A social media content moderator becomes obsessed with a violent video in this restrained, unsettling workplace thriller starring Lili ReinhartHere is a workplace drama, of sorts. Like many people, Daisy (Lili Reinhart) works a desk job using a computer. Unlike most people, fainting at work is a rite of passage; she moderates videos on social media that have been reported for violating the terms of service. That means watching everything from horrible porn to horrible politics to horrible accidents and everything in between, a non-stop diet of videos with titles such as fetus in blender" or strangulation but she doesn't die".Her boss takes her to task for deleting a graphic video showing a suicide, which supposedly has news value and should have been left up. But the tipping point for Daisy is a really nasty video titled nailed it", which shows violence and cruelty that she believes is real and non-consensual. So begins a low-key quest to track down the perpetrator, though she is far from sure what she will do when she finds them. Nor is she altogether sure why it is this particular video, of all the trash and hatred washing over her, day in, day out, that has inspired her obsession. Her colleagues and boss shrug off her concerns: this video is nothing special. Continue reading...
Simon Foster says he will give report into force's handling of Maccabi Tel Aviv fan ban careful consideration' in deciding Craig Guildford's fateHere are extracts from three interesting comment articles about the digital ID U-turn.Ailbhe Rea in the New Statesman in the New Statesmans says there were high hopes for the policy when it was first announced.I remember a leisurely lunch over the summer when a supporter of digital IDs told me how they thought Keir Starmer would reset his premiership. Alongside a reorganisation of his team in Number 10, and maybe a junior ministerial reshuffle, they predicted he would announce in his speech at party conference that his government would be embracing digital IDs. It will allow him to show he's willing to do whatever it takes to tackle illegal immigration," was their rationale.Sure enough, Starmer announced phase two" of his government, reshuffled his top team and, on the Friday before Labour party conference, he duly announced his government would make digital IDs mandatory for workers. We need to know who is in our country," he said, arguing that the IDs would prevent migrants who come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally".In policy terms, I don't think you particularly gain anything by making the government's planned new digital ID compulsory.One example of that: Kemi Badenoch has both criticised the government's plans to introduce compulsory ID, while at the same time committing to creating a British ICE" that would go around deporting large numbers of people living in the UK. In a country with that kind of target and approach, people would be forced to carry their IDs around with them in any case! The Online Safety Act, passed into law by the last Conservative government with cross-party support and implemented by Labour, presupposes some form of ID to work properly.Here is the political challenge for Downing Street: the climbdowns, dilutions, U- turns, about turns, call them what you will, are mounting up.In just the last couple of weeks, there has been the issue of business rates on pubs in England and inheritance tax on farmers.We welcome Starmer's reported U-turn on making intrusive, expensive and unnecessary digital IDs mandatory. This is a huge success for Big Brother Watch and the millions of Brits who signed petitions to make this happen.The case for the government now dropping digital IDs entirely is overwhelming. Taxpayers should not be footing a 1.8bn bill for a digital ID scheme that is frankly pointless. Continue reading...
The plan was to get on a bicycle to earn some money. It wasn't to get hit by cars, thumped by skinheads or to see my surroundings in a whole new lightAt first I didn't realise I'd been punched. I'm not sure why my brain assumed a bird had flown into me, but I suppose a magpie attack was more likely than a random bloke lashing out at my ribcage, so it took a second to realise what was happening.I was on my bike, waiting in a side street for traffic to clear. The punch came from behind and by the time my mouth let fly a few expletives, the culprit was leaving. Then he caught wind of my colourful language and turned back to get in my face. He was a skinhead in a bad mood. Accusing me of being in his way, he told me I was lucky he didn't do more damage. I paused mid-reply. This was the moment I realised he was ready to go to hell tonight, and the only thing he wanted to take with him was me. Continue reading...
by Helena Horton, Aisha Down and Priya Bharadia on (#72TDZ)
While Grok has introduced belated safeguards to prevent sexualised AI imagery, other tools have far fewer limitsSince discovering Grok AI, regular porn doesn't do it for me anymore, it just sounds absurd now," one enthusiast for the Elon Musk-owned AI chatbot wrote on Reddit. Another agreed: If I want a really specific person, yes."If those who have been horrified by the distribution of sexualised imagery on Grok hoped that last week's belated safeguards could put the genie back in the bottle, there are many such posts on Reddit and elsewhere that tell a different story. Continue reading...
