Topic: content moderation
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YouTube Reinstates Creators Banned for COVID Misinfo
YouTube is reversing its policy by allowing some previously banned creators, who spread COVID-19 and election misinformation, to return to the platform. The company attributes the change to a commitment to free expression, citing past political pressure and the evolution of its community guidelin...
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Inside the Hellscape of American Content Moderation
The film "American Sweatshop" explores the psychological toll on content moderators who filter harmful online content, highlighting their role in maintaining usable digital spaces. It focuses on a moderator's mental unraveling after viewing disturbing material, using indirect visuals to emphasize...
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Hinge's New Policy Makes Account Bans More Fair
Hinge is implementing a new policy that removes only specific rule-breaking content instead of immediately banning entire accounts, allowing users to correct issues while their profiles are temporarily hidden. The platform will notify users of violations via email, push notifications, and in-app ...
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YouTube Reinstates Banned Channels: Advertiser Impact Explained
YouTube is reinstating channels previously banned under old COVID-19 and election rules, marking a major shift in moderation toward free expression. Reinstated channels can monetize content again, expanding ad inventory but raising brand-safety concerns for advertisers. The policy change allows s...
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Charlie Kirk's Death Sparks Debate on Content Moderation
The shooting of activist Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University sparked widespread circulation of graphic videos on social media platforms, often without warnings or consent, and was accompanied by an AI-generated misinformation report about his survival. Researchers and experts criticize platfor...
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EU Defies Trump Tariff Threats, Cracks Down on Meta
The EU accuses Meta of violating the Digital Services Act by providing inadequate tools for reporting illegal content and challenging moderation decisions, potentially leading to a multi-billion dollar fine. Meta's platforms are criticized for using "dark patterns" in their reporting systems and ...
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EU Accuses Instagram and Facebook of Breaking Content Rules
European regulators have accused Meta's Facebook and Instagram of violating the Digital Services Act due to inadequate content moderation systems and lack of transparency regarding illegal material and researcher data access. The platforms were criticized for implementing confusing systems and da...
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OpenAI Adds Parental Controls for Teen ChatGPT Users
OpenAI has launched parental controls for ChatGPT, enabling parents to receive alerts if teens discuss self-harm or suicide, and law enforcement may be notified in urgent cases. Enhanced content protections are automatically applied to teen accounts, restricting exposure to graphic material, harm...
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Trump's YouTube Ballroom Deal: How He Made Them Pay
YouTube settled a $24.5 million lawsuit with Donald Trump and allied MAGA channels over alleged First Amendment violations, without admitting wrongdoing, despite legal experts deeming the case meritless. Trump directed $22 million of the settlement to fund a new White House ballroom project, with...
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Apple Removes Controversial Dating Apps Tea & TeaOnHer From App Store
Apple removed the dating safety apps Tea and TeaOnHer from its App Store due to content moderation failures and privacy violations, including sharing minors' data without consent, though they remain on Google Play. The apps breached Apple's guidelines by lacking proper reporting tools, mishandlin...
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Facebook Removes ICE-Tracking Page After U.S. Government Request
Meta removed a Facebook page tracking ICE activities in Chicago after a DOJ request, citing policy violations against coordinated harm, following similar actions by Apple and Google. The removal has sparked debate over potential government overreach and "jawboning," raising constitutional questio...
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ChatGPT to Enable Adult-Only Intimate Conversations, Says Sam Altman
OpenAI will allow age-verified adult users to engage in adult-oriented conversations, including erotica, as part of a policy shift to treat adults like adults, with implementation planned for December. The company is reintroducing a more personable ChatGPT version to address user feedback that re...
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Misinformation Code: Fact or Fiction?
The Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation is undergoing a major review by the Digital Industry Group (Digi), following criticism that it has failed to protect Australians from false information. A Reset Australia report from May 2024 condemned the code as a "complete fa...
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Fictional Characters Are Coming to OpenAI's Sora
OpenAI is planning official collaborations with fictional characters for its Sora video platform to address unauthorized and inappropriate content that has emerged since its launch. The company is shifting from an opt-out to an opt-in copyright model, giving rights holders more granular control o...
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OpenAI's New Parental Controls: What You Need to Know
OpenAI has launched parental controls for ChatGPT, allowing parents to manage teen accounts by limiting sensitive content, disabling features like memory and voice mode, and adjusting privacy settings. Parents can link their account to their teen's but cannot read their conversation history, exce...
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Is the Misinformation Code Spreading Lies?
Australia's primary framework for tackling online false information, the Australian Code of Practice on Disinformation and Misinformation, is deemed a failure, prompting a review and potential reforms led by the Digital Industry Group (Digi). An evaluation by Reset Australia identified systemic f...
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OpenAI's Deepfake TikTok Blurs Reality Beyond Recognition
OpenAI's Sora 2 AI video tool generates highly realistic deepfake videos, including convincing clips of real people, raising concerns about digital authenticity and misinformation. The platform features significant upgrades such as synchronized audio generation, improved accuracy, and a social ap...
