Meta has launched an investigation into reports that Instagram is promoting child sexual abuse material through its algorithm. Facebook’s parent company set up a taskforce to investigate the claims after the Stanford Internet Observatory (SIO) said it found “large-scale communities” sharing paedophilia content on the platform. The SIO said it discovered the child sexual abuse material (CSAM) following a tip from the Wall Street Journal, whose report on Wednesday detailed how Instagram’s recommendation algorithm helped connect a “vast pedophile network” of sellers and buyers of illegal material. Instagram’s ‘suggested for you’ feature also linked users to off-platform content sites, according to the report, with the SIO describing the site as “currently the most important platform” for these networks. “Instagram has emerged as the primary platform for such networks, providing features that facilitate connections between buyers and sellers,” Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center wrote in a blog post. “Instagram’s popularity and user-friendly interface make it a preferred option for these activities.” Instagram users were able to find child abuse content through explicit hashtags like #pedowhore, which have since been blocked by Instagram. “Child exploitation is a horrific crime,” a Meta spokesperson said. “We’re continuously investigating ways to actively defend against this behaviour, and we set up an internal task force to investigate these claims and immediately address them.” Meta said that it had already destroyed 27 paedophile networks over the past two years on Instagram, as well as removed 490,000 accounts violating child safety policies in January alone. Other social media platforms hosting this type of content were also identified by the SIO, though to a much lesser extent. The SIO called for an industry-wide initiative to limit production, discovery and distribution of CSAM, while also urging companies to devote more resources to proactively identifying and stopping abuse. “Given the multi-platform nature of the problem, addressing it will require better information sharing about production networks, countermeasures, and methods for identifying buyers,” the organisation said. “SIO hopes that this research aids industry and non-profits in their efforts to remove child sexual abuse material from the internet.” Read More Instagram plans ChatGPT-style AI chatbot with multiple personalities Mark Zuckerberg reveals new VR headset ahead of Apple ‘Robot taxi’ with ‘ghost driver’ interacts with pedestrians in new experiment Earth hit directly by brightest explosion ever seen, scientists say

BOCA RATON, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 21, 2023--

'One Dance' rapper Drake – real name Aubrey Graham – was left in an awkward situation on Saturday, when the musician with a reported net worth of around $250m (£200.7m) tried to donate just short of $500 to an online streamer, only for his VISA card to be declined. Graham was hosting a livestream when the incident occurred, over on the platform Kick - which seeks to rival popular streaming site Twitch. The stream itself was to promote the online cryptocurrency casino Stake, and it was when Drake wanted to gift $499.99 in subscribers to a streamer known only as Daisy that he experienced some problems. And it all unfolded while Daisy was broadcasting herself getting a foot massage. As you do. After entering a verification code to authorise the purchase, the dialogue box disappeared to show the payment hadn’t in fact gone through and Drake would have to try and pay again. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter “Embarrassing,” said Graham in a high-pitched, sing-song voice, as fellow rapper Lil Yachty smiled at the mishap next to him. Given Drake’s aforementioned net worth, it’s unlikely the musician himself is in any financial difficulty, and after looking at someone off-camera and being made aware of the situation, it wasn’t long before the card issue was resolved and he was back to splashing the cash. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop the blunder from going viral on social media, as some were left shocked by how he said the word “embarrassing”, apparently: Others also noticed Drake was sporting fingernails with yellow nail varnish, with Marca reporting that UFC athlete Israel Adesanya - one of the artist’s favourite sportsmen to bet on – paints his fingernails as well. Well, at least Drake’s getting his card declined in style… 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.

By Sheila Dang Twitter's head of trust and safety Ella Irwin told Reuters on Thursday that she has

TL;DR: As of August 12, you can get Microsoft Office Home and Business 2021 for

India’s Chandrayaan-3 lander only touched down on the Moon a month ago, but already it's made some major contributions to science. The spacecraft arrived on the satellite's unexplored south pole on 23 August, securing India's place as the first country to achieve this ambitious feat. Its rover, named Pragyan (or "wisdom" in Sanskrit) then embarked on an exploration of the rocky terrain, equipped with two instruments for conducting chemical experiments. And now, India's space agency, the ISRO, has published the ground-breaking data collected by the bold robot. Pragyan's findings offered a new, detailed insight into what makes up the lunar soil. And whilst scientists were unsurprised by the presence of iron, titanium, aluminium and calcium in the rocks, they were stunned to note a much higher concentration of sulphur than expected. The discovery is significant for a number of reasons. Most significantly, perhaps, because the sulphur could be used to help create a human base on the Moon. As Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, a planetary scientist, pointed out in a piece for Science Alert: "Astronauts and robots could travel from the south pole base to collect, process, store and use naturally occurring materials like sulfur on the Moon – a concept called in-situ resource utilization. "In-situ resource utilization means fewer trips back to Earth to get supplies and more time and energy spent exploring. Using sulfur as a resource, astronauts could build solar cells and batteries that use sulfur, mix up sulfur-based fertilizer and make sulfur-based concrete for construction." Gillis-Davis went on to explain that sulfur-based concrete has a number of advantages over the more common variety used in building, pointing out that it "hardens and becomes strong within hours rather than weeks, and it's more resistant to wear". "It also doesn't require water in the mixture, so astronauts could save their valuable water for drinking, crafting breathable oxygen and making rocket fuel," he added. The presence of sulphur near the Moon's south pole also suggests that highland soils at the lunar poles could have very different compositions to highland soils at the lunar equatorial regions. This would have key implications for our understanding of how the Moon works as a geological system, given that sulfur mainly comes from volcanic activity. Still, there's plenty of work to be done. And while this is all just one small step in Chandrayaan-3's mission, it could mean a great leap in how we view our dear celestial companion. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter 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.

EDMOND, Okla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 7, 2023--

The CEO of OpenAI says he is encouraged by a desire shown by world leaders to contain any risks posed by the artificial intelligence technology his company and others are developing

By Aditya Soni Meta's Threads could quickly become a major threat to Elon Musk-owned Twitter, thanks to its

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 25, 2023--

LOUISVILLE, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 5, 2023--

Companies based outside Europe are reviewing securities they’ve listed in the bloc, as the implications of an overlooked