Bailey Ross, reported air force reservist and former Coast Guard service member, linked to Agartha Publishing in South Dakota
The Guardian has identified a trainee nurse and reported US air force reservist called Bailey Ross as the proprietor of a white nationalist publisher in South Dakota.
Ross was also a paid-up member of a white nationalist organization that marched at Charlottesville while enlisted in the United States Coast Guard.
Continue reading...Activists call on tech giant to extend a change making personalised algorithm optional to comply with rules for EEA countries
TikTok users in the UK face being left with a “less safe” and “more toxic” version of the app than those in Europe after the tech giant was forced to make its personalised algorithm optional there to comply with EU rules.
From the end of August, TikTok users in 30 countries in the European Economic Area will be able to opt out of receiving personalised content recommendations, which are largely generated based on past activity. Instead, their “For You” and live feeds will include popular videos from the places they live and around the world.
Continue reading...UK-backed move could help spread cost of developing fighter jet and drones, but may prove controversial
Saudi Arabia has asked the UK, Japan and Italy to be made a full partner in their joint effort to build the next generation of fighter jets, in a move backed by the British government.
Companies from the UK, Japan and Italy are working together to build a new fighter jet and other systems such as drones under the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), also known as Tempest. The programme aims to deliver the first planes by 2035, a tight turnaround.
Continue reading...X owner in talks with government over historic site for event – though Colosseum and Rome ruled out
Elon Musk is in talks with Italy’s government about hosting his proposed cage fight with Mark Zuckerberg at a historic site in the country, but the Colosseum has been ruled out as a venue.
The owner of X Corp and the chief executive of Facebook-owner Meta first raised the idea of a one-on-one scrap in a series of social media posts back in June. The challenge came as Zuckerberg prepared to launch Threads, a rival microblogging site to Musk’s now rebranded Twitter platform.
Continue reading...Rishi Sunak mulls whether to follow US lead in restricting funding for advanced technologies
The British government is considering tightening rules on investment in China after the US president announced new measures aimed at limiting the dollars and expertise flowing into sensitive technologies in the country.
Joe Biden signed an executive order on Wednesday that authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics; quantum information technologies; and certain artificial intelligence systems.
Continue reading...The order – to be implemented next year – restricts investments in semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum tech and AI
Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will narrowly prohibit certain US investments in sensitive technology in China and require government notification of funding in other tech sectors.
The long-awaited order authorises the US treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict certain US investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and certain artificial intelligence systems.
Continue reading...Country’s data protection regulator said firm cannot harvest user information such as physical locations for showing targeted ads
Facebook owner Meta Platforms will be fined 1m crowns ($98,500) a day over privacy breaches from 14 August, Norway’s data protection authority told Reuters on Monday, a decision that could have wider European implications.
The regulator, Datatilsynet, had said on 17 July that the company would be fined if it did not address privacy breaches the regulator had identified.
Continue reading...Committee’s report says devices including home security systems used to coerce and control victims
MPs have called on the UK government to tackle “tech abuse”, as they warned devices including smart home security systems were being used to coerce and control victims of domestic abuse.
The culture, media and sport committee launched an inquiry last year to consider the benefits and harms of connected technology, including virtual assistants and fitness trackers.
Continue reading...Comment comes as company is going through organizational changes and looking to boost falling advertising revenue
Elon Musk has said his X social media platform will pay the legal bills and sue on the behalf of people who have been treated “unfairly” by employers because of posting or liking something on the site formerly known as Twitter.
“If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this platform, we will fund your legal bill,” Musk said in a post on X late on Saturday, adding that there will be no limits to funding the bills.
Continue reading...Retaliatory move against Online News Act is ‘epic miscalculation’ that will promote spread of misinformation, analysts say
Social media giant Meta’s ban on news access on its platforms in Canada is an “epic miscalculation” that could damage journalism and promote the spread of misinformation and fake news, experts are warning.
The company announced the move on Tuesday, saying they had begun the process to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for users in Canada.
Continue reading...Movie drives sales of Switch gaming consoles as well as Super Mario title as Legend of Zelda also does well
The success of The Super Mario Bros Movie and the new Zelda video game helped to boost Nintendo’s bottom line on Thursday as the Japanese gaming company reported an 82% increase in profits.