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AI Helps US Investigators Spot AI-Generated Child Abuse Images
Federal investigators are using AI to identify AI-generated child sexual abuse material, helping them focus on rescuing real children from harm. A contract with Hive AI provides specialized detection algorithms to handle a dramatic surge in generative AI-related incidents overwhelming traditional...
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Meta's Child Safety Leak: A Damaging Turn for the Worse
Whistleblowers revealed that Meta is actively suppressing research on child safety risks in VR to avoid legal liability, rather than addressing known dangers. Despite official age restrictions, children under 13 routinely access Meta's VR platforms, where immersive technology poses uniquely invas...
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Roblox Unveils Short-Form Video Feed & AI Creator Tools
Roblox introduced a new short-form video feature called "Roblox Moments" for users aged 13 and above, enabling gameplay recording, editing, and sharing within a community feed. The platform is increasing monetization for developers by raising the DevEx rate, allowing creators to earn 8.5% more wh...
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My Slippery Slope Into Sora's World
OpenAI's new Sora app enables users to create ten-second AI-generated videos from any concept, including digital cameos of people, and has quickly become a top free app on the Apple App Store. Public and internal reactions are mixed, with concerns about misinformation from hyper-realistic videos ...
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Pornhub Settles CSAM Allegations for $5 Million
Pornhub and its parent company Aylo have agreed to a $5 million settlement with the FTC and Utah over allegations of enabling illegal content distribution, including child sexual abuse material and nonconsensual videos. The platform was found to have inadequate content moderation, such as delayin...
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Apple Pulls Women's Dating Safety App from App Store
Apple removed the women's dating safety app Tea from its App Store for violating terms related to content moderation and user privacy, including the exposure of minors' personal information. Tea experienced multiple security breaches that exposed users' driver's licenses, selfies, and private mes...
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Get Paid to Chat: Rent a Cyber Friend at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
Francesco Vitali initially doubted the idea of paying for conversation but trusted his partner's vision, leading to the creation of Rent a Cyber Friend, a video chat platform where users pay per minute for verified companions or specialized discussions. The platform has grown organically to three...
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Master Your AI Video Presence with Sora
OpenAI has introduced new user controls for Sora, its AI video platform, allowing individuals to restrict how their digital likenesses are used, such as blocking appearances in political content or with specific language. The platform, often compared to a "TikTok for deepfakes," enables the creat...
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AI Hunts "Zero Day" Bugs, Apple Pulls ICE App
AI is now being used to detect zero-day software vulnerabilities, advancing cybersecurity, while OpenAI's parental controls are easily bypassed with delayed alerts for harmful teen conversations. Venture capital investment in AI startups hit $192.7 billion, raising concerns about a market bubble,...
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Platforms React to Charlie Kirk Shooting Incident
Graphic footage of Charlie Kirk's fatal shooting spread on social media, leading major platforms to address content moderation policies. The incident has sparked debate over platform responsibility, user safety, and balancing free speech with harmful content. Public opinion is split between calls...
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Disney to Pay $10M for Illegally Collecting Kids' Data on YouTube
Disney will pay $10 million to settle FTC allegations that it mislabeled children's content on YouTube, enabling illegal data collection from young viewers. The mislabeling bypassed YouTube's child privacy protections, violating COPPA by allowing targeted ads and data gathering without parental c...
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Unions Fight Trump's Plan to Deport Immigrants Over Social Media
A coalition of labor unions, represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is suing the Trump administration over a policy that uses AI to scan immigrants' social media for visa revocation, arguing it unlawfully suppresses free speech for both noncitizens and U.S. citizens. The policy has le...
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Cruz Bill Seeks Damages for Government Censorship
Senator Ted Cruz is proposing legislation that would allow citizens to sue for monetary damages if they believe the government has unlawfully restricted their speech, while maintaining exemptions for official investigations and certain unprotected expressions. The bill's development follows contr...
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Google Restricts AI Searches on Trump and Dementia
Google has restricted AI search summaries for queries about Donald Trump's mental health, showing no AI Overview for terms like dementia, Alzheimer's, or senility. This limitation does not uniformly apply to other political figures, as similar searches for Joe Biden or Barack Obama can generate A...
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YouTube Music Tests AI Radio Hosts for Trivia & Commentary
YouTube Music is testing AI hosts that provide trivia and commentary about the music you're playing, aiming to create a more engaging listening experience. This feature builds on similar AI initiatives like Spotify's DJ and is being tested through YouTube Labs, initially available to a limited U....
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FTC Demands AI Firms Disclose Chatbot Risks to Children
The FTC has issued a formal demand to seven major AI companies, including OpenAI and Meta, to disclose how their chatbots affect the safety and well-being of children and teenagers. This action follows tragic incidents where teens reportedly engaged in harmful conversations with AI, prompting bip...
