Several European nations are already planning similar moves while Britain has said ‘nothing is off the table’

Australia is taking on powerful tech companies with its under-16 social media ban, but will the rest of the world follow? The country’s enactment of the policy is being watched closely by politicians, safety campaigners and parents. A number of other countries are not far behind, with Europe in particular hoping to replicate Australia, while the UK is keeping more of a watchful interest.

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© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Saeed Khan/AFP/Getty Images

The PM’s social media sortie has not been a total embarrassment, which may be a shame for him

The scene opens on the interior of an aeroplane.

A suited man in a luxurious seat looks pensively out the window, his face partially obscured, his chin delicately resting on his hand.

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© Photograph: TikTok

© Photograph: TikTok

© Photograph: TikTok

“I’m told that Australian teens, in preparation for this ban, have been exchanging phone numbers with each other.”

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: David Gray/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Co-founder of Singapore-based Terraform Labs given more jail time by US judge than prosecutors sought

Do Kwon, the entrepreneur behind two cryptocurrencies that lost $40bn (£29.8bn) three years ago and caused the sector to crash, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for fraud.

The South Korean, 34, had pleaded guilty to two counts of US charges of conspiracy to defraud and wire fraud.

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© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

© Photograph: Stevo Vasiljević/Reuters

Platform fighting world-leading ban on grounds it contravenes implied freedom of political communication in constitution

• Will Australia’s social media ban survive a high court challenge?

Reddit has filed a challenge against Australia’s under-16s social media ban in the high court, lodging its case two days after implementing age restrictions on its website.

The company said in a Reddit post on Friday that while it agreed with protecting people under 16, the law “has the unfortunate effect of forcing intrusive and potentially insecure verification processes on adults as well as minors, isolating teens from the ability to engage in age-appropriate community experiences”.

Reddit said there was an “illogical patchwork” of platforms included in the ban.

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© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

© Photograph: AAP

President Nayib Bukele entrusting chatbot known for calling itself ‘MechaHitler’ to create ‘AI-powered’ curricula

Elon Musk is partnering with the government of El Salvador to bring his artificial intelligence company’s chatbot, Grok, to more than 1 million students across the country, according to a Thursday announcement by xAI. Over the next two years, the plan is to “deploy” the chatbot to more than 5,000 public schools in an “AI-powered education program”.

xAI’s Grok is more known for referring to itself as “MechaHitler” and espousing far-right conspiracy theories than it is for public education. Over the past year, the chatbot has spewed various antisemitic content, decried “white genocide” and claimed Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

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© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

© Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

OT oversight is an expensive industrial paradox. It’s hard to believe that an area can be simultaneously underappreciated, underfunded, and under increasing attack. And yet, with ransomware hackers knowing that downtime equals disaster and companies not monitoring in kind, this is an open and glaring hole across many ecosystems. Even a glance at the numbers..

The post Hacks Up, Budgets Down: OT Oversight Must Be An IT Priority appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Hackers include Russia-based actors targeting WhatsApp and Signal accounts, parliamentary authorities warn

MPs are facing rising numbers of phishing attacks and Russia-based actors are actively targeting the WhatsApp and Signal accounts of politicians and officials, UK parliamentary authorities have warned.

MPs, peers and officials are being asked to step up their cybersecurity after a continued rise in attacks that have involved messages pretending to be from the app’s support team, asking a user to enter an access code, click a link or scan a QR code.

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© Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

© Photograph: Maureen McLean/REX/Shutterstock

Weaker-than-forecast quarterly data for Larry Ellison’s tech company shows slowdown in revenue growth and big rise in spending

• Business live – latest updates

Oracle’s shares tumbled 15% on Thursday in response to the company’s quarterly financial results, disclosed the day before.

Roughly $80bn vanish from the value of the business software company co-founded by Donald Trump ally Larry Ellison, falling from $630bn (£470bn) to $550bn and fuelling fears of a bubble in artificial intelligence-related stocks. Shares in the chipmaker Nvidia, seen as a bellwether for the AI boom, fell after Oracle’s.

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© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

© Photograph: Sundry Photography/Alamy

The Housemaid actor received backlash in September when she left a comment on Instagram after the rightwing activist was killed

The Housemaid star Amanda Seyfried has said she is “not fucking apologising” for describing Charlie Kirk as “hateful” after the latter was shot dead in September.

Seyfried was speaking to Who What Wear when she was asked about her social media activity, including the backlash around her Kirk comment. “I’m not fucking apologising for that. I mean, for fuck’s sake, I commented on one thing. I said something that was based on actual reality and actual footage and actual quotes. What I said was pretty damn factual, and I’m free to have an opinion, of course.”

