Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock finishes day down 5.3% on Wall Street, as ex-president’s stake falls from $6bn to $5.6bn
Donald Trump’s paper fortune dropped by hundreds of millions of dollars on Friday as shares in his media firm came under pressure in the wake of his conviction in his New York hush-money trial.
Trump Media & Technology Group’s stock finished the day down 5.3% on Wall Street, denting the value of the former president’s vast stake in the business.
Continue reading...Most Americans concerned about online misinformation as election nears, according to poll by watchdog group Free Press
As US presidential elections approach, the vast majority of Americans are concerned about online misinformation and fear they do not have enough accurate information on candidates, especially local ones, a new poll has shown.
While people across the political and racial spectrum reported being “very concerned” about the deliberate spread of online misinformation, the study found Black Americans are disproportionately encountering misinformation when seeking accurate news.
Continue reading...Commissioner says companies have ‘huge disincentive’ to abide by their own policies on adult content amid discussions of age assurance technology
Australia’s online safety regulator has accused Apple and Google of financial motives in deciding not to remove Reddit and Elon Musk’s X from their app stores for hosting pornography in violation of their own policies.
Research cited in the eSafety commissioner’s online roadmap for age verification technology for adult sites last year reported that 41% of teens aged between 16 and 18 reported seeing pornography on X – more than the 37% who viewed pornography on dedicated adult sites.
Continue reading...Chow Hang-tung, a prominent barrister, among those held over social media posts before Tiananmen Square anniversary
Hong Kong police have arrested six people, marking the first time that the city’s new national security law, known as Article 23, has been used against suspects since it was implemented in March.
The six people, aged between 37 and 65, are accused of publishing messages with seditious intent ahead of an “upcoming sensitive date”, according to a police statement.
Continue reading...PM expresses frustration with unspecified newspapers and commentators, saying many articles ‘essentially about clickbait these days’
Anthony Albanese has accused some rightwing media of being “stenographers” and a “cheer squad” for his opponent, the Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
The prime minister expressed his frustration with unspecified newspapers and radio and TV commentators in an interview with an Australian National University podcast, complaining particularly about coverage of Labor’s revamped income tax cuts.
Continue reading...Trump Media and Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, says focus is ‘long-term product development’ rather than revenue
Trump Media and Technology Group, the owner of Donald Trump’s social networking site Truth Social, lost more than $300m last quarter, according to its first earnings report as a publicly traded company.
For the three-month period that ended 31 March, the company posted a loss of $327.6m, which it said included $311m in non-cash expenses related to its merger with a company called Digital World, which was essentially a pile of cash looking for a target to merge with.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Ads containing AI-manipulated images were submitted to Facebook by civil and corporate accountability groups
The Facebook and Instagram owner Meta approved a series of AI-manipulated political adverts during India’s election that spread disinformation and incited religious violence, according to a report shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Facebook approved adverts containing known slurs towards Muslims in India, such as “let’s burn this vermin” and “Hindu blood is spilling, these invaders must be burned”, as well as Hindu supremacist language and disinformation about political leaders.
Continue reading...Commander says authorities scrambling to keep up with supply trends as knife crimes rise
Young people are using sites such as Telegram and TikTok to buy large knives for use in attacks and intimidation, with some linked to Britain’s drug wars, police said.
Stephen Clayman, national lead for knife crime for the National Police Chiefs’ Council, made it clear on Tuesday that police want tougher action after a 7% year-on-year rise in knife offences, with a 20% rise in knife-point robberies.
Continue reading...Party accuses Cabinet minister David TC Davies of breaching rules by using Whitehall office to film X post attacking Senedd expansion plans
A Tory cabinet minister has been accused of a blatant breach of the ministerial code after using his government office in Whitehall to film an anti-Labour video that he then posted on social media.
Welsh secretary David TC Davies put the short film on X (formerly Twitter) last week to attack Labour plans to expand the size of the Welsh Senedd and highlight the Conservative party’s opposition to it.
Continue reading...Analysis of Facebook data finds engagement with news is at an all-time low – due at least in part to changes to Meta’s algorithms
Meta has refused to enter into new deals with Australian media publishers for the use of their content on Facebook, leading to fears it may again implement a ban on news content appearing on the platform. But an analysis of Facebook data suggests engagement with posts from news organisations is already at an all-time low, as memes fill the space.