Air fryers have taken over our kitchens, but which wins the crown for the crispiest cooking? Our expert peeled 7kg of potatoes to find out The best blenders to blitz like a pro, tried and testedAir fryers inspire the sort of feelings that microwaves did in the 1980s. I vividly remember those new-fangled boxes being spoken about often, either dismissively or with delight. A rash of cookbooks followed, and dinner changed across the land. Fast-forward a few decades, and air fryers have become the same kind of kitchen disruptors", offering time-saving convenience and healthier cooking, but with the added allure of easily achieved, mouth-watering crispiness.Since launching with a single-drawer design, air fryers have evolved. Sizes range from compact to XL, while drawer configurations can be double, split or stacked. Alongside air frying, many will grill, roast and bake, and some will dip to lower temperatures for dehydrating, fermenting and proving dough. One we tested features steam cooking, allowing you to whip up dim sum as easily as a roast dinner, while another included racks for cooking on four levels.Best air fryer overall:
Exclusive: Health secretary issues invitation in push for UK to consider copying landmark restrictions in AustraliaWes Streeting has asked Jonathan Haidt, a bestselling author and high-profile advocate of banning social media for under-16s, to speak to his officials in his push for the UK to consider following a landmark ban in Australia.The health secretary has invited Haidt to address an event with staff, charities and MPs after the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was open to stricter limits for young people. Continue reading...
Workers will be able to use other identification for right to work, meaning digital form not mandatoryMinisters have rolled back plans for a central element of the proposed digital ID plans, leaving open the possibility that people will be able to use other forms of identification to prove their right to work.This will mean that the IDs, announced to some controversy in September, will no longer be mandatory for working-age people, given that the only planned obligatory element was to prove the right to work in the UK. Continue reading...
by Lucy Hough Aaron Sharp Bryony Moore Zoe Hitch on (#72TC8)
The UK government is threatening Elon Musk's X with a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children to remove their clothes.Ofcom, the UK's media regulator, has launched an investigation into X - and the government says it will support a ban if Ofcom decides to press ahead. Continue reading...
Video of raids and migrant arrests shared by profile with slogan restoring order and control to our borders'A Home Office TikTok account posting footage of deportations and arrests set to dramatic music has been criticised for turning brutality" into clickbait".An account called @SecureBordersUK was created on Tuesday with the slogan: Restoring order and control to our borders." Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#6XWEW)
There's no need to buy new - unless your model's ready for retirement. Our technology expert compares the top Apple smartwatches available right now The best running watches - testedThe best Apple Watch may be the one already on your wrist.Each generation of Apple's smartwatch is fairly iterative, with most of the best features added via software updates, which means there's no need to buy a new device each year. That said, if your watch has seen better days, or it's stopped receiving updates, then your best options are set out below.Best Apple Watch for most people:
UK media regulator is investigating whether X has breached the Online Safety Act - what could happen next?The UK government is threatening Elon Musk's X with the nuclear option under the country's online safety laws: a ban. The social media platform is under pressure from ministers after it allowed the Grok AI tool, which is integrated within the app, to generate indecent images of unsuspecting women and children.The government has said it will support the media regulator Ofcom, which has launched an investigation into X, if it decides to push ahead with a ban. But is such a move likely? Continue reading...
Despite internet blackout, a small number of Iranians are risking their lives to share messages as protests continueFor most of Iran, the internet was shut off on Thursday afternoon - the most severe blackout the country has seen in years of internet shutdowns, coming after days of escalating anti-government protests.For a very small sliver of the country, it is still possible to get photos and videos to the outside world, and even to make calls. The Telegram channel Vahid Online on Monday posted photos of dead bodies lying next to a street in Kahrizak, on the southern outskirts of Tehran; on Sunday, it shared a video of Iranians chanting death to Khamenei" at a funeral. Continue reading...