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© Photograph: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

© Photograph: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

Agreement comes amid anxiety in Hollywood over impact of AI on the industry, expression and rights of creators

Walt Disney has announced a $1bn equity investment in OpenAI, enabling the AI startup’s Sora video generation tool to use its characters.

Users of Sora will be able to generate short, user-prompted social videos that draw on more than 200 Disney, Marvel, Pixar and Star Wars characters as part of a three-year licensing agreement between OpenAI and the entertainment giant.

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© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

© Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Figures for England and Wales show there were 51,672 offences for child sexual exploitation and abuse online in 2024

Online child sexual abuse in England and Wales has surged by a quarter within a year, figures show, prompting police to call for social media platforms to do more to protect young people.

Becky Riggs, the acting chief constable of Staffordshire police, called for tech companies to use AI tools to automatically prevent indecent pictures from being uploaded and shared on their sites.

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© Photograph: Fiordaliso/Getty Images

© Photograph: Fiordaliso/Getty Images

© Photograph: Fiordaliso/Getty Images

Car company said team detected ‘unusual activity’ inside vehicle and called to check on rider and alert 911

Self-driving Waymo taxis have gone viral for negative reasons including the death of a beloved San Francisco bodega cat and pulling an illegal U-turn in front of police, who were unable to issue a ticket to a nonexistent driver.

But this week, the company behind the self-driving taxis is drawing attention to the happier news that a San Francisco woman gave birth in a Waymo.

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© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

© Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Former deputy prime minister, who left Meta this year, to be joined by Facebook-owner’s chief AI scientist

Nick Clegg is to add venture capitalist to his list of post-politics jobs, with the former British deputy prime minister and ex-senior executive at Meta taking on a new role at London-based Hiro Capital.

Clegg, who left his role as the Facebook-owner’s head of global affairs this year, is joining the European tech investment firm as a general partner.

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© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

© Photograph: Kin Cheung/AP

As shoppers ask ChatGPT for inspiration, brands scramble to ensure their products appeal to the bots calling the shots

• Consumer test drive: can AI do your Xmas gift shopping for you?

Christmas shopping – some love it, to others it’s a chore, and this year for the first time many of us will outsource the annual task of coming up with gift ideas to artificial intelligence.

While traditional internet search, social media – especially TikTok and Instagram – and simply wandering a local high street will still be the main routes to presents for most this year, about a quarter of people in the UK are already using AI to find the right products, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

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© Photograph: Marco Marca/Getty Images

© Photograph: Marco Marca/Getty Images

Boss says German firm also investing in generative engine optimisation to help push it to top of chatbot responses

• Business live – latest updates

Tui, Europe’s biggest travel operator, has said it is investing heavily in AI as more people turn to ChatGPT to help book their holidays, including using the technology to create “inspirational” videos and content.

The chief executive, Sebastian Ebel, said the company was investing in generative engine optimisation (GEO), the latest incarnation of search engine optimisation (SEO), to help push Tui to the top of results from AI chatbots including ChatGPT and Gemini.

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© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hans Neleman/Getty Images

As three immigrants claim Nobel Prizes in science for the United States this year, experts warn that immigration crackdowns could undo American innovation.

© Sophie Park for The New York Times

As three immigrants claim Nobel Prizes in science for the United States this year, experts warn that immigration crackdowns could undo American innovation.

© Sophie Park for The New York Times

Visitor numbers to UK’s 10 most-visited services have settled at a ‘lower level’ than before 25 July, report finds

Traffic to pornography websites in the UK has fallen in the wake of age checks being introduced this year while use of specialist software to dodge viewing restrictions has increased, according to the communications watchdog.

Ofcom said the enforcement of age vetting on 25 July led to an immediate fall in visits to popular online porn publishers, including the most visited provider in the UK, Pornhub.

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© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

© Photograph: DCPhoto/Alamy

Exclusive: System more likely to suggest incorrect matches for images of women and Black people

Police forces successfully lobbied to use a facial recognition system known to be biased against women, young people, and members of ethnic minority groups, after complaining that another version produced fewer potential suspects.

UK forces use the police national database (PND) to conduct retrospective facial recognition searches, whereby a “probe image” of a suspect is compared to a database of more than 19 million custody photos for potential matches.

