X and Meta Under Fire For Approving Ads Targeting Germans with Violent Anti-Muslim and Anti-Jew Hate Speech

Both social media giants X and Meta are currently under fire for targeting users in the country of Germany with hate speech. This was specifically to include anti-Muslim and anti-Jew content as the country gears up for the election period.

The news was shared after a new research firm called Eko went public with its findings on the matter.

Researchers tested whether or not both platforms’ ad review systems could approve or reject submissions linked to ads featuring violent terminology and hate speech themes. The fact that they were targeting the minorities in the country before the election just goes to show how they are playing along with the theme of immigration which has been a subject of debate during this time.

When both platforms’ ad review systems were tested to see if they would approve or reject those submissions, the final result was shocking, to say the least. There were so many calls for migrants to get jailed inside concentration camps or gassed. Similarly, shocking AI pictures of holy sites getting torched were on the rise.

Most of these test ads went unnoticed and were approved without hours of their submissions in the middle of February. Moreover, the elections begin this Sunday so the timing appears to be strategic indeed.

The study showed how all 10 of the ads featuring hate speech under discussion were approved by X while Meta also approved half of them for its Facebook app. Thankfully, the latter rejected the other half. The reason could be related to political sensitivity that it felt might impact voting.

The five ads that Meta said yes to included hate speech linking Muslims to viruses and rodents and branding them as those involved in the assault. Meta also said yes to ads responding to synagogues being burned to prevent the rat agenda of the Jews perceived globally.

None of the AI pictures showing disturbing actions were labeled as AI by either social media app which again raises the question on the issue. Still, seeing Meta approve 50% of the ads even though its policy needs disclosure of use for AI images is again alarming.

The additional approved ads featured messages attacking immigrants as rodents who keep flooding the nation to steal democracy. There are similar anti-semitic slurs that suggest how more and more Jews keep lying about matters related to climate change to destroy the entire EU industry and economic powers.

What is surprising is how X owner Musk has also used his app to intervene and speak on the German elections. He wished to persuade his users in the country to show support to the far-right AfD party so Germany could be saved. And the fact that he has millions of followers again says a lot about his influence.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Apple Confirms its Advanced Data Protection Feature Won’t Be Available to UK Users
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Apple Confirms its Advanced Data Protection Feature Won’t Be Available to UK Users

Tech giant Apple is raising eyebrows after confirming yesterday how UK users won’t be able to use its advanced data protection feature anymore.

The news applies to both new and existing users in the United Kingdom. As per the Cupertino firm, the security feature for encrypting iCloud data can no longer be offered and will be disabled soon.

The company says it's disappointed with the worrisome news, considering the growing number of data breaches and more threats linked to client privacy. In case you’re wondering, the decision comes after the British government shared that it would design a backdoor that gave UK authorities the chance to access user data stored inside the firm’s cloud servers. This is even though it was E2E.

The request was looked upon as unprecedented in modern times and really raised concerns with privacy advocates. They argued how the pattern would set the wrong tone for other nations to follow. As per the tech giant, the feature to switch on E2E for all iCloud backups via Advanced Data Protection is optional. But when active, it makes it impossible for anyone to view data present on iCloud by users opting in.

Meanwhile, one spokesperson for the British Home Office mentioned that it was not going to respond to comments. As far as Apple is concerned, they didn’t reveal more details about disabling this feature is going to work for those who switched it on before the news broke.

Many people, including those in opposition to the government’s decision, claim that the Home Office is depriving millions from getting access to this type of security offering. Therefore, many UK citizens are now at a higher risk than before of getting their personal data leaked into the hands of predators as well as criminals.

The iPhone maker did share how certain categories of data including health and messages stored through iCloud as well as sensitive payment details won’t be impacted by the change. They will remain encrypted for all. However, those in the UK cannot opt into E2E for various other data like pictures, notes, and more.

Those with ADP enabled claim they will provide customers with more information soon when it’s available, including the timeframe to disable it to ensure they’re using iCloud. Anyone located outside the UK will not be impacted through this change, Apple shared.

Plenty of media outlets including those in the UK like the BBC News shared that the feature was stopped for all new users starting at 3pm yesterday.

Image: DIW-AIgen

Read next: EU Gears Up To Charge Google For Violating Digital Markets Act
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

EU Gears Up To Charge Google For Violating Digital Markets Act

Google could soon be facing more charges in the European Union for violating the Digital Markets Act. The news comes after the company proposed more changes to its search.

The changes were outlined to be in violation of the DMA as per sources familiar with the issue. Many regulators were not happy with Google’s decision. Moreover, the big picture is the EU has been investigating Google since the start of March 2023.

The concerns had to do with Google favoring its own offerings including hotels, flights, and shopping, against other competitors in the industry for search. The Android maker made some recent tweaks to the results that were designed to address the concerns of both the industry and regulators.

Critics were seen arguing about how Google’s steps to make regulators happy were not good enough. However, the search engine giant tried to defend itself by claiming that this is the most that could be done as any further tweaks would get rid of useful offerings to users.

