A wave of disinformation online contributed to a surge of migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta who were trying to reach Europe, resulting in about 90 deaths.

Also: Google executives jump ship in race for AI dominance

Hello, TechScape readers! Danielle Abril, editor of the Guardian’s Reworked series on AI and the future of work, filling in for Blake Montgomery this week. Major legal battles against Meta over child safety are playing out in courts across the US – and the tech giant is losing. Recent rulings raise big questions about social media companies’ responsibility to their youngest users. Meanwhile, more key executives have jumped ship from Google as it battles OpenAI and Anthropic in the race for AI dominance, and Meta’s smart glasses face a fearsome backlash. Let’s dig in!

‘I’ve definitely lost followers’: influencers face backlash over Meta ‘pervert glasses’ content

This man was secretly snapped by someone with smartglasses. He’s not alone in calling that a violation of privacy

Tell us: do you believe you have been filmed by Meta’s smartglasses without your consent?

Restaurants, pubs and theatres ban Meta’s ‘spy glasses’ over privacy fears

‘I’m not spying’: how Meta’s smartglasses have divided opinion

Bernie Sanders calls on Silicon Valley to ‘pause AI development’ in interest of humanity

Rising number of UK children report seeing explicit deepfakes of themselves

The White House’s plan to vet potentially dangerous AI is cloaked in secrecy

‘This is very real redlining’: outrage in Little Rock as two datacenters loom

Safety fears as scientists make first viruses designed by AI

SpaceX beats revenue expectations in first earnings report after IPO crash

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© Photograph: Jill Connelly/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jill Connelly/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jill Connelly/Getty Images

For years, social media companies have faced pressure from users and government watchdogs to stop misinformation from distorting

Bluesky has added a new feature that lets you hide reposts from a specific person in your feeds. The tool might be helpful if you want to stop seeing reposts from that one person who clogs up your feed with reposts of things you don't care about. If you follow me, I may be that person, I'm sorry. I try not to be.

You can hide reposts from individual users by going to their profile, clicking the three dots button, and selecting the option to "Hide reposts in feeds." (X offers a similar toggle.)

Bluesky also says that it's launching a beta feature that will automatically add post numbers to threads. For long threads, it could be a useful w …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Platforms like Meta, TikTok, Snapchat, and Google are facing a long road of litigation.

The release of Muse Glimmer, a model that can be freely downloaded and modified, is likely to intensify a debate over whether A.I. should be restricted.

VHS Dates advertises itself as resurfacing lost dating service videotapes from the 1980s. The account’s followers have been genuinely touched.

Using ‘spy glasses’ made by Facebook owner leads to floods of negative comments, say content creators

It was hardly an offensive video. Amid the buzz of the Tour de France finale, Oliver Hooson filmed himself whipping up a delicious-looking flat white for a fellow cycling enthusiast. But after posting the footage on social media, the comments that soon rolled in were a real shock. “PERV,” read one. “Out here pushing creep glasses,” said another. His mistake? Documenting the moment with Meta’s “spy glasses”.

Despite being marketed as the latest must-have gadget, Meta’s smartglasses, which can record video footage while being worn, have faced a vicious backlash, particularly relating to concerns about surveillance. There are widespread fears about the glasses being used to film people, especially women, without their consent, and the resultant footage being posted on social media. This has earned them the label of “pervert glasses”, and content creators, no matter how they are used, have faced a flood of negative comments for deploying them.

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© Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

© Photograph: Carlos Barría/Reuters

X is ending its controversial revenue-sharing program for content creators, which has seen numerous revisions under Elon Musk's reign. In its place, it's launching a new Original Content Rewards program on September 8th. To be eligible, creators must have at least 500 verified followers and at least 500,000 Home Timeline impressions from verified users in the last 90 days, among other requirements.

Creators will then earn revenue based on "qualified impressions" on "original content."Qualified impressions are unique impressions from Premium subscribers "on the Home Timeline feed, where at least 50% of the post is visible." What qualifies a …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Credit where credit is due: this sounds much better than the program it's replacing.

Exclusive: anonymous flagging service says cases have surged, as watchdog says AI is making sexualised or ‘nudified’ content easier to produce

Children in the UK have reported a surge in explicit deepfake images featuring their likenesses, as a safety watchdog warned AI is making such content easier to produce.

The Report Remove service, which blocks intimate images from appearing online, said there had been a rapid increase in imagery that had been digitally manipulated or “faked” in some way, including with AI and nudification tools.

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© Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

© Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

© Photograph: Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

The penalty, imposed by a state judge, is on top of a $375 million fine ordered by a jury that found Meta misled users about the safety of its platforms.

TikTok did not give a detailed reason for the layoffs, which will shutter its Nashville office.

Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire. But when it comes to AI slop and hateful content threatening the safety and value of social media platforms, adding more fire—in this case, more AI—can make the problem worse.

At its best, social media can be a haven for people who want to share their experiences and knowledge. It gets closest to this ideal when users contribute authentic, valuable content, whether that’s a uniquely thoughtful blog post or a helpful video on how to build a PC. Relying primarily on AI tools to preserve that authenticity misses what makes social media worthwhile in the first place: the people behind it.

Erroneous erasures

In April, a Slack channel for moderators of the r/AskHistorians Reddit community was usually busy. The channel, which automatically receives links to modmail messages, was flooded with alerts after dozens of comments and posts dating back 10 years were automatically removed from the subreddit.

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© Getty

Old.reddit.com’s days appear to be numbered.

Reddit has strayed from saying that it will shutter the website, which many long-time Redditors prefer for its layout, navigation, and fewer feed recommendations.

In a blog post today, Reddit made a vague statement about upcoming “changes” to Old Reddit:

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© Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP via Getty Images)

Reddit's Q2 call laid out the daily destination strategy and the participation problem standing in its way. What marketers should do now.

The post Reddit Wants To Be The Destination, Not Just The Source Behind Search & AI appeared first on Search Engine Journal.

The Social Media Victims Law Center accused the companies of creating addictive and dangerous platforms.

Fighting a traffic ticket. Hanging a curtain. Installing an air-conditioner. With his cult-hit online series, Noah Blau has made the mundane fascinating.

Companies must ensure people know when they are interacting with artificially generated images, audio and text designed to look real

From apparently conspiring to steal elections to abusing staff or performing embarrassing dance moves, the last few years have seen plenty of fake content made about politicians intended to malign its targets and mislead the public.

Now EU rules aim to stem the flood of this deceptive content: starting from Sunday, artificially generated images, audio and text designed to look authentic must be labelled.

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© Illustration: web

© Illustration: web

© Illustration: web

Amazon joined a procession of tech giants that ramped up their spending on artificial intelligence, as its capital expenditures soared 69 percent. Concerns over the industry’s spending are mounting.