Digital Age dilemma: Screen timeโs toll on Europeโs youth
The Polish Presidency wants to tackle the growing impact of digital media use on Europe’s youth.
Digital media
The EU wants to scan every message sent in Europe. Will that really make us safer? | Apostolis Fotiadis
Lawmakers argue that mass surveillance will help to protect children. But the implications for our privacy and security are staggeringIn my 20 years of being a reporter, I have rarely come across anything that feels so important โ and yet so widely unn…
EU asks X for internal documents about algorithms as it steps up investigation
Muskโs company has been accused of manipulating systems to give far-right posts and politicians greater visibilityThe European Commission has asked X to hand over internal documents about its algorithms, as it steps up its investigation into whether El…
Big tech is picking apart European democracy, but there is a solution: switch off its algorithms | Johnny Ryan
The latest actions of Musk and Zuckerberg are a sign of things to come, but the EU already has the power to give people back controlElon Muskโs latest attempts at direct political interference illustrate the grave danger that Europe is facing. He has s…
UK can be โAI sweet spotโ: Starmerโs tech minister on regulation, Musk, and free speech
Technology secretary Peter Kyle has the task of making Britain a leading player in the AI revolution, but says economic growth will not come at the cost of online safetyWith the NHS still struggling, a prisons crisis still teetering and Britainโs borro…
Spanish PM Pedro Sรกnchez denounces Elon Musk at Franco anniversary event
Sรกnchez accuses X owner of inciting hatred as country marks 50 years since start of its return to democracyPedro Sรกnchez has hit out at Elon Musk and his allies for โopenly attacking our institutions, inciting hatred and openly calling for people to su…
From low blows to Obama โbromanceโ: 11 moments in political life of Justin Trudeau
Canadaโs prime minister prides himself as a fighter, but he just announced he wonโt lead the Liberalsโ next battle.
What California can learn from the place that invented the initiative
Our California ballot-measure reporter heads to Switzerland on the 150th anniversary of its first federal referendum to see what a state mad about direct democracy can take away from the country that devised i
Europeโs emerging centers of power
Four thinkers present their predictions for the next new world order.
Spain introduces bill to combat online fake news
Minister calls bill demanding digital platforms publicly correct false information โgood news for democracyโSpainโs leftwing government has announced a bill extending a requirement to publish corrections to posts by digital platforms and social media i…
Smartphones should carry health warning, Spanish government told
Report by committee of experts also calls for doctors to ask about screen time during checkupsSmartphones sold in Spain should carry a label warning users about their potential health impacts, experts have told the Spanish government, in a report that …
Instagram actively helping to spread of self-harm among teenagers, study suggests
Researchers say parent company Meta is failing to remove explicit images on the social media siteMeta is actively helping self-harm content to flourish on Instagram by failing to remove explicit images and encouraging those engaging with such content t…
Romanian court orders recount of presidential electionโs first-round votes
Also, presidential office says officials detected online efforts to influence vote won by little-known far-right candidateRomaniaโs top court has ordered a recount of votes in the first round of the countryโs presidential election to rule out fraud.The…
Ireland orders X, TikTok and Instagram to curb terrorist content
Regulator issues online safety ruling after finding weak processes leave networks โexposed to terrorist contentโElon Muskโs X, TikTok and Metaโs Instagram have been ordered by Irish media regulators to take โnecessary measuresโ to prevent terrorist con…
French parents whose children took own lives sue TikTok over harmful content
Lawsuit alleges TikTokโs algorithm exposed teenagers to videos promoting suicide, self-harm and eating disordersSeven French families have filed a lawsuit against TikTok, accusing the platform of exposing their adolescent children to harmful content th…
Neo-Nazi group the Base found a safe space to recruit Americans: the Russian internet
The move is part of an ongoing theme among the far right when western apps remove or moderate their accountsTwo masked men are in frame, wearing camouflage and sitting opposite each other. A table is between them and theyโre in the middle of what theyโ…
Republican electric car attacks crash into Democratsโ closing message
In Michigan, New York, Montana and elsewhere, Republicans have seized on Biden administration electric vehicle policies.
