Internet news

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Age verification online can be done safely and privately. Here's how

Online chat service Discord has announced it will begin testing age verification for some users, joining a growing list of platforms trying to work out who is actually behind the screen.

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Social media can be addictive even for adults, but there are ways to cut back

Social media addiction has been compared to casinos, opioids and cigarettes.

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Instagram boss to testify at social media addiction trial

Instagram chief Adam Mosseri is to be called to testify Wednesday in a Los Angeles courtroom by lawyers out to prove social media is dangerously addictive by design to young, vulnerable minds.

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OpenAI starts testing ads in ChatGPT

OpenAI has begun placing ads in the basic versions of its ChatGPT chatbot, a bet that users will not mind the interruptions as the company seeks revenue as its costs soar.

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Discord adopts facial recognition in child safety crackdown

Messaging platform Discord announced Monday it will implement enhanced safety features for teenage users globally, including facial recognition, joining a wave of social media companies rolling out age verification systems.

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Whack-a-mole: US academic fights to purge his AI deepfakes

As deepfake videos of John Mearsheimer multiplied across YouTube, the American academic rushed to have them taken down, embarking on a grueling fight that laid bare the challenges of combating AI-driven impersonation.

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How the web is learning to better protect itself

More than 35 years after the first website went online, the web has evolved from static pages to complex interactive systems, often with security added as an afterthought. To mitigate risks, developers use security headers ...

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Sweden plans to ban mobile phones in schools

Sweden plans to ban mobile phones from primary and middle schools in order to ensure that children can focus on learning in the classroom, the government said on Wednesday.

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EU says WhatsApp to face stricter content rules

WhatsApp is set to face greater EU scrutiny after the European Commission on Monday added the platform to its list of digital firms big enough to face stricter content rules.

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Making blockchain fast enough for IoT networks

The vision of a fully connected world is rapidly becoming a reality through the Internet of Things (IoT)—a growing network of physical devices that collect and share data over the Internet, including everything from small ...

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YouTube to match OpenAI with AI likeness feature

YouTube announced plans on Wednesday to allow its users this year to create AI versions of themselves for video sharing, matching a feature from Sora, the video-creation app from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

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Cyberattacks can trigger societal crises, scientists warn

Cyberattacks can wreak havoc on the systems they target, yet their impact often spreads far beyond technical failures, potentially triggering crises that engulf entire communities, a new study argues.

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UK, France mull social media bans for youth as debate rages

Countries including France and Britain are considering following Australia's lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media, but experts are still locked in a debate over the effectiveness of the move.

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OpenAI introducing ads to ChatGPT

OpenAI announced Friday it will begin testing advertisements on ChatGPT in the coming weeks, as the wildly popular artificial intelligence chatbot seeks to increase revenue to cover its soaring costs.

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WhatsApp data reveal people often deceive themselves

How quickly we reply, how active we really are in chats—many people misjudge their own behavior. Researchers at Bielefeld University have, for the first time, used anonymized WhatsApp metadata to make such misperceptions ...

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Meta urges Australia to change teen social media ban

Tech giant Meta urged Australia on Monday to rethink its world-first social media ban for under-16s, while reporting that it has blocked more than 544,000 accounts under the new law.