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.
Continue reading...Google to host major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House as PM downplays tech giant’s legal threat
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YouTube is making a last-ditch effort to persuade the government not to include it in the under-16s social media ban, objecting to what it says is an “abrupt policy reversal” and arguing the video service is not a social media platform.
Google, YouTube’s owner, will host a major event featuring popular YouTubers inside Parliament House this week, as a final decision looms on which tech platforms will be off-limits for children.
Continue reading...Pro-democracy campaigners suggest ‘pre-buttal’ is more powerful than factchecking in fighting falsehoods
Truth, the progressive California politician Hiram Johnson once said, is the first casualty of war. His oft-cited remark was supposedly made in 1918 in reference to the first world war, which had by then caused millions of human casualties.
More than a century later, truth is again caught in the crossfire, this time as a casualty of 21st-century culture wars.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Vatican invites 1,000 social media missionaries to digital jubilee conference
Mixing prayer and gospel with poetry, art and bodybuilding, the rising stars in the influencer world are not just those flaunting fashion and travel but also Roman Catholic priests spreading the word of God.
Pope Francis latched on to the trend and, just months before his death in April, made the mission of evangelising on social media a priority for the church.
Continue reading...Actor says she is latest in long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by US president
Rosie O’Donnell has shrugged off a threat from Donald Trump to revoke her US citizenship on the grounds that she is “a threat to humanity”.
The New York-born actor and comedian said on Sunday that she was the latest in a long list of artists, activists and celebrities to be threatened by the US president.
Continue reading...Daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours, annual survey for IPA finds
The amount of time adults in Great Britain spend using their mobile phones has finally overtaken that spent watching TV, according to a report that calculates the daily average for watching all types of screen is now almost 7.5 hours.
For the first time a typical person aged 15 or over spends longer each day on their mobile (three hours and 21 minutes) than on watching a traditional set (three hours and 16 minutes), the annual TouchPoints survey found.
Continue reading...Online video hosting service accuses the nation’s online safety boss Julie Inman Grant of ignoring parents and teachers
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YouTube has criticised calls for it to be included in the under-16s social media ban, accusing the nation’s online safety boss of ignoring parents and teachers.
The eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has urged the government to rethink its decision to carve out the video sharing platform from the minimum social media age which will apply to apps such as TikTok, Snapchat and Instagram.
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Continue reading...Survey shows correlation between use of Chinese-owned platform and approval of unification with China
Taiwanese people who spend large amounts of time on TikTok are more likely to agree with some pro-China narratives, a survey has suggested.
The study, conducted by the Taiwan-based DoubleThink Lab, surveyed people across Taiwan in March, asking a series of questions about politics and democracy in Taiwan and China, and their views on unification of the two sides.
Continue reading...Communications regulator has brought in more than 40 new rules for tech firms designed to keep under-18s safe
Ofcom announces new rules for tech firms to keep children safe online
The UK communications watchdog has set out more than 40 measures to keep children safe online under a landmark piece of legislation.
The Online Safety Act has a strong focus on protecting under-18s from harmful content and the codes of practice published by Ofcom on Thursday are a significant moment for regulation of the internet.
Continue reading...High-end bar with Middle East-style nut filling is rationed in shops as price of raw kernels surges
Product promotion on TikTok is now powerful enough to influence the vast agricultural economies of the US and Iran – at least when it comes to the consumption of high-end confectionery.
A chocolate bar stuffed with a creamy green pistachio filling has become incredibly popular after a series of video clips shared on the social media site. The first bit of footage praising the taste of the expensive so-called “Dubai chocolate” was posted at the end of 2023 and has now been viewed more than 120m times, to say nothing of the many follow-up videos.
Continue reading...Four senior officers say more controls needed, amid claims platforms are ‘fuelling and enabling’ crime
Senior UK police officers have called for the government to ban children under 16 from social media, amid claims the platforms are “fuelling and enabling” crime.
