A US watchdog has filed a compliant against Elon Musk’s X – previously Twitter – calling for an investigation over the platform’s advertising practices, including the alleged non-disclosure of some posts as ads. The non-profit organisation Check My Ads filed the complaint with the US Federal Trade Commission about the lack of labeling of some posts as ads, arguing that such content on the platform could mislead users. “This misrepresentation tricks users into trusting content as organic and exacerbates the opportunity for scams to occur,” the complaint noted. “Furthermore, by failing to adequately disclose advertisements, X Corp. misrepresents the methods employed to target users or facilitate third-party ad targeting,” it said. After initially spotting instances of adverts on X not being labelled, the watchdog called out users on the microblogging platform in September to flag more such instances they spot. In the following weeks, it gatherd information on “hundreds of unlabelled ads” from several users to build a case to the FTC, demanding X to be investigated. “Not marking ads is no small thing. As the complaint points out, unlabeled ads could trick users into thinking content is organic, increasing the chance for scams,” Check My Ads explained in a blog post. With unlabelled ads on social media platforms, people also have no way to know they are being targetted. While X is set up to explain why any user is seeing a particular ad with a hyperlink, the watchdog found that these links are “frequently broken”. “X Corp.’s lack of disclosures to consumers, misrepresentations to advertisers, and flawed access to explanations about targeted advertising constitute unfair and deceptive practices,“ Check My Ads’ policy director Sarah Kay Wiley said. “We urge the Commission to determine the extent of these violations and address them to the full extent of its authority,” Ms Wiley said. X did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment. The complaint comes as X countinues different approaches, including new paid for services, to shore up more revenue, which is down 60 per cent since Mr Musk took over the company. While once advert posts had the word “promoted” below them, they now are seen with a smaller “ad” label, which do not seem to appear on some posts as the complaint mentions. Users have also complained on the platform that they are sometimes even unable to block or report some unlabeled ads. Read More Elon Musk’s new AI bot will help you make cocaine which proves it’s ‘rebellious’ How Elon Musk’s ‘spicy’ Grok compares to ‘woke’ ChatGPT Elon Musk unveils new sarcasm-loving AI chatbot for premium X subscribers VR tool aims to help rail passengers spot and safely tackle sexual harassment WhatsApp warning over fee to keep old messages ChatGPT Plus stops signups after major update

A senior executive at Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, which owns a larger share of global stocks than any

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PARAMUS, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 19, 2023--

Earnings reports this week from McCormick, Conagra, Constellation, Lamb Weston, and Levi Strauss. Plus, economic data on jobs, manufacturing, and services.

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The Supreme Court struck down President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program Friday, blocking millions of borrowers from receiving up to $20,000 in federal student debt relief, just months before student loan payments are set to restart after a yearslong pause.

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By Samrhitha A Netflix investors will assess risks from the ongoing strike in Hollywood when the company reports

The remains of a church from a sunken town known as the 'Atlantis of the North Sea' has been discovered beneath the mud on Germany's coast. The church is believed to be part of a site called 'Rungholt' located in the Wadden Sea. The town, which was previously thought to be a local legend, has not been seen since 1362 after it was submerged beneath the waves during an intense storm. However, new research has shown that the town really did exist and that they had built reinforcements around the settlement to protect them from the severe elements. The research was carried out on the area by archeologists from Kiel University, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, the Center for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology, and the State Archaeology Department Schleswig-Holstein. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Searching the Wadden Sea which is the longest stretch of intertidal sand and mud flats on Earth, the team, using geophysical imaging technology found man-made mounds that had been constructed to protect the town against the tides. Amongst this structure were the foundations of a building which the team determined had to be a church which may have been the location of the town centre. In a statement, Dr. Dennis Wilken, a geophysicist at Kiel University of Kiel University said: "Settlement remains hidden under the mudflats are first localized and mapped over a wide area using various geophysical methods such as magnetic gradiometry, electromagnetic induction, and seismics." Dr. Hanna Hadler from the Institute of Geography at Mainz University added: "Based on this prospection, we selectively take sediment cores that not only allow us to make statements about spatial and temporal relationships of settlement structures, but also about landscape development." Dr. Ruth Blankenfeldt, an archaeologist at ZBSA also suggested that the "special feature of the find lies in the significance of the church as the centre of a settlement structure, which in its size must be interpreted as a parish with superordinate function." The storm that washed away Rungholt has gone down in history as one of the largest to ever hit the region, affecting not just Germany but also the Netherlands, Denmark and the UK. The storm happened on January 1362 and has since been referred to as "the great drowning of men." According to historical reports, Rungholt was once a busy trading port for fishermen but was also populated by taverns, brothels and churches. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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