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Meta tests 'Community Notes' to replace fact-checkers

Social media giant Meta on Thursday announced it would begin testing its new "Community Notes" feature across its platforms in the United States next week, as it shifts away from third-party fact-checking toward a crowd-sourced ...

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One Tech Tip: Wasting too much time on social media apps? Tips and tricks to curb smartphone use

If you've got a smartphone, you probably spend too much time on it—checking Instagram, watching silly TikTok videos, messaging on WhatsApp or doomscrolling on X.

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Can AI tell us if those Zoom calls are flowing smoothly? New study says yes

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, workers have spent countless hours in videoconferences—now a fixture of office life. As more people work and live remotely, videoconferencing platforms such as Zoom, MS Teams, FaceTime, ...

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Russian disinformation 'infects' AI chatbots, researchers warn

A sprawling Russian disinformation network is manipulating Western AI chatbots to spew pro-Kremlin propaganda, researchers say, at a time when the United States is reported to have paused its cyber operations against Moscow.

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Albania to shut down TikTok in coming days

Albanian authorities said Thursday they were moving to shut down TikTok in the coming days, following through on a ban announced in December.

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Unlocking the secret to private messaging apps

Whether you're sharing confidential information or swapping movie ideas with a friend, people are turning to private messaging apps that offer end-to-end encryption to protect the contents of their conversations.

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Algorithms can prevent online abuse

Millions of children log into chat rooms every day to talk with other children. One of these "children" could well be a man pretending to be a 12-year-old girl with far more sinister intentions than having a chat about "My ...

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US regulator queried Twitter on false accounts

Twitter faced scrutiny from US market regulators over how the platform calculates the number of false or spam accounts, a topic at the heart of the firm's legal battle with Elon Musk.

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Elon Musk's Twitter friendship with Indian superfan

Not many people can boast of having candid conversations about planetary conquest with Elon Musk, but for Indian software engineer Pranay Pathole, a friendly chat with the world's richest man is just a tweet away.

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Assessing the toxicity of Reddit comments

New research, published in PeerJ Computer Science, which analyzes over 87 million posts and 2.205 billion comments on Reddit from more than 1.2 million unique users, examines changes in the online behavior of users who publish ...

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The metaverse isn't here yet, but it already has a long history

Nattie's metaverse romance began with anonymous texting. At first "C" would admit only to living in a nearby town. Nattie eventually learned "Clem" was a man with a solitary office job like hers. For Nattie "lived, as it ...

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Facebook use plunges among US teens: survey

US teens have left Facebook in droves over the past seven years, preferring to spend time at video-sharing venues YouTube and TikTok, according to a Pew Research Center survey data out Wednesday.

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Social media offers parents more controls. But do they help?

As concerns about social media's harmful effects on teens continue to rise, platforms from Snapchat to TikTok to Instagram are bolting on new features they say will make their services safer and more age appropriate. But ...

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Flight frenzy: Pelosi Taiwan trip swamps plane tracker

Hundreds of thousands of people tuned in to a flight tracking website Tuesday anxious to find out whether US official Nancy Pelosi was in fact going to Taiwan, in defiance of China's angry protests.

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Feds: $401M will add high-speed internet to rural US places

The federal government is pledging $401 million in grants and loans to expand the reach and improve the speed of internet for rural residents, tribes and businesses in remote parts of 11 states from Alaska to Arkansas.