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© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

© Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images

Does Australia’s social media ban mean kids aged under 16 will get in legal trouble for circumventing the ban? Will parents get in trouble for letting their kids use banned social media sites? There is a lot of misinformation about how the world-first ban will actually work. So whether you’re a parent of a child, or a child watching this on a VPN, Guardian Australia’s Matilda Boseley is here to clear up what the social media ban means

• Australian social media ban explained: everything you need to know

• How is Australia’s social media ban affecting you and your family?

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© Photograph: Guardian Design

© Photograph: Guardian Design

© Photograph: Guardian Design

The former chief executive of Nexperia, a Dutch chipmaker, said Dutch officials had known for years that the company’s Chinese owner sought to move its technology to China.

© Fabian Bimmer/Reuters

They have unleashed irresponsible innovations on the world and their slop generators have flooded academia, says Dr Craig Reeves

I’m not surprised to read that the field of artificial intelligence research is complaining about being overwhelmed by the very slop that it has pioneered (Artificial intelligence research has a slop problem, academics say: ‘It’s a mess’, 6 December). But this is a bit like bears getting indignant about all the shit in the woods.

It serves AI researchers right for the irresponsible innovations that they’ve unleashed on the world, without ever bothering to ask the rest of us whether we wanted it.

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© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

© Photograph: Dado Ruvić/Reuters

About half of purchases involve shoppers using online retailer’s artificial intelligence-led features

The online card service Moonpig has reported a bump in sales thanks in part to its increased use of AI to help design cards, personalise customers’ messages and answer queries.

The company said sales rose 6.7% to £169m in the six months to 31 October and had remained strong in the weeks since then, largely as a result of increased orders and spend per order at its main Moonpig brand.

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© Photograph: Moonpig

© Photograph: Moonpig

© Photograph: Moonpig

Accounts held by users under 16 must be removed on apps that include TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and Threads under ban

• How is Australia’s social media ban affecting you and your family?

• The social media ban explained: everything you need to know

Australia has enacted a world-first ban on social media for users aged under 16, causing millions of children and teenagers to lose access to their accounts.

Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, YouTube, Snapchat, Reddit, Kick, Twitch and TikTok are expected to have taken steps from Wednesday to remove accounts held by users under 16 years of age in Australia, and prevent those teens from registering new accounts.

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© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design/Getty Images

© Illustration: Victoria Hart/Guardian Design/Getty Images

He gave readers a comprehensive and lyrical account of the historic mission in 1969. His science coverage as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and an author took him around the world.

© The New York Times

CISA and global partners issue new guidance for secure AI integration in operational technology, highlighting risks, governance, behavioral analytics, and OT safety.

The post CISA Releases New AI-in-OT Security Guidance: Key Principles & Risks appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Producer says creatives need to own their intellectual property so they can license it to generative AI platforms

The Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart has said artificial intelligence is an “unstoppable force”, and musicians and other artists should bow to the inevitable and license their music to generative AI platforms.

These platforms use artificial intelligence to analyse existing songs and tracks, using that knowledge to generate completely new ones as prompted by a user. For example, someone could ask the AI platform to generate a song about a boozy night out in the style of a Britpop band, and it would draw on songs with similar sounds and themes to create its own.

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© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

© Photograph: Lawton Howell/Tyler Lee Aubrey

Easy-to-guess words and figures still dominate, alarming cysbersecurity experts and delighting hackers

It is a hacker’s dream. Even in the face of repeated warnings to protect online accounts, a new study reveals that “admin” is the most commonly used password in the UK.

The second most popular, “123456”, is also unlikely to keep hackers at bay.

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© Photograph: imageBROKER.com/Alamy

© Photograph: imageBROKER.com/Alamy

© Photograph: imageBROKER.com/Alamy

“For OpenAI to realize its ambitions, it is not going to be enough for them to make a model that is as good as Gemini 3. They need to be able to leapfrog it again.”

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Peter Cade/Getty

Yuri Ralchenko led one of the oldest teams at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The fate of some experiments hangs in the air.

© Moriah Ratner for The New York Times

Yuri Ralchenko led one of the oldest teams at the National Institute for Standards and Technology. The fate of some experiments hangs in the air.

© Moriah Ratner for The New York Times

JPMorganChase’s $1.5T Security & Resiliency Initiative targets AI, cybersecurity, quantum and critical industries. Learn what this investment means for national and enterprise resilience.

The post JPMorganChase to Invest in AI, Tech to Foster Growth, Innovation, Resiliency  appeared first on Security Boulevard.

At M.I.T., a new program called “artificial intelligence and decision-making” is now the second-most-popular undergraduate major.

© Rune Fisker

“You can’t tell the story of 2025 without these icons.”

