Category Archives: Technology

Musk’s X must face claim of negligence over child abuse images, judge rules

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Court revives part of lawsuit accusing X of failing to promptly report uploaded images to relevant authorities

A federal appeals court on Friday revived part of a lawsuit accusing Elon Musk’s X of becoming a haven for child exploitation, though the court said the platform deserves broad immunity from claims over objectionable content.

While rejecting some claims, the ninth US circuit court of appeals in San Francisco said X, formerly Twitter, must face a claim it was negligent by failing to promptly report a video containing explicit images of two underage boys to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

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UK Online Safety Act risks ‘seriously infringing’ free speech, says X

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Elon Musk’s social media platform says lawmakers made a ‘conscientious decision’ to increase censorship

Elon Musk’s X platform has said the UK’s Online Safety Act (OSA) is at risk of “seriously infringing” free speech as a row deepens over measures for protecting children from harmful content.

The social media company said the act’s “laudable” intentions were being overshadowed by its aggressive implementation by the communications watchdog, Ofcom.

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Anger grows in China over reports of online groups sharing explicit photos of women

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Chinese media said more than 100,000 were members of Telegram group that shared pictures taken without consent

Anger is growing on Chinese social media after news reports revealed the existence of online groups, said to involve hundreds of thousands of Chinese men, which shared photographs of women, including sexually explicit ones, taken without their consent.

The Chinese newspaper Southern Metropolis Daily published a report last week about a group on the encrypted messaging app Telegram called “MaskPark tree hole forum”. It said it had more than 100,000 members and was “comprised entirely of Chinese men”.

Additional research by Lillian Yang and Jason Tzu Kuan Lu

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ChatGPT launches study mode to encourage ‘responsible’ academic use

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Tool gives guidance rather than serving up complete essays or answers, amid rising AI misuse at universities

ChatGPT is launching a “study mode” to encourage responsible academic use of the chatbot, amid rising cases of misuse of artificial intelligence tools at universities.

The feature, which can be accessed via the chatbot’s tools button, can walk users through complex subjects in a step-by-step format akin to an unfolding academic lesson.

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Children to be banned from having YouTube accounts as Albanese government backflips on exemption

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Labor reverses earlier decision to exempt Google-owned platform from national social media youth ban in move communications minister says will make ‘positive difference’

Children will be banned from having YouTube accounts from December, with the federal government backflipping on an earlier decision to exempt the video platform from the national under-16s social media restrictions.

The decision, to be confirmed by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and the communications minister, Anika Wells, on Wednesday, is likely to set off a furious reaction from the Google-owned YouTube, which will hold a major event for politicians in Parliament House on Wednesday night.

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Spanish teenager investigated on suspicion of creating AI-generated nude videos

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Modified images of minors appear on social media account allegedly owned by 17-year-old

Police in eastern Spain are investigating a 17-year-old boy on suspicion of using artificial intelligence to create and share fake nude images of his female schoolmates that he intended to sell online.

Guardia Civil officers in the Ribera Alta area of Valencia began investigating in December last year after a female student reported the creation of a social media account in her name that featured an AI-generated video.

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China calls for global AI cooperation days after Trump administration unveils low-regulation strategy

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Chinese premier warns at global conference AI development must be weighed against security risks, urges ‘further consensus from the entire society’

Chinese premier Li Qiang has proposed establishing an organisation to foster global cooperation on artificial intelligence, calling on countries to coordinate on the development and security of the fast-evolving technology, days after the US unveiled plans to deregulate the industry.

Speaking at the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai, Li called AI a new engine for growth, adding that governance is fragmented and emphasising the need for more coordination between countries to form a globally recognised framework for AI.

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Canterbury student jailed for selling phishing kits to fraudsters

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Ollie Holman created kits that mimicked charity and bank webpages so criminals could harvest victims’ personal details

A 21-year-old student who designed and distributed online kits linked to £100m worth of fraud has been jailed for seven years.

Ollie Holman created phishing kits that mimicked government, bank and charity websites so that criminals could harvest victims’ personal information to defraud them.

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UK should act to stop children getting hooked on social media ‘dopamine loops’

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Beeban Kidron says it is not ‘nanny state’ to prevent firms investing billions on making platforms addictive from targeting under-18s

A leading online safety campaigner has urged the UK government to “detoxify the dopamine loops” of addictive social media platforms as tech companies prepare to implement significant child protection measures.

Beeban Kidron, a crossbench peer, asked the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to use the Online Safety Act to bring forward new codes of conduct on disinformation and on tech features that can lead to children becoming addicted to online content.

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Tesla’s European sales slump as Musk warns of ‘rough quarters’ ahead

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Electric carmaker struggles to emerge from sales rut on continent despite updating its bestselling Model Y

Tesla sales in Europe have collapsed by one-third this year, data shows, after Elon Musk warned the electric carmaker faced “a few rough quarters” ahead.

According to the figures published on Thursday by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA), sales of Tesla vehicles in Europe slumped by 33% to 110,000 in the first half of 2025, compared with 165,000 in the first half of 2024.

