theguardian.com
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Facebook’s botched Australia news ban hits health departments, charities and its own pages - 21 février 2021
Social media company’s ban on sharing news has also affected dozens of government, not-for-profit and community pages
The Bureau of Meteorology, state health departments, the Western Australian opposition leader, charities and Facebook itself are among those to have been hit by Facebook’s ban on news in Australia. (...)
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Uber drivers are workers, UK supreme court rules - 19 février 2021
Decision means drivers will be entitled to basic rights such as paid holidays, say lawyers
The UK supreme court has dismissed Uber’s appeal against a landmark employment tribunal ruling that its drivers should be classed as workers with access to the minimum wage and paid holidays.
Six justices handed down a (...)
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How far right uses video games and tech to lure and radicalise teenage recruits - 14 février 2021
After a 13-year-old was sentenced last week, a young victim of radicalisation talks about how white supremacists target children
John was 15 when a member of his Facebook group volunteered to become Britain’s “first white suicide bomber”. Another advocated attending Friday prayers at the local mosque and “slaying (...)
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Facebook moderators ’told not to discuss working conditions’ - 12 février 2021
Workers in Dublin office claim US company used NDAs to try to stop them talking to Leo Varadkar
Facebook has been accused of using nondisclosure agreements to try to build a “wall of secrecy” and prevent its moderators from discussing working conditions with Leo Varadkar, the Irish tánaiste (deputy PM).
The (...)
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Facebook bans misinformation about all vaccines after years of controversy - 9 février 2021
Company will remove posts with false claims and groups with repeated violations will be shut down
Facebook has banned misinformation about all vaccines following years of harmful, unfounded health claims proliferating on its platform.
As part of its policy on Covid-19-related misinformation, Facebook will now (...)
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Facebook ‘still making money from anti-vax sites’ - 2 février 2021
Social network allowing dangerous Covid theories to be shared, says Bureau of Investigative Journalism
Facebook is allowing users to profit from the spread of potentially dangerous false theories and misinformation about the pandemic and vaccines, including deploying money-raising tools on pages with content (...)
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Apple records most profitable quarter ever as sales soar amid pandemic - 28 janvier 2021
Company announces sales for last three months of 2020 totalled $111.4bn, fueled largely by release of latest iPhones
Apple finished 2020 with its most profitable quarter ever as sales of its high end iPhones, tablets and laptops soared amid the pandemic.
The company announced that sales for the three months (...)
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US has ’moral imperative’ to develop AI weapons, says panel - 27 janvier 2021
Draft Congress report claims AI will make fewer mistakes than humans and lead to reduced casualties
The US should not agree to ban the use or development of autonomous weapons powered by artificial intelligence (AI) software, a government-appointed panel has said in a draft report for Congress.
The panel, led by (...)
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Google announces plan to tackle privacy issues in online advertising - 27 janvier 2021
Company attempts to chart middle ground between Apple’s privacy-first approach and the needs of advertisers
Google has announced a plan to tackle privacy issues in online advertising, as the company attempts to chart a middle ground between Apple’s privacy-first approach and the needs of advertisers – including (...)
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Google’s threat to withdraw its search engine from Australia is chilling to anyone who cares about democracy - 24 janvier 2021
The tech giant’s Senate testimony shows how far it is prepared to go to resist real regulation
Google’s testimony to an Australian Senate committee on Friday threatening to withdraw its search services from Australia is chilling to anyone who cares about democracy.
It marks the latest escalation in the globally (...)
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Facebook claims it does not conduct business in Australia in Cambridge Analytica appeal - 19 janvier 2021
Social media company aims to avoid liability over Cambridge Analytica scandal by arguing it does not collect or hold data in Australia
Facebook is claiming it does not conduct business in Australia and does not collect and hold data in the country in its effort to avoid liability over the Cambridge Analytica (...)
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Control Facebook and mend broken societies... If only it were that simple - 17 janvier 2021
Social media is not to blame for all our ills. We must delve deeper into our culture
London is full of Pops. From the area around City Hall to parts of the Olympic Park, there are dozens of “privately owned public spaces”. Places that appear to be public but are owned by a private corporations and have their own (...)
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Fact-checking Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony about Facebook privacy - 14 janvier 2021
When it came to data collection, the CEO cleverly deflected lawmakers’ scrutiny. Here are the claims that don’t stand up
Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg remained calm and composed as he sat through more than 10 hours of questioning by members of Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday. His strategy appeared to be to show (...)
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’Four years of propaganda’ : Trump social media bans come too late, experts say - 9 janvier 2021
Platforms have long let his dangerous posts stand – and researchers say the Capitol attack is ‘exactly what we expected’
In the 24 hours since the US Capitol in Washington was seized by a Trump-supporting mob disputing the results of the 2020 election, American social media companies have barred the president from (...)
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All I want for 2021 is to see Mark Zuckerberg up in court - 4 janvier 2021
The tech giants’ law-free bonanza is coming to an end on both sides of the Atlantic, but let’s speed up the process
It’s always risky making predictions about the tech industry, but this year looks like being different, at least in the sense that there are two safe bets. One is that the attempts to regulate the tech (...)
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Tech platforms vowed to address racial equity : how have they fared ? - 28 décembre 2020
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google and Amazon issued statements in response to Black Lives Matter this year but did they follow through ?
Following the death of George Floyd and nationwide protests against police brutality and racial inequality, some of the largest technology corporations waded into the (...)
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Facebook to close Irish holding companies at centre of tax dispute - 27 décembre 2020
Intellectual property to be repatriated to the US after tax authorities claimed it owed $9bn
Facebook is winding up Irish holding companies it has used to channel hundreds of billions of profits to avoid paying taxes in the US, the UK and hundreds of other countries.
The company’s main Irish subsidiary paid $101m (...)
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Dozens sue Amazon’s Ring after camera hack leads to threats and racial slurs - 23 décembre 2020
Class action claims weak security allowed hackers to take over the smart cameras used on doorbells and in homes
Dozens of people who say they were subjected to death threats, racial slurs, and blackmail after their in-home Ring smart cameras were hacked are suing the company over “horrific” invasions of privacy.
A (...)
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Roomba maker may share maps of users’ homes with Google, Amazon or Apple - 21 décembre 2020
iRobot’s chief executive says company could share or sell maps of robot vacuum users’ homes to US tech firms as part of smart home and profit push
The maker of the Roomba robotic vacuum, iRobot, has found itself embroiled in a privacy row after its chief executive suggested it may begin selling floor plans of (...)
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Ten billionaires reap $400bn boost to wealth during pandemic - 20 décembre 2020
Covid-19 pushed many into poverty but brought huge benefits for some of the wealthiest, renewing calls for fairer taxes
Ten of the richest people in the world have boosted their already vast wealth by more than $400bn (£296bn) since the coronavirus pandemic began as their businesses were boosted by lockdowns and (...)
