Internet Use Boosts Life Satisfaction Worldwide

A massive global study reveals a clear link between internet access and higher levels of happiness and social wellbeing across the globe.

Researchers examined data from over 2.4 million people in 168 countries, looking at responses to questions about internet use, daily experiences, life satisfaction, relationships, and other aspects of psychological wellbeing. The results were strikingly consistent - those with internet access reported greater life satisfaction, more positive daily experiences, stronger social support, and better overall wellbeing compared to those without internet.

This finding held true regardless of country, age, gender, or other demographics. The only exception was young women aged 15-24, who reported somewhat lower "community wellbeing" scores with higher internet use, possibly relating to social media's documented negative impacts for that group.

While the large sample size and standardized wellbeing measures give confidence in the core finding, the study has some important limitations. It captures a snapshot, not changes over time, and relies on self-reported data which can be biased. More research using objective data tracking and longitudinal designs is still needed.

Importantly, the study does not prove internet use directly causes improved wellbeing - it simply shows the two are correlated. There could be complex factors behind this link that have yet to be untangled. But globally, at this point in history at least, human beings with internet access simply seem happier.

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by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Cracking the Link Building Code: Lessons from Google's Leaked Documentation

The leaked Google documents, comprising Google’s Content API Warehouse documentation, offer invaluable insights into the world of links and their impact on SEO success. With a vast repository of 2,500 modules and 14,000 attributes, these documents illuminate crucial strategies that link builders and PR professionals should prioritize. The documents yield key takeaways, including:

Google gives value to relevant sources

Google just ignores links that are not from relevant sources or, in other words, from within content (Source page) that has no relevance to the target page. It is clear from the use of anchorMismatchDemotion in the CompressedqualitySingnals module and a webfEntities attribute in the PerDocdata module. So being relevant must be the top priority of link builders.

Local links are more valuable than foreign

The attribute, localCountryCodes, in the document stores the countries to which the link is local. So when earning links, one must choose locally relevant sites. This would also be beneficial as far as promotion of sites and sales are concerned.

Google does employ sitewide authority score

Despite denying it many times, Google employs site authority score, similar to Moz’s Domain Authority (DA). Unlike Moz’s DA, it is not link-based, but rather it is more likely based on page-level scores.

Links on newer pages have more value

Links on fresh pages are more valuable than the older ones. In the documents, a fresh content (freshdocs) is equal to high-quality links. The revelation reinstates the fact that link-builders must keep earning links and keep them updated and fresh.

Google gives more importance to homepage

In the AnchorsAnchorSource module, there is a reference to an attribute, homePageInfo. As the name vividly indicates, Google is using homepages of sites to gauge whether they fall in the category of trustworthiness or untrustworthiness. So links from trusted sites would be more valuable and vice versa.

Google pays special attentions to news sites

The documents state if a link is from a news site, Google stores a bit more information about it, and it is classified as high-quality. It does make sense when one keeps in mind that news sites fall in the category of trusted and reliable.

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Links from seed sites are in the top tier

Google trusts seed sites the most, for they are spam-free and highly reliable. News sites, like The New York Times, are its example. Earning links from seed sites would be the best option for anyone, considering the fact that PageRank-Nearest Seeds has taken the place of simple and old PageRank.

Google utilizes trusted sources to judge links

The IndexingDocjoinerAnchorSpamInfo module, with a reference to trusted sources, indicates that Google judges the spammy nature of links on the basis of their linking to the number of trusted sources.

Google identifies and rejects SEO attacks by measuring link velocity

SEO attacks on sites have been the problem of the internet. The reference to The Anchor Spam Spike in the documents shows Google’s way of protecting against these attacks by identifying high volumes. Google’s plan is to identify the timeframe during which spammy links were marked, the average rate of spams identified and when the spike began.

Linked-based punishments if found guilty

Google can take strict measures against spam links by rejecting either all links coming from the same page or some of them. This could be costly if other links are not spam, but rather high-quality.

