X reinstates some free blue ticks, Disney+ cracks down on password sharing

X has caused confusion by reinstating free blue ticks for some users - a year after it began charging for the service. For years, Twitter blue ticks effectively served as verification badges and were given to celebrities, politicians, journalists, and other influential accounts for free. However, months after Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44bn (£38bn) in October…

Clearview AI wins facial recognition appeal, EE launches new digital platform

A company that enables its clients to search a database of billions of images scraped from the internet for matches to a particular face has won an appeal against the UK's privacy watchdog. Last year, Clearview AI was fined more than £7.5m by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for unlawfully storing facial images. Jack Mulcaire,…

Bumble biggest offender for harvesting personal data, world’s largest wind farm now in service

Three-quarters of mobile apps are harvesting our personal data due to unnecessary and overreaching developer permissions, according to an analysis of the most popular mobile apps globally by cybersecurity company NordVPN. Researchers used the privacy checker Exodus to compare the leading apps of 18 different countries including the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. In…

Concern over police use of facial recognition, Elon Musk could be made to testify

Police and private companies should "immediately stop" the use of facial recognition surveillance, says a group of politicians and privacy campaigners. They have raised concerns around human rights, potential for discrimination and "the lack of a democratic mandate". It comes after the government announced plans for police to access passport photos to help catch criminals.…

Fitbit Charge 6 unveiled, Epic Games cuts workforce

Fitbit Charge 6 is the latest addition in the Google wearables division bringing improved health tracking and even deeper integration with Google apps like YouTube Music, Google Pay and Google Maps. Charge 6 features a 1.04-inch color AMOLED display with Always-On Display (AOD) functionality. The tracker features an aluminum, glass and resin build with a…

Musk looks to charge everyone for X, YouTube bans ads on Russell Brand channel

Elon Musk has suggested that all users of X, formerly called Twitter, may have to pay for access to the platform. In a conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the billionaire said a payment system was the only way to counter bots. "We're moving to having a small monthly payment for use of the…

Twitter to prevent blocking users, driverless cars removed after accident

Users of X (formerly Twitter) will not be able to block people from seeing their posts or leaving comments, Elon Musk has said. The social media platform owner said the function "makes no sense" - adding that it will only be possible to block someone from sending direct messages. In the shake-up to the app,…

Facebook not guilty of psychological harm, second hand EV sales surge

There is no evidence the global spread of Facebook is linked to widespread psychological harm, an Oxford Internet Institute (OII) study suggests. The research looked at how wellbeing changed in 72 countries as use of the social media platform grew. It counters the common belief that social media is psychologically harmful, the researchers argue. Several…

Threads has lost half its users, admits Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg

Meta’s “Twitter killer” app Threads has struggled to hold the attention of millions of users despite its record-breaking launch, Mark Zuckerberg has admitted. The app, which lets people post messages, pictures and videos, signed up 150m users in its first few weeks, making it the fastest growing product in history. However, Mr Zuckerberg has said more…

ChatGPT founder plans to scan iris of every person in the world

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur behind ChatGPT has unveiled a plan to scan the iris of every person in the world to help distinguish real people from sophisticated machines. Sam Altman, the founder of OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, on Monday launched his project Worldcoin in Britain and 34 other countries. The venture aims to scan billions of…