https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/internet-news/ en-us The latest news on the internet, world wide web, web 2.0 and science technology. Artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has expanded access to a highly advanced model deemed too dangerous for public release, including Australia in the select handful of users. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-australia-access-anthropic-claude-mythos.html Internet Fri, 05 Jun 2026 07:00:02 EDT news699859202 Research published in the International Journal of Information and Communication Technology discusses the development of an artificial intelligence system that combines text, images and reviewer behavior to detect and trace fake e-commerce reviews. The system could address the growing challenge faced by online marketplaces as deceptive feedback becomes increasingly sophisticated. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-fake-combining-text-images.html Internet Thu, 04 Jun 2026 19:00:03 EDT news699795856 Tech giant Meta on Thursday attacked Australia's "grossly unfair" bid to make social media companies pay for news, saying it is vehemently opposed to the draft laws. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-meta-lashes-australia-tech-giants.html Internet Thu, 04 Jun 2026 05:00:04 EDT news699766885 Profound changes are ahead for online advertising. At the recent Google Marketing Live event, the tech giant outlined expanded artificial intelligence systems for digital ads. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-online-ads-harder-powerless.html Internet Wed, 03 Jun 2026 19:00:07 EDT news699700713 Google must allow news sites to opt out of having their online content scraped to feed AI overviews and other artificial intelligence services and features for British users, regulators said Wednesday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-uk-google-publishers-opt-ai.html Internet Wed, 03 Jun 2026 06:45:00 EDT news699687802 AI-generated images are widespread on social media. Starting in August 2026, platforms will be required under the EU AI Act to label certain types of such content. A study by CISPA researcher Sandra Höltervennhoff investigates how users perceive these so-called AI labels and how they influence the credibility of information. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-platforms-ai-generated-images.html Internet Mon, 01 Jun 2026 11:00:02 EDT news699529429 Artificial intelligence chatbots need to work on their social judgment, recent events suggest. At one end of the spectrum, they're facing lawsuits for recommending dangerous actions. At the other end, the models can be so nice they're considered sycophantic. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-misbehaving-chatbots-personality.html Internet Fri, 29 May 2026 13:00:02 EDT news699276901 Is the internet losing its soul? A collaborative study by UC Riverside computer and social scientists suggests so. As artificial intelligence increasingly answers our online questions with quick summaries and polished explanations, we may be gaining efficiency while losing something distinctly human in the process. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-filtering-humanity-ai-internet-favors.html Internet Thu, 28 May 2026 13:20:07 EDT news699192241 Meta on Wednesday launched paid subscription plans for its flagship apps, marking a major push by the tech giant to diversify beyond its longtime reliance on advertising revenue. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-meta-paid-subscriptions-instagram-facebook.html Internet Thu, 28 May 2026 04:56:30 EDT news699162966 A new method to distribute cryptographic keys using terahertz waves could help enable secure communication in the quantum-powered internet of the future, researchers say. Engineers from the University of Glasgow are pioneering the development of a new method of quantum key distribution (QKD) using terahertz waves transmitted with a wireless communications system adapted from mobile and WiFi networks. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-optical-barrier-terahertz-tech-enable.html Internet Wed, 27 May 2026 10:20:03 EDT news699092848 New cybersecurity research indicates that one of the world's leading age verification providers collects and shares highly sensitive personal data—including facial photos and device fingerprints—with third parties. The research also reveals that most websites that require age verification don't enforce the policy. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-online-age-pointless-privacy.html Internet Mon, 25 May 2026 08:20:01 EDT news698915882 Google on Tuesday showed off new plans to turn its famous search bar into an AI assistant that can book restaurants, track news, and contact businesses—just by asking a question. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-google-bar-behalf-ai-revamp.html Internet Wed, 20 May 2026 18:20:04 EDT news698487884 The United States on Tuesday began enforcing a law requiring tech platforms to remove sexual deepfakes and other non-consensual intimate imagery, but experts warned of shortcomings and raised online censorship concerns. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-law-sexual-deepfakes.html Internet Wed, 20 May 2026 06:20:03 EDT news698472961 Online platforms often fail to act on reports of non-consensual intimate images submitted through safety or abuse systems—but remove the same material far more quickly when it is framed as a copyright violation, according to new University of Michigan research. The findings are published on the arXiv preprint server, and will be published at the 29th ACM SIGCHI Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing in October 2026. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-legal-pressure-key-consensual-nudity.html Internet Tue, 19 May 2026 15:00:01 EDT news698420277 It's a choice you may face multiple times a day—and, at this point, your reaction is probably reflexive. Are you going to accept those internet cookies, reject them, or spend a little time customizing your settings? https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-internet-cookies-web.html Internet Mon, 18 May 2026 14:10:01 EDT news698331560 Tech giant Meta recently announced a set of new features to give parents greater oversight of how their children use Facebook, Instagram, Messenger and Horizon. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-meta-tools-parents-kids-social.html Internet Mon, 18 May 2026 11:20:13 EDT news698321041 A surge in arrests of suspected foreign scammers in Sri Lanka has authorities concerned that the island is fast becoming a hub for online crime, following sweeping crackdowns in hotspots Cambodia and Myanmar. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-crackdown-southeast-asia-scam-networks.html Internet Sun, 17 May 2026 11:11:47 EDT news698235078 You're trying to book concert tickets before they sell out. You click the link and before you can make the payment, you're asked to identify traffic lights, bicycles or blurry crosswalks in a grid of tiny images. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-websites-proof-youre-human-blame.html Internet Fri, 15 May 2026 08:51:28 EDT news698053861 Originally, video games were a product you paid for once and that then provided as many hours of entertainment as users wanted to spend at the computer or console. Now, however, on the mobile phones that are in almost everybody's pockets, the industry's growth has taken a darker turn, with game design using a range of mechanisms that encourage user spending and can help normalize gambling habits. A study led by researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) published in the journal Entertainment Computing, reveals a consistent relationship between these hidden mechanisms and behaviors associated with problematic gambling among young people. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-harmless-game-features-quietly-reshape.html Internet Thu, 14 May 2026 09:35:34 EDT news697970101 Ask an AI model the same political question in two different languages, and you may get two very different responses. A new study in Nature suggests one reason why: governments can indirectly influence large language models (LLMs) by shaping the online media environment, and thus the text those systems learn from. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-chatbots-web.html Internet Wed, 13 May 2026 11:00:05 EDT news697797121 Spend enough time on the internet, and you'll likely encounter some pretty appalling content. Hate speech tends to flourish on social media and in online communities, particularly those with little to no moderation. Even on sites with strict community standards, the volume of content makes effective moderation nearly impossible. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-ai-content-moderation-lesson-economics.html Internet Tue, 12 May 2026 13:30:01 EDT news697707241 One in three people believe they don't have to seek the news from traditional outlets like newspapers and television. Instead, they think the "news will find me" (NFM), relying on algorithms and social networks to get their information. A research team led by Penn State scholars recently found that these individuals often consider their online networks to be as trustworthy as professional editors and journalists. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-05-news-mindset-people-algorithms-online.html Internet Mon, 11 May 2026 14:40:17 EDT news697728243 There was "no meaningful shift" away from big tech platforms like TikTok and Instagram in the immediate wake of Australia's world-leading teen social media ban, government documents obtained by AFP show. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-meaningful-shift-social-media-sites.html Internet Thu, 30 Apr 2026 07:00:03 EDT news696741760 Australia unveiled draft laws on Tuesday that would tax tech giants Meta, Google and TikTok unless they voluntarily strike deals to pay local outlets for news. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-australia-aims-tax-tech-giants.html Internet Tue, 28 Apr 2026 03:43:53 EDT news696566584 YouTube is offering Hollywood celebrities and entertainers a free detection tool to help combat their deepfakes, expanding the Google-owned video platform's efforts to guard against AI-driven impersonations. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-youtube-deepfake-hollywood.html Internet Fri, 24 Apr 2026 04:30:01 EDT news696222850 A University of Queensland study has shown large language models (LLMs) used in AI content moderation may be prone to subtle biases that undermine their neutrality. A team led by data scientist Professor Gianluca Demartini from UQ's School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science used persona prompting to test the tendency of AI chatbots to encode and reproduce political biases, and found significant behavioral shifts. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-ai-bias-online-content-moderation.html Internet Wed, 22 Apr 2026 12:40:01 EDT news696079502 Online review aggregator Yelp wants to harness artificial intelligence to make it easier for users to find information curated by other people. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-yelp-ai-chatbot-users-sift.html Internet Tue, 21 Apr 2026 13:00:01 EDT news695994747 A new study, published in Anatomical Sciences Education, provides evidence that researchers and scientific organizations can significantly improve public access to accurate, high-quality information through structured engagement with Wikipedia, one of the most widely used knowledge platforms in the world and an increasingly influential source for both search engines and artificial intelligence systems. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-strategic-wikipedia-engagement-scientific-visibility.html Internet Tue, 21 Apr 2026 07:00:01 EDT news695967842 European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday that an EU-developed age verification app was ready to go, as the bloc pushes to better protect children from online harm. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-eu-age-app-ready-children.html Internet Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:10:01 EDT news695464584 For some evangelical Christians, faith is about having a personal relationship with Jesus. At $1.99 per minute, the tech company Just Like Me is taking that concept to a new level. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-04-buddhabot-chats-ai-jesus-faith.html Internet Fri, 10 Apr 2026 12:07:31 EDT news695041603