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The Dawn of AI Sexting: What It Means for You
AI sexting platforms are enabling intimate user-chatbot relationships, with services like Replika and Character.ai fostering emotional attachments and bypassing content restrictions despite guidelines. The rise of AI companions raises serious psychological and safety concerns, including risks for...
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ChatGPT to Allow Erotica for Adults, Says Sam Altman
OpenAI will relax ChatGPT's content policies to allow erotic content for age-verified adults, aligning with its principle of treating adults as adults while maintaining protections for vulnerable users. This policy shift follows past incidents where AI interactions posed mental health risks, prom...
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Google's AI Ambitions Clash with Search Regulation
A federal court has mandated Google to reduce aggressive promotion tactics for its search engine, but the company is resisting new restrictions that could limit its expansion into artificial intelligence. The court approved measures to foster competition, including sharing search data with rivals...
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OpenAI's Sora Sparks Unexpected Copyright Controversy
OpenAI's Sora video generation tool sparked copyright debates, leading to a policy shift from opt-out to letting rightsholders control usage after unauthorized characters like Nazi SpongeBob emerged. The platform introduced granular user controls for digital likenesses and improved watermarking t...
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Sora 2 Resurrects Dead Celebrities in AI Videos
OpenAI's Sora 2 video generator blocks depictions of living public figures by default but allows the creation of AI-generated videos featuring deceased celebrities, leading to their use in bizarre scenarios. Despite a moving watermark to identify AI content, the practice has drawn criticism from ...
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Character.AI Launches Video Creation & Social Feats
Character.AI has expanded beyond text with new features like AvatarFX for AI-generated videos, Scenes for collaborative storytelling, and Streams for dynamic character interactions, shifting toward multimedia experiences. The platform faces safety concerns, including past incidents of harmful cha...
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Google's Gemini AI Model Shows Safety Decline
Google's Gemini 2.5 Flash AI model shows a 4.1% decline in text-to-text safety and a 9.6% drop in image-to-text safety compared to its predecessor, raising concerns about content moderation. Major AI developers like Google, Meta, and OpenAI are prioritizing permissiveness, but this sh...
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Wikipedia Embraces AI While Keeping Human Volunteers
Wikipedia is integrating AI as an assistant to support human contributors, not replace them, with a three-year strategy focused on collaboration. AI will automate repetitive tasks like translations and onboarding, allowing editors to focus on curating accurate content through human oversight. The...
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Google to Block Nonconsensual Intimate Images from Search
Google has partnered with StopNCII.org to proactively identify and block non-consensual intimate images from its search results, aiming to protect individuals from digital abuse. The initiative uses hashing technology to detect such content without storing or viewing it, prioritizing user privacy...
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Sora: Why You Should Join the Competition
Sora, a new AI-powered social video app from ChatGPT's creators, has generated massive demand with 627,000 iOS downloads in its first week, even before its Australian launch. The app creates highly realistic synthetic videos, blurring the line between fact and fiction and raising significant conc...
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Google AI Staff Fired in Working Conditions Dispute
Over 200 contractors refining Google's AI systems were abruptly terminated without notice due to a pay and working conditions dispute, despite their critical role in enhancing products like the Gemini chatbot. These specialists, employed through outsourcing firm GlobalLogic, were tasked with impr...
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The Best Smart Glasses Just Got Even Better
The Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer Gen 2 smart glasses offer significant upgrades in battery life and functionality, providing a polished user experience for wearable tech enthusiasts. Vivaldi 7.6 browser update emphasizes deep customization for a personalized experience, while Google for Windows reemerge...
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Bluesky Expands Age Verification to South Dakota & Wyoming
Bluesky has expanded age verification requirements to users in South Dakota and Wyoming, requiring government ID, credit card details, or facial recognition scans to confirm legal age. The verification process is managed through Epic Games’ Kids Web Services, aiming to balance compliance with use...
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Meta Accused of Suppressing VR Safety Research for Kids
Whistleblowers allege Meta is suppressing research on potential harms of VR to children, with legal interference to block unfavorable findings. Meta denies the claims, stating it has approved numerous studies on youth safety and improved parental controls for its VR products. These allegations wi...
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How Disinformation on X Fueled the Minnesota Shooting Narrative
Social media platform X rapidly spread disinformation following the Minneapolis church shooting, including unverified claims and re-uploaded perpetrator videos. High-profile users, including Elon Musk and political figures, amplified baseless theories about the shooter's motives, which gained wid...
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Google AI Bug Bounty Offers $30K Rewards
Google has launched a new bug bounty program offering up to $30,000 for finding security flaws in its AI systems, focusing on vulnerabilities that manipulate AI to cause harm or exploit weaknesses. The program targets specific exploits like unauthorized actions through prompt injections, such as ...
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Sora for iOS: 3 New Features Coming Soon
The Sora app update will introduce Character Cameos, allowing users to personalize videos with custom elements and see trending creations in real-time. New video editing capabilities will enable users to stitch multiple clips together, with plans for more advanced tools in future updates. Channel...
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