Advertising watchdog used ‘child avatars’ to catch irresponsible gambling ads April 4, 2019 The advertising watchdog has revealed it used so-called child avatars to catch gambling firms targeting children with their adverts. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) said it rolled out the technology, which creates profiles that simulate children’s browsing activity, over a two-week period last year. Read more: New standards rolled out to protect children from gambling [...]
Facebook hit by major data breach that left millions of user records on Amazon public software April 3, 2019 Millions of Facebook users have been affected in a major data oversight that left a trove of records publicly available on Amazon cloud-computing servers. Researchers at cybersecurity firm Upguard found that in one example, media firm Cultura Colectiva had posted 540m user records in a public database that included information such as account names, Facebook [...]
Pop stars Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande placed on Singapore’s ‘offensive lyrics’ list April 2, 2019 Lady Gaga and Ariana Grande were included on a list of "offensive" lyrics circulated among Singapore's members of parliament this week. Read more: Music industry revenue grows 10 per cent The list is part of the home minister's aim to crack down on hate speech efforts to "maintain racial and religious harmony" in the conservative city-state. [...]
Digital advertising firm Teads posts revenue rise as it looks to fend off tech giants April 2, 2019 Digital advertising firm Teads has posted a 30 per cent jump in revenues for the full-year as it looks to win back market share from Facebook and Google. The media platform pulled in revenues of €365m (£314m) last year after extending its reach to 1.4bn global monthly users and more than 90 per cent of [...]
DCMS Committee launches new body to fight fake news as pressure on tech giants builds April 2, 2019 The Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Committee today said it has launched a dedicated division to tackle the ongoing threat of disinformation to democracy. The new sub-committee follows the DCMS Committee’s report into disinformation and fake news, which called for a new regulator to monitor tech giants such as Facebook and Google. Read more: [...]
Zuckerberg: Governments must help Facebook and other web giants regulate harmful content March 31, 2019 Mark Zuckerberg has called on regulators and governments to take a “more active role” in controlling content on the internet. Writing in the Washington Post, Facebook’s founder said firms like his could not be expected to shoulder all the responsibility for moderating harmful content. Read more: Access to Facebook Live to be restricted in wake [...]
Access to Facebook Live to be restricted in wake of Christchurch massacre March 30, 2019 Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said Facebook is exploring plans to restrict access to Facebook Live after an attack on two mosques in Christchurch that killed 50 people was live streamed on the platform. In an open letter on the New Zealand Herald, Sandberg said: “We have heard feedback that we must do more [...]
It’s not about copyright – the EU is trying to destroy the internet March 29, 2019 One of the feistiest debates in the classically liberal community revolves around the concept of property rights, especially in the digital age. I realise that, for many, this may not seem the sexiest topic, but at least this column isn’t about Brexit, so stay with me. Those who broadly share a similar, free-market worldview can take [...]
Watch out high street banks – Apple has a credit card and is out to steal your supper March 29, 2019 Every day, new competitors are coming out of the woodwork and vying for a piece of the high street banks’ pie. This has forced the big banks – some kicking and screaming – to evolve, and at a pace that they’ve never before experienced. Change is not a new concept for consumers when it comes [...]
Time Out looks to markets as audience reach hit by Facebook algorithm change March 28, 2019 Media company Time Out saw its audience numbers slashed by a third last year after a change to Facebook’s algorithm pushed its content further down users’ newsfeeds. The company reported an average global monthly audience reach of 144m, down 33 per cent on the year before, which it said was “primarily the result of a [...]