Pressure grows on social network after US senators challenge Instagram over impact of app on children’s mental healthUS lawmakers have left Facebook in no doubt this week that revelations about the impact of its Instagram app on teen mental health have further damaged the company’s reputation.The Democrat senator Richard Blumenthal said the social network was “indefensibly delinquent” in its behaviour and had “chosen growth over children’s mental health”, after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that Facebook’s internal research had flagged concerns that its photo-sharing app was damaging the wellbeing of young users. Continue reading...
by Hannah J Davies, Hannah Verdier, Phil Harrison and on (#5Q70M)
Journalist Jason Rezaian tells the story of his shock imprisonment in a new podcast. Plus: Storytime with Seth Rogen, and The Cut considers the changing face of sex on TV544 Days
SpaceX founder, who in April won a contract from Nasa, took a jab at Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin for suing when it lost out on dealElon Musk intensified the feud over lawsuits and rocket sizes with space rival Jeff Bezos this week, kicking off the latest round in the billionaire battle over humanity’s return to the moon.The SpaceX founder, who in April won a contract from Nasa to build the next-generation spacecraft to take astronauts to the moon’s surface for the first time since 1972, took a jab at Bezos for suing the US government when his company lost out on the deal. Continue reading...
Senators highlighted research revealed in the Wall Street Journal showing how the photo app could affect girls’ body image and self-esteemAntigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, faced a grilling before the US Congress on Thursday in a hearing examining the impacts of the company’s products on children.Thursday’s hearing of the Senate commerce, science and transportation subcommittee comes after a series of Wall Street Journal reports based on internal Facebook leaks, including a story that revealed research showing the harmful effects of Instagram on childhood mental health. Continue reading...
Technology and Covid lockdowns blamed for rise in eating disorders and insomnia among the youngIt was while browsing on social media at the age of 13 that Hannah realised she had an eating disorder. Seeing other girls and women talking about their experiences, she thought: “This is me.”Since that moment, the now 17-year-old has been on a path to recovery, which includes recently relapsing during the Covid-19 pandemic. She said that after initially seeking support via her GP, it took “about a year to get help”, despite “seeing three different doctors”. Continue reading...
US Congress to question firm’s head of safety after Wall Street Journal reports revealed research on the photo appFacebook has released internal research that examines Instagram’s impact on teenagers’ mental health before a US Congress hearing on Thursday.Antigone Davis, Facebook’s global head of safety, will appear in Washington on Thursday in a hearing exploring the impacts of the company’s products on young users. Continue reading...
Exclusive: UK producer Kate Wilson hopes it will force film executives ‘to take their head out of the sand’When she was 24, the film producer Kate Wilson was sexually harassed at work so badly, she left the United States and returned to the UK, at a considerable impact to her career. “That was 21 years ago,” she said, “and I’m only just comfortable referencing it now.”The co-founder of a soon-to-be-launched app, Call It!, Wilson is determined to ensure that workplace bullying, discrimination and harassment have no place in the UK film and TV industry. Continue reading...
Regulators lack the resources to certify the safety of goods sold online by third partiesThe UK’s product safety regime is not up to the job of preventing a tragedy such as the Grenfell Tower fire as shopping moves online and regulators take on new responsibilities following Brexit, MPs have warned.A third of products are now bought on the web, yet a gap in the law means that digital giants such as Amazon and eBay are not responsible for the safety of items sold by third parties. The budgets of council-run Trading Standards services have also been cut to the bone, according to a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC). Continue reading...
Analysis: After the Huawei chief’s detention, the saga rapidly turned from a narrow legal dispute into an escalating battleThe deal allowing Meng Wanzhou to return home to China nearly three years after her arrest will come as a relief to all the participants in a saga that rapidly turned from a narrow legal dispute into an escalating geopolitical battle.Related: Meng Wanzhou: US prosecutors reach deal in case of Huawei executive at center of diplomatic row Continue reading...
