MEPs pass resolution to help parents tackle growing dangers of addictive internet platforms
Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.
MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.
Continue reading...Gulf nation is accused of placing monitoring software on computers of two dissidents living in London
Bahrain is to tell the UK’s supreme court that it enjoys sovereign immunity from claims it placed surveillance software on the computers of two dissidents when they were living in London.
The Gulf country has lost the sovereign immunity claim both in the high court and court of appeal, and a decision to take the case further to the supreme court shows how important it is to the country’s reputation.
Continue reading...Campaigners including Good Law Project describe ICO ‘collapse in enforcement activity’ after Afghan data breach
Dozens of civil liberties campaigners and legal professionals are calling for an inquiry into the UK’s data protection watchdog, after what they describe as “a collapse in enforcement activity” after the scandal of the Afghan data breach.
A total of 73 academics, senior lawyers, data protection experts and organisations including Statewatch and the Good Law Project, have written to Chi Onwurah, the chair of the cross-party Commons science, innovation and technology committee, calling for an inquiry to be held into the office of the information commissioner, John Edwards.
Continue reading...Users posing as rightwing Americans are operating internationally, per the platform’s transparency feature
Many of the most influential personalities in the “Make America great again” (Maga) movement on X are based outside of the US, including Russia, Nigeria and India, a new transparency feature on the social media site has revealed.
The new tool, called “about this account,” became available on Friday to users of the Elon Musk-owned platform. It allows anyone to see where an account is located, when it joined the platform, how often its username has been changed, and how the X app was downloaded.
Continue reading...Some teachers and pupils voice concerns about pilot programme after government’s agreement with OpenAI
Secondary school teachers in Greece are set to go through an intensive course in using artificial intelligence tools as the country assumes a frontline role in incorporating AI into its education system.
This week, staff in 20 schools will be trained in a specialised version of ChatGPT, custom-made for academic institutions, under a new agreement between the centre-right government and OpenAI.
Continue reading...Tryout of system, which switches between signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites, could lead to wider rollout
Train wifi in the UK, long a source of frustration for passengers, is about to get radically faster – for a lucky few at least.
A two-month trial has begun on one Great Western Railway (GWR) train, fitted with technology from Formula One that switches between the signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites to provide almost seamless, superfast wifi.
Continue reading...The voices of the Oscar-winning actors can now be used to create AI-generated versions in a new deal with ElevenLabs
Oscar-winning actors Matthew McConaughey and Michael Caine have both signed a deal with the AI audio company ElevenLabs.
The New York-based company can now create AI-generated versions of their voices as part of a bid to solve a “key ethical challenge” in the artificial intelligence industry’s alliance with Hollywood.
Continue reading...Withdrawal of Blued and Finka raises fears of further crackdowns on LGBT rights amid growing restrictions
Two of China’s most popular gay dating apps have disappeared from app stores in the country, raising fears of a further crackdown on LGBT communities.
As of Tuesday, Blued and Finka were unavailable on Apple’s app store and several Android platforms. Users who had already downloaded the apps appeared to still be able to use them.
Continue reading...An expert describes how communities in some of the world’s driest areas are demanding transparency as secretive governments court billions in foreign investment
This Q&A originally appeared as part of The Guardian’s TechScape newsletter. Sign up for this weekly newsletter here.
The data centers that power the artificial intelligence boom are beyond enormous. Their financials, their physical scale, and the amount of information contained within are so massive that the idea of stopping their construction can seem like opposing an avalanche in progress.
Continue reading...Move follows ‘escalating hybrid attacks’ by Russia and other foreign powers spreading fake articles across social media
The EU executive plans to create a Centre for Democratic Resilience to counter disinformation from Russia and other authoritarian regimes, according to a leaked paper.
The European Commission intends for the centre to bring together expertise across the EU and from countries seeking to join the bloc to fight foreign information manipulation and interference. The idea forms the centrepiece of the “democracy shield” pitched by the commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, when she sought a second term before the 2024 European elections.
Continue reading...European Commission confirms reports it is looking at postponing parts of landmark legislation
The European Commission is considering plans to delay parts of the EU’s Artificial Intelligence Act, after intense pressure from businesses and Donald Trump’s administration.
The commission confirmed that “a reflection” was “still ongoing” on delaying aspects of the regulation, after media reports that Brussels was weighing up changes with the aim of easing demands on big tech companies.