Between those lines, the regulators in the EU were said to be super frustrated by the company’s growing threats to switch basic search results to basic blue links, in cases when stricter demands were imposed.

Today, the DMA prohibits self-preferencing by companies and carries penalties of nearly 10% of the global yearly revenue. The changes are important because they signal a huge escalation in the region’s effort to overcome Google’s dominance. This may eventually give rise to serious fines.

In cases when the EU forces Google to alter ranking algorithms or portray formats, it could produce new opportunities for competitors to benefit from. Similarly, it would alter the existing placement for ads.

Stricter enforcement for this DMA is certainly going to make the playing field more leveled for many. It would reduce the company’s dominance in terms of ad distribution. There will be heavy reliance on the firm’s ecosystem. Experts want website owners to monitor the developments in a closer manner to adapt strategies in the right way.

Google’s fines are expected to arrive in the next few months. This is similar to the period when we find the verdicts for both Meta and Apple for similar fines. Their investigation began at a more advanced stage than this one.

Another leading probe into the firm will focus on whether it will restrict app developers from telling users about external offers outside the Google Play Store. We’re also seeing a lot of regulatory pressure faced by Google in the EU. these fines are going to set the precedent for how the law is enforced against big tech giants.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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• New Survey Shows Despite Many Online Safety Laws, Children Under 13 are Still Able to Use Social Media Accounts

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

New Survey Shows Despite Many Online Safety Laws, Children Under 13 are Still Able to Use Social Media Accounts

The eSafety Commission in Australia conducted a study which found that most of the kids under 13 often bypass social media age restrictions to use platforms like TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat. The study found that most of these kids use social media through their caregivers or parents’ accounts while 5% of them also use accounts of their friends or siblings. More than one-third of under 13 also said that they have their own social media accounts, while there were also kids under 13 who could access social media without having an account.

Even though there are many social media platforms that do not enable kids under 13 to make their own accounts, only 13% of the kids under 13 got their accounts deleted because they weren't of appropriate age. The study surveyed 1504 children between the ages of 8 to 15 to find out social media use among them, especially when the government of Australia is aiming for an under 16 social media ban by the end of 2025. The Online Safety Amendment bill has already been passed and 77% of the public is in favor of it.

Another report showed that 95% of the children under 16 have already used at least one social media platform, with 80% of these kids being between the ages of 8 and 12. The accounts focused in the report were YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitch and Discord. When these platforms were asked about their age restriction policies, it was found that all platforms except Reddit ask for user age when a new account is being made. But there are no age reassurance tools on these platforms that can verify that the age being entered is true.

Only YouTube is the platform that allows a child under 13 to use the platform under their parents account. This shows that many children are able to access social media just because there is no tool that can access their ages and this is a matter of deep concern. But some tools like Twitch, TikTok and Snapchat use proactive language analysis technology to detect under-13 users. TikTok also uses AI for facial age estimation while YouTube uses classifiers on channels. If the platforms like Reddit, Twitch, Discord and Snapchat detect that a user is under-13, they immediately terminate the account while TikTok does a manual review of the user account to find out what could be the users’ age. Meta platforms also use some tricks to stop someone under 13 to make an account and also use facial age estimation AI called Yoti when there's need.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Meta Unveils Insights About Its New Community Notes Model and Here’s What Users Can Expect
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

OpenAI's ChatGPT Surpasses 400M Weekly Users, Doubling Growth Amid Rising AI Competition

It looks like OpenAI is unstoppable as the company recently shared another mega milestone that it’s so proud of.

OpenAI's ChatGPT exceeded 400 million weekly active users in February, a spokesperson confirmed Thursday, reflecting AI's growing adoption.

The software giant recorded a whopping 300 million weekly active users in December of 2024. But that’s not all. The company’s business tier users also crossed the two million figure in February. This means it nearly doubled in stats than what we saw in September which is when the latest update arrived.

The greater number of figures comes just a few weeks after we saw Chinese startup giant DeepSeek launch its AI model. The company shared more on this front including how it might end up outperforming rivals in the West at a minimal cost while still offering the best performance features. That led to a stirrup in the AI space where America continues to dominate.

But that massive success is slowly dwindling now. Many are pointing fingers at questionable behavior including possible bans due to privacy leaks in the small startup. There are also a lot of doubts in terms of how the company was able to attain Nvidia’s H800 chips. These are used for training AI models, even though there’s a current ban on exports in the US for all Chinese goods.

The makers of ChatGPT shared the whopping twofold rise in developer traffic for the reasoning models over the last six months. There was similarly a fivefold rise for the o3 model since the launch that took place in late January. The figures were confirmed similarly by CNBC.