Toxic links are a reality

Again, despite the denial by Google about toxic links, a reference to BadBacklinks exists in the documentation. Google–similar to its stance regarding spam links–has decided to punish bad links.

Content of links explains context

Anchor text gives information about the context of links. But according to the leaked documents, not only anchor text, but also content surrounding a link sheds light on the context. The references, context2, fullLeftContext and fullRightContext, point to this fact. This content could merely be a way to remove any obscurity which usually surrounds links.

The documents revealed a lot about Google’s strategy regarding links. It rejects links coming from untrustworthy sources and values news-site links high. Consequently, you must be aiming to earn links from trustworthy sources, but that does not mean you should neglect quality content. Last but not the least, relevancy is the key.

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by Ehtasham Ahmad via Digital Information World

FTC Takes Aim at Meta: Alleges Concealment in Instagram, WhatsApp Acquisitions

Social media giant Meta is facing a barrage of legal and regulatory woes that threaten to shake its foundation. At the center of the storm is the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which accuses Meta of concealing vital information during the scrutiny of its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014.

Despite initial clearance, the FTC now seeks to unravel these deals, alleging Meta's anti-competitive maneuvers. Meta vehemently contests these claims, citing its substantial investments in the acquired platforms and challenging the FTC's authority.

Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic rue their past decisions, lamenting how Meta's acquisitions stifled competition, resulting in its social media dominance. This retrospective regret fuels growing skepticism towards Big Tech mergers, reflecting broader concerns about market concentration and consumer choice.

Across the pond, the Italian antitrust authority levies a €35 million fine on Meta for deceptive commercial practices related to data usage on Instagram. While seemingly insignificant in the grand scheme, this penalty underscores the increasingly blurred lines between antitrust and privacy regulations, signaling heightened scrutiny of tech giants' data practices.

Meanwhile, Meta faces internal strife as a former engineer files a lawsuit alleging discrimination and wrongful termination. The plaintiff accuses Meta of suppressing Palestinian content and conducting biased internal investigations. These allegations cast a shadow over Meta's corporate culture and add to mounting criticism of its content moderation policies.

Meta's response to these multifaceted challenges remains pivotal as it navigates choppy legal waters and public scrutiny. The company's fate hangs in the balance as it grapples with regulatory pressure, internal discord, and reputational damage.

In the court of public opinion, Meta's once-golden image tarnishes under the weight of mounting allegations and regulatory scrutiny. Whether it can weather this storm and emerge unscathed remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: Meta's future hangs in the balance as it confronts its most formidable challenges yet.

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by Web Desk via Digital Information World

Meta Faces Lawsuit from Palestinian-American Engineer Over Alleged Discrimination and Censorship

A Palestinian-American software engineer, Ferras Hamad, has sued Meta, accusing the company of discrimination and wrongful termination. Hamad claims he was fired in retaliation for investigating allegations that Meta censored Palestinian/Gaza creators and activists.

Hamad's lawsuit asserts he was targeted due to his Palestinian national origin and Muslim faith. He contends that his investigation into censorship was part of his job duties. Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, counters that Hamad was dismissed for violating data access policies.

These policies set strict limits on employee access to certain data, with breaches leading to immediate termination. Hamad's lawyers argue he did not violate any policies. They assert he was fulfilling his role when he investigated the alleged censorship of Palestinian content.

Hamad joined Meta in March 2022, working on machine learning and location-based recommendations. He regularly addressed user issues on Facebook and Instagram. In December, he flagged problems in an internal chat about Gaza-related user concerns. This included the misclassification of a video by Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza (known for covering the Hamas-Israel war) as "pornographic," which led to Azaiza's Instagram account being restricted.

The lawsuit states Hamad received conflicting instructions from Meta employees about his investigations. Some told him to stop, citing resolution or other teams handling the matter. After returning from vacation, Hamad was fired in February, just weeks before he was due to receive stock and his annual bonus. His attorneys claim this caused significant financial and professional harm.