Lawsuit alleges settlement in Cambridge Analytica case driven by desire to protect founderFacebook paid $4.9bn more than necessary to the US Federal Trade Commission in a settlement over the Cambridge Analytica scandal in order to protect Mark Zuckerberg, a lawsuit has claimed.The lawsuit alleges that the size of the $5bn settlement was driven by a desire to protect Facebook’s founder and chief executive from being named in the FTC complaint. Continue reading...
We lived in our dream home. Then suddenly a huge chasm split our town. Rather than buy a new home for the move, we decided to transplant the houseI moved to Malmberget – a town in the far north of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle – from a nearby village when I was four. My husband Mikael was born there. Our children, now grown up, were born there. I had a secret wish that we could one day live in the beautiful old house in the centre that belonged to my boss. A big green wooden villa, more than 100 years old, with four bedrooms, a large kitchen, and a rooftop veranda with views towards the mountains – my dream home. When my boss put it on sale in 2009, we couldn’t believe our luck and quickly bought it.Malmberget was built around an important iron ore mine, founded in 1741 and today run by the state-owned Swedish mining company LKAB. Most people living there were employed by the mine – and as it grew, so did the town. Eventually the mine grew so big that it began to split Malmberget in two – a huge chasm a kilometre long and 200 metres deep had opened up through the centre of town; it was nicknamed Kaptensgropen (“the captain’s pit”). As the hole expanded, buildings around it had to be demolished. People were offered money to leave; many went to Gällivare, another town three miles away. Others moved farther away. Continue reading...
Fresh privacy concerns raised after NHS refuses to reveal firms used for ID verification processUndisclosed companies are analysing facial data collected by the NHS app, which is used by more than 16 million English citizens, prompting fresh concern about the role of outsourcing to private businesses in the service.Data security experts have previously criticised the lack of transparency around a contract with the NHS held by iProov, whose facial verification software is used to perform automated ID checks on people signing up for the NHS app. Continue reading...
Proposals to make USB-C port mandatory could reduce electronic waste and save EU consumers moneyThe European Commission has set out plans for a common charger port for all mobile phones, tablets and headphones, in the face of resistance from US tech giant Apple.An 18-page directive released on Thursday said a common charger for all brands “would benefit consumers and reduce electronic waste”. It estimates that it will save EU consumers €250m (£214m) a year. Continue reading...
by Dan Sabbagh Defence and security editor on (#5PWXD)
Activity more overt and reckless despite US, British and other political efforts to bring it to a haltChinese state-sponsored hacking is at record levels, western experts say, accusing Beijing of engaging in a form of low-level warfare that is escalating despite US, British and other political efforts to bring it to a halt.There are accusations too that the clandestine activity, which has a focus on stealing intellectual property, has become more overt and more reckless, although Beijing consistently denies sponsoring hacking and accuses critics of hypocrisy. Continue reading...
I craved connection, which may be a polite way of saying I needed other people to listen to me speakAnyone who has been lucky to live through this, our second season of the pandemic, would say they hate Zoom. It’s not a revelation. It’s one of those annoying things, privileged, middle class adults get to whinge about, like parking spaces and the astringency of a cab sav.And even though some companies allow you to turn off video during a Zoom chat, that sort of thing doesn’t go down well in a family Zoom. Continue reading...
Loo design has barely changed in 150 years – until now. Will people trade their privacy for the chance to find out exactly what is in their waste?For the past 10 years, Sonia Grego has been thinking about toilets – and more specifically what we deposit into them. “We are laser-focused on the analysis of stool,” says the Duke University research professor, with all the unselfconsciousness of someone used to talking about bodily functions. “We think there is an incredible untapped opportunity for health data. And this information is not tapped because of the universal aversion to having anything to do with your stool.”As the co-founder of Coprata, Grego is working on a toilet that uses sensors and artificial intelligence to analyse waste; she hopes to have an early model for a pilot study ready within nine months. “The toilet that you have in your home has not functionally changed in its design since it was first introduced,” she says, in the second half of the 19th century. There are, of course, now loos with genital-washing capabilities, or heated seats, but this is basic compared with what Grego is envisaging. “All other aspects of your life – your electricity, your communication, even your doorbell – have enhanced capabilities.” Continue reading...