This is proof of the fact that 2025 is not being taken slow by the tech giant and despite competition springing up in all directions, OpenAI has its eyes set on the prize.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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• Governments Have Access! The Terrifying Reality of AI Data Collection by ChatGPT and DeepSeek

by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Governments Have Access! The Terrifying Reality of AI Data Collection by ChatGPT and DeepSeek

We use a lot of online services that use our data for different purposes but most of the time, we do not know where our data goes and how it is being used. There are also a lot of government contracts involved that enable the collection of data behind the scenes. Most of the online services we use put users in close contact with intelligence agencies if the data isn't being directly harvested and this creates privacy risks. There are a lot of concerns about privacy violations on DeepSeek but this also took us to some concerning things about privacy on ChatGPT.

DeepSeek has data servers in China but most of the discussions about its privacy are recycled and everyone's repeating the same things. This shows that there are no new insights about information regarding privacy on these platforms but there are some new things that have emerged. The context of data protection law in China is nearly similar to the US one and the Article 35 of China’s data security law states that authorities are allowed to collect user data if it is concerned with national security or for investigating crimes. This shows that data can be obtained under specific circumstances in China as well as the US where government agencies can request user data when it comes to national security. But to obtain that data, there are some approval procedures and users are required to cooperate with the data collection.

• Also read: Five Billion Accounts Breached, Cybercrime Hits Unprecedented Global Scale

The CLOUD Act (2018) in the US allows the authorities to access data which is stored in foreign countries if the servers are owned by businesses in the US. This allows authorities to collaborate with foreign authorities on sharing of data under specific conditions with cooperation. The US based companies like Meta, Google and Apple cooperate with law enforcement but people often forget how the law works in the US. China, as both regimes have an authoritative approach when it comes to data collection programs which have limited transparency and have many legal loopholes.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT depends on Microsoft’s Azure cloud infrastructure which is also used by the US government agencies. Microsoft also announced the launch of Azure Government Top Secret in August 2021 which will allow the government to handle top-secret data for the US intelligence agencies. This means that the infrastructure which is being used by ChatGPT is also being used by government agencies. Even though there are still some boundaries, they get blurred because OpenAI’s GPT-4 is integrated through Azure for the US government top secret cloud. This means that Azure cloud is being used for commercial applications as well as government functions.

On the other hand, data from DeepSeek is sent to China Mobile which is a state owned telecom company and is obligated to cooperate with law enforcement if it is a matter of national security. OpenAI says that it doesn't share user data with third parties, even if it's for marketing purposes but DeepSeek’s connection to China is a big concern due to several reasons. DeepSeek’s privacy policy says that it shares specific data to third parties but the policy doesn't provide any details and lacks transparency. This shows that both ChatGPT and DeepSeek are suspicious when it comes to protection of user data on these platforms.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Gemini, ChatGPT, DeepSeek: The Biggest AI Data Collectors Revealed
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Apple Releases Sleeker Version of Its Low Budget iPhone To Revive Demand

Tech giant Apple has just rolled out a more sleeker and expensive variant of its low-budget iPhone.

The company is trying to revive demand and widen its audience for the AI-featured model. The phone is 16e and was launched on Wednesday as the fourth-generation model that’s sold globally at a much lower cost than the standard and premium variants.

The former bargain-bin models were dubbed iPhone SE while the final variant was said to be rolled out in 2022. Similar to how its iPhone 16 lineup works, this 16e model features a unique computer chip for processing different AI offerings. Common features include text summary, audio, and the ability to produce emojis on the go. Another great feature is its smart virtual assistant, Siri. Users can also look forward to having a more powerful battery with a great camera.

All the upgrades translate into a much higher starting price for the iPhone 16e for $600. That’s a 40% rise from the usual $430 that was seen on the final iPhone SE. The only difference is that this 16e iPhone is more affordable than the usual iPhone 16 which comes for $800. The latest model will be seen across different stores by this month’s end but pre-ordering begins Friday.

The company shared more on this front including how the iPhone 16e would complete its lineup as a great device that’s more affordable in price so greater audiences can benefit from the entire iPhone experience.

Apple is also looking to balance the desire to offer more affordable iPhones that entice more users into the product sphere against self-interest in bettering profits from higher-priced products.

• Also read: The Demand for Premium Segment Smartphones is Increasing, with Apple Dominating the Market Share
  

The issue happens to be related to Apple wanting cheaper models to enter its luxury portfolio so that it’s good but not as great as the classic or premium offerings. While the company has been busy hyping its foray into the world of AI and Apple intelligence, the latest collection of features is yet to be shared with US users. Moreover, many nations don’t have this kind of technology on offer.

Apple is on a mission to better sales for its products in places like China. It’s not specified when this iPhone will be present in the region or when Apple Intelligence will be launched there. But we did see Apple strike a great deal with Chinese company Alibaba that might pave the way for better technology arising inside iPhones in the country this year in spring.

Other than handling AI, the latest 16e low-budget model has a unique look to previously launched SE models. It has a larger display screen and no home screen button. It features face recognition for unlocking like other premium models do.

• Related: Apple Intelligence Falls Short of iPhone Users’ Expectations

Image: apple NewsRoom

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World