EU disputes Facebook’s claims of progress against fake accounts

Posted on October 29, 2019 by Admin

Commissioner says ‘still some way to go’ in battle against disinformation on social media

Facebook and other major social media platforms have been accused by the European commission of giving a misleading picture of their efforts to remove fake accounts spreading politically motivated disinformation.

The security commissioner, Julian King, told the Guardian on the publication of the sites’ self-assessment reports to the EU’s executive that there remained a “disconnect” between the claims of progress from social media companies and “the lived experience”.

Spread the word: the Iraqis translating the internet into Arabic

Posted on October 8, 2019 by Admin

Ameen al-Jaleeli and a team of student translators are working to empower people with knowledge

When Islamic State overran the Iraqi city of Mosul, human life was not the only thing in peril. Knowledge was, too.

Fortunately, Ameen al-Jaleeli understood this. He used a friend’s wifi to transfer a vast batch of Wikipedia files for offline usage. When the militants cut the cables in July 2016, he was ready.

#AllIsFineWithMe: Russian women fight strict beauty standards with body-positivity

Posted on October 3, 2019 by Admin

Social media trend was started by a teen to push back against unrealistic beauty standards

In a new wave of Russian feminism, thousands of women are posting selfies on social media showing their pimples, cellulite and hair loss to challenge beauty stereotypes that women’s rights activists say fuel low self-esteem and eating disorders.

The #AllIsFineWithMe trend – started by a Russian teen who has struggled with anorexia – is the latest initiative to push back against unrealistic pressures on women and girls to look perfect, often driven by airbrushed images on social media.

Prince Harry’s Instagram takeover barks up the right tree

Posted on October 1, 2019 by Admin

While his captions weren’t up to much, the prince’s takeover of the National Geographic’s Instagram on his tour in Africa had a larger purpose

When celebrities become guest editors of corporate social media accounts, it usually results in dozens of pouting selfies. For this reason, Prince Harry’s takeover of the National Geographic Instagram account to encourage people to “look up” and get lost in the beauty of trees is a weirdly enticing concept.

On Monday, the Duke of Sussex curated a set of images of forest canopies each taken by National Geographic photographers, which went out to the publication’s 123 million followers. The idea was to highlight the importance of conservation while spotlighting the Queen’s Commonwealth Canopy campaign, which will result in two national parks being created in South Africa, where Harry is touring. As part of the campaign, 50 countries have either dedicated indigenous forest for conservation or committed to planting millions of new trees to combat climate change.

Army investigates soldier who sent death threat to Angela Rayner

Posted on September 27, 2019 by Admin

Labour MP received tweet as MPs urged Boris Johnson to tone down his language

The army and police are investigating after a soldier sent a death threat to the shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner, defence officials have said.

The commander of the British field army, Lt Gen Ivan Jones, and the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, denounced the message, which was posted on Twitter on Wednesday, as MPs pleaded with the prime minister to tone down his Brexit rhetoric, saying they feared it would incite violence against them.

Revealed: how TikTok censors videos that do not please Beijing

Posted on September 25, 2019 by Admin

Leak spells out how social media app advances China’s foreign policy aims

TikTok, the popular Chinese-owned social network, instructs its moderators to censor videos that mention Tiananmen Square, Tibetan independence, or the banned religious group Falun Gong, according to leaked documents detailing the site’s moderation guidelines.

The documents, revealed by the Guardian for the first time, lay out how ByteDance, the Beijing-headquartered technology company that owns TikTok, is advancing Chinese foreign policy aims abroad through the app.

‘It’s scary’: wildlife selfies harming animals, experts warn

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Admin

Concern in New Zealand that trend of taking photographs with penguins and other creatures is having impact on feeding, breeding and birth rates

At the International Penguin Conference in New Zealand, the experts were worried. Among sobering discussions about the perils of the climate crisis and habitat loss, the unlikely issue of wildlife selfies photobombed the agenda, with increasing concern that the celebrity-fuelled search for that perfect shot is affecting animal behaviour.

Professor Philip Seddon, the director of Otago University’s wildlife management programme, said: ‘We’re losing respect for wildlife, we don’t understand the wild at all.”

Chinese deepfake app Zao sparks privacy row after going viral

Posted on September 2, 2019 by Admin

Critics say face-swap app could spread misinformation on a massive scale

A Chinese app that lets users convincingly swap their faces with film or TV characters has rapidly become one of the country’s most downloaded apps, triggering a privacy row.

G7: Scott Morrison to push for action against online terrorist content

Posted on August 24, 2019 by Admin

Australia’s PM flies into Biarritz, where he will have talks with world leaders – and a chat with Donald Trump

Scott Morrison will try to push countries further on taking action against terrorist and violent extremist material on social media during a series of meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit.

Australia’s prime minister arrived in the French surfing town of Biarritz on Saturday night (early Sunday AEST) for the high-powered international forum.