Meta has argued that news makes up just 3% of what people engage with on its services.
Continue reading...I used to be an avid user of TikTok, but the algorithm serves much less delight and serendipity than it used to
TikTok is facing its most credible existential threat yet. Last week, the US Congress passed a bill that bans the short-form video app if it does not sell to an American company by this time next year. But as a former avid user whose time on the app has dropped sharply in recent months, I am left wondering – will I even be using the app a year from now?
Like many Americans of my demographic (aging millennial), I first started using TikTok regularly when the Covid-19 pandemic began and lockdowns gave many of us more time than we knew how to fill.
Continue reading...The UK regulator has been criticised by grieving families and internet abuse survivors for failing to engage with them
Bereaved parents and abuse survivors who have endured years of “preventable, life-changing harm” linked to social media say they have been denied a voice in official discussions about holding tech firms to account.
Mariano Janin, whose daughter Mia, 14, killed herself after online bullying, and the parents of Oliver Stephens, 13, who was murdered after a dispute on social media, are among those who have accused Ofcom of excluding them from a consultation process for tackling online harms.
Continue reading...Communications minister Michelle Rowland won’t rule out strengthening the news media bargaining code to compel platforms to make news available
The federal government is not ruling out requiring tech giant Meta to carry news on its social media platforms as well as pay for it, as Labor considers whether to activate and toughen the still-dormant news media bargaining code.
The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, told Guardian Australia the government would consider possible changes to its code upon completion of a review into the role the tech platforms play in the news market in Australia.
Continue reading...Freedom to Write index says there are 107 people in prison for published content in China, with many accused of ‘picking quarrels’
The number of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100, with nearly half imprisoned for online expression.
The grim milestone is revealed in the 2023 Freedom to Write index, a report compiled by Pen America, published on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Children should be banned from most social media until 18 amid attempts to ‘monetise’ them, says Macron-commissioned study
Children should not be allowed to use smartphones until they are 13 and should be banned from accessing conventional social media such as TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat until they are 18, according to a report by experts commissioned by Emmanuel Macron.
The French president had asked scientists and experts to suggest screen use guidelines for children with a view to France taking unprecedented steps on limiting their exposure. It was unclear how the government might now proceed after the report’s publication. Macron said in January: “There might be bans, there might be restrictions.”
Continue reading...Labor to focus on online harms at national cabinet meeting on women’s safety as others call for further needs-based funding and bail reform
Anthony Albanese has called for a debate on the blocking of misogynistic content online ahead of a snap national cabinet focused on women’s safety.
In addition to information sharing on high-risk perpetrators and serial offenders, the federal government has signalled strengthening violence prevention through a focus on online harms will be a priority at Wednesday’s meeting, the first national cabinet of 2024.
Continue reading...Thinktank casts ‘deterioration of the information environment’ as a foreign policy priority and a threat to social cohesion
Australia has been urged to hit big tech companies with a new digital platform tax to fund trusted news media in order to confront the “rising tide of misinformation and disinformation”.
Australia’s defence budget “commits billions to buffer against military threats” but the country is “unprepared to fend off malicious actors looking for any chance to wage information warfare”, according to the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D) thinktank.
Continue reading...Officials say unidentified man killed influencer who had previously been imprisoned over dancing videos
A man on a motorbike has shot dead a social media influencer known as Om Fahad outside her Baghdad home, Iraqi security officials have said.
The unidentified attacker shot Om Fahad in her car in the Zayouna district on Friday, a security official said, requesting anonymity because he was not cleared to speak to the media.
Continue reading...Amid the threat of big tech, Greens senator says News titles are ‘trusted news providers’ and a royal commission should look at the whole industry
The Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young has watered down her demand for a royal commission examining the role of the Murdoch media in Australia, now describing it as a “trusted” news provider compared with unregulated social media platforms.
Hanson-Young says she still wants a royal commission but that she is no longer advocating for it to focus specifically on media outlets owned by News Corp.
Continue reading...App’s ‘secret source’ algorithm reportedly core to operations of parent company, which sources say make a sale highly unlikely
ByteDance would prefer to shut down TikTok rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the US, four sources said.
The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to ByteDance’s overall operations, which would make a sale of the app with algorithms highly unlikely, said the sources close to the parent.
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