[news release] At a time when digital content creators have become a major source of information for people, a UNESCO survey published today reveals that 62% do not carry out rigorous and systematic fact-checking of information prior to sharing it. But 73% express the wish to be trained to do so. UNESCO is launching this month the very first global course to address this, with more than 9,000 participants from 160 countries already registered to participate.
[news release] Links between internet adoption and psychological well-being are small at most, despite popular assumptions about the negative psychological effects of internet technologies and platforms, according to a major international study published today by the Oxford Internet Institute.
Tech giants including Apple, Google and Meta will be forced to do more to tackle online child sexual abuse material and pro-terror content, including “deepfake” child pornography created using generative AI, in world-first industry standards laid out by Australia’s eSafety Commissioner.
More than 85% of people are worried about the impact of online disinformation and 87% believe it has already harmed their country’s politics, according to a global survey, as the United Nations announced a plan to tackle the phenomenon.
Meta is considering paid versions of Facebook and Instagram that would have no advertising for users in the European Union, three people with knowledge of the company’s plans said, a response to regulatory scrutiny and a sign that how people experience technology in the United States and Europe may diverge because of government policy.
Google, Facebook, TikTok and other Big Tech companies operating in Europe are facing one of the most far-reaching efforts to clean up what people encounter online.
The company formerly known as Twitter has been slowing the speed with which users could access links to the New York Times, Facebook and other news organizations and online competitors, a move that appeared targeted at companies that have drawn the ire of owner Elon Musk.
[news release] The largest scientific study ever conducted, investigating the spread of Facebook across the globe found no evidence that the social media platform’s worldwide penetration is linked to widespread psychological harm.
Twitter has weathered months, if not years, of mismanagement as well as mass layoffs, frequent service disruptions and an exodus of top advertisers, but the launch of a rival app from Meta could prove to be the final straw.
When Facebook took off in Vietnam about a decade ago, it was like a “revolution,” said two of the company’s early employees in Asia. For the first time, people across the country could communicate directly about current affairs. Users posted about police abuse and government waste, poking holes in the propaganda of the ruling Communist Party. “It felt like a liberation,” said one of the Facebook employees, “and we were part of it.”