The Guardian

Experts say government’s shutdown means civilians are not seeing evacuation warnings before bombs hit Middle East crisis – live updates As US and Israeli bombs continue to rain down on Iran, civilians are enduring the bombardment in the dark – cut off from comprehensive information about where strikes have happened, which medical facilities are affected and where new rounds of bombings are about …

Conspiracy claims have erupted over the star’s appearance. These days, I can’t blame people for endless skepticism Last week, my ex-wife texted me. She usually does that when my son falls off his skateboard or learns a new expletive to say on the playground. This time was different. “Have you seen Jim Carrey?” she asked, apropos of nothing we had discussed previously. It was as if she was asking …

Fredrik Gertten travels the world meeting activists who have had enough of corruption, kleptocracy and structural inequality – while Bregman’s nuggets of wisdom are a joy Bicycling Dutch historian Rutger Bregman does not identify as an optimist. He says that optimism makes people lazy, complacent that history is going in the right direction. Instead he describes himself as a “possibilist”, a beli…

Social media feeds have been flooded with fake battle scenes since start of Iran conflict Elon Musk’s X will ban users from making money on the platform if they repeatedly post unlabelled AI-generated war videos, after social media feeds were flooded with fake battle scenes from the Iran conflict. The social media platform, which has about half a billion monthly active users, will suspend people …

Getting platforms to comply with the restrictions was no small feat. But it’s too early to measure the real-world mental health outcomes As the UK becomes the latest country to consider following Australia’s lead on a social media ban for teenagers, a question Australians are repeatedly being asked is: how is it going? “Our data is still minimal,” says Caroline Thain, national clinical adviser wi…

Digital censorship analysts argue current outage is mostly about survival and control for the country’s rulers US-Israel war on Iran – live updates Roughly four hours after the first strikes hit Iran, the country was again plunged into a full internet blackout – severely curtailing the information that has left the country and the ability of Iranians to communicate with each other. A small fracti…

Age-verification systems require collecting sensitive data to support the biometric information. In no time, the internet will become a fully surveilled digital panopticon Over the past year, more than two dozen countries around the world have proposed bans on social media use for vast swathes of their public. These laws, often proposed under the guise of “child safety”, are ushering in an era of…

Trials to form part of three-month consultation on Keir Starmer’s plans to tackle negative effects of smartphone use Hundreds of teenagers will be enlisted to trial social media bans in the coming months with overnight digital curfews and daily screen time limits also tested as part of Keir Starmer’s plan to crack down on the negative effects of smartphone use . The trials will be part of a three…

Ofcom says it could now apply to courts to issue fines and demand internet service providers to block access to site A suicide forum linked to multiple deaths in Britain has been ruled in breach of the Online Safety Act after it failed to properly block access to UK users when ordered to do so last year. Ofcom, the online regulator, said it could now apply to the courts to issue fines and demand …

We are raiding the Guardian long read archives to bring you some classic pieces from years past, with new introductions from the authors. This week, from 2019: It’s not about foreign trolls, filter bubbles or fake news. Technology encourages us to believe we can all have first-hand access to the ‘real’ facts – and now we can’t stop fighting about it By William Davies. Read by Andrew McGregor Cont…

Australian journalist Ryan Heath, who will lead expansion, says focus will be on journalism that ‘connects the dots globally’ Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The US political news site Politico will establish an Australian outlet later this year, bringing its brand of insider politics and policy news to the Canber…

AI is already coming for our dignity – tricking us with amusing little online scenarios. How long before it comes for everything else? Moan all you like about technology, there’s no denying it’s made friendship easier. In an ideal world you would spend quality time together, have deep meaningful chats on the phone and swap well thought out, insightful texts. But when you’re busy, tired, or just n…

Not enough support for freed victims, say aid agencies, with growing numbers sleeping on the streets, unable to travel home without passports or money Charities and aid workers have called for urgent international government support for victims of south-east Asia’s deadly scam compounds , following a damning report by Amnesty International. The numbers of survivors of cyberscam “farms” left desti…

Iran has shown how plausible blackouts now are, with far-reaching consequences for the internet as we know it During the height of Iran’s blackout in January, people could still access a platform that, in some senses, was like the internet. Iranians could message family members on a government-monitored app and watch clips of Manchester United on a Farsi-language video-sharing site. They could re…

Freedom.gov appears to be administered by a branch of the Department of Homeland Security The US has built a portal that will allow Europeans to view blocked content including alleged hate speech and terrorism, according to Reuters . The portal, “ freedom.gov ”, will allow worldwide users to circumvent government controls on their content. The site features a graphic of a ghostly horse galloping …