A flood of non-consensual deepfake bikini shots on X is putting the UK's Online Safety Act to the testThe unleashing on X (formerly Twitter) of a torrent of AI-generated images of women and children wearing bikinis, some in sexualised poses or with injuries, has rightly prompted a strong reaction from UK politicians and regulators. Monday's announcement that X is being investigated was Ofcom's most combative move since key provisions in the Online Safety Act came intoforce. None of the other businesses it has challenged or fined have anything like the global reachor political clout of Elon Musk's social media giant. Whatever happens next, this is a defining moment. What is being defined is the extent to whichsome of the wealthiest companies on the planetare under democratic control.But the announcement is only a first step. Ofcom has given no indication of how long its investigation will take. On Friday Downing Street described as insulting the decision to limit the use of the imagemaking Grok AI chatbot to X's paying subscribers. The government said that this amounted to turning the creation of abusive deepfakes into a premium service".Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
Kicking under-16s off the social platforms is tempting, but it ignores the root of the problem: the older generations who made them so toxic in the first placeKemi Badenoch is evolving into one of those politicians who, whatever she says, is not just likely to be wrong, but is likely to say the opposite of what's right. She says Greenland is not a big deal (a second-order issue" is how she described it to the BBC) - it is a big deal. She says net zero is too expensive - the opposite is true: net-anything-but-zero is a cost we can't afford.But her promise to ban under-16s from using social media, echoing Australia's recent move, is hard to write off completely; people across the spectrum, including Andy Burnham, agree with it. Nobody who has ever met a teenager, or read the news, will be completely at ease with the role of social media in young lives. There are horrific effects, which have been well documented and inadequately addressed ever since the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017 after viewing suicide and self-harm content online. Continue reading...
by Dan Milmo, Helena Horton and Kiran Stacey on (#72RSA)
Liz Kendall describes content as vile and illegal and says Ofcom has the government's backing to use its full powersThe UK media watchdog has opened a formal investigation into Elon Musk's X over the use of the Grok AI tool to manipulate images of women and children by removing their clothes.Ofcom has acted after a public and political outcry over a deluge of sexual images appearing on the platform, created by Musk's Grok, which is integrated with X.Failing to assess the risk of people seeing illegal content on the platform.Not taking appropriate steps to prevent users from viewing illegal content such as intimate image abuse and CSAM.Not taking down illegal material quickly.Not protecting users from breaches of privacy law.Failing to assess the risk X may pose to children.Not using effective age checking for pornography. Continue reading...
When Hollow Knight: Silksong came out last summer I was in so much pain that I didn't know if I'd be able to play it. Could a video game teach me anything new about suffering?Last year I became uncomfortably well acquainted with suffering. In March I started experiencing excruciating pain in my right arm and shoulder - burning, zapping, energy-sapping pain that left me unable to think straight, emanating from a nexus of torment behind my shoulder blade and sometimes stretching all the way up to the base of my skull and all the way down into my fingers. Typing was agony, but everything was painful; even at rest it was horrible. I couldn't play my guitar; I couldn't play video games; I couldn't sleep. I learned how quickly physical suffering lacerates your mental wellbeing.I'd had episodes of nagging pain from so-called repetitive strain injuries before, the product of long hours hunched over laptops and game controllers over the course of decades, but nothing like this. A few months later, after the initial unrelenting agony had subsided to a permanent hum of more moderate pain, it was diagnosed as brachial neuritis, inflammation of the nerve path that travels from the base of your neck down to your hand. (Nobody knows what causes it, but it sometimes happens after an infection or an injury.) The good news, I was told by a neurologist, was that it usually gets better in about one to three years, and I hadn't lost any function in my right hand. The bad news was that there was nothing much to be done about the pain in the meantime. Continue reading...
I have paid two monthly 108 instalments but am now phone-less and out of pocketI ordered a 544 phone from Amazon. A tracking update later informed me that it may be lost" and I could request a refund. I pressed the refund option and was directed to customer service, which insisted I wait a week to claim.A week later I was told I needed to file an incident report from the email address associated with my account. When I complied, the report was rejected as coming from an address that didn't meet certain security standards". Continue reading...
Media bosses expect web referrals to plunge and want journalists to emulate content creators, report findsMedia companies expect web traffic to their sites from online searches to plummet over the next three years, as AI summaries and chatbots change the way consumers use the internet.An overwhelming majority are also planning to encourage their journalists to behave more like YouTube and TikTok content creators this year, as short-form video and audio content continues to boom. Continue reading...