Battle for Moldovaโs future: Gendered disinformation is Russiaโs secret weapon
Much like the US vice president, who has similarly been the target of disinformation campaigns, Sanduโs candidacy has been a lightning rod for misogyny cloaked in political rhetoric.
Commission says disinformation efforts failed to sway EU election
The EU election dodged a bullet โ but it may not be so lucky next time, as AI tools continue to evolve.
Axel Springerโs media assets to be split off in โฌ13.5bn KKR deal
Private equity group to control classified business while Mathias Dรถpfner and Friede Springer will run digital operationAxel Springer has struck a โฌ13.5bn (ยฃ11.3bn) deal that will see its media assets, which include Politico, Business Insider and newsp…
Brigitte Macron awarded โฌ8,000 in damages over false trans claims
Two women posted YouTube video in 2021 falsely claiming French presidentโs wife was previously a manA court has ordered two women to pay โฌ8,000 in damages to Franceโs first lady, Brigitte Macron, after making false claims she was transgender, sparking …
Donโt rejoice yet, Elon Musk and his tech bros-in-arms are winning the global battle for the truth | Carole Cadwalladr
The banning of X in Brazil and the arrest of Telegram boss Pavel Durov wonโt stop their liesIt was a breaking news alert to lift the spirits and make the heart sing. A tech billionaire arrested as he stepped off his private jet and detai…
โInternet prophetโ: arrest of Telegram CEO could strengthen heroic image
Pavel Durov will probably use French legal disputes to position himself as a champion of free speech, say observersWhen Pavel Durov came under criticism from Russian regulators over the spread of pornography on the VKontakte social media platform he fo…
Who is the Russian billionaire founder of Telegram? โ video explainer
On Saturday 24 April, the billionaire founder of the Telegram social media and messaging app, Pavel Durov, was arrested by French authorities as he disembarked from his private jet in Paris on his way from Azerbaijan. Officials said the arrest was part…
Telegram CEO charged in France for โallowing criminal activityโ on messaging app
Pavel Durov, who has French citizenship, faces prosecution over alleged failure to suppress spread of sexual images of children and calls for violenceThe head of Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been charged by the French judiciary for allegedly allowing cri…
What is Telegram and why has its founder Pavel Durov been arrested?
Russian-born tech entrepreneur is being held in relation to a cybercrime investigationPavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of Telegram, has left France and returned to his home in Dubai, in the latest twist to a case that began with his arrest in Pari…
Arresting Telegramโs Pavel Durov could be a smart move. Tech bosses care more about themselves than you | Chris Stokel-Walker
He has been praised for refusing to share data with the Kremlin. But if targeting CEOs worries Musk, Zuckerberg et al, so be itThe shock arrest of Telegram chief executive Pavel Durov as he stepped off his private jet in the Bourget airport near Paris …
Who is Pavel Durov? Billionaire founder of Telegram remains a mysterious figure
Once nicknamed the โRussian Zuckerbergโ, Durov has boasted of being the biological father of more than 100 children The Russian-born tech entrepreneur Pavel Durov has founded wildly popular social networks as well as a cryptocurrency, amassed a multibi…
Telegram app founder Pavel Durov to appear in court after arrest in Paris
Russian-born billionaire said to have โmiscalculatedโ by visiting France during inquiry into crime on his platformThe Russian-born founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, is due to appear in a French court later on Sunday, after his arrest at a Paris airport…
Spanish judge calls for end to social media anonymity in hate crime cases
Comments come after wave of false claims online about suspect in killing of 11-year-old boyA Spanish judge has called for an end to social media anonymity in the wake of a wave of online disinformation after the killing of an 11-year-old boy.Miguel รng…
Fortnite is back on mobiles after four years thanks to EU law
Players in EU can access game blocked by Apple and Google by installing it from app store of publisher Epic GamesThe video game Fortnite is back on mobile phones, four years after Apple and Google pulled it from their app stores. Android users worldwid…
โJust missedโ: German comedian loses job over Trump shooting joke
Sebastian Hotz, aka El Hotzo, was dropped from his radio show and provoked anger from Elon Musk after now-deleted posts on XA 28-year-old German comedian has got into trouble with Donald Trump supporters and then Elon Musk after sending a series of twe…
EU warns X it may face fines for โdeceptiveโ blue-tick system
Preliminary findings suggest platform breached Digital Services Act and could be fined 6% of global turnoverElon Muskโs X has been warned by the EU it potentially faces large fines after regulators said its blue-tick system for users is deceptive and i…
Disinformation networks โfloodedโ X before EU elections, report says
Analysis by Dutch researchers shows coordinated activity in France, Germany and Italy in run-up to ballotCoordinated networks of accounts spreading disinformation โfloodedโ social media in France, Germany and Italy before the elections to the European …
Meta breaches digital rules by charging users for ad-free social networks, EU claims