Hamad's case reflects broader concerns from human rights advocates about Meta's treatment of content related to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Human Rights Watch reported in December 2023 that Meta systematically suppressed pro-Palestinian voices globally. Meta's Oversight Board also noted overbroad takedowns of content using Arabic terms related to the conflict.

Meta defends its content moderation practices, citing the challenges of managing vast amounts of content during polarized conflicts. However, Hamad's lawsuit suggests potential bias in how Meta handles Palestinian-related posts compared to other conflicts like the Russia-Ukraine war.

Filed in Santa Clara County, California, this lawsuit highlights ongoing debates about social media platforms' roles in moderating political content and the biases that may influence their policies and actions.

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by Asim BN via Digital Information World

Airborne Killer: Pollution Tops War and Disease in Global Mortality

A new study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology reveals that the greatest threat to humanity isn't war or terminal diseases, rather it is the pollution. The study says that even if the world is dying from a lot of diseases like malaria, HIV, TB and some other factors like alcohol, drugs and terrorism, nothing is as deadly as pollution. Due to pollution and climate change, about seven million deaths are reported each year all over the world.

Professor Jason Kovacic, Director and CEO of the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute says that many of the cardiovascular illnesses and deaths are due to pollution. Pollution can be caused by a lot of factors with exhausts cars and factories being the common one. There are also some other types of pollution like noise pollution, soil pollution and light pollution can contribute to cardiovascular diseases. Even the toxic chemicals from our homes can lead us to many diseases. Wildfires and increasing temperatures of the earth are more threatening to our heart health than smoking.

The air on earth is full of toxic smoke and when we inhale it, it reaches our bloodstream and circulates through our body via the heart. Light pollution also messes up with your body like disrupting your sleep patterns. These disrupted sleep patterns can cause weight gain and high blood pressure which are some causes of heart problems.

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Similarly high temperatures and heat make your heart work overtime and as a result, it stops functioning altogether. It also causes dehydration which also leads to kidney failure. Many houses also use water resistant clothes and non-stick pans which aren't exactly safe to use. These household items aren't tested for safety and are highly likely to be toxic. Only air pollution is the cause of seven million deaths per year and when it's a heatwave, the risk of premature death increases by 10%.

There are some solutions that can decrease pollution, which can ultimately help with cardiovascular diseases. More trees should be planted in cities and there should be a decrease in cars. We should also stop fossil fuel industries by giving them renewable energy sources which can help in cleaning the air. Government authorities should run campaigns about pollution and there should be complete medical training.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Concerns Over AI Dangers Mount As Former And Current OpenAI Employees Issue Warning In New Letter

A new open letter is making the rounds that speaks about the serious concerns linked to the world of AI and the dangers it poses for humanity.

The letter curated by former and current OpenAI workers highlighted the AI industry and its rapid boom with little to no oversight.

The fact that no safeguards are in place for accurate protection is another leading concern as discussions were made about the financial incentives the industry brings forth that have leading tech giants embroiled in making the right decision.

This also delineated how financial gains might be another reason why no whistleblower is making the attempt to speak up about the lack of protections that are risking the human race.

Avoiding effective regulations due to strong financial benefits is the goal right now, the letter boldly worded and that is putting the world at the center of an AI arms race, it continued.

In case you’re wondering, the market is expected to hit $1 trillion in revenue in the next ten years while firm try their best to get ahead of others in the competitive race.

For now, employees claim they don’t have accurate or enough data on what the technology is capable of doing but seeing so many tech giants turn a blind eye to this and prevent the right safety measures from coming into play is devastating.

They also spoke about how there is a serious risk possessed by such technology and only those possessing weak obligations are on the rise. They are not detailing accurate matters with governmental agencies nor are they working closely with top watchdogs, making the situation a very serious issue to begin with.

In the same way, we saw the letter add how the concerns are serious and that effective monitoring is the only way out, or else accountability must be taken by firms engaged in the reckless behavior.

