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By Samuel Woodhams | Digital rights researcher and journalist
Last week, Joe Biden sounded the alarm over the lack of child protections online during his State of the Union address. He called for a ban on the collection of kids’ personal data and the prohibition of targeted advertising to children, saying: “We must finally hold social media companies accountable for the experiment they are running on our children for profit.” |
Manos Tsakiris, Royal Holloway University of London
Even if you think you are good at analysing faces, research shows many people cannot reliably distinguish between photos of real faces and images that have been computer-generated. This is particularly problematic now that computer systems can create realistic-looking photos of people who don’t exist.
Jessica Vomiero, Jan 19 —
News outlets and traditional media publishers have long viewed the growing volume of social influencers as direct competition for their audience’s attention and loyalty. In Cision’s 2022 State of the Media Report, 14% of journalists told us that instances of influencers bypassing traditional media were one of their biggest challenges of the year. Continue reading
From cartoon memes to cancel culture, hashtag activism and “new” languages, it’s undeniable that Black Twitter has shaped much of today’s internet culture.
“Black Twitter” describes a digital gathering of culturally connected Black people who use Twitter to discuss matters related to Black communities. These cultural conversations and inside jokes have resulted in new trends, digital behaviour and changes in the platform’s digital tools.
Yubo, a live social discovery platform for Gen Z, is the first major social media app in the world to implement comprehensive age-verification for all its users, a groundbreaking milestone in a key area of concern in online safety today. Continue reading
Vasilis Katos, Bournemouth University
It’s a crime story fit for the digital era. It was recently reported that a number of restaurants in New York had been targeted by internet scammers threatening to leave unfavourable “one-star” reviews unless they received gift certificates. The same threats were made to eateries in Chicago and San Francisco and it appears that a vegan restaurant received as many as eight one-star reviews in the space of a week before being approached for money.
By Kim Harrisberg and Nita Bhalla
JOHANNESBURG/NAIROBI, Aug 3 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Social media used to be a source of light entertainment for Nora, a 47-year-old Zimbabwean domestic worker living in South Africa. But lately, it has become a source of fear.
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Rachael Molitor, Coventry University
The finale of ITV’s Love Island was watched by millions of fans, many commenting live on social media as Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti were awarded the £50,000 prize. The four couples who made the final will now leave the Majorca villa where they’ve kissed, cried and cracked on for the past eight weeks. When they enter the outside world, they will be met with massive amounts of attention.
It’s no secret that we’re living in an increasingly digital world. ‘Screen time’ has all but consumed our workplaces, educational settings and simply put, our free time. According to new research by Builder.ai®, over 27% of Americans claim to have over 30 apps on their phone, but more than half of those admit to using only 10 or less. And of those apps being used, over 30% rank social media, entertainment and finance as the top three types of apps they could not live without. Continue reading
The average Brit uses just 10 of the 17 apps on their phone according to new research from Builder.ai. Yet, over a third (35%) claim that they couldn’t live without using social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The survey of 2,000 UK adults reveals all about Brits’ app habits, Continue reading