Labour Greater Manchester mayor says he agrees with Kemi Badenoch about need to protect young peopleNo 10 is facing renewed pressure to ban social media for under-16s after the Conservatives and the Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, supported limits to prevent harm to children.The government is understood to have no plans for a blanket ban" on social media use by under 16s. However, sources said it was closely monitoring the impact of moves taken to prevent children setting up accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Kick, Reddit, Snapchat, Threads, TikTok, X, YouTube and Twitch. Continue reading...
The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions tackles a road safety issue Read this week's replies: Can you really fake it to make it?What's the point of having speed limits if camera-warning signs and apps allow drivers to slow down in advance - then just continue speeding? Maybe the UK government in its new consultations on road safety should add the question of hiding speed cameras to their list of concerns. I'm a driver, but also a pedestrian and cyclist and get fed up with seeing cars zooming down local roads at way more than 20 or 30mph. There are flashing lights that tell drivers what speed they're doing, but there's no penalty for going over at those points. Amy, CornwallPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
Zurich-based firm taps into latest robot tech to fibre-spray' high-end sports shoes worn by the likes of Roger FedererA robot leg whirs around in a complex ballet as an almost invisible spray of flying fibre" builds a hi-tech 300 sports shoe at its foot.This nearly entirely automated process - like a sci-fi future brought to life - is part of the gameplan from On, the Swiss sports brand that is taking on the sector's mighty champions Nike and Adidas with a mix of technology and chutzpah. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds AI Overviews provided inaccurate and false information when queried over blood testsGoogle has removed some of its artificial intelligence health summaries after a Guardian investigation found people were being put at risk of harm by false and misleading information.The company has said its AI Overviews, which use generative AI to provide snapshots of essential information about a topic or question, are helpful" and reliable". Continue reading...
As synthetic personas become an increasingly normal part of life, meet the people falling for their chatbot loversLamar remembered the moment of betrayal like it was yesterday. He'd gone to the party with his girlfriend but hadn't seen her for over an hour, and it wasn't like her to disappear. He slipped down the hallway to check his phone. At that point, he heard murmurs coming from one of the bedrooms and thoughthe recognised his best friend Jason's low voice. As he pushed the door ajar, they were both still scrambling to throw their clothes on; her shirt was unbuttoned, while Jason struggled to cover himself. The image of his girlfriend and best friend together hit Lamar like a blow to the chest. He left without sayingaword.Two years on, when he spoke to me, the memory remained raw. He was still seething with anger, as if telling the story for the first time. I got betrayed by humans," Lamar insisted. I introduced my best friend to her, and this is what they did?!" In the meantime, he drifted towards a different kind of companionship, one where emotions were simple, where things were predictable. AI was easier. It did what he wanted, when he wanted. There were no lies, no betrayals. He didn't need to second-guess a machine. Continue reading...
The put her in a bikini' trend rapidly evolved into hundreds of thousands of requests to strip clothes from photos of women, horrifying those targetedLike thousands of women across the world, Evie, a 22-year-old photographer from Lincolnshire, woke up on New Year's Day, looked at her phone and was alarmed to see that fully clothed photographs of her had been digitally manipulated by Elon Musk's AI tool, Grok, to show her in just a bikini.The put her in a bikini" trend began quietly at the end of last year before exploding at the start of 2026. Within days, hundreds of thousands of requests were being made to the Grok chatbot, asking it to strip the clothes from photographs of women. The fake, sexualised images were posted publicly on X, freely available for millions of people to inspect. Continue reading...
Exclusive: US vice-president sympathetic' to concerns over Grok-generated pornography, says deputy PMJD Vance, the US vice-president, has agreed that it is entirely unacceptable" for platforms such as X to allow the proliferation of AI-generated sexualised images of women and children, David Lammy has told the Guardian.The deputy prime minister said Vance, usually known as an AI enthusiast, expressed concern about how the technology was being used to fuel hyper-pornographied slop" online when they met in Washington on Thursday. Continue reading...
Ministers warn platform could be blocked after Grok AI used to create sexual images without consentElon Musk has accused the UK government of wanting to suppress free speech after ministers threatened fines and a possible ban for his social media site X after its AI tool, Grok, was used to make sexual images of women and children without their consent.The billionaire claimed Grok was the most downloaded app on the UK App Store on Friday night after ministers threatened to take action unless the function to create sexually harassing images was removed. Continue reading...
