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Microsoft and Meta announce large staff reductions as they spend big on AI
Meta said it would cut 10% of it employees while Microsoft will offer voluntary retirement to about 7% of workers Meta and Microsoft are trimming their workforces by thousands as they make heavy investments in AI and executives claim that the technology is meeting their companies’ productivity needs. Meta told staff on Thursday that on…
Kenyan firm sacks more than 1,000 workers after losing Meta contract
Meta paused work with Sama last month after allegations about staff viewing private scenes filmed by smart glasses More than 1,000 low-paid workers in Kenya have been abruptly sacked by an outsourcing company contracted by Meta, in what activists said was a shocking move exposing the precariousness of tech jobs in the global south. Sama,…
Starmer tells social media firms in No 10 meeting ‘things can’t go on like this’
PM summons senior figures from Meta, TikTok, Google and X and says social media is ‘putting our children at risk’ Keir Starmer has told social media bosses “things can’t go on like this” in a Downing Street meeting over internet safety. The prime minister summoned senior figures at Meta, TikTok, Google and X to No…
Meta‘s AI glasses and the dawn of wearable tech – podcast
Elle Hunt on her month wearing Meta’s smart glasses and the privacy concerns around the technology According to Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s AI-powered glasses are “personal super intelligence” that “let you stay present in the moment”. Journalist Elle Hunt reports on her time wearing them for a month. Elle tells Nosheen Iqbal about the highs and…
‘Irresponsible failure’: Google, Meta, Snap and Microsoft slam EU over child sexual abuse law lapse
Experts warn lapse could sharply reduce reports of abuse, echoing a 58% drop during a similar legal gap in 2021 Sign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inbox The European parliament has blocked the extension of a law that permits big tech firms to scan for child sexual…
Children in UK report online sextortion attempts in record numbers
Exclusive: Call for nudity-detection tech on phones as number of under-18s reporting blackmail attempts rises by 34% • ‘I felt ashamed and scared’: how an online friendship became a sextortion nightmare Children are reporting online sextortion attempts in record numbers in the UK, as campaigners urge tech companies to do more to stamp out the…
I wore Meta’s smartglasses for a month – and it left me feeling like a creep
Content creators love the built-in camera; sceptics call them ‘pervert glasses’. Do we really need any more hi-tech wearables, even with a voice assistant that sounds like Judi Dench? Lately, I’ve been hearing Judi Dench’s voice in my head. She tells me tomorrow’s forecast, when to turn right, that there’s been another message in my…
Meta, Tiktok and Google under investigation for allegedly disobeying Australia’s social media ban
Nearly 70% of under-16s with accounts on Instagram, Snapchat or TikTok had maintained access, survey finds The Australian government has accused big tech firms like Meta, TikTok and Google of disobeying the landmark ban on under-16s using social media, after the country’s online safety office warned many children had accounts. A survey of 900 Australian…
‘The era of invincibility is over’: the week big tech was brought to heel
Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social media The young woman at the heart of what has been called the tech industry’s “big tobacco” moment was on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine. More than a decade later, she says, she still can’t live without the…
‘Accountability has arrived’: dual US court losses show shifting tide against Meta and co
With two unprecedented trial defeats, big tech firms face crisis akin to that faced by cigarette makers in the 1990s In the span of just two days, the most powerful social media company in the world faced a more severe public reckoning than it has in years. Jurors in California and New Mexico gave back-to-back…