The XCheck program allows some users to be ‘whitelisted’ or allowed to post material that violates the company’s policiesFacebook’s semi-independent oversight board says it will review the company’s “XCheck” system, an internal program that has exempted high-profile users from some or all of its rules.The decision follows an investigation by the Wall Street Journal that revealed that reviews of posts by well-known users such as celebrities, politicians and journalists are steered into the separate system. Continue reading...
The study cited a lack of regulation in the domestic tech industry, and the rise of authoritarian agencies abroadOnline freedom is continuing to decline globally, according to a new study, with governments increasingly cracking down on user speech and misinformation on the rise.The report from Freedom House, a Washington DC-based democracy advocacy group, found internet freedom declined for the fifth year in a row in the US and the 11th year internationally – for two distinct reasons. Continue reading...
Dániel Németh’s phones infected with Pegasus software while reporting on one of Hungary’s richest menDániel Németh, a Budapest-based photojournalist, has tried to keep a low profile in his groundbreaking work investigating and documenting the luxury lifestyle of Hungary’s ruling elite.While his name is not well known, the 46-year-old has managed to use his drone, and public flight and ship tracking data, to find and photograph politicians and pro-government business figures, exposing their hidden luxuries such as yachts in exotic locations. Continue reading...
British company known for its Golf Clash franchise is latest to be snapped up by the California-based firmElectronic Arts has completed the $1.4bn (£1.04bn) deal to buy Playdemic, the mobile games maker known for its Golf Clash franchise, the latest British video games maker to be snapped up by the California-based giant.For EA, the maker of titles including Battlefield and The Sims, the all-cash deal struck with Playdemic-owner AT&T’s Warner Bros Games division marks the latest move to expand its sports and mobile gaming business. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5PRAM)
Free software upgrades for iPhone, iPad and Watch improve notifications, Safari, FaceTime and more due for releaseApple plans to release software updates for its iPhone, iPad and smartwatch on Monday, which will add new features for compatible devices.Announced at the firm’s developer conference in June, iOS 15, iPadOS 15 and WatchOS 8 bring new ways to deal with notifications, tools to keep work and home life separate, the ability to FaceTime video call with non-Apple users and more. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5PR3N)
Simple to install and use, Amazon’s smart doorbell now has a much better view of events at your doorThe latest iteration of Amazon’s battery-powered Ring doorbell adds a new feature to capture the early details of events most competitors would miss without needing to be plugged in.The Ring Video Doorbell 4 costs £179 ($199.99/$A329) and can be installed in any home with wifi. It tops Ring’s battery-powered range, which starts at £89. Continue reading...
Hackers, no longer content with phishing emails, are now sending text messages to entice people to click on fake linksYou’ve heard of ransomware? Now you’ve got to worry about “smishing”.Smishing is a relatively new form of cyberattack that’s threatening millions of consumers and small businesses around the world. Smishing is a form of “phishing” using SMS or text messages instead of email messages to entice recipients to click on phoney links that draws them to sites where either personal information is exchanged or malware is unknowingly downloaded. Continue reading...
The film-maker and life peer has been warning of the digital dangers facing young people since 2012. Now, with her Children’s Code, people – and big tech companies - are starting to listenWhen she first began talking to her peers in the House of Lords about the rights of children on the internet, Baroness Kidron says she looked like “a naysayer”, like someone who was “trying to talk about wooden toys” or, in her husband’s words, like “one middle-aged woman against Silicon Valley”. It was 2012 and the film-maker and recently appointed life peer was working on her documentary InRealLife, spending “hundreds of hours in the bedrooms of children” to discover how the internet affects young lives. What she saw disturbed her.“I did what they were doing – gaming, falling in love, watching pornography, going to meet-ups, making music – you name it, it happened,” Beeban Kidron says. The film explored everything from children’s exposure to porn, to rampant online bullying, to the way privacy is compromised online. But Kidron noticed that one thing underpinned it all: on the internet, nobody knows you’re a kid. “Digital services and products were treating them as if they were equal,” she says. “The outcome of treating everyone equally is you treat a kid like an adult.” Continue reading...
