The Web

As France moves one step closer to banning social media for children, the European Union is seriously considering whether it's time for the bloc to follow suit.... Read more

French lawmakers have passed a bill that would ban social media use by under-15s, a move championed by President Emmanuel Macron as a way to protect children from excessive screen time.... Read more

French President Emmanuel Macron says he wants his government to fast-track the legal process to ensure that a ban on social media for children under the age of 15 can enter into force in September at the start of the next school year.... Read more

Google is leveraging its artificial intelligence technology to open a new peephole for its dominant search engine to tailor answers that draw upon people's interests, habits, travel itineraries and photo libraries.... Read more

The vision of a fully connected world is rapidly becoming a reality through the Internet of Things (IoT)—a growing network of physical devices that collect and share data over the Internet, including everything from small sensors to autonomous vehicles and industrial equipment.... Read more

Imagine that the internet suddenly stops working. Payment systems in your local food store go down. Health care systems in the regional hospital flatline. Your work software tools—and all the information they contain—disappear.... Read more

YouTube announced plans on Wednesday to allow its users this year to create AI versions of themselves for video sharing, matching a feature from Sora, the video-creation app from ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.... Read more

Cyberattacks can wreak havoc on the systems they target, yet their impact often spreads far beyond technical failures, potentially triggering crises that engulf entire communities, a new study argues.... Read more

Countries including France and Britain are considering following Australia's lead by banning children and some teenagers from using social media, but experts are still locked in a debate over the effectiveness of the move.... Read more

OpenAI says it will soon start showing advertisements to ChatGPT users who aren't paying for a premium version of the chatbot.... Read more

OpenAI announced Friday it will begin testing advertisements on ChatGPT in the coming weeks, as the wildly popular artificial intelligence chatbot seeks to increase revenue to cover its soaring costs.... Read more

Social media companies have revoked access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children in Australia since the country banned use of the platforms by those under 16, officials said.... Read more

Elon Musk's Grok keeps getting into trouble, and this time, more of the world's governments are trying to intervene.... Read more

The self-described "Bush Legend" on TikTok, Facebook and Instagram is growing in popularity.... Read more

Melia & Co appears to be a small family-run business. The sweaters on its website feature a photo of a woman hand-knitting a Christmas design. The caption says that after decades of creating knitwear that tells "quiet stories of care and beauty," she is closing her little studio and the... Read more

New year, new privacy rules. At least for Californians.... Read more

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok won't be able to edit photos to portray real people in revealing clothing in places where that is illegal, according to a statement posted on X.... Read more

Social media harms the mental health of adolescents, particularly girls, France's health watchdog said Tuesday as the country debates banning children under 15 from accessing the immensely popular platforms.... Read more

Tech giant Meta urged Australia on Monday to rethink its world-first social media ban for under-16s, while reporting that it has blocked more than 544,000 accounts under the new law.... Read more

More artificial intelligence is being implanted into Gmail as Google tries to turn the world's most popular email service into a personal assistant that can improve writing, summarize far-flung information buried in inboxes and deliver daily to-do lists.... Read more

Elon Musk's AI tool Grok faced growing international backlash Monday for generating sexualized deepfakes of women and minors, with the European Union joining the condemnation and Britain warning of an investigation.... Read more

"Brainrot" is what many people call the chaotic, fast-moving memes, sounds and catchphrases that spread across TikTok, Roblox and online gaming and into playgrounds. An example is the endlessly repeated chant of "six-seven," which still echoes through houses and schools across the country—to the bewilderment (or annoyance) of many teachers... Read more

France will make a fresh attempt to protect children from excessive screen time, proposing a ban on social media access for children under 15 by next September, according to a draft law seen by AFP.... Read more

In a parallel reality, Queen Elizabeth II gushes over cheese puffs, a gun-toting Saddam Hussein struts into a wrestling ring, and Pope John Paul II attempts skateboarding.... Read more

Elon Musk's AI chatbot Grok churned out misinformation about Australia's Bondi Beach mass shooting, misidentifying a key figure who saved lives and falsely claiming that a victim staged his injuries, researchers said Tuesday.... Read more

