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EU lawmakers propose social media ban for under-16sEuropean lawmakers on Thursday called for stricter rules to protect minors online, including a bloc-wide minimum age of 16 to access social media and AI companions without parental consent.... Read more
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Grokipedia: Elon Musk is right that Wikipedia is biased, but his AI alternative will be the same at bestElon Musk's artificial intelligence company, xAI, is about to launch the early beta version of Grokipedia, a new project to rival Wikipedia.... Read more
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The World Wide Web was meant to unite us but is tearing us apart instead. Is there another way?The hope of the World Wide Web, according to its creator Tim Berners-Lee, was that it would make communication easier, bring knowledge to all, and strengthen democracy and connection. Instead, it seems to be driving us apart into increasingly small and angry splinter groups. Why?... Read more
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Can anyone really regulate the internet?Ursula Smartt not only writes about media law but she acts like a journalist when she does it.... Read more
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OpenAI to ease ChatGPT restrictions, allowing adult content for verified adultsOpenAI announced plans on Tuesday to relax restrictions on its ChatGPT chatbot, including allowing erotic content for verified adult users as part of what the company calls a "treat adult users like adults" principle.... Read more
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Instagram says it's safeguarding teens by limiting them to PG-13 contentTeenagers on Instagram will be restricted to seeing PG-13 content by default and won't be able to change their settings without a parent's permission, Meta announced on Tuesday.... Read more
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Google wants right to bundle Gemini AI app with Maps, YouTubeAlphabet Inc.'s Google wants to retain the right to bundle its popular mapping and video apps with its Gemini AI service, a lawyer for the company told a federal judge Wednesday, pushing back on a Justice Department proposal that would bar the practice.... Read more
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Child protection vs privacy: decision time for EUDoes protecting children justify snooping on private messages? That is the sensitive question facing EU countries Wednesday as they wrangle over a push to combat child sexual abuse material online.... Read more
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People trust podcasts more than social media. But is the trust warranted?There's been a striking decline in public confidence in social media platforms, according to the 2025 Ethics Index published by the Governance Institute of Australia. One in four Australians now rate social media as "very unethical."... Read more
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Google argues a forced sale of Ad Exchange is too riskyAlphabet Inc.'s Google has spent the past week in Virginia federal court seeking to persuade a judge that selling off its advertising exchange is too risky, technologically difficult and would disrupt the market.... Read more
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California enacts AI safety law targeting tech giantsCalifornia Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law groundbreaking legislation requiring the world's largest artificial intelligence companies to publicly disclose their safety protocols and report critical incidents, state lawmakers announced Monday.... Read more
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Instagram's 'deliberate design choices' make it unsafe for teens despite Meta promises, report saysDespite years of congressional hearings, lawsuits, academic research, whistleblowers and testimony from parents and teenagers about the dangers of Instagram, Meta's wildly popular app has failed to protect children from harm, with "woefully ineffective" safety measures, according to a new report from former employee and whistleblower Arturo Bejar and four... Read more
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EU chief backs calls to keep children off social mediaEU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday threw her support behind growing calls to ban social media use for children, promising to weigh action at the European level in coming months.... Read more
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China penalizes ByteDance and Alibaba platforms in content crackdownChina's top internet regulator said Tuesday it would take action against ByteDance-owned news app Jinri Toutiao and Alibaba's internet browser company UCWeb for allegedly displaying harmful content, a day after announcing a two-month social media crackdown.... Read more
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Computer scientists are boosting US cybersecurityAs cyber threats grow more sophisticated by the day, UC Riverside researchers are making computing safer thanks to research that targets some of the internet's most pressing security challenges.... Read more