The Model 3 left the road near a residential intersection, collided with a tree and burst into flames, killing a man and a womanFederal authorities will investigate a fiery car crash which killed two people in a Tesla in Florida last week.Related: Tesla’s Autopilot faces US investigation after crashes with emergency vehicles Continue reading...
Kerim Sabuncuoğlu – just one winner in this year’s Ocean photography awards – tells the story behind his picture of a moray eel that also shows the wider perils of ‘ghost fishing’In July, off the Turkish port city of Bodrum, Kerim Sabuncuoğlu stepped from the edge of a boat into the azure Aegean Sea and began to descend. A scuba diver with more than 30 years’ experience, he took up underwater photography in 2002 and has since devoted considerable amounts of time and money to his “out-of-control hobby” – capturing the wonders of the ocean on camera so that “the less fortunate people above” can also marvel at them.Related: Ocean Photographer of the Year 2021 winners – in pictures Continue reading...
The company’s own research reveals that Instagram harms teens, that it can’t control anti-vax misinformation, and that there is a secret double standard for VIPs. In short, the problem with Facebook is FacebookFor years, Facebook has faced torrents of criticism from human rights groups and academic researchers, who raised alarms about the ways that the most pervasive digital social platform in human history distorts our world and promotes destructive behavior ranging from eating disorders to genocide. In response, Mark Zuckerberg and his staff have frequently pronounced commitments to reform.While many of those pledges and predictions seemed to have been sincere, it turns out that not only have the architecture and incentives built into Facebook itself undermined the biggest efforts to fix the service, but that Facebook’s own research staff have informed top leadership of the company’s stunning failures. Continue reading...
New efforts will let vast amounts of false material slip through the cracks, according to climate advocatesFacebook has announced new efforts to combat climate crisis misinformation on its platform, including by expanding its climate science center to provide more reliable information, investing in organizations that fight misinformation, and launching a video series to highlight young climate advocates on Facebook and Instagram.But critics say the new push, announced on Thursday, falls short and will allow vast amounts of climate misinformation to slip through the cracks. Continue reading...
This experimental game is a network of near-future science-fiction stories, connected by a central mysteryOn first click, Omnipedia feels like the shadow-sister of Wikipedia: empty white space with the occasional image, marked up by slim black text and iconic blue hyperlinks. But we are on a different internet now. This fictional encyclopedia is essentially the narrator of Neurocracy, which is part game, part murder-mystery novella and part postmodern exploration of how we take in stories and information. It is a labyrinth of text – the reader, or player, navigates a 2049 version of our world by clicking hyperlinks. Having done some exploring, I believe it’s best to go in totally blind, though I will say that the central mystery concerns the death of the man who launched Omnipedia in the wake of Wikipedia, a character named Xu Shaoyong.We click through from one fictional entry to the next, learning gradually that this future world is full of threats, from the presence of a civilisation-upending disease to binaural implants that track and enhance our experiences online, all the way down to dating shows that end in shocking loss of life. It feels unnervingly close to the internet as we know it, but with subtle differences that amount to clever environmental storytelling. For example, the GDPR cookie-tracking pop-up that’s now the doorman at the gate of every website includes both familiar text about data and consent, and a note about our “montages” being tracked – our emotional state, as tracked by an algorithm. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nosheen Iqbal with Alex Hern; produce on (#5PKPH)
When the ‘subscription social network’ OnlyFans announced it would be banning the sexually explicit content that made it a billion-dollar business, sex workers were up in arms – and many observers wondered how the move could make financial sense. Then it had second thoughts. So what does this tech saga tell us about where pornography fits into the future of the internet – and is it just another example of the sex industry treating women as disposable?This episode includes discussion of sex and pornography.OnlyFans bills itself as a wide-ranging ‘subscription social network’ where content creators of any kind can charge their followers to view their output – but in reality its hugely successful business is largely based around sex. That emphasis only grew during the pandemic, with more and more users spending their free time online – and more people wondering about a new source of income. With the company valued at about $1bn (£720m), and celebrities like Cardi B and Bella Thorne signing up, it was hard to see it doing anything other than more of the same. Continue reading...