It said its operating profit in the three months to 30 June rose to 185.4bn yen (£1bn), with the April release of the film – currently the biggest box office hit of 2023 – driving sales of Super Mario titles and the latest Legend of Zelda game also doing well.
Continue reading...Issues raised include use of eye scans to prove ‘humanness’ and financial inducements to sign up
The Kenyan government has barred the eyeball-scanning Worldcoin cryptocurrency project from recruiting new customers as it investigates data privacy and security concerns.
Kenya’s interior ministry said the venture must stop collecting user data after raising a number of issues including: concerns over the secure storage of data that includes scans of a user’s iris; that offering crypto in exchange for data “borders on inducement”; inadequate information on cybersecurity safeguards; and placing large amounts of private data in the hands of a private business.
Continue reading...Tech firms permit ads for potentially harmful products including vaginal ‘cleanse’ balls and useless herbs for infertility, according to an investigation
Meta, YouTube and Google are profiting from posts promoting harmful and useless health products to women in Kenya, according to an investigation.
Researchers from the media collective Fumbua have accused big tech firms of amplifying content that promises unproven cures for infertility and herbs that can stave off cancers on their networks.
Continue reading...Move comes in response to Canadian legislation requiring internet giants to pay news publishers
Meta has begun the process to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram for all users in Canada, the company said on Tuesday.
The move comes in response to legislation in the country requiring internet giants to pay news publishers.
Continue reading...Social media platform rebranded as X lifts ban on rapper-producer imposed after swastika tweet
Kanye West’s account on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, has been reinstated almost eight months after he tweeted an image of a swastika blended with a star of David.
The rapper-producer and designer, legally known as Ye, embarked on a series of antisemitic rants on social media and during interviews towards the end of last year. In October, he tweeted that he would go “death con 3” on Jewish people. His account was subsequently locked but he was soon readmitted.
Continue reading...Covert government strategy to install electronic surveillance in shops raises issues around bias and data, and contrasts sharply with the EU ban to keep AI out of public spaces
Home Office officials have drawn up secret plans to lobby the independent privacy regulator in an attempt to push the rollout of controversial facial recognition technology into high street shops and supermarkets, internal government minutes seen by the Observer reveal.
The covert strategy was agreed during a closed-door meeting on 8 March between policing minister Chris Philp, senior Home Office officials and the private firm Facewatch, whose facial recognition cameras have provoked fierce opposition after being installed in shops.
Continue reading...Owner gives parliamentary inquiry no reason for fall over three years but says China’s government could not conduct surveillance on app
WeChat has said its user numbers in Australia have declined almost 30% in the past three years, amid questions being raised about foreign interference on the app.
Tencent-owned WeChat told a parliamentary committee examining foreign interference on social media that as of July 2023, the communications app favoured by Australia’s Chinese diaspora community had fewer than 500,000 daily active users in Australia. The company told the committee in 2020 that its user base was 690,000.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup
Continue reading...Study of Facebook and Instagram data from 2020 election shows chronological lists had no measurable impact on polarization
The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies published on Thursday suggest addressing these challenges will require more than just tweaking the platforms’ software.
The four research papers, published in Science and Nature also reveal the extent of political echo chambers on Facebook, where conservatives and liberals rely on divergent sources of information, interact with opposing groups and consume distinctly different amounts of misinformation.
Continue reading...Revenue grew to $32bn, marking company’s most profitable quarter since 2021, as news sends stocks surging by 7%
Meta stock rallied as the company reported an 11% rise in revenue on Wednesday, beating Wall Street expectations.
Revenue grew to $32bn in the quarter ending in June, compared to analysts’ average estimate of $31.12bn, marking Meta’s most profitable quarter since 2021. The news sent stocks surging by 7% in after-market trading.
More details soon …
Continue reading...Company lists highly paid machine-learning project manager role while actors and executives at odds over future of AI in Hollywood
As actors and writers strike over fair compensation and protections from the encroachment of artificial intelligence, Netflix has listed a position for a machine learning product manager that will compensate somewhere between $300,000 and $900,000 a year. According to the Screen Actors Guild (Sag-Aftra), 87% of the guild’s actors make less than $26,000 per year.
The use of AI in the production of film and television – either to write scripts, generate actors’ likenesses, or cut corners in paying creative work, has been a major point of contention in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) and Sag and the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Writers have been striking since May; the actors joined earlier this month. The first joint strike since 1960 threatens to bring Hollywood to a complete standstill.
Continue reading...