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.

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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 ...

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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.

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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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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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Meta pauses teen access to AI characters

Meta is halting teens' access to artificial intelligence characters, at least temporarily, the company said in a blog post Friday.

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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.