More than 140 workers sign petition decrying ‘massive moral failing’ following Guardian revelationsGoogle employees and subcontracted workers are demanding that the company pay back wages to temporary workers, following a Guardian report that revealed Google had knowingly and illegally underpaid thousands of temps for years.More than 140 workers have signed a petition addressed to Google executives calling on the company to “immediately pay back all Temps, Vendors and Contractors (TVCs) who have been knowingly underpaid by Google” and to “create an immediate path to permanent employment for temporary workers and end its two-tiered perma-temp system”. Continue reading...
Social media giant is under pressure over revelations it knew Instagram was harming girls’ mental healthFacebook should be punished with substantial fines, potentially running into billions of pounds, if it withholds evidence that its social media platforms harm users, according to the MP leading scrutiny of a new online safety bill.The social network is under political pressure on both sides of the Atlantic following revelations in the Wall Street Journal that Facebook knew its Instagram photo-sharing app was harming the mental health of teenage girls. Leaked internal documents showed that among teenagers who have had suicidal thoughts, 13% of British users and 6% of American users traced the desire to kill themselves to Instagram. Continue reading...
Adverts promoting ‘dangerous, unproven and unethical’ procedure shown millions of times, study findsFacebook has served “abortion reversal” adverts 18.4m times since January 2020, according to a report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), promoting an “unproven, unethical” and “dangerous” procedure.Google shows the adverts on more than four-fifths of searches related to abortion across a number of US cities, according to the CCDH research, targeted at search terms such as “unwanted pregnancy” and “abortion pill”. Continue reading...
Up for discussion in the Guardian tech newsletter: Facebook Reality Labs’ bid to fulfil a science-fiction dream … Apple launch fatigue … and changes to the newsletterIt’s hard to talk about Ray-Ban Stories, because what they represent is significantly more important than what they are.But first, let’s talk about what they are. The branding is … confusing, since Ray-Ban Stories are neither normal Ray-Bans, nor are they stories. Instead, they are a pair of smart-glasses, the first to come from Facebook’s augmented-reality workshop: Continue reading...
A bullish survey of AI, biotech, renewables and more explains how change is leaving us behind, and what to do about itA 2020 survey found that 60% of people felt the pace of change in life was too fast. Faced with steam engines or lifts for the first time, previous generations probably thought so too. But according to the technology analyst and entrepreneur Azeem Azhar we have indeed entered a period of unparalleled and destabilising change: “a wholly new era of human society and economic organisation – what I call the Exponential Age”.Azhar identifies computing and artificial intelligence, renewable electricity and energy storage, biotech and manufacturing (such as 3D printing) as the areas in which innovations are developing at an exponential rate: “new technologies are being invented and scaled at an ever-faster pace, all while decreasing rapidly in price”. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5PJ4X)
Smoother, more durable and with better cameras, this foldable is the height of technology. But still comes at a priceSamsung’s third-generation folding phone-tablet hybrid is a technological marvel – faster, more refined than its predecessor and will even survive being dropped in the bath. But is the public ready for foldable phones?The Galaxy Z Fold 3 costs £1,599 ($1,799/A$2,499), which is £200 cheaper than last year’s model, although still very expensive. It joins the £949 Galaxy Z Flip 3 and £1,149 Galaxy S21 Ultra at the top of Samsung’s smartphone line. Continue reading...
Three former US intelligence operatives accused of helping UAE spy on enemiesThree former US intelligence operatives, who went to work as mercenary hackers for the United Arab Emirates, are facing federal charges of conspiring to violate hacking laws, according to justice department court documents filed on Tuesday.The three men, Marc Baier, Ryan Adams, and Daniel Gericke, are accused of having been part of a clandestine unit named Project Raven, first reported by Reuters, that helped the United Arab Emirates spy on its enemies. Continue reading...
