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‘Don’t pander to the tech giants!’ How a youth movement for digital justice is spreading across Europe
Gen Z are the first generation to have grown up with social media, they were the earliest adopters, and therefore the first to suffer its harms. Now they are fighting back Late one night in April 2020, towards the start of the Covid lockdowns, Shanley Clémot McLaren was scrolling on her phone when she noticed…
AI deepfakes of real doctors spreading health misinformation on social media
Hundreds of videos on TikTok and elsewhere impersonate experts to sell supplements with unproven effects TikTok and other social media platforms are hosting AI-generated deepfake videos of doctors whose words have been manipulated to help sell supplements and spread health misinformation. The factchecking organisation Full Fact has uncovered hundreds of such videos featuring impersonated versions…
Elon Musk’s X fined €120m by EU in first clash under new digital laws
Ruling likely to put European Commission on collision course with billionaire, and possibly Donald Trump Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has been fined €120m (£105m) after it was found in breach of new EU digital laws, in a high-stakes ruling likely to put the European Commission on a collision course with the US billionaire…
Anti-immigrant material among AI-generated content getting billions of views on TikTok
Researchers uncovered 354 AI-focused accounts that had accumulated 4.5bn views in a month Hundreds of accounts on TikTok are garnering billions of views by pumping out AI-generated content, including anti-immigrant and sexualised material, according to a report. Researchers said they had uncovered 354 AI-focused accounts pushing 43,000 posts made with generative AI tools and accumulating…
Instagram’s age-verification identified a moustachioed adult as over 16 – but how did it go with a 13-year-old?
Meta platform allows users under 16 in Australia to change their date of birth – but only after clearing a ‘video selfie’ or providing government ID Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Instagram’s process for determining whether a user is over…
Small changes to ‘for you’ feed on X can rapidly increase political polarisation
Study finds that a week of political content can bring about a shift in views that previously would have taken three years Small changes to the tone of posts fed to users of X can increase feelings of political polarisation as much in a week as would have historically taken at least three years, research…
Bro boost: women say their LinkedIn traffic increases if they pretend to be men
Collective experiment found switching profile to ‘male’ and ‘bro-coding’ text led to big increase in reach, though site denies favouring posts by men Do your LinkedIn followers consider you a “thought leader”? Do hordes of commenters applaud your tips on how to “scale” your startup? Do recruiters slide into your DMs to “explore potential synergies”?…
Father of teen whose death was linked to social media has ‘lost faith’ in Ofcom
Ian Russell says watchdog lacks ‘urgency’ and is not willing to use its powers ‘to the extent required’ The father of Molly Russell, a British teenager who killed herself after viewing harmful online content, has called for a change in leadership at the UK’s communications watchdog after losing faith in its ability to make the…
Don’t argue with strangers… and 11 more rules to survive the information crisis
Feeling overwhelmed by divisive opinions, endless rows and unreliable facts? Here’s how to weather the data storm We all live in history. A lot of the problems that face us, and the opportunities that present themselves, are defined not by our own choices or even the specific place or government we’re living under, but by…
Meta could face millions in fines for not signing content deals in Australia
Labor’s proposed media bargaining incentive to apply to platforms with Australian-derived revenue of at least $250m, according to Treasury Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Meta and other tech companies refusing to sign content deals with Australian news outlets face millions…