European Commission says โpay or consentโ model does not comply with Digital Markets ActMark Zuckerbergโs Meta has breached the EUโs new digital laws with an advertising model that charges users for ad-free versions of Facebook and Instagram, according…
Elon Musk does not grasp EU fears about disinformation on X, official says
EU commissioner Vera Jourovรก says tech firms must hire staff versed in legal and historical context of free speech in EuropeEurope live โ latest updatesElon Musk, the billionaire owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, lacks understanding of European co…
โWe got the energyโ: Irish childrenโs rap video goes viral
The Spark, a song created by a group of nine-to-12-year-olds including refugees, has amassed 8.6m viewsIt is called The Spark and has been declared the song of the summer โ a viral sensation from a group of children in Ireland who filmed the video in a…
EU investigates Facebook owner Meta over child safety and mental health concerns
Companyโs social media platforms, which also include Instagram, may have addictive effects, says European Commissionโข Business live โ latest updatesThe European Commission has opened an investigation into the owner of Facebook and Instagram over concer…
The next European Commission needs to address information power
Ahead of a new European Commission, following June’s European elections, ARTICLE 19โs Mark Dempsey outlines a vision for a European Union where the information environment is open, decentralised, fair, diverse, and inclusive.
Why is US threatening to ban TikTok and will other countries follow suit?
Joe Biden signs into law bill requiring Chinese owner to sell appโs US operationsSenate passes bill banning TikTok if owner does not sell itJoe Biden has signed into law a bill that requires TikTokโs Chinese owner to sell the social media appโs US ope…
EU threatens to ban TikTok Lite over reward-to-watch feature
App could be suspended unless child safety concerns addressed, in first use of sweeping new digital powersThe EU has said it will ban a new service launched by TikTok in Europe that it believes could be โas addictive as cigarettesโ unless the company o…
France being โpoundedโ by Russian disinformation, says minister
Jean-Noรซl Barrot says propaganda via social media and fake websites may distort EU election resultsFrance is being โpoundedโ by Russian disinformation that could distort the result of the upcoming EU parliamentary elections, Franceโs minister for Europ…
Independent to take control of BuzzFeed and HuffPost in UK and Ireland
Media companies to combine publishing and advertising platforms to target gen Z and millennialsThe Independent will take control of BuzzFeed and HuffPost in the UK and Ireland with the intention to create โBritainโs biggest publisher network for gen Z …
Disinformation attacks targeted voters, media and LGBTQ+ groups, EU report finds
Digital โwarfareโ included manipulating voices and images of celebrities such as Margot Robbie and Nicolas CageDisinformation attacks in 2023 targeted European democracy but also media outlets and LGBTQ+ organisations, and involved the malicious manipu…
โYou will not replace usโ: a deadly attack on a Slovakian gay bar โ and its link to a fast-spreading racist ideology
Fifteen months after two men were shot in Bratislava, evidence suggests the killer may have been helped by an unidentified US-based extremistThe October evening was warm and sunny. At about 7pm, two young men stepped out of the Teplรกreล bar on Zรกmockรก …
How Italy turned on influencers in the wake of a charity Christmas cake scandal
With a fraud investigation into Chiara Ferragni under way, she and fellow social media stars are under sharp scrutinyChiara Ferragni amassed a fortune through incessant selfie-taking as part of a marketing strategy that included imparting pearls of wis…
AI fuelling dating and social media fraud, EU police agency says
Artificial intelligence enables criminals to target thousands of victims at once, say Europol expertsArtificial intelligence, combined with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, is fuelling a boom in fraud on dating and social media apps, officials at E…
X to be investigated for allegedly breaking EU laws on hate speech and fake news
EU launches proceedings against Elon Muskโs social media platform under new Digital Services ActThe social media platform X, formerly Twitter, is being investigated for allegedly breaking EU law on disinformation, illegal content and transparency, the …
โFire on fireโ: how migrants got blamed for Greeceโs devastating blazes
In August, wildfires in Evros killed a group of people, including children, passing along a well-trodden migration route. Locals and politicians made the victims scapegoats for the disasterDr Pavlos Pavlidis leans back in his chair, puffing on a cigar…
French social media influencers feel the heat over new law on paid content
Authorities step up checks and โname and shameโ content creators who break rules in move to regulate industryWhen Marie Lopez started recording YouTube videos of makeup and hair tutorials in her bedroom in Lyon aged 16, she โate, slept and breathedโ so…
85% of people worry about online disinformation, global survey finds
UN announces plan to tackle phenomenon as survey finds people worry particularly about impact on electionsMore than 85% of people are worried about the impact of online disinformation and 87% believe it has already harmed their countryโs politics, acco…
TikTok and Meta warned over Slovakia election lies
EU officials privately told tech giants to step up efforts to tackle pro-Russia propaganda ahe Slovak election campaign.
