a software bug and other issues tied to popular apps such as Instagram and Uber for causing its recently released iPhone 15 models to heat up and spark complaints about becoming too hot to handle. The Cupertino, California, company said on Saturday that it is working on an update to the iOS17 […]
Microsoft chief says unfair practices by Google led to search engine dominance
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has said unfair tactics used by Google led to its dominance as a search engine and in turn thwarted his own company’s rival programme, Bing. He gave evidence in a packed Washington DC courtroom as part of the government’s landmark antitrust trial against Google’s parent company Alphabet. The Justice Department […]
TikTok finds and shuts down secret operation to stir up conflict in Ireland
TikTok has uncovered and shut down a secretive operation to influence Irish users and whip up social conflict. The covert influence operation (CIO) network comprised 72 accounts with a total following of almost 95,000 users. The video sharing platform’s work to find and remove the accounts was detailed in a report to the European Commission. […]