A long list of confidential agreements end up blocking people from speaking up, the letter continued, while any whistleblower protections are not sufficient since they’re not focusing on unlawful behavior that puts thousands at risk.

The letter further adds how AI firms need to do the right thing and that includes avoiding non-disparagement documents. They also need to enable workers at these top firms to voice their concerns on the matter and the board to take into consideration what others are saying.

It would also be great for a culture to exist that supports criticism without widespread retaliation.

Four anonymous workers from OpenAI and seven previous ones put out their signatures on this front. They endorsed it as did other leading AI scientists in the field who have spoken about the alarming effects of AI for a while now.

Meanwhile, one rep from OpenAI just gave out an interview on this front including how the debate is valid and how the pace at which AI is progressing warrants adequate regulations.

While OpenAI does have its own security committed featuring board members and leaders of the tech giant, more needs to be done in this regard.

For now, one of OpenAI’s top partners, Microsoft, refused to comment on the subject. But as one can imagine, it’s a growing and controversial moment for OpenAI.

Last month, the company backtracked on several controversial decisions including one to make ex-employees select keeping vested shares in the firm and signing non-disparagement documents.

But OpenAI argued how they were altering their language to better portray how it feels on this subject and ensure better reflection of its values.

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New Warning Issued As Zero Day Bug Hijacks Top Brand And Celebrity Accounts On TikTok

TikTok is facing a new malicious code situation that is hijacking high-profile accounts on the app.

A leading number of official accounts belonging to both celebrities and brands were said to be compromised already including the likes of CNN as well as reality TV star Paris Hilton.

The incident arose when the malware was sent via a DM to the account present on the platform. It’s easy to be fooled as this doesn’t need any form of prior installation, clicks, or even a reply from respective users that’s beyond opening up messages.

Meanwhile, any account that’s compromised along the way isn’t able to publish content and so far, the company is not aware of the figure of users impacted so far.

The company’s rep was quick to speak up on the matter, adding how their security team is very aware of the alarming situation and doing everything they can to stop the exploitation and targeting of so many accounts.

They are also installing the right safeguards to prevent such attacks from arising in the future, it added. The company also mentioned working on how to protect compromised accounts, although they did clarify that the figures of those impacted are minimal.

The goal right now appears to be working alongside compromised accounts and ensuring their access gets restored as quickly as possible.

Today, TikTok has a global user base expanding to more than one billion users.

As far as leading news broadcaster CNN is concerned, they have also released a new statement on this front including how their security team is well aware of the situation and how threat actors are on the rise.

TikTok’s spokesperson said it’s working closely with CNN to ensure restoration of access and implementation of the best security measures to make sure accounts in the future don’t get impacted like this again.

They are dedicated to ensuring platform integrity is maintained at all times and that monitoring of more inauthentic behavior continues. It is not clear right now if the situation is under control or if threat actors continue to impact high-profile accounts.

Even those impacted are yet to speak about this in public including Paris Hilton who is said to be a popular name on the app.

This is not the first time that we’ve seen TikTok get embattled in such hacking behavior.

Last year during a similar time, the app went as far as to acknowledge how close to 700k accounts were hacked due to improper security across the app’s SMS channels linked to 2FA logins. This was right before the elections in Turkey were ready to take center stage.

Before that, we saw another serious vulnerability on the platform that forced hackers to take over profiles via a simple click. This was unveiled by researchers at Microsoft who made the company aware of the alarming situation.

On Tuesday, this shocking incident caused CNN to remove its account on TikTok for a while as a backend solution was being devised, in addition to other security measures.

We already know how America has scrutinized and called out TikTok as a growing concern for the country’s national security. This is why it’s been given a deadline to break away from its roots in China as many strongly feel Americans are being spied upon by Chinese government officials.

For now, no decision has been taken on separation from parent firm ByteDance but it’s quite clear from this situation that TikTok has its guard up and will do everything to ensure such a matter does not arise anything soon as the world watches.

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