Month: October 2021

The past several weeks have been difficult for the social media behemoth Facebook, with a series of whistleblower revelations demonstrating that the company knew its signature platform was exacerbating all manner of social ills around the globe, from human trafficking to sectarian violence.    The tide…

A popular new music app uses artificial intelligence to “democratize” how musicians of all skill levels learn and play music. VOA's Julie Taboh has more. ...

Car rental company Hertz says it will buy 100,000 electric cars from Tesla.  Hertz interim CEO Mark Fields said the Model 3 cars could be ready for renters as early as November, The Associated Press reported.  Fields said the reason for the move was that…

The U.S. State Department plans to establish a bureau of cyberspace and digital policy in the face of a growing hacking problem, specifically a surge of ransomware attacks on U.S. infrastructure.  State Department spokesperson Ned Price said a Senate-confirmed ambassador at large will lead the…

Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen told British lawmakers Monday that the social media giant "unquestionably" amplifies online hate.  In testimony to a parliamentary committee in London, the former Facebook employee echoed what she told U.S. senators earlier this month. Haugen said the media giant fuels online…

The U.S. technology giant Microsoft says that the same Russia-backed hackers responsible for the 2020 SolarWinds breach of corporate computer systems is continuing to attack global technology systems, this time targeting cloud service resellers. Microsoft said the group, which it calls Nobelium, is employing a…

In Gaza and Syria, journalists and activists feel Facebook censors their speech, flagging inoffensive Arabic posts as terrorist content. In India and Myanmar, political groups use Facebook to incite violence. All of it frequently slips through the company's efforts to police its social media platforms…

Former Facebook data scientist turned whistleblower Frances Haugen plans to answer questions Monday from lawmakers in the United Kingdom who are working on legislation to rein in the power of social media companies.  Haugen is set to appear before a parliamentary committee scrutinizing the British…

Researchers at a specialized lab in Italy say understanding climate change effects requires recreating them in a controlled environment. So, they built one. VOA’s Arash Arabasadi has more. ...

Very few companies can boast of having their name also used as a verb. Zoom is one of them. The popularity of the videoconferencing platform continues to grow around the world despite continued questions about whether Chinese authorities are monitoring the calls. Since Zoom became…

Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company's motivations and interests. From research as recent as March…