Nick and Brooke Shirley have for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issuesYouTube influencer Nick Shirley, whose viral video alleging fraud by daycare centers servicing Minneapolis's Somali American community came days ahead of the Trump administration's declaration of a national funding freeze, has for years published conspiracy-minded takes on hot-button rightwing issues.He also has close ties to the White House, Republicans, and to representatives of an earlier generation of rightwing partisan ambush journalists" such as James O'Keefe. He worked with Minnesota Republicans to produce the viral video on Somali-run daycares. Continue reading...
From the greatest cartoon racing game in history to a remastered version of an Alien-inspired sci-fi shooter, here are the Switch's must-play games The 15 best games to play on the Nintendo Switch in 2025Although the Nintendo Switch 2 has been out for several months, not everyone has made the leap to the new machine and there is still much to enjoy on the original console in 2026 (and beyond). From timeless Mario adventures to cutesy shooters to chasm-deep role-playing quests, here are 15 games no Switch owner should be without. Continue reading...
Move comes after governments and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned the AI tool and some have opened inquiries into sexualised contentIndonesia temporarily blocked Elon Musk's Grok chatbot on Saturday due to the risk of AI-generated pornographic content, becoming the first country to deny access to the AI tool.The move comes after governments, researchers and regulators from Europe to Asia have condemned and some have opened inquiries into sexualised content on the app. Continue reading...
Some experts have voiced fears a tech meltdown could hit our savings and pensions - here's how to protect yourselfThe new year has started as 2025 ended - with share prices booming amid warnings from some that the growth is being driven by overvalued technology stocks. Fears of an AI bubble" have been voiced by people from the governor of the Bank of England to the head of Google's parent company, Alphabet.Even if you have not actively invested in technology shares, the chances are you have some exposure to companies operating in the sphere. Even if you do not, a collapse could take down other companies' values. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Dan Milmo, Alexandra Topping, Helena on (#72QMC)
Platform has restricted image creation on the Grok AI tool to paying subscribers, but victims and experts say this does not go far enoughElon Musk's X has been ordered by the UK government to tackle a wave of indecent AI images or face a de facto ban, as an expert said the platform was no longer a safe space" for women.The media watchdog, Ofcom, confirmed it would accelerate an investigation into X as a backlash grew against the site, which has hosted a deluge of images depicting partially stripped women and children. Continue reading...
State residents worth more than $1bn could face one-off, 5% tax to help fund education, food assistance and healthcareA battle is brewing in California over a plan to tax billionaires - with tech titans divided over whether they should pay up, or flee the state.Under a tax proposal that could be put to voters this November, any California resident worth more than $1bn would have to pay a one-off, 5% tax on their assets to help cover education, food assistance and healthcare programs in the state. Continue reading...
Elon Musk's reckless and degrading AI could be built differently. But Americans will have to speak upOver the past year, Elon Musk has made a series of protocol changes to Grok, the proprietary AI chatbot of his company xAI, which runs prominently on his social media site X, formerly Twitter. Many of these changes have been geared to make the bot more amenable to producing pornography. In August, Grok launched an image generator, branded as Grok Imagine, which featured a service geared toward creating nude, suggestive or sexually explicit content, including computer-generated pornographic images of real women. The feature, which was quickly used to create naked images of celebrities such as Taylor Swift, also allowed users to create brief videos, complete with animations and sounds.Musk also rolled out AI girlfriends on the platform: animated personas - including female characters with exaggerated breasts and hips - that interacted in sexually explicit ways with users. One of the characters, Ani", was an anime-style cartoon blonde with a series of skimpy outfits; the bot blew kisses and addressed users as my love" while directing the chats toward sexual content.Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnistThis article was updated on 9 January 2026 to note that Grok said the image-generating service had been turned off for users who do not subscribe. Continue reading...
by Chloe Mac Donnell Deputy fashion and lifestyle edi on (#72Q2X)
As screen fatigue grows, a new trend is swapping smartphones for crosswords and sketchbooks - turning the humble bag into a tool for offline livingThere's a new it" bag - but this time it is not about a designer label or splashy logo. Instead, it's what is inside that counts.So-called analogue bags, filled with activities such as crosswords, knitting, novels and journals, have become the unexpected accessory of the season. Continue reading...
