Discord claims over 200 million monthly active users, planning an IPO
Discord is also opening up Quests to more games and launching official game-themed items in its store
WhatsApp and Messenger will become interoperable with third-party apps using the Signal protocol
The interoperability, however, is only meant for EU residents
Ransomware group scams its partner out of a share of $22 million by faking an FBI takedown
Who said there is "honor among thieves?"
Google updates Search to fight low-quality spammy content, doesn't mention "AI" at all
An effort to neutralize "emerging tactics" designed to game search results
A hot potato: While we wait for the global revolution that AI algorithms will surely bring, Google is trying to survive the incoming spam-apocalypse enabled by automatic content generation at scale. The company is seemingly improving web search with more stringent rules against meaningless web pages, but their track record for the past few years is far from positive.
Facebook to remove the News tab in US and Australia as company shifts its focus
Meta continues prioritizing user content over news
Wikipedia downgrades CNET's reliability rating due to AI generated content
CNET said the experiment was done "quietly," not "in secret"
Three more publishers sue OpenAI over ChatGPT copyright infringement claims
The New York Times is in the middle of a similar lawsuit against OpenAI
Tumblr and WordPress blogs will be exploited for AI model training
Automattic is striking an AI-focused deal, but may have already abused some private content
A ransomware group says it has stolen almost 200GB of data from Epic Games (updated)
The group has not posted any evidence supporting its claim
OpenAI accuses New York Times of paying someone to "hack" ChatGPT
A questionable use of the word "hack"
Threads appears to be winning the Twitter succession war
Daily downloads have doubled or even tripled X's for three months
Criminals hijacked more than 8,000 trusted domains, sent millions of malicious emails
The campaign has reportedly been operational since at least 2022
Nvidia GeForce Now will start showing ads to free tier users
But only while you're waiting in a queue, not during gameplay
Class action suit filed over license plate data, allegedly violating the privacy of millions of California drivers
The defendant says its actions did not violate any California law
LockBit ransomware group bounces back a week after law enforcement had disrupted hacking operation
LockBit claims sensitive details of Donald Trump's court cases prompted the operation
Number of data breaches falls globally, triples in the US
The US has overtaken Russia as the most-breached country
Why it matters: A recent study investigating data breaches throughout 2023 reveals a total of 299.8 million accounts were compromised across the year. While this figure is alarmingly high, it represents an 18% reduction from the 366.7 million breached accounts in 2022. Despite this global decrease, the situation in the United States has worsened, with the number of breaches tripling, positioning it as the world's most frequently targeted country.
Yemeni Houthi rebels suspected of damaging underwater Red Sea cables responsible for 17% of global internet traffic
The group previously threatened an attack
Supreme Court set to decide major First Amendment cases for online speech
Monday will be a big day for people and platforms alike
In context: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases involving opposing state-level rulings regarding censorship of online speech. The hearing raises critical First Amendment issues, and the high court's decision could radically change the future of online discourse.
Mark Zuckerberg seeks to avoid personal liability in social media addiction lawsuits
Zuck: Just because I'm boss doesn't make me liable
Google confirms it is definitely not killing off Gmail after hoax goes viral
But Google Pay is shutting down
Anti-piracy warnings have the opposite effect on men, new study says
Meanwhile, educational warnings had no effect on either genders
Avast fined $16.5 million by FTC for selling user browsing data to advertisers
Avast harvested customers' data while promising them privacy
Apple secures iMessage against threats from quantum computers
Signal was the first mainstream messaging app to offer post-quantum security
Reddit signs lucrative AI content licensing deal with Google in anticipation of IPO
Valued at around $60 million per year
YouTube continues to dominate the streaming pack, Netflix takes second spot
January was a record-setting month for streaming in the US