CEOs of Meta, TikTok, Snap, Discord, and X testified at hearing on child safety. | Continue reading
Social media executives are set to testify at a US Senate hearing aimed at addressing online child exploitation. The CEOs […] The post Social media bosses face US Senate over online child safety appeared first on ReadWrite. | Continue reading
For a while, #DeleteFacebook would trend every couple of months on social media. Countless people were fed up with Facebook’s endless parade of scandals, they claimed, and this time they were finally pulling the plug. Some people did, but Facebook’s user base continues to grow ye … | Continue reading
This year, at least some countries will have to say goodbye to the Netflix Basic subscription tier, the last cheap(ish) way to watch Netflix without ads. While the streaming giant had already severed the $12 Basic subscription tier for new or returning subscribers, anybody who ch … | Continue reading
The National Security Agency (NSA) is purchasing Americans’ internet records, according to government documents made public on Friday. U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, wrote a letter claiming the NSA goes through backchannel avenues to purchase your browsing record … | Continue reading
Meta restricting teens’ DMs could defeat the point of social media for teens. | Continue reading
On Wednesday, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the Big Apple would be the first city to officially classify social media as a public health risk. Social media is an “environmental toxin,” Adams said in a speech, comparing the problem to guns and tobacco. The mayor then pr … | Continue reading
Meta no longer allows teenagers to receive direct messages from anyone they’re not following on Instagram, or friends with on Facebook, according to a company blog post on Thursday. The policy update aims to create a safer environment for minors on the platform, one week after Me … | Continue reading
iPhone apps including Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X/Twitter are skirting Apple’s privacy rules to collect user data through notifications, according to tests by security researchers at Mysk Inc., an app development company. Users sometimes close apps to stop them from collect … | Continue reading
The 1980s law is considered one of the country's strongest privacy protections. | Continue reading
New standalone Messenger, Marketplace, and Gaming apps coming to the EU, too. | Continue reading
This month, OpenAI launched what it calls the GPT Store, a platform where developers can sell custom-built AI apps and tools. The millions of GPTs on offer include games, productivity helpers, graphic design tools, tools for specific writing projects, and more. One thing OpenAI d … | Continue reading
Editor’s Note: I want to take a moment to welcome new readers who have stumbled upon my internet homestead, thanks to Ben Thompson’s interview with me on the Stratechery Podcast (Subscription Required). We delved into the history of technology and my renewed enthusiasm for its fu … | Continue reading
Zuckeberg and Altman both tamp down fear and hype with casual statements about AGI. | Continue reading
Sheryl Sandberg, original girlboss and longtime fixture at Facebook, is formally stepping down from her position on Meta’s board. Sandberg announced her transition away from the company on Wednesday in a post that she made, appropriately, on Facebook. Read more... | Continue reading
Every so often, when I ask myself — why do I make such an effort to maintain my homestead on the internet and manage my newsletter? The answer bubbles up every so often when a social media platform manages to jerk its users around. The latest brouhaha around Substack is like yet … | Continue reading
Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis. | Continue reading
Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis. | Continue reading
Critics say that Meta has often caused serious psychological harm to younger users by exposing them to a variety of toxic and inappropriate content. Eating disorders, depression and even suicide have all been blamed on the company’s algorithms, and the calls to reform those algor … | Continue reading
This will come as a shock to all of our readers, but I (N.A. Ferrell) do not approve of requiring Instagram usage for school assignments.Possibly related posts...The dangers of adapting school to techThe Enigmatic Life and Death of Emperor OthoAnime Case Against Japan's Populatio … | Continue reading
El paisaje digital de este año 2023 que acaba ha experimentado transformaciones significativas en el uso de redes... | Continue reading
The company pitches Link History as a useful tool for consumers “with your browsing activity saved in one place,” rather than another way to keep tabs on your behavior. With the new setting you’ll “never lose a link again,” Facebook says in a pop-up encouraging users to consent t … | Continue reading
Thomas Germain, Gizmodo: Facebook recently rolled out a new “Link History” setting that creates a special repository of all the links you click on in the Facebook mobile app. Users can opt-out, but Link History is turned on by default, and the data is used for targeted ads. As la … | Continue reading
On January 2nd, 1993, Wired burst onto the scene, and let me tell you, it transformed the way many of us looked at technology and its impact on our future. It was like part field notes, part research lab, and a whole lot of fantastic storytelling. That magazine infused us with th … | Continue reading
