Digital world

  Meta’s Oversight Board has  just announced  an expansion plan to include Threads in its purview. The announcement was recently made about how Threads users would be given the chance to make appeals against Facebook’s parent firm’s decisions having to do with moderating content online. This would provide this independent group the chance to impact policies for the new app that comes under Meta’s ownership. It’s a serious expansion for Meta’s Oversight Board. The latter has now weighed up against any issues linked to Facebook and Instagram’s content published online. This change would give users the chance to have greater accountability that was independent, early on. As per statements mentioned by the Oversight Board, users making appeals across Threads are going to see it work very much like how it is on Meta’s other two apps, Instagram and Facebook. After exhausting the whole internal system on Meta, they can see a small glimmer of hope through reviews requested by Met...

  Rumors are going strong on social media about Google’s journey with Gmail coming to an end. And that too as early as this year. If you paid witness to such a shocking hoax that’s fast spreading online too then we can confirm that it’s not true by any means. The Android maker is addressing the need for users to calm down after the hoax emphasizing the company’s goodbye to Gmail. Many versions of this hoax can be found online  on the Twitter (X) app . But Google has rest assured everyone to take it easy and that it’s not going anywhere. However, a clause also mentions how users would now be defaulted to new views on Gmail. So other than those cases where you had specifically requested for the basic HTML version, nothing is going to change. The search engine giant  just made  updates to its respective  support page  too instead of this hoax and how it will now change to Standard display after the issuance of a deadline date. Reports by users on tech outlet...

  Tech giant Meta is under pressure after greater  concern grew  surrounding its respective hate speech policy. Many users were wary about the terminology linked to zionists and how it was being used for posts linked to the Arab and Jewish communities.  The policy currently enables the use of the term in a political discourse. Still, it was removed when it had to do with Jews or Israelis directly, especially when it was in the context of a violent or dehumanizing manner. This was just confirmed through an email generated by a Meta rep who mentioned that it planned to invite others to discuss the matter in the future, as first spotted by  TheIntercept . Meanwhile, the email further mentioned how the firm considered reviewing this in context to posts and concerns of users who were the real stakeholders on this front. This means we might soon be witnessing a possible change in policy while advocacy groups (including  MPower Change  and  7amleh )...

  Tech giant Meta is on the rise to roll out a greater sense of transparency surrounding its platforms. Facebook’s parent firm  says  it hopes to implement a greater number of rules that give rise to more transparency as we speak while others would be linked to detecting AI usage through technical measures. We agree that it won’t always be possible as there are plenty of options up for grabs and a lot of options available today for subverting digital watermarks can be done with ease. But tech giant Meta says it hopes to generate the latest industry standards on this front that has to do with AI detection. Facebook’s parent firm hopes to collaborate with a series of other providers in the industry to ensure AI transparency and create the right working rules that highlight such ordeals taking place online. Tech giant Meta says it’s on the rise to creating several tools that can identify which markers are invisible and which are not. This means labeling pictures from all kin...

  Whatsapp is coming up with a new feature that will enable the user to lock their chats on WhatsApp web, as spotted by  WBI . Users have been demanding locked chats on WhatsApp web and now Meta's messaging platform has already started working on it. The locked chats will have a separate tab for them that will greatly protect the user’s privacy. Anything about tab placement and its design is too soon to discuss as WhatsApp hasn’t said (officially) anything about it. What some experts are anticipating is that the tab is likely to have a code that will help the user to hide their private chats. Keep in mind that a lock for chats on WhatsApp is already available on its iOS and Android. There are a lot of advantages to locking your chats on WhatsApp in terms of privacy and security. The biggest advantage of locking the chats on WhatsApp web will be when the user will be working among other people and wants to protect their privacy. WhatsApp is working hard to add new features on t...

  Platforms like Snapchat, Discord, TikTok and X are all quite popular with teenagers, and that makes them rather risky since adults can chat with minors unsupervised. As a result of the fact that this is the case, these companies have introduced supervision controls that parents can use to keep an eye on who their children are talking to and when, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, most of the parents of users aren’t really taking advantage of these protective measures. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Evan Spiegel, the CEO of Snap,   spoke before a Senate Judiciary Committee today . He stated that around 20 million teenagers from the US are using Snapchat, but just 200,000 parents have taken advantage of the Family Center controls that are on offer. These controls were introduced because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up protecting minors from coming to harm. They were ...

  TikTok is using artificial intelligence to suggest search terms on its videos. This is part of its plan to make the app a popular place for searches. The AI looks at things like what users comment and what they search for after watching a video. This is how it decides what search terms to suggest. But this feature has led to some strange results. Creators and viewers have noticed that TikTok sometimes suggests search terms that don't match the video. These terms can be random or even give the wrong idea about the video's content. For instance, in one funny video by  Christian Vierling , TikTok suggested the unrelated term "christian vierling rehab". This left some users puzzled and even led to   videos highlighting the issue . TikTok says it doesn't have people choosing these search terms. It's all done by AI based on what's popular and what people are talking about in the video. They try to avoid harmful suggestions, like bullying, as highlighted in the...

  Seeing scammers and imposters arise on social media is now a norm in the online world. But you’d expect tech giants like Meta to do more to help safeguard its users online by getting rid of fake profiles. However, the reality seems to be far from that as many noticed the number of fake profiles surging across the Instagram app. In the past year, we’ve seen the issue go from bad to worse and the app’s parent firm is really falling behind in terms of finding a solution to the matter, despite there being many signs that a certain profile is making use of another’s identity or image. An investigation was also carried out by tech media outlet  Bleeping Computer  on this front and they noticed how a large number of reports were filed against such scam accounts featuring fake IDs and they were impersonating internet personalities or other public figures but ended up getting dismissed by the admin. Clearly, it’s a huge issue and no appeal made a difference, not to mention how t...

  Surfshark  recently did a deep dive into the top 100 most popular apps on the App Store, and they found that 20% of the data they are collecting is for tracking purposes with all things having been considered and taken into account. These apps were ranked based on 32 data points that they are currently in the process of collecting, all of which are defined by Apple’s privacy policy. Facebook and Instagram were found to be the least privacy conscious apps of all. They collect all 32 data points, all of which are tied to the identity of the user in question, and 7 of which are used specifically for tracking purposes. These include data points such as names, home addresses as well as phone numbers, which seems to suggest that these apps offer far less privacy than users would ideally prefer. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that X, formerly known as Twitter, was also a major offender in this regard. It collected fewer data points...

  Samsung Electronics today unveiled the Galaxy S24 Ultra, Galaxy S24+ and Galaxy S24, unleashing new mobile experiences with Galaxy AI. 1   Galaxy S series leads the way into a new era that will forever change how mobile devices empower users. AI amplifies nearly every experience on Galaxy S24 series, from enabling barrier-free communication with intelligent text and call translations, to maximizing creative freedom with Galaxy’s ProVisual Engine, to setting a new standard for search that will change how Galaxy users discover the world around them.   “The Galaxy S24 series transforms our connection with the world and ignites the next decade of mobile innovation,” said TM Roh, President and Head of Mobile eXperience (MX) Business at Samsung Electronics. “Galaxy AI is built on our innovation heritage and deep understanding of how people use their phones. We’re excited to see how our users around the world empower their everyday lives with Galaxy AI to open up new possibili...