Internet news

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Microsoft announces service 'restored,' global outage over

Tech giant Microsoft said Saturday it has "restored service" to customers, effectively bringing an end to a massive outage that caused chaos and disrupted public services and business around the world.

Internet

Microsoft says services fully restored after hourslong global outage

Microsoft said Saturday that services were fully restored after a massive outage that lasted for hours.

Internet

Influencers, AI, addiction: EU looks to protect consumers online

The European Union on Wednesday put forward new rules to crack down on influencer marketing, ban online features that trick Europeans and force platforms to give users the right to turn off "addictive" features.

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New research highlights shortcomings in the protection of freedom of expression on social media

Who ensures that social media platforms do not restrict people's freedom of expression? The EU has introduced a system intended to strengthen users' rights when posts are removed or accounts are suspended. However, new research ...

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I don't want AI in my online search. What options do I have?

Last week, Google announced a new artificial intelligence (AI) policy for schools that use Google apps. It provides new settings for opting in or out of AI products on student accounts. Schools that reject AI in the classroom ...

Internet

Tracing the online networks behind AI-generated nude images

As Domestic Violence Awareness Month comes to a close this week, one University of Florida researcher is examining the roots of nudification apps, online platforms that use AI to turn images of clothed people—easily and convincingly—into ...

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How to prepare your online life for your death

What happens to all of your online accounts—credit cards, merchants, news subscriptions, social media, streaming services—after you die? How will your heirs know how to access these accounts or understand what you want done ...

Internet

AI giants promise publishers new way to block some scraping

OpenAI, Google, Microsoft and Anthropic pledged on Friday to give media outlets and other websites a single way to prevent their content from being scraped to train artificial intelligence (AI) models, amid growing criticisms ...

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Thousands of deceptive ads evade Google's safeguards

Thousands of deceptive advertisements have slipped through Google's advertising safeguards, exposing internet users to fake virus warnings, misleading software promises and potentially dangerous downloads, according to new ...

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UK probes Meta over 'exploitative' new terms for media

Britain's competition watchdog Friday opened an investigation into whether Meta was imposing "exploitative" new terms allowing it to use media content for its own products, including AI, without giving publishers adequate ...

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41,000 DHS names leaked in major hack, collective says

A nonprofit news leak group said Wednesday it has published data on more than 41,000 employees of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, including those working on President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement efforts.

Internet

Google boosts news and link visibility in AI Mode

Google announced Thursday it will start displaying links to websites and articles more prominently and higher up in search results powered by artificial intelligence (AI), as brands and news publishers warn of a sharp decline ...

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Computer scientists are boosting US cybersecurity

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated by the day, UC Riverside researchers are making computing safer thanks to research that targets some of the internet's most pressing security challenges.

Internet

China penalizes popular app Xiaohongshu over content

China's internet regulator said on Thursday it had ordered "warnings and strict punishment" to bosses at popular social media app Xiaohongshu over its online content, slamming "trivial" and "negative" posts.

Internet

French lawmakers urge social media ban for under-15s

French lawmakers urged a social media ban for under-15s and "digital curfew" for older minors Thursday, with massively popular short video platform TikTok the focus of renewed harsh government scrutiny.

Internet

'Fueling sexism': AI 'bikini interview' videos flood internet

The videos are strikingly lifelike, featuring bikini-clad women conducting street interviews and eliciting lewd comments—but they are entirely fake, generated by AI tools increasingly used to flood social media with sexist ...

Internet

YouTube turns to AI to spot children posing as adults

YouTube has started using artificial intelligence (AI) to figure out when users are children pretending to be adults on the popular video-sharing platform amid pressure to protect minors from sensitive content.