HadNews.com

As augmented reality technology continues to advance, two tech giants, Apple and Meta, are at the forefront of designing the perfect AR glasses. Meta's current Ray-Bans and its Orion prototype offer a glimpse of the sleek, high-tech glasses we've dreamed of, while Apple's design philosophy is highly... Read Full article on HadNews.com

Evidence is mounting that the new generative AI internet search tools provided by OpenAI, Google and Microsoft can increase the risk of returning false, misleading or partially correct information. Despite the implications of this for the news industry and an informed democracy, the New Zealand government has decided to leave AI considerations out of its plans to revive the previous government’s Fair Digital News Bargaining Bill. The proposed law will require Google and Meta (which runs Facebook and Instagram) to pay news companies for their content. While plenty of local news organisations receive money from Google, they don’t receive pay...... Read Full article on HadNews

Most Americans are wary of social media companies and their role in politics and the future of the country, according to a new survey of U.S. adults. The Pew Research Center has published findings from a study looking at social media’s impact on politics and the country, political censorship and bias, and the government regulation of technology companies. Since 2020, more Americans now believe social media companies wield too much political power, with Democrats heavily falling into the ‘too much’ category. “Roughly eight-in-ten Americans (78%) say these companies have too much power and influence in politics today,” according to the su...... Read Full article on HadNews

UK technology firms have been told to ‘tame toxic algorithms’ and implement practical steps for children’s safety online. This all comes under Ofcom’s new measures titled ‘Children’s Safety Codes of Practice,’ which must be followed by social media sites, apps, and search engines. Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for broadcasting, telecommunications, and postal industries within the United Kingdom. One of the first elements listed is age checks, with “much greater use of highly-effective age-assurance” needed. Anything that promotes suicide, self-harm, eating disorders, or pornography is classed as ...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta has confirmed that it is releasing its new open-source large language model (LLM) within the next month, according to reports. TechCrunch reported that at an event in London on Tuesday (March 10), Meta’s president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said, “Within the next month, actually less, hopefully in a very short period of time, we hope to start rolling out our new suite of next-generation foundation models, Llama 3. “There will be a number of different models with different capabilities, different versatilities during the course of this year, starting really very soon,” he added. The Information originally claimed that a smalle...... Read Full article on HadNews

Threads is coming to the Fediverse — and it’s happening sooner than you think. On Thursday (Mar.21) Meta, the owners of Threads, announced a beta that allows users in certain countries to share their Threads posts on numerous other platforms. The ability to share Threads posts on other platforms is all down to them being on servers that are compliant with something called ActivityPub. ActivityPub is an open, decentralized protocol that enables social networks to become interoperable. So, for instance, users could share a Threads post on another ActivityPub-compliant server like Mastodon. Protocols like this are nicknamed the ‘Fediverse...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta’s decision to lower the minimum age to use its WhatsApp messaging service is drawing fire from children’s advocates in the UK and EU. The move lowers ages from 16 to 13 in both territories; it went into effect as of April 11. Leading the charge on pushback against Meta, which is also the parent of Facebook and Instagram, is UK-based Smartphone Free Childhood. “WhatsApp are putting shareholder profits first and children’s safety second,” Daisy Greenwell, the group’s co-founder, said in a statement. Government officials also weighed in. Vicky Ford, a Conservative member of Parliament, told Sky News the age-limit reduction was “highl...... Read Full article on HadNews

Instagram is taking significant steps to stop the receiving and sending of nude images to teens by announcing plans to automatically detect and blur explicit photos through its DM (direct messaging) service. The function is expected to be tested in the coming weeks to be rolled out across the globe in the next few months, reports the Wall Street Journal. It’s the latest move from parent company Meta to fight harmful content on its platforms directed at minors. In January the social media giant behind Facebook and Instagram, implemented DM restrictions to curtail adults being able to message under 18s. The latest plan aims to discourage ...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta has decided to experiment with a bonus payment initiative for creators who provide engaging content on Threads, its rival app to Elon Musk’s X. An invite-only program will contact eligible users with a pop-up notification with Instagram’s help centre detailing further information on how this venture will work. Creators may be able to earn a cash reward  “based on the performance of your Threads posts and based on the number of posts you create. For example, you may need to create a certain amount of posts to earn a bonus amount per post.” The site also outlined how Threads posts with “less than 2,500 eligible views” will not quali...... Read Full article on HadNews

