Are you a Facebook user? Here’s how to claim your share of $725m settlement in privacy lawsuit
Facebook users in the US have just one more month to apply for a share of a $725 million privacy settlement. Meta agreed to pay the fine late last year, but those affected must explicitly ask for it by sending in a form. Those that don’t will miss out on any share of the vast settlement. The payment is part of an agreement, reached with Meta, to settle a lawsuit that alleged it allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Anyone in the US who has had a Facebook account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, is eligible to receive a payment. To apply for the settlement, users can fill out a form and submit it online, or print it out and mail it. The deadline is August 25. It’s not clear how much money individual users will receive. The larger the number of people submitting valid claims, the smaller each payment will be since the money has to be divided among them. The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Trump’s election as the 45th president. Uproar over the revelations led to a contrite Zuckerberg being grilled by U.S. lawmakers and spurred calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts. Facebook’s growth has stalled as more people connect and entertain themselves on rival services such as TikTok, but the social network still boasts more than 2 billion users worldwide, including an estimated 250 million in the U.S. Beyond the Cambridge Analytica case, Meta has been under fire over data privacy for some time. In May, for example, the EU slapped Meta with a record $1.3 billion fine and ordered it to stop transferring users’ personal information across the Atlantic by October. And the tech giant’s new text-based app, Threads, has not rolled out in the EU due to privacy concerns. Additional reporting by Associated Press Read More Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide
2023-07-27 23:59
Supreme Court Lets Work Resume on Gas Pipeline Backed by Manchin
The US Supreme Court cleared the way for Equitrans Midstream Corp. to resume construction on its controversial Mountain
2023-07-27 23:21
Harrowing animation shows how Oppenheimer's atomic bomb worked
The release of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has generated a flurry of interest in the man behind the atomic bomb, Julius Robert Oppenheimer. The film tells the story of the physicist and his role in the Manhattan Project, which was the the codename given to the development of the A-bomb. Oppenheimer, who referred to himself as “death, destroyer of worlds”, was the figurehead of the project, which involved splitting the atom and the devastation wrought by two atomic bombs being dropped on Japan in 1945. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter The first bomb was dropped on the city of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. It killed tens of thousands of people. It was nicknamed Little Boy. Oppenheimer Atomic bomb How it Works | First Nuclear Bomb www.youtube.com A second bomb fell days later on the city of Nagasaki, this time nicknamed Fat Man. Historians believe more than 200,000 people died as a result of the events, with millions more severely affected. Now, YouTube channel AiTelly has produced a video of what exactly happens inside such a weapon to create such a wave of destruction. The animation shows that when the bomb falls, it activates a switch that triggers a trio of navy gun primers, which in turn ignite a charge inside the weapon. Four silk powder bags containing two pounds of cordite, an explosive powder, push the the uranium projectile forward at 300 metres-per-second. The uranium collides with more uranium at the front of the bomb, combining them with four polonium initiators, which create nuclear fission. This is the act of splitting the atom, and it is what creates the huge expulsion of energy – the explosion. 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.
2023-07-27 21:56
Elon Musk forces firms to pay X $1,000 to keep gold ticks
Elon Musk will force companies on X to pay at least $1,000 (£770) per month in order to keep their verified status on the platform. From 7 August, any brand that does not pay the fee to the company formerly known as Twitter will lose the gold check mark that appears next to the account name. The latest strategy, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes amid declining ad revenues and fresh competition from text-based platforms launched by Meta and TikTok. Mr Musk responded to the report by stating that brands could also pay $1,000 per month for a verified organisation subscription. “This more than pays for itself in organic reach,” he posted on X. “The reason for the $1,000/ month is to set a moderately high bar to be a verified org, so that an org must be of non-trivial size to qualify and to make it expensive for scammers to create millions of accounts.” Earlier this month, the tech billionaire revealed that the company was suffering from negative cash flow issues after advertising revenue dropped by 50 per cent following his $44 billion takeover of the platform. Mr Musk has undertaken aggressive cost-cutting measures, which included firing more than 6,000 employees. He has also appointed former advertising executive Linda Yaccarino as the firm’s CEO in an effort to woo advertisers. The rebranding from Twitter to X could also open up new revenue streams, with Mr Musk planning to transform the social network into an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat. X has already secured money-transmitting licences in three US states, which will allow payments to be integrated into the platform. Ms Yaccarino said on Monday that she believed X represented “the future state of unlimited interactivity”, integrating audio, video, messaging, and the ability to book and pay for goods and services. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” she posted on X. “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential. X will do that and more.” Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s ‘X’ is already trademarked by Mark Zuckerberg What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X?
