Oh, how the mighty have fallen. A decade ago, social media was celebrated for sparking democratic uprisings in the Arab world and beyond. Now front pages are splashed with stories of social platforms’ role in misinformation, business conspiracy, malfeasance, and risks to mental health. In a 2022 survey, Americans …
Deciding what to do with a dead friend or relative’s online presence is complicated and time-consuming but there are shortcuts Find more essential summer reading Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Gavin Blomeley was lucky his mother was incredibly organised before …
TikTok seems to be skewing things in the interests of the Chinese Communist Party. (This is a serious analysis, and the methodology looks sound.) Conclusion: Substantial Differences in Hashtag Ratios Raise Concerns about TikTok’s Impartiality Given the research above, we assess a strong possibility that content on TikTok …
Posting can turn into a privacy risk – and in a changing online landscape, it’s become another parental identity marker An old friend asked me recently why I never put my son’s face online. “Can you explain the not showing pics of babies thing to me?” she asked …
Elections around the world are facing an evolving threat from foreign actors, one that involves artificial intelligence. Countries trying to influence each other’s elections entered a new era in 2016, when the Russians launched a series of social media disinformation campaigns targeting the US presidential election. Over the …
US Department of Justice questions compliance with FTC order on data security and privacy practices Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter created a “chaotic environment” at the social media platform that may have violated a government order requiring an overhaul of its data security and privacy practices, according to …
Enlarge The maintainers of the open source software that powers the Mastodon social network published a security update on Thursday that patches a critical vulnerability making it possible for hackers to backdoor the servers that push content to individual users. Mastodon is based on a federated model. The federation …
Google has backtracked on its plan to delete inactive YouTube videos—at least for now. Of course, it could change its mind anytime it wants. It would be nice if this would get people to think about the vulnerabilities inherent in letting a for-profit monopoly decide what of human …
Documents leaked from Vulkan cybersecurity firm also raise questions about role of IT engineers behind information-control project A consortium of media outlets have published a bombshell investigation about Russia’s cyber-capabilities, based on a rare leak of documents. The files come from NTC Vulkan, a cybersecurity firm in Moscow …
• Documents leaked by whistleblower angry over Ukraine war • Private Moscow consultancy bolstering Russian cyberwarfare • Tools support hacking operations and attacks on infrastructure • Documents linked to notorious Russian hacking group Sandworm • Russian program aims to control internet and spread disinformation The inconspicuous office is in Moscow’s north-eastern suburbs. A …
France has banned not only TikTok from government phones, but Facebook and Twitter, too. Could this be a tipping point for big tech? Plus, AI-generated pictures of the pope signal a new type of viral image Don’t get TechScape delivered to your inbox? Sign up for the full …
Move by Greater London authority comes after Chinese-owned app was blocked on UK parliamentary devices London City Hall staff will no longer have TikTok on their devices in the latest ban imposed on the Chinese-owned social media app over security concerns. The Greater London authority (GLA) said the rule …
Move follows UK government’s decision to ban Chinese-owned video-sharing app Politics live - latest updates Parliament is to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from “all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network”, citing the need for cybersecurity. The move goes further than the ban last week of the …
Move comes after UK government bans app on government devices over fears of data being accessed by Chinese state The BBC has urged its staff to delete the Chinese-own social media app TikTok from corporate mobile phones. Guidance to BBC staff circulated on Sunday said: “We don’t recommend …
UK has removed app over concerns data can be monitored by Chinese state, but public remain vulnerable TikTok is wildly popular, with more than 1 billion people consuming its short video posts around the world. But the app is less favoured by politicians in key markets such as the …
Move comes as White House backs bill that could give it power to ban Chinese-owned app nationwide TikTok has announced a data security regime for protecting user information across Europe, as political pressure increases in the US to ban the social video app. The plan, known as Project Clover …
Congress is currently debating bills that would ban TikTok in the United States. We are here as technologists to tell you that this is a terrible idea and the side effects would be intolerable. Details matter. There are several ways Congress might ban TikTok, each with different efficacies and …
PM under pressure to follow EU and US in taking step over fears Chinese-owned app poses cybersecurity risk Rishi Sunak has been urged to ban government officials from using TikTok in line with moves by the EU and US, amid growing cybersecurity fears over China. Officials in Europe and …
Super apps can revolutionise your life – but do you want to pay the price, wonders AI and innovation professor David Shrier Across Asia, the trend for a single app that does everything – from deliveries to bookings to chatting – is spreading. Known as super apps, they are rumoured to be …
Privacy policy update confirms data of continent’s users available to range of TikTok bases including in Brazil, Israel and US TikTok is spelling out to its European users that their data can be accessed by employees outside the continent, including in China, amid political and regulatory concerns about …
Peiter Zatko, former security chief, brought allegations of widespread security threats and spam concerns against the company New whistleblower allegations of widespread security threats and spam concerns at Twitter may give Elon Musk ammunition in his fight to back out of a deal to buy the company. On Tuesday …
Senators have reintroduced the EARN IT Act, requiring social media companies (among others) to administer a massive surveillance operation on their users: A group of lawmakers led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have re-introduced the EARN IT Act, an incredibly unpopular bill from 2020 …
At this stage, being a parent is more about negotiation and trust, says Annalisa Barbieri. Sit down as a family and talk about it – make rules together I have two children, aged nine and 11. We’ve always limited their tech but just before the pandemic, we bought them …
This is probably worth paying attention to: A change to TikTok’s U.S. privacy policy on Wednesday introduced a new section that says the social video app “may collect biometric identifiers and biometric information” from its users’ content. This includes things like “faceprints and voiceprints,” the policy explained …
This month, the New York state attorney general issued a report on a scheme by “U.S. Companies and Partisans [to] Hack Democracy.” This wasn’t another attempt by Republicans to make it harder for Black people and urban residents to vote. It was a concerted attack on another …