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Photo Illustration by Joe Raedle/Getty Images

An anonymous reader shares a report: AI is not a core part of operations at most of the world's central banks and digital assets are off the table, according to a survey released on Wednesday by the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum. The working group of 10 central banks from Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia managing roughly $6.5 trillion in assets also found that the institutions that have delved deepest so far into AI are the most cautious about the risks. The primary concern is that AI-driven behaviour could "accelerate future crises," the survey showed. "AI helps us see more, but decisions must remain with people," one participant was quoted as saying in the group's report. More than 60% of respondents said that AI tools - which have sparked layoffs already at technology companies and retail and investment banks - are not yet supporting core operations.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Attacks against the site are piling up. Its co-founder says, Trust the process.

© Philip Montgomery for The New York Times

In this episode, we discuss the first reported AI-driven cyber espionage campaign, as disclosed by Anthropic. In September 2025, a state-sponsored Chinese actor manipulated the Claude Code tool to target 30 global organizations. We explain how the attack was executed, why it matters, and its implications for cybersecurity. Join the conversation as we examine the […]

The post AI Agent Does the Hacking: First Documented AI-Orchestrated Cyber Espionage appeared first on Shared Security Podcast.

The post AI Agent Does the Hacking: First Documented AI-Orchestrated Cyber Espionage appeared first on Security Boulevard.

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In tweaking its chatbot to appeal to more people, OpenAI made it riskier for some of them. Now the company has made its chatbot safer. Will that undermine its quest for growth?

© Julia Dufosse

OpenAI adjusted ChatGPT’s settings, which left some users spiraling, according to our reporting. Kashmir Hill, who reports on technology and privacy, describes what the company has done about the users’ troubling reports.

This week the company announced that it would require users to undergo an A.I.-powered age estimation process in order to chat with others on the platform. Will this change reassure parents?

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times

Every click, post, and search leaves a data trail online — and it’s called a digital footprint. Digital footprints are a record of a person’s online activity across all websites, apps, and social media platforms. Whether you’re uploading photos, using your favorite streaming app, or simply browsing the web, you’re creating a lasting digital mark ...

The post What Are Digital Footprints? Understanding Your Online Identity appeared first on ManagedMethods Cybersecurity, Safety & Compliance for K-12.

The post What Are Digital Footprints? Understanding Your Online Identity appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Discover how datacenter proxies boost large-scale data collection with speed, scalability, and reliability. Learn benefits, use cases, and best practices.

The post The Advantages of Datacenter Proxies for Large-Scale Data Collection appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Uncertainty over the availability of the company’s chips, which are used in cars and electronics, had added to concerns of a global shortage.

© Peter Dejong/Associated Press

Maybe more than other model releases, this one seems to have the attention of Google’s competitors. Will it put the company at the top of the A.I. leaderboard?

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photos: Jeff Chiu/Associated Press

In this episode, we discuss the newly released OWASP Top 10 for 2025. Join hosts Tom Eston, Scott Wright, and Kevin Johnson as they explore the changes, the continuity, and the significance of the update for application security. Learn about the importance of getting involved with the release candidate to provide feedback and suggestions. The […]

The post OWASP Top 10 for 2025: What’s New and Why It Matters appeared first on Shared Security Podcast.

The post OWASP Top 10 for 2025: What’s New and Why It Matters appeared first on Security Boulevard.

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“As you may have noticed, it is not easy to build data centers here on Earth.”

© Photo Illustration by The New York Times; Photo: Romolo Tavani/Getty Images

Every teacher runs their classroom a little differently. Some thrive on structure, others on flexibility, and most land somewhere in between. These differences form what educators call classroom management styles. Understanding what your style is as a dedicated teacher can make every lesson feel smoother, calmer, and more effective for both you and your students. ...

The post Understanding Classroom Management Styles and How To Find the Right One for Your Students appeared first on ManagedMethods Cybersecurity, Safety & Compliance for K-12.

The post Understanding Classroom Management Styles and How To Find the Right One for Your Students appeared first on Security Boulevard.

Leiden, a city whose university is often called the Oxford of the Netherlands, features museums, gardens, murals and plenty of ways to stretch your mind.

The future of home robotics is here — and it’s a little awkward. Meet the NEO 1X humanoid robot, designed to help with chores but raising huge cybersecurity and privacy questions. We discuss what it can actually do, the risks of having an always-connected humanoid in your home, and why it’s definitely not the “Robot […]

The post Meet NEO 1X: The Robot That Does Chores and Spies on You? appeared first on Shared Security Podcast.

The post Meet NEO 1X: The Robot That Does Chores and Spies on You? appeared first on Security Boulevard.

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