2023-07-27 19:22
Microsoft Teams Faces EU Antitrust Probe in Salesforce Clash
Microsoft Corp. faces a European Union probe over concerns it’s driving out competition by unfairly bundling its Teams
2023-07-27 18:17
EU opens antitrust investigation against Microsoft over Office and videoconferencing Teams bundling
The European Union is opeing a formal antitrust investigation targeting Microsoft into the software company’s Teams messaging and videoconferencing app over concerns that its bundling with its Office productivity sofware suite gives it an unfair edge over competitors
2023-07-27 18:16
Privacy group challenges Ryanair's use of facial recognition
DUBLIN Digital rights group NOYB on Thursday filed a complaint against Ryanair, alleging that the airline is violating
2023-07-27 18:15
Why did JiDion clash with Pokimane? ‘I was just talking s**t on my stream’
JiDion said, 'I just hate when people make it more than it needs to be, instead of it being funny, they're making it'
2023-07-27 17:57
Pushing back on bias: Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In launches girls leadership program
Ten years after publishing her book “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead,” Sheryl Sandberg will launch a girls leadership program Thursday through her foundation to respond to what she calls stubborn gender inequities
2023-07-27 17:15
Tristan Tate backs Elon Musk amid online trolling with 'Oppenheimer' wordplay during $44B Twitter makeover, Internet dubs Twitter CEO 'Meta destroyer'
Tristan Tate said, 'Show me you lack knowledge of history without showing me you lack knowledge of history'
2023-07-27 15:48
Elon Musk’s Twitter rebrand ‘blocked’ in Indonesia over alleged links to porn sites
Billionaire Elon Musk's Twitter rebranded 'X' has been reportedly blocked in Indonesia because of the country's laws on online pornography and gambling. Mr Musk announced on Sunday that Twitter has been rebranded to X as part of his plan to create an “everything app”. The Tesla CEO, who took over the platform in October 2022, replaced the famous blue bird with the new logo on Monday after crowdsourcing ideas from users over the weekend. The domain X.com which he previously used for PayPal will redirect to Twitter.com, Mr Musk said. Subsequently, millions of Indonesians were unable to access the social media platform, Al Jazeera reported. Indonesia’s ministry of communication and informatics said the site was restricted as the domain was previously used by sites that did not adhere to the country’s laws against "negative" content. The Indonesian government has been in contact with X to clarify the nature of the site, according to Usman Kansong, the director-general of information and public communication at the ministry. “Earlier today, we spoke with representatives from Twitter and they will send a letter to us to say that X.com will be used by Twitter,” Mr Kansong said. Twitter users trying to access the social media platform allegedly received a message on the screen saying that the website had been blocked by the ministry for violating local laws and regulations. Gatria Priyandita, a cyber policy analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Al Jazeera, that Indonesia tends to block websites that are considered to be “offensive, criminal, or dangerous to social harmony". “These may include pornographic materials, sites that violate intellectual property laws, those that incite hate or are filled with false information.” “Given that Twitter can be freely used in Indonesia, I doubt removing X.com from the list of banned sites would be a great challenge, so long as Twitter can demonstrate that the domain name truly does direct to Twitter." Indonesia in 2022 threatened to block popular sites including Netflix, Google, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter if they did not make a submission to the ministry “detailing the content that appears on their platforms”. Read More Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s ‘X’ already trademarked by Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta for ‘social networking services’ Elon Musk wants to turn tweets into 'X's'. But changing language is not quite so simple Typhoon Doksuri heads towards China after causing destruction in Philippines Singapore prepares to execute first woman in 20 years Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi ‘moved to house arrest’ after more than a year in jail
2023-07-27 15:24
How to watch the UCI Cycling World Championships 2023 for free
The Tour de France has only just finished, and we're not too far away from
2023-07-27 12:26