Facebook poaches top social media regulator from Ofcom April 29, 2020 Facebook has ramped up its defence against upcoming social media regulation by poaching a top executive from media watchdog Ofcom. Tony Close, Ofcom’s director of content standards, has been closely involved in drawing up rules to regulate tech giants such as Google and Facebook amid rising concern about online harms. The government is set to [...]
Alphabet earnings: Five key takeaways as Covid-19 hits Google April 29, 2020 Shares in Google parent company Alphabet were up almost eight per cent in after-hours trading last night after the tech giant reported its first-quarter earnings. The closely-watched report was the first in a string of major US tech results set to be published this week, and give a key indication of how the coronavirus crisis [...]
VCs shun new startups as coronavirus slowdown hits investors April 29, 2020 Venture capitalists are prioritising their portfolio companies over new startups as they anticipate a slowdown in investment during the coronavirus pandemic. According to new research by Plexal and Beauhurst, investment since lockdown began grew 34 per cent to reach £663m. However, the drop in the number of deals, down 39 per cent, indicates investor confidence [...]
R3 boss: Coronavirus is exposing cracks in banking tech April 28, 2020 As banking sectors across the globe grapple with the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, a Wall Street veteran suggests the crisis may expose the need for new technology. David Rutter, who had a decade-long stint at interdealer Icap and now heads up financial tech firm R3, believes issues like the lending of coronavirus loans have [...]
Is Skynet coming? April 28, 2020 | Sponsored This week I saw yet another headline ‘Skynet is near – Google scientists create Artificial Intelligence that evolves on its own” intimating that some sort of humanity destroying AI system is not only an inevitability but on the cusp of reality. Icons such as Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk have long proclaimed the end of [...]
British spies urged to use artificial intelligence to fight security threats April 27, 2020 British spooks will need to use artificial intelligence (AI) to fight a range of threats to national security, according to a report published today. Intelligence agencies have been urged to use the technology to detect and block cyber attacks, analyse video and audio evidence, and automate administrative tasks. However, AI is unlikely to predict upcoming [...]
UK tech sector launches industry body to tackle online harms April 27, 2020 The UK tech sector has teamed up with government agencies to launch a new trade association aimed at cracking down on harmful material posted online. The Online Safety Tech Industry Association (OSTIA), launched today, will bring together more than a dozen tech firms that focus on online safety, as well as organisations such as the [...]
Facebook launches group video chat feature in blow to Houseparty April 24, 2020 Facebook today unveiled a new group video call feature for its Messenger app in a move that could sound the death knell for pandemic rival Houseparty. The joinable group calls, dubbed Messenger Rooms, will allow up to 50 people to discover and drop into “rooms”. The rooms, which can be created directly from Facebook or [...]
Google to cut marketing budgets by up to half and freeze hiring April 24, 2020 Google is said to be slashing its marketing budgets by as much as half as the tech giant begins to feel the impact of the coronavirus crisis. In internal emails seen by CNBC, Google told marketing employees the budgets would be cut in the second half of the year, while new hiring would be frozen [...]
Google forces advertisers to prove identity in transparency push April 23, 2020 Google today said it will require all advertisers to complete a verification process before buying ad space on its platform as the tech giant looks to improve transparency. In a blog post published today, Google said advertisers will need to submit personal identification, business incorporation documents or other information that proves who they are and [...]