The devices feature upgraded cameras and the company’s latest A15 chip, which it says is up to 50% faster than the competitionApple’s iPhone 13 will hit shelves later this month, with prices starting at $699 (£679 in the UK), the company announced at a press event on Tuesday.A light update from last year’s iPhone 12, the new devices feature upgraded cameras and the company’s latest A15 chip, which it says is up to 50% faster than the competition. Continue reading...
Social media firm reportedly kept own research secret that suggests app worsens body image issuesFacebook has kept internal research secret for two years that suggests its Instagram app makes body image issues worse for teenage girls, according to a leak from the tech firm.Since at least 2019, staff at the company have been studying the impact of their product on its younger users’ states of mind. Their research has repeatedly found it is harmful for a large proportion, and particularly teenage girls. Continue reading...
This peculiar game offers a peaceful escape to a gentle life as a bus driver – if you can avoid mounting the curb and smashing into pagodas, that isMy first day as a bus driver did not go well. Just three stops into my inaugural route I was already running eight minutes late, having caused considerable delay (and $712 of damage) by crashing into an ornamental pagoda. I also got fined for not indicating properly and for running a red light, and then one of my passengers stood in the bus’s open doorway and wouldn’t move until I got out of my seat and went to talk to him. I then tried to drive off with the accessibility ramp still extended.Bus Simulator 21 is the latest in a series of highly authentic, idiosyncratic simulation games from Austrian developer stillalive Studios. It puts you into a large open city, modelled on the US west coast, and tasks you with setting up a profitable public transport system, while also driving some of the routes yourself. You can choose from a range of difficulty levels depending on how much control you want over every facet of the transit experience – I went for the easiest, “Day Tripper”, because even with all the assists switched on, driving a bus is still like piloting an ocean liner along the Shropshire Union Canal. The turning circle takes a long time to get used to, slow at the start and then wildly fast, sending you careering on to the pavement and people’s driveways and indeed, people. (That’ll cost you $20k in insurance claims.) Other road-users are massively unsympathetic and pedestrians will happily step out on to a crossing right in front of you even when it’s very clear you haven’t managed to get your windscreen wipers working and therefore can’t see anything. Continue reading...
I can’t send, receive, or check emails and customer service has proved uselessDuring August, my Virgin.net email account, which has been my mainstay since the 1990s, suddenly became inaccessible – my username and password were simply not recognised. It is effectively frozen, and I cannot send, receive or access my emails.Long calls to Virgin Media’s remote customer service have proved useless. This is a disaster for me. Continue reading...
by Stephanie Kirchgaessner in Washington on (#5PGCT)
Discovery was shared with Apple, which on Monday released a patch to fix the vulnerabilitySecurity researchers at Citizen Lab have discovered an exploit that they believe has been used by government clients of NSO Group, the Israeli spyware company, to silently hack into iPhones and other Apple devices since February 2021.The discovery, which was made as the researchers were examining the mobile phone of a Saudi activist, was shared with Apple, which on Monday released a patch to fix the vulnerability. Continue reading...
Researchers use AI to reveal runs of artistic success are commonly preceded by an experimental phaseWhether it is the director Márta Mészáros or the artist Jackson Pollock, those in creative careers often experience a particular burst of success.Now researchers have used artificial intelligence to reveal such “hot streaks” are commonly preceded by an experimental phase followed by a focus on one particular approach once the winning period has begun. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#5PFB3)
New rivals to AirPods Pro sound good, are comfortable with noise cancelling and look a little differentNothing is the latest London-based tech startup to try to break the stranglehold that AirPods have on Bluetooth earbuds, and is offering good sound and interesting design at a budget price.The Ear 1 cost £99 ($99) and are the first product of Carl Pei’s new company after he left the popular smartphone brand OnePlus, which he co-founded, to strike out on his own. Continue reading...