https://techxplore.com/rss-feed/internet-news/ en-us The latest news on the internet, world wide web, web 2.0 and science technology. Despite European legislation, many commercial websites still fall short when it comes to meeting the WCAG accessibility standard, Dante Göbbels has found. Göbbels investigated the barriers website visitors encounter, including inaccessible forms and poor contrast, missing alt text for images (important for blind and visually impaired users), and keyboard-unfriendly navigation. His main recommendations are greater awareness, more training, and more enforcement. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-digital-barriers-visitors-dutch-websites.html Internet Sat, 27 Jun 2026 08:00:08 EDT news701523215 Whether you love or loathe generative AI chatbots, they're becoming increasingly involved in the business of romance. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-chatbots-people-communicate-dating.html Internet Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:01:49 EDT news701762490 Six months on from Australia's under-16s social media ban taking effect, the early verdict from headlines and children themselves has been blunt: It isn't working. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-kids-social-media-success.html Internet Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:00:08 EDT news701606641 There is little evidence that Australia's Social Media Minimum Age Act has led to any immediate reductions in social media use by under-16s, according to an early analysis of survey data published by The BMJ. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-evidence-australia-social-media-restrictions.html Internet Wed, 24 Jun 2026 18:30:06 EDT news701514481 The Dutch government is considering making it illegal to use children younger than 16 in paid social media content. The government argues such online content featuring children—designed to sell goods to child consumers—basically involves them in child labor. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-kidfluencers-social-media-australia-netherlands.html Internet Tue, 23 Jun 2026 20:40:05 EDT news701440228 Marie Lansley recently started a new job in a new city while searching for a new partner. In her dating pursuits, the freshly minted San Franciscan said she's been "trying everything"— including some help from artificial intelligence. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-ai-chatbots-dating-scene-lovelorn.html Internet Tue, 23 Jun 2026 14:20:01 EDT news701440672 Wikipedia does not trust artificial intelligence enough to let it play a direct role in editing articles on its platform, co-founder Jimmy Wales told AFP on Monday. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-wikipedia-wont-ai-articles-cofounder.html Internet Mon, 22 Jun 2026 12:54:46 EDT news701351670 The Australian eSafety Commissioner recently launched a new campaign to raise awareness of sexual extortion, or "sextortion." Targeted primarily at men, the campaign features AI-generated videos of attractive women attempting to lure men into financial scams. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-people-victims-sextortion-ai-worse.html Internet Sun, 21 Jun 2026 20:30:07 EDT news701010741 In April, Galileo marked a step forward with the deployment of a new signal component, known as E5a Quasi Pilot, on 12 satellites of Europe's satellite navigation constellation. This upgrade makes Galileo signals easier to access, particularly on emerging mass-market, low-power devices used for Internet of Things and smart-city applications. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-galileo-internet.html Internet Fri, 19 Jun 2026 08:20:04 EDT news701075029 As Europe pushes for more tech sovereignty, social network W believes it has the X-factor to win users away from other platforms: It's European. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-european-social-network-musk.html Internet Wed, 17 Jun 2026 14:20:29 EDT news700924806 The UK government's decision to introduce restrictions on children's access to social media marks a significant moment in the evolution of online safety policy. For supporters, it represents a long-overdue response to growing concerns about children's well-being. For critics, it raises questions about effectiveness, enforcement and unintended consequences. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-uk-social-media-tech-restrictions.html Internet Tue, 16 Jun 2026 12:40:03 EDT news700831381 Britain says it will ban people under 16 from using a range of social media apps, including Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube, a decision intended to protect young people from harmful content and excessive screen time. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-uk-children-social-media-countries.html Internet Tue, 16 Jun 2026 04:00:02 EDT news700800652 Canada's culture minister on Wednesday introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from having social media accounts and require AI chatbot services to limit the production of harmful content. https://techxplore.com/news/2026-06-canada-16s-social-media-ai.html Internet Thu, 11 Jun 2026 04:35:04 EDT news700371258 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 When a bartender checks an ID, they quickly verify a customer's date of birth and identity before serving them. 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