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M), in collaboration with the National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE), an entity under the Ministry for Digital Transformation and Public Administration through the Secretariat of State for Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure, have promoted the development of a new probabilistic metric designed to more accurately measure the... Read more

Online discussion site Reddit launched a legal challenge Friday to Australia's social media ban for under-16s, just days after the landmark law came into effect.... Read more

A new site that tracks the daily fluctuating costs behind building a bot army on over 500 social media and commercial platforms—from TikTok to Amazon and Spotify—in every nation on the planet is launched today by the University of Cambridge.... Read more

As Australia's ban on under-16-year-olds having certain social media accounts kicks in this week, debate on whether it's a good idea or even legal rages on—both at home and overseas.... Read more

As Australia began enforcing a world-first social media ban for children under 16 years old this week, Denmark is planning to follow its lead and severely restrict social media access for young people.... Read more

The Australian Federal government's Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Act, commonly referred to as the "social media ban," is now in effect.... Read more

Instagram on Wednesday unveiled a new AI-powered feature that lets users view and adjust the algorithm shaping their Reels feed, calling it a pioneering move toward greater user control.... Read more

The tech industry's unofficial motto for two decades was "move fast and break things." It was a philosophy that broke more than just taxi monopolies or hotel chains. It also constructed a digital world filled with risks for our most vulnerable.... Read more

Australia banned under-16s from social media in a world-first crackdown on Wednesday, declaring it was time to "take back control" from formidable tech giants.... Read more

Tech giants will apply multiple layers of security to weed out young users under Australia's world-first ban on social media for under-16s.... Read more

Meta announced Friday it will integrate content from major news organizations into its artificial intelligence assistant to provide Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users with real-time information.... Read more

As governments crack down on online platforms from social networks to porn sites, business is booming for one sector offering AI age checks based on selfies.... Read more

The European Union could fine Elon Musk's X platform for breaking its digital rules by the end of 2025—two years into a probe that has tested the bloc's resolve to police the online space.... Read more

Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the World Wide Web, has released an important new book about the problems we face online and how to solve them. It is called "This is for Everyone," meaning that the internet should be for all.... Read more

A study by the University of Stuttgart, the California State University at Fullerton, and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems has found that there are benefits to representing one's real-life disability through an avatar in virtual reality.... Read more

Elon Musk's X erupted in uproar after the rollout of a feature revealing an account's location, exposing what users describe as global troll farms and influence operations on the platform—including in support of Donald Trump.... Read more

In a recent episode of the podcast "Acquired," venture capitalists and hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal argued that the horrible roll-out of Google's Bard AI chatbot in February 2023—which led the company's stock to drop 8% in a day—was a blessing in disguise.... Read more

Snapchat has begun asking teenage Australians to verify their ages, a company spokesperson said Monday, just weeks before Canberra enforces sweeping laws banning under-16s from social media.... Read more

Technology giant Meta on Thursday began sending thousands of young Australians a two-week warning to downland their digital histories and delete their accounts from Facebook, Instagram and Threads before a world-first social media ban on accounts of children younger than 16 takes effect.... Read more

The EU executive proposed rolling back key AI and data privacy rules on Wednesday as part of a push to slash red tape and help Europe's high-tech sector catch up with global rivals.... Read more

The EU will unveil plans on Wednesday to overhaul its AI and data privacy rules after coming under pressure from European and US companies.... Read more

A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, "League of Legends," to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday.... Read more

A widely used Internet infrastructure company said that it has resolved an issue that led to outages impacting users of everything from ChatGPT and the online game, "League of Legends," to the New Jersey Transit system early Tuesday.... Read more

Big tech platforms, including TikTok and Netflix, are all looking to add video podcasts to their content, a rapidly growing format that attracts a young audience prized by advertisers and where YouTube dominates.... Read more

Google on Friday announced changes to its advertising services to avert the risk of a breakup, two months after Brussels hit the US giant with a massive fine.... Read more