Australia’s eSafety commissioner has sent legal notices to Google, Meta, Telegram, WhatsApp, Reddit and X (formerly Twitter) asking them to show what they’re doing to protect Australians from online extremism. The six companies have 49 days to respond. The notice comes at a time when governments are increasingly cracking down on major tech companies to address online harms like child sexual abuse material or bullying. Combating online extremism presents unique challenges different from other content moderation problems. Regulators wanting to establish effective and meaningful change must take into account what research has shown us ab...... Read Full article on HadNews

More than 200 of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) have signed an open letter calling on big players in AI  like OpenAI, Meta, and Google to allow outside experts to independently evaluate and test the safety of their AI models and systems. The letter argues that strict rules put in place by tech firms to prevent abuse or misuse of their AI tools are having the unintended consequence of stifling critical independent research aimed at auditing these systems for potential risks and vulnerabilities. Prominent signatories include Stanford University’s Percy Liang, Pulitzer-winning journalist Julia Angwin, René...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta has announced that the Facebook News tab will be removed for U.S. and Australian users. The section was already shut down last year in the UK, France, and Germany as the company shifted its focus towards providing content that people “want to see more of on the platform.” The section had provided news content since 2019, as a way to “bring people closer to the stories that affect their lives.” However, following the rise of TikTok, the company has shifted its resources toward short-form video content through its Reels feature. “As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of ...... Read Full article on HadNews

Facebook’s parent company, Meta, has announced it will stop paying for news content in Australia when the current deals it has expire. Meta will also cease news aggregation on the site. Three years ago, the company signed deals with Australian news outlets after the government introduced laws requiring tech companies to pay for the news on their platforms. The law only comes into effect if no commercial deal is struck. Meta has now decided that the cost of providing news in Australia is too high. Its reason for the change is to “better align our investments to our products and services people value the most”. That is, it saves money....... Read Full article on HadNews

Deepfake videos generated by artificial intelligence (AI) could be mobilized by bad actors to influence the upcoming UK election a top government minister has warned. Home Secretary James Cleverly said it could create a ‘perfect storm’ before Brits head to the polls, likely before the end of 2024. Cleverly – in preparation for a meeting with Silicon Valley bosses – said that the time for deepfake videos disrupting elections across the world is well and truly here and ‘already in play’. He went on to warn British voters opinions may be swayed if their social media platforms are filled with convincing AI-generated deepfakes. These forger...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta has removed several Facebook accounts that posed as US military families. The fake accounts on Facebook and Instagram were aimed at US audiences and were all located in China, according to Meta’s security researchers. Meta’s report stated that accounts mainly posted about ‘military themes’, including US air carriers; as well as critiquing the ‘US foreign policy towards Taiwan and Israel and its support os Ukraine’. The group responsible also held accounts on YouTube and Medium and shared a petition online that claimed to be written by Americans – which was critical of the US support for Taiwan. The Meta security team traced the gr...... Read Full article on HadNews

Meta has announced that it is preparing to launch stricter safety tools to block children from receiving and sending nude images, the social media giant said in a blog post on Thursday. The tool, which will be available to all users but mainly aimed towards women and teenagers, will be an optional setting on both Facebook and Instagram and will also be active in encrypted messages. This follows criticism from the government and police after Meta decided to encrypt Messenger chats by default. It is a feature, Meta says, which is solely designed to protect users from either being sent or pressured into sending nude images, while an addit...... Read Full article on HadNews