by Samuel Gibbs Consumer technology editor on (#72Q2Y)
Robot vacuums that can climb stairs and device for BlackBerry lovers also on display at annual Las Vegas tech showThis year will be filled with robots that can fold your laundry, pick up objects and climb stairs, fridges that you can command to open by voice, laptops with screens that can follow you around the room on motorised hinges and the reimagining of the BlackBerry phone.Those are the predictions from the annual CES tech show in Las Vegas that took place this week. The sprawling event aims to showcase cutting-edge technology developed by startups and big brands. Continue reading...
by Peter Walker, Alexandra Topping and Kiran Stacey on (#72PZY)
Spokesperson says limiting access to paying subscribers just makes ability to generate unlawful images a premium serviceDowning Street has condemned the move by X to restrict its AI image creation tool to paying subscribers as insulting, saying it simply made the ability to generate explicit and unlawful images a premium service.There has been widespread anger after the image tool for Grok, the AI element of X, was used to manipulate thousands of images of women and sometimes children to remove their clothing or put them in sexual positions. Continue reading...
Our fitness expert clocked up his indoor miles to put the best exercise bikes, including simple spin machines and gym-quality models, to the test The best treadmills for your home, testedCycling has the potential to benefit your health in myriad ways, whether it's the mood-boosting properties of inhaling fresh air, the social element of riding with friends or the simple act of improving cardiovascular fitness with every pedal stroke.The UK weather doesn't always play ball, though, so for those who don't want a dire forecast to result in a missed workout, indoor training replicates the exercise (if not the fresh air).Best exercise bike overall:
From cosy museums and tropical islands to nightmarishly difficult adventures - and revamps of favourites including Mario Kart and Pokemon - there's something for everyoneNintendo's newest console has been out for a less than a year but it already boasts an impressive catalogue of excellent new games, as well as a variety of enhanced Switch greats. Here's our selection of the 15 best titles currently on offer, ranging from family favourites to grittier, more adult challenges. Continue reading...
Deluge of nudified' images on social media platform X raises questions about regulation of use of AI technologiesThe deluge of images of partly clothed women - stripped by the Grok AI tool - on Elon Musk's X has raised further questions over regulation of the technology. Is it legal to produce these images without the subject's consent? Should they be taken off X?In the UK alone there is some doubt over the answers to these queries. Social media regulation is a nascent area, let alone trying to control the deployment of artificial intelligence. There are laws in place to tackle the problem, such as the Online Safety Act, but the government has yet to introduce additional measures such as banning nudifying apps. Continue reading...
Sample of roughly 500 posts shows how frequently people are creating sexualized images with Elon Musk's AI chatbotNew research that samples X users prompting Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok demonstrates how frequently people are creating sexualized images with it. Nearly three-quarters of posts collected and analyzed by a PhD researcher at Dublin's Trinity College were requests for nonconsensual images of real women or minors with items of clothing removed or added.The posts offer a new level of detail on how the images are generated and shared on X, with users coaching one another on prompts; suggesting iterations on Grok's presentations of women in lingerie or swimsuits, or with areas of their body covered in semen; and asking Grok to remove outer clothing in replies to posts containing self-portraits by female users. Continue reading...
by Dan Milmo, Peter Walker and Amelia Gentleman on (#72NWT)
Internet Watch Foundation warns Elon Musk-owned AI risks bringing sexualised imagery of children into the mainstreamOnline criminals are claiming to have used Elon Musk's Grok AI tool to create sexual imagery of children, as a child safety watchdog warned the technology risked bringing such material into the mainstream.The UK-based Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) said users of a dark web forum boasted of using Grok Imagine to create sexualised and topless imagery of girls aged between 11 and 13. IWF analysts said the images would be considered child sexual abuse material (CSAM) under UK law. Continue reading...
US tech bosses are exerting leverage on EU regulators via Trump and Vance. But Europe isn't powerless, and it isn't aloneThe US is advancing a new global order. Over the past eight decades Washington pursued - when it suited American interests - an order based on international law, liberalism, multilateralism and democratic values. The new one is based on autocracy and the use of force, and is underpinned by xenophobic nationalism.For the transatlantic relationship this is transformative: it means that coercive action now drives policy change. Europe's security dependency on the US is leverage to be ruthlessly exploited. Silicon Valley tech firms' business interests converge with those of the White House, and the US instrumentalises far-right politicians in Europe to achieve its foreign policy objectives.Armida van Rij is a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform Continue reading...
Technology | The Guardian