How a podcast is giving Amsterdamโs โghost citizensโ a voice
Mission is to let undocumented people, without access to banking or healthcare, share trials of life It started, perhaps fittingly for a podcast based in Amsterdam, with a story about a bicycle.Mohamed Bah was on the train, nervously eyeing the bicycle…
Revealed: EU plan for โschoolyard guardiansโ to help tackle illegal online content
Exclusive: EU commissioner Thierry Breton reveals โbig, big fightโ to get tech giants to better police the content they deliverThe EU wants to recruit an army of โschoolyard guardiansโ to raise awareness of the worldโs first laws to fight online harms …
TikTok fined โฌ345m for breaking EU data law on childrenโs accounts
Irish data regulator says platform put 13- to 17-year-old usersโ accounts on default public setting, among other breachesTikTok has been fined โฌ345m (ยฃ296m) for breaking EU data law in its handling of childrenโs accounts, including failing to shield un…
TikTok food tourists leave a bitter taste in Amsterdam
Shop owners and residents are not taking kindly to โflash crowdsโ who come to pose and eat fast food in the cityโs quaint tangle of streets such as De 9 StraatjesIt is 3.30pm on a Friday and 28-year-old German Lisa Wulff is in a half-hour queue for bub…
TikTok opens datacentre in Dublin in bid to combat European privacy concerns
The Chinese-owned app also announced a UK-based cybersecurity company will independently audit data controls and protectionsTikTok has begun shifting European citizensโ user data to a newly operational site in Dublin as it moves to address western poli…
How the EU Digital Services Act affects Facebook, Google and others
Threat of big fines and EU-wide ban hoped to curb manipulative practices and harmful contentUnprecedented regulation forcing more than 40 online giants including Facebook, X, Google and TikTok to better police the content they deliver within the EU is …
The EU wants to cure your teenโs smartphone addictionย
Adolescents are unhappier than before. But is technology to blame?
TikTok to be fined for breaching childrenโs privacy in EU
Action by regulator follows ยฃ12.7m fine by UK for illegally processing data of 1.4m children under 13TikTok is to be fined potentially millions of pounds for breaching childrenโs privacy after a ruling by EU data protection regulator.The European Data …
Meta delays EU launch of Twitter rival Threads amid uncertainty over personal data use
New app developed by Facebook and WhatsApp owner is due to launch in the UK and US on ThursdayMark Zuckerbergโs rival to Twitter will not launch in the EU on Thursday amid regulatory uncertainty about the serviceโs use of personal data.Sources at Meta,…
French government could cut off social media during unrest, says Macron
Comments came as ministers blame young people using platforms like TikTok to incite violence after shooting of teenagerEmmanuel Macron has said the French government should consider controlling and cutting off social media networks โwhen things get out…
Mobile phones and other devices to be banned from Dutch classrooms
Education ministry in the Netherlands says tech is a distraction from learning and will only be allowed if specifically neededMobile phones, tablets and smartwatches will be largely banned from classrooms in the Netherlands from 1 January 2024, the Dut…