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How big tech is creating its own friendly media bubble to ‘win the narrative battle online’
At a time when distrust of big tech is high, Silicon Valley is embracing an alternative ecosystem where every CEO is a star A montage of Palantir’s CEO, Alex Karp, and waving US flags set to a remix of AC/DC’s Thunderstruck blasts out as the intro for the tech billionaire’s interview with Sourcery, a YouTube…
Virginia Democrat flips seat in state legislature by taking on datacenters
John McAuliff won against a Republican by focusing on something affecting all his constituents: the cost of energy John McAuliff, a 33-year-old small business owner and former civil servant, was one of the more unlikely Democrats to win election to Virginia’s legislature this month, after a campaign in which he could, at times, come off…
After a teddy bear talked about kink, AI watchdogs are warning parents against smart toys
Advocates are fighting against the $16.7bn global smart-toy market, decrying surveillance and a lack of regulation As the holiday season looms into view with Black Friday, one category on people’s gift lists is causing increasing concern: products with artificial intelligence. The development has raised new concerns about the dangers smart toys could pose to children,…
One in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, NSPCC finds
Harms include threats to release intimate pictures as charity warns against parents sharing photos or details of children online Nearly one in 10 UK parents say their child has been blackmailed online, with harms ranging from threatening to release intimate pictures to revealing details about someone’s personal life. The NSPCC child protection charity also found…
How Amazon turned our capitalist era of free markets into the age of technofeudalism | Yanis Varoufakis
Amazon Web Services owns the basic infrastructure for other businesses to operate online, turning even governments into its serfs. But now some people are fighting back For the past six years, every Black Friday – that made-up carnival of consumption – Amazon workers and their allies have mobilised across the world in coordinated strikes and…
Foreign interference or opportunistic grifting: why are so many pro-Trump X accounts based in Asia?
A new feature on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter allows users to see the location of other accounts. It has resulted in a firestorm of recriminations When X rolled out a new feature revealing the locations of popular accounts, the company was acting to boost transparency and clamp down on disinformation. The…
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
OpenAI responds to lawsuit claiming its chatbot encouraged California teenager to kill himself The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot. The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and…