Continue reading...Military experts say facility on Christmas Island would be valuable asset to monitor Chinese submarine and naval activity
Google plans to build a large AI datacentre on Australia’s remote Indian Ocean outpost of Christmas Island after signing a cloud deal with the Department of Defence earlier this year, according to documents reviewed by Reuters and interviews with officials.
Plans for the datacentre on the tiny island located 350km south of Indonesia have not previously been reported, and many details, including its projected size, cost and potential uses, remain secret.
Continue reading...The hugely anticipated sequel was due to arrive in May of next year but has been pushed back to November 2026
Rockstar Games’s Grand Theft Auto VI, which was due to release on 26 May next year, has been delayed again – this time to the end of 2026. It has now been nearly two years since the game was announced, and more than 12 years since the release of Grand Theft Auto V.
“Grand Theft Auto VI will now release on Thursday, November 19, 2026,” reads Rockstar Games’s statement on X. “We are sorry for adding additional time to what we realize has been a long wait, but these extra months will allow us to finish the game with the level of polish you have come to expect and deserve.”
Continue reading...Drop in US, Asia and Europe follows warning from bank bosses that market correction could lie ahead
Global stock markets have fallen sharply amid concerns that a boom in valuations of artificial intelligence (AI) companies could be rapidly cooling.
Markets in the US, Asia and Europe have fallen after bank bosses warned a serious stock market correction could lie ahead, after a run of record stock market highs led some companies to appear overvalued.
Continue reading...Regulator found ads for mechanics skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers targeted women
The French equalities regulator has ruled that Facebook’s algorithm for placing job adverts is sexist, after an investigation found that adverts for mechanic roles skewed towards men while those for preschool teachers were targeted at women.
The Défenseur des Droits watchdog said the Facebook system for targeted job ads treated users differently based on their sex, and constituted indirect discrimination. The regulator recommended that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, took measures to ensure adverts were non-discriminatory, giving the company three months to inform the French body of the measures.
Continue reading...Prompts indicating suicidal ideation got alarming replies, which experts say shows ‘how easy it is to break the model’
An OpenAI statement released this week claimed the company had made its popular service ChatGPT better at supporting users experiencing mental health problems like suicidal ideation or delusions, but experts tell the Guardian they need to do more to truly ensure users are protected.
The Guardian tested several prompts indicating suicidal ideation with the ChatGPT GPT-5 updated model, which is now the default, and got alarming responses from the large language model (LLM) chatbot.
Continue reading...Dutch-controlled company informs customers about suspension but is said to want to de-escalate trade war
Nexperia, the EU-based automotive chipmaker at the centre of a geopolitical dispute, has suspended supplies to its Chinese factory, stepping up a trade war that threatens to halt production at carmakers around the world.
The company wrote to customers this week informing them all supplies to a Chinese plant had been suspended.
Continue reading...Tech giant reports earnings of $3.72 per share day after deal with OpenAI pushed value of company to more than $4tn
Microsoft blew off concerns of overspending on AI on Wednesday, reporting elevated earnings even as it faced an outage of its cloud computing service, Azure, and its office software suite, 365. The strong earnings report comes a day after a deal with OpenAI pushed the value of tech giant to more than $4tn.
After its Xbox and investor relations pages went down, the company issued a statement that said: “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services.”
Continue reading...Tech company brings in record quarterly revenue but major tax bill dampens earnings per share
Meta reported mixed financial results for the third quarter of 2025. The company brought in record quarterly revenue but reported a major tax bill that dampened earnings per share, the company announced on Wednesday. The financial results come as Meta ends a multibillion-dollar hiring spree focused on artificial intelligence talent.
The tech giant earned $51.24bn in quarterly revenue, beating Wall Street expectations and the company’s own projections for third-quarter sales. However, it reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.05, far below Wall Street expectations of $6.70 in EPS. The major drop was due to a one-time non-cash income tax charge of $15.93bn. The EPS would have been $7.25 without this one-time charge, the company said.
Continue reading...Strong demand for ads and cloud services powered tech giant’s growth as it makes multibillion-dollar AI investment
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, displayed steady growth in its core advertising business and cloud computing division as it reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, beating Wall Street estimates as it reported its first quarter of $100bn in revenue.
The company thrilled Wall Street – shares rose in after-hours trading – even as it announced that it would spend billions more than previously predicted. Alphabet raised its capital expenditure guidance in financial filings, declaring it would spend between $91bn and $93bn in the upcoming year, nearly all of it on infrastructure like datacenters to support artificial intelligence products, which are becoming an integral part of the company’s business. That estimate is up from an original declaration of $75bn in February and a revised figure of $85bn announced in July.
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