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Child safety group says Meta ‘putting profits before protecting children’, as messaging app lowers age limit from 16Campaigners have reacted with anger to the social media company Meta lowering age restrictions for WhatsApp users to 13 in the UK and EU.The change to the messaging app, which reduces the age limit from 16 to 13, was announced in February and came into force in...

Cross-party committee urges creation of strategy engage with new platforms that appeal to youngThe government needs a TikTok strategy to help combat misinformation directed at young people, MPs have said.Members of the cross-party culture, media and sport committee said the government needed to adapt to new apps and platforms that appeal to young people who are increasingly turning away from traditional sources of news....

Ex-CEO and former crypto mogul, 32, was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to launder money in NovemberSam Bankman-Fried appealed his fraud convictions and 25-year prison sentence on Thursday.The ex-CEO of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange was found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to launder money in November and sentenced to more than two decades in federal prison in...

World’s most valuable chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor to set up third facility in Arizona using funding from Biden policyBusiness live – latest updatesTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company is to build its most advanced chips in Arizona after receiving a pledge of as much as $11.6bn in US government subsidy as part of Joe Biden’s efforts to attract computer chip production.TSMC, the world’s most valuable chipmaker, says...

Multibillionaire called for resignation of judge who ordered platform to block far-right usersElon Musk faces a legal investigation in Brazil after becoming embroiled in a public row with a supreme court judge over an order requiring the social network X to take down some far-right accounts.Justice Alexandre de Moraes had issued a court order forcing the site formerly known as Twitter to block several...

Beijing did a test run in Taiwan using AI-generated content to influence voters away from a pro-sovereignty candidateChina will attempt to disrupt elections in the US, South Korea and India this year with artificial intelligence-generated content after making a dry run with the presidential poll in Taiwan, Microsoft has warned.The US tech firm said it expected Chinese state-backed cyber groups to target high-profile elections...

Federal report says ‘cascade of errors’ by tech giant let Chinese operators break into senior government officials’ email accountsIn a scathing indictment of Microsoft corporate security and transparency, a Biden administration-appointed review board issued a report Tuesday saying “a cascade of errors” by the tech giant let state-backed Chinese cyber operators break into email accounts of senior US officials including commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo.The...

Exclusive: Russian bot attempt to stir up Islamophobia also part of course on misinformation and disinformationFabricated stories in the Sun blaming Liverpool fans for the Hillsborough stadium disaster are among examples that will be used in a parliamentary initiative to teach MPs to recognise misinformation and disinformation.Other examples include a Russian bot campaign on Twitter, now X, that tried to use a photograph taken...

Experts say UK-imposed sanctions will make no difference when hacking is part of ecosystem of dealing with BeijingWith the announcement that the UK government would be imposing sanctions on two individuals and one entity accused of targeting – without success – UK parliamentarians in cyber-attacks in 2021, the phrase “tip of the iceberg” comes to mind. But that would underestimate the iceberg.James Cleverly, the...

The change to Instagram and Threads comes as the parent company also prepares to retire the news tab from Facebook in Australia and the USInstagram users will see less of what Meta deems to be “political” content in their recommendations and feed suggestions unless they opt into it, in a change the company implemented in the past week.The change requires users to delve into...

The US alleges the individuals were working as a front for Beijing in an indictment and sanctions announcementChina cyber-attacks explained: who is behind the hacking operation against the US and UK?Hackers backed by China’s government spy agency have been accused by the US and UK of conducting a years-long cyber-attack campaign, targeting politicians, journalists and businesses.The operation saw political dissidents and critics of China...

Former FTX CEO faces up to 100 years in prison should the judge hand out the harshest penaltySam Bankman-Fried, once the CEO of FTX and a billionaire wunderkind of the cryptocurrency world, will be sentenced to prison time on Thursday in New York City.Should the judge in his case impose the harshest penalty allowed, the 32-year-old would face more than 100 years and die...

Court documents and interviews detail the products’ role in alleged exploitation – and how some payments go undetectedWhen police in Pennsylvania arrested 29-year-old Jennifer Louise Whelan in November 2022, they charged her with dozens of counts of serious crimes, including sex trafficking and indecent assault of three young children.One month earlier, police said they had discovered Whelan was using three children as young as...

Noland Arbaugh, paralyzed after diving accident, received implant in January but experts caution that procedure is in early daysElon Musk’s brain-chip startup Neuralink live-streamed its first patient implanted with a chip playing online chess.Noland Arbaugh, the 29-year-old patient who was paralyzed below the shoulder after a diving accident, was playing chess on his laptop and moving the cursor using the Neuralink device. Continue reading...

Platform to make its debut on New York stock exchange on Thursday with a market value of $6.4bnReddit will enter a new era as a publicly traded company with a market value of $6.4bn after the social media platform’s initial public offering was priced at $34 per share.The price, announced late on Wednesday, came in at the top of the target range set by...

Company denied that Tim Cook deceived investors when he said iPhone sales were strong weeks before revenue warningApple has agreed to pay $490m to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging chief executive Tim Cook misled investors about a steep downturn in iPhone’s sales in China that culminated in a jarring revision to the company’s revenue forecast.The preliminary settlement filed Friday in Oakland, California, federal court...

Industry minister says review of popular video app that is planning to expand in country has been ongoing since September 2023Canada is conducting a national security review of Chinese-owned TikTok’s proposed expansion of the popular video app in the country, the industry minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said on Friday.In a teleconference from Italy after meeting with his G7 counterparts, Champagne said the review under the...

Spokesperson says company is working to resolve issue as soon as possible and thanks customers for their patienceGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastMcDonald’s restaurants are facing an international technology outage with the fast food giant working to resolve the issue.“We are aware of a technology outage currently impacting our restaurants nationwide and are working to resolve this...

Firefighters responded to blazes set off by an ebike, an EV charging station, a garden hedger and a loose battery in a garbage truckGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastLithium-ion batteries sparked four fires in just one day in New South Wales this week, amid growing concern over the rise in battery-related blazes.One man was taken to hospital...

Ivory Coast, Liberia, Benin, Ghana and Burkina Faso among countries experiencing outages Much of west and central Africa has been left without internet service, as operators of several subsea cables reported failures.The cause of the cable failures on Thursday was not immediately clear. Continue reading...

CEO of China-based company says vote is ‘disappointing’ and that it will do all it can to protect the platformThe House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that would require the TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.The vote was a landslide, with 352 Congress members voting in favor and only 65...

A bill passed Wednesday by the House requiring TikTok owner ByteDance to sell or face a US ban is most existential threat yetThe House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.The legislation now moves to the Senate, where its likelihood of passing is uncertain....

Analysis shows link between Copper Technologies and Jonatan Zimenkov, who was later hit with US sanctions over Ukraine invasionA cryptocurrency firm transferred digital assets worth more than $4.2m to a crypto wallet belonging to a member of an alleged Russian arms-dealing network who was later hit with US sanctions, it can be revealed.Details of the transactions involving Copper Technologies raise questions about whether UK...

University of Oxford study shows benefits and risks of technology to healthcare, but ethical issues remainBritain’s hard-pressed carers need all the help they can get. But that should not include using unregulated AI bots, according to researchers who say the AI revolution in social care needs a hard ethical edge.A pilot study by academics at the University of Oxford found some care providers had...