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Trump signs three executive orders targeting ‘woke’ AI models

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Crackdown on what the White House claims is bias echoes longstanding conservative grievances against tech

Donald Trump on Wednesday signed a trio of executive orders that he vowed would turn the United States into an “AI export powerhouse”, including a directive targeting what the White House described as “woke” artificial intelligence models.

The anti-woke order is part of the administration’s broader anti-diversity campaign that has also targeted federal agencies, academic institutions and the military. “The American people do not want woke Marxist lunacy in the AI models, and neither do other countries,” Trump said during remarks at an AI summit in Washington on Wednesday.

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Meta allows ads crowdfunding for IDF drones, consumer watchdog finds

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Paid ads hosted on Facebook, Instagram and Threads seem to violate Meta’s stated policies yet remain active

Meta is hosting ads on Facebook, Instagram and Threads from pro-Israel entities that are raising money for military equipment including drones and tactical gear for Israeli Defense Force battalions, seemingly a violation of the company’s stated advertising policies, new research shows.

“We are the sniper team of Unit Shaked, stationed in Gaza, and we urgently need shooting tripods to complete our mission in Jabalia,” one ad on Facebook read, first published on 11 June and still active on 17 July.

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Tech CEO caught with company’s HR head on Coldplay kiss cam resigns

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Andy Byron leaves startup Astronomer after he and Kristin Cabot were placed on leave over Jumbotron incident

The married CEO who was filmed at a Coldplay concert in the US with his arms around his company’s HR head in a video that went viral has now resigned, the company Astronomer said on Saturday.

In a post on Linkedin, the software startup said: “Andy Byron has tendered his resignation, and the Board of Directors has accepted.”

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Netflix uses generative AI in one of its shows for first time

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Firm says technology used in El Eternauta is chance ‘to help creators make films and series better, not just cheaper’

Netflix has used artificial intelligence in one of its TV shows for the first time, in a move the streaming company’s boss said will make films and programmes cheaper and of better quality.

Ted Sarandos, a co-chief executive of Netflix, said the Argentinian science fiction series El Eternauta (The Eternaut) is the first it has made that involved using generative AI footage.

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Risk of undersea cable attacks backed by Russia and China likely to rise, report warns

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Spate of incidents in Baltic Sea and around Taiwan are harbinger for further disruptive activity, cybersecurity firm says

The risk of Russia- and China-backed attacks on undersea cables carrying international internet traffic is likely to rise amid a spate of incidents in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan, according to a report.

Submarine cables account for 99% of the world’s intercontinental data traffic and have been affected by incidents with suspected state support over the past 18 months.

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Houthi-linked dealers sell arms on X and WhatsApp, report says

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Traders affiliated to Iran-backed rebel group found to have been running weapon stores on social media for years

Arms dealers affiliated with Houthi militants in Yemen are using X and Meta platforms to traffic weapons – some US-made – in apparent violation of the social media firms’ policies, a report has revealed.

The Houthis, an Iran-backed group of rebels who have controlled swathes of Yemen since 2014, are designated as a terrorist organisation by the US, Canada and other countries.

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Trump permits Nvidia to sell advanced chips in China, CEO says

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Chipmaker’s CEO, Jensen Huang, recently met with Donald Trump as US-China trade rivalry deepens

Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, says the chipmaker has won approval from the Trump administration to sell its advanced computer chips used to develop artificial intelligence to China.

“Today, I’m announcing that the US government has approved for us filing licenses to start shipping H20s,” Huang told reporters in Beijing.

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Elon Musk’s AI firm apologizes after chatbot Grok praises Hitler

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xAI’s lengthy apology for antisemitic remarks says they ‘apologize for the horrific behavior many experienced’

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has issued an apology after its chatbot Grok made a slew of antisemitic and Adolf Hitler-praising comments earlier this week on X.

On Saturday, xAI released a lengthy apology in which it said: “First off, we deeply apologize for the horrific behavior that many experienced.”

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English councils urged to install pavement gullies for home charging of electric cars

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Scheme aims to stop cables trailing across pavements and encourage drivers to switch to electric vehicles

Local councils in England will be encouraged to install pavement gullies that link houses to the kerbside so that electric cars owners can charge their cars from home if they do not have a driveway.

The new government scheme hopes to stop cables trailing across pavements, as EV owners in built up areas where off-street parking is scarce, try to charge their cars. The Department for Transport has said it will put £25m towards “cross-pavement” charging – essentially a narrow cable channel with a cover on top.

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Nvidia becomes first company to reach $4tn in market value

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Ongoing surge in demand for AI technology fueled stratospheric rise of chipmaker’s value

Chipmaker Nvidia became the first public company in history to scale a $4tn market value on Wednesday as its stock price continues a years-long stratospheric rise.

Shares of the top chip designer rose roughly 2.4% to $164, benefiting from the ongoing surge in demand for artificial intelligence technologies. Nvidia’s chips and associated software are considered world leaders for building artificial intelligence products.

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