By Elizabeth Howcroft LONDON Crypto firm Tether said on Monday that it had frozen $225 million worth of

President Joe Biden’s education chief says he’s open to using “whatever levers” are available — including federal money — to discourage colleges from giving preference to the children of alumni and donors

Instagram posts are appearing elsewhere – without the knowledge of the people posting them, and with no way for them to stop it once they do find out. Users of the company’s new Instagram Threads app are finding that their posts are being automatically pushed into their Facebook feeds. The company said that it was “listening” to complaints from users who did not want their posts appearing on Facebook. But it does not appear to be offering a way for people to stop it happening. Meta has often used its various platforms to promote other ones. New apps and features have often been shown in the Facebook news feed especially, as the company looks to introduce them to other users. Facebook has long shown posts from Instagram Reels, for instance. And companies on WhatsApp can buy ads that show on Facebook. The new behaviour means that people loading up their Facebook news feed may see posts that their friends have put on Instagram Threads. Users complained that the behaviour was unwanted, however. “How do I keep my Threads from showing up on Facebook? I want [them] separate and I don’t want my Threads randomly showing up on Facebook in someone’s “for you” or any place else,” one user wrote in response to the company. In response, it confirmed that it had made the change but did not appear to suggest it would be changed. The update was intended “to make it easier for people to see the latest content from Threads directly on Facebook and Instagram”, it said, but it is “listening to feedback like yours as we continue to build on this”. Author and YouTuber Hank Green was one of many who pleaded with the company to go back to keeping posts on the various apps separate. “It’s really true that threads and Facebook have very different cultures and I choose specifically what I want to go where. For other people, that can actually be a little unsafe. Let people opt out. Next time, build that first. Move slow, fix things. We’re doing good here,” he wrote in response to the official Threads account. Read More Google and Meta withdraw from upcoming Web Summit Mark Zuckerberg uses Meta’s new AI Ray-Bans to braid daughter’s hair WhatsApp update will change how you log in forever

Wall Street’s embrace of artificial intelligence poses acute risks to the US financial system and demands more congressional

Elon Musk said X is looking to charge users a “small monthly payment” to tackle bots on the social network. X, previously known as Twitter, underwent a number of changes soon after Mr Musk, the multibillionaire owner of X Corp, bought it. The platform is now “moving to having a small, monthly payment for use of the X system” to combat “vast armies of bots”, Mr Musk said during a livestreamed conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. However, the Tesla and SpaceX boss did not reveal how much the new plan would cost X users or what additional features subscribers would get. During the interaction with Mr Netanyahu, the Tesla titan said X currently has 550 million “monthly users” who generate 100-200 million posts per day, adding that the new change to include a “small amount of money” would be necessary to deal with the problem posed by bots. It is unclear whether the multibillionaire’s figure of 550 million monthly users includes bots and also doesn’t allow comparison with the metric the company has used to estimate its user base, called the “average monetizable daily active users” or mDAUs. But the Tesla chief said a subscription fee would make it more difficult for bots to create accounts as each bot would need a new credit card to register on the platform. “It’s the only way I can think of to combat vast armies of bots,” Mr Musk said. “Because a bot costs a fraction of a penny – call it a tenth of a penny – but even if it has to pay a few dollars or something, the effective cost of bots is very high,” he explained. The platform has historically struggled to curb the activity of bots, with the company’s former security chief Peiter Zatko telling the US Congress last year that Twitter does not even know how many automated accounts are on the site. Mr Musk even cited bots as a reason to back out of buying the social platform before he went on to complete the deal. He has also previously discussed putting all of Twitter behind a paywall. Now the Tesla boss says the rebranded X plans to introduce a new “lower tier pricing” than the $8 monthly fee it currently charges subscribers of its premium Blue service. The conversation between Mr Musk and the Israeli prime minister also touched on topics like AI regulation as well as hate speech and antisemitism on X. Mr Musk claimed during the discussion that he’s “against antisemitism” and “anything that promotes hate and conflict”. “I’m sort of against attacking any group, you know. Doesn’t matter who it is,” the Tesla chief said. Online safety experts have warned about the social media platform under “free speech absolutist” Mr Musk offering “amnesty” to accounts previously suspended for hate speech and instigating violence. Under the Tesla titan, the platform restored the account of former US president Donald Trump who was banned following the 2021 Capitol riots, as well as the profiles of Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene and neo-Nazi website founder Andrew Anglin. Read More The ex factor: the very complex love life of Elon Musk Netanyahu visits Elon Musk in California with plans to talk about artificial intelligence Turkey's President Erdogan and Elon Musk discuss establishing a Tesla car factory in Turkey Elon Musk’s X finally agrees to try and settle Twitter’s mass layoffs lawsuit Musk the messiah (or a very naughty boy?) Elon Musk warns of ‘civilisational risk’ posed by AI at historic gathering

A photo of Elon Musk kissing a female humanoid robot has gone viral, but everything is not as it seems. Billionaire Musk is known for being at the forefront of modern technology, with his ventures including industries such as space travel and electric vehicles. Following new footage that reveals Tesla’s integrated robot Optimus can walk, navigate and pick things up, AI-generated images of Musk kissing female-looking humanoids have gone viral. They emerged alongside a tweet by Twitter user Daniel Marven, in which he claimed the Tesla and Twitter CEO is designing a robot “that has been manufactured specifically designed with artificial intelligence with the personality and the characteristics of the female that he dreams of”. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Accompanying the tweet were four AI-generated images of Musk kissing three different “wife” robots and dancing with one other. Unlike the real Tesla robots, the AI-generated ones have distinctive human-like facial features. The images possess some of the current tell-tale signs that an image has been created by AI – for example, the hand on one of the robots possess too many fingers, while the hands on other robots in the images are distorted. Some of the viral images appear to have been created by the same user who was behind the viral image of Pope Francis wearing a puffer jacket, Pablo Xavier. On Instagram, one user joked: “Elon finally found his soulmate(s).” Someone on Twitter said: “iRobot is about to be reality.” While the images are fake, many are impressed with the advancements that Tesla has made with its real robot, Optimus. 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.

NEW YORK An American couple accused of laundering $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency stolen from the 2016 hacking of

When Asia’s biggest computing and electronics show kicked off this week, one name was conspicuously absent: Intel Corp.

Walt Disney Co. expects to fall tens of millions of subscribers short of its last publicly stated 2024

Electron Capital Partners founder Jos Shaver told investors he’s stepping down as chief investment officer and managing partner

Chinese demand for Australian iron ore will remain strong despite the nation’s disappointing post-pandemic recovery, according to Fortescue

The list of ways Twitter could be better is long. Many users think the platform