In the most recent development in the moral panic that has gripped the media since Netflix’s Adolescence was released, four of the most senior policing figures in the country told the Times that further controls on social media platforms were necessary for public safety, national security and young people’s mental health.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Spending came after the Albanese government paused ads for a week amid reports ads were appearing next to inappropriate content
The Australian government spent nearly $3m of taxpayer dollars advertising on Twitter/X in the first year after the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, took over the platform, despite warnings of brand reputation damage that caused the government to initially pause ads.
Data obtained by Guardian Australia, after a protracted freedom of information battle with the federal finance department, revealed $2.7m was spent between November 2022 and November 2023. Musk finalised his purchase of the platform on 28 October 2022.
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Continue reading...Dr Amy Orben says there are no ‘one-size-fits-all answers’ given importance of access to online information
A leading academic tasked by the UK government with reviewing the effects of smartphones on teenagers has suggested blanket bans are “unrealistic and potentially detrimental”.
Amy Orben, from the University of Cambridge, will lead the work on children and smartphone use that has been commissioned by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) along with a team of other academics from a number of UK universities.
Continue reading...Son of murdered academic calls on Facebook owner to ‘radically change how it moderates dangerous content’
Meta faces a $2.4bn (£1.8bn) lawsuit accusing the Facebook owner of inflaming violence in Ethiopia after the Kenyan high court said a legal case against the US tech group could go ahead.
The case brought by two Ethiopian nationals calls on Facebook to alter its algorithm to stop promoting hateful material and incitement to violence, as well as hiring more content moderators in Africa. It is also seeking a $2.4bn “restitution fund” for victims of hate and violence incited on Facebook.
Continue reading...Nearly half of female entrepreneurs surveyed by Cherie Blair Foundation for Women do not have regular internet access
The cost of a mobile data package is all that is holding back many female entrepreneurs in developing countries, according to recent research.
While social media marketing is reported to be crucial by female business owners who have access to it, 45% of women in business in low- and middle-income countries said they did not have regular internet access because of the expense and connection issues.
Continue reading...National Crime Agency launches awareness campaign, saying criminals are adapting methods and using AI
UK police forces are receiving more than 110 reports of child sextortion attempts every month, according to the National Crime Agency, as a new awareness campaign is launched about the online scourge.
The NCA said the use of artificial intelligence in sextortion attacks had also increased “substantially” over the past three years as criminals adapted their methods.
Continue reading...Dramatic reversal of fortune for platform since billionaire owner became key ally of Donald Trump
The value of Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, has reportedly soared back to the $44bn he paid for it, in a dramatic reversal of fortunes since the billionaire became a key ally of Donald Trump.
Investors valued the site formerly known as Twitter at $44bn (£33.9bn) in a secondary deal earlier this month, in which they exchange existing stakes in the company, according to a Financial Times report.
Continue reading...Maria Ressa says rules-based order ‘can perhaps still exist’ but social media is being used to undermine democracy around the world
The arrest of Rodrigo Duterte is a welcome sign that the rules-based order continues to hold, the Nobel laureate Maria Ressa has said, even as the global order has been marred by the US “descending into hell” at the hands of the same forces that consumed the Philippines.
Ressa’s remarks came after Duterte, the former president of the Philippines, made his first appearance before the international criminal court (ICC) in The Hague, accused of committing crimes against humanity during his brutal “war on drugs”.
Continue reading...Meta, TikTok and Snapchat release statements in campaign protesting Labor’s handling of contested legislation
Meta, TikTok and Snapchat have criticised the Albanese government’s handling of the social media ban for under-16s, launching a campaign against what they have labelled an “irrational” and “shortsighted” decision to exempt YouTube from the contested legislation.
The three tech platforms made submissions to a government consultation process on the ban – rushed through parliament at the end of 2024 with little inquiry – calling for a re-evaluation of Labor’s approach and demanding YouTube be subject to the same restrictions they will be.
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