A decade ago, Facebook’s internal motto was “move fast and break things.” There is now an important, wordy update to that motto as a holistic piece of advice: move fast on exploiting Mickey Mouse’s public domain status and... don’t maybe do some anti-Semitism along the way?Read m … | Continue reading
Facebook recently rolled out a new “Link History” setting that creates a special repository of all the links you click on in the Facebook mobile app. Users can opt-out, but Link History is turned on by default, and the data is used for targeted ads. As lawmakers introduce tech re … | Continue reading
It isn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last. At the end of every year, I like to pause and reflect on how much effort has gone into nurturing and maintaining my digital homestead. My decision to slowly retreat from social media prompted me to spend more time around here. So … | Continue reading
AI is still working out its kinks. As chatbots embed in enterprise services we're getting a better idea of just how worthless they are at this point. | Continue reading
In 1991, Geoffrey A. Moore described the challenges of introducing new technology products as Crossing the Chasm. The chasm is this very real gap between the earliest adopters and the early majority adopters of any new technology. By crossing the chasm, the momentum gained usuall … | Continue reading
There’s little to no evidence suggesting that “your devices are listening to you,” but that hasn’t stopped people from believing big tech is monitoring every word they say. Now, a marketing subsidiary of Cox Media Group is throwing fuel on the fire with claims that it can deploy … | Continue reading
Meta’s long-promised AI-enabled vision features for the company’s Ray-Ban Smart Glasses are finally incoming, allowing the onboard AI to see, hear, and interpret its environment through the glasses’ 12 MP camera and microphone. The company proclaimed late Tuesday that these new A … | Continue reading
Dan Milmo, reporting for the Guardian in 2021: The head of safety at Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, announced that the encryption process would take place in 2023. The company had previously said the change would happen in 2022 at the earliest. Loredana Crisan, vi … | Continue reading
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been hit with a €550 million ($600m) lawsuit by AMI, an umbrella group […] The post Facebook owner Meta faces $600m lawsuit from Spanish media appeared first on ReadWrite. | Continue reading
Grupa 83 hiszpańskich mediów złożyła wspólny pozew na 550 milionów euro odszkodowania przeciwko koncernowi Meta Platforms (właścicielowi m.in. Facebooka,), powołując się na nieuczciwą konkurencję na rynku reklamowym – informuje agencja Reuters. Stowarzyszenie AMI poinformowało w … | Continue reading
Today the California Senate Judiciary Committee will hold an Informational Hearing on “The Importance of Journalism in the Digital Age” to learn more about the state of journalism in the state, the challenges local newsrooms face and potential solutions, and how the California Jo … | Continue reading
A US Federal Judge blocked a Montana law Thursday that would have banned TikTok in the state starting on January 1st, arguing the bill is unconstitutional on the basis that it violates users’ right to free speech.Read more... | Continue reading
Meta is working all the angles it can to ensure it will still be able to profit from children’s Facebook data. After a recent loss in court, the company has now sued the Federal Trade Commission, arguing the agency doesn’t have the constitutional authority to change a 2020 $5 bil … | Continue reading
Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis. | Continue reading
Serving the Technologist for more than a decade. IT news, reviews, and analysis. | Continue reading
Google has reached a deal with the Canadian government over a controversial new law that will force tech companies to pay news publishers when their content is shared on online platforms. Google and Meta previously threatened to block links to news content in Canada altogether in … | Continue reading
Newly unredacted suit cites internal documents, including report to Zuckerberg. | Continue reading
This week brought a series of disasters (and quite some embarrassment) to Android messaging apps that were trying hard to break the infamous green-blue bubble barrier between Android and Apple users. It started with the failure of Nothing Chats and recently extended to the shutdo … | Continue reading
In part two of my podcast with Maykel Loomans, we discussed my creative process and the reasons behind my approach to photography. We talked about some of the challenges we all encounter in the creative process and what he looks for when making photographs. I was especially inspi … | Continue reading
My Velveteen Rabbit by Alyssa L. Miller (cc by)"My 11 year old announced he wants to keep track of all his stuffed animals. On paper, he has maybe invented 2005 Facebook all over again, for his imagination. How can we do this?" | Continue reading
Grateful for the desk, and…. Never mind. Finishing the sexual harassment training. I’m sorry, but the acting is […] | Continue reading
Labeling newcomer TikTok as a gatekeeper defeats the purpose of DMA, TikTok says. | Continue reading
Judge: Section 230 doesn’t cover platform design defects allegedly harming kids. | Continue reading
Meta made a quiet policy update last year allowing advertisers on Facebook and Instagram to say the 2020 election was rigged. It’s a change that mirrors shifts at Google and the rest of the tech industry. Silicon Valley has made one thing clear: you can’t use their ad systems to … | Continue reading