A bankruptcy attorney in Indianapolis is suing Meta, Facebook’s parent company, over repeated account suspensions.Mark S. Zuckerberg claims that having the same name as Facebook’s founder has led to significant business disruptions. Zuckerberg alleges that Meta has accused him of impersonating a celebrity, resulting in the shutdown of his business pages.”I’ve got better things to do than sue Facebook,” he told WTHR-TV. “I’d rather not pick a fight with them, but I don’t know how else to make them stop.”In the past eight years, his business account has been suspended five times, while his personal account has faced four suspensions.Emails from Meta show apologies for the errors, but Zuckerberg insists it takes months to regain access.”The last time they did it, it was over six months before I got my account turned back on,” he said.The bankruptcy attorney estimates that these suspensions have cost him thousands in advertising revenue.”It’s like buying a billboard and then having it covered up. It’s not fair,” he added.The lawsuit seeks to compel Meta to keep his accounts active and cover his attorney fees and lost advertising money.As for the other Mark Zuckerberg, he joked, “If he wants to fly here personally and say ‘I’m sorry,’ I’d probably take him up on that.”Currently, his account is back online, and a Meta spokesperson stated that it had been disabled in error, expressing appreciation for his patience.
INDIANAPOLIS —
A bankruptcy attorney in Indianapolis is suing Meta, Facebook’s parent company, over repeated account suspensions.
Mark S. Zuckerberg claims that having the same name as Facebook’s founder has led to significant business disruptions.
Zuckerberg alleges that Meta has accused him of impersonating a celebrity, resulting in the shutdown of his business pages.
“I’ve got better things to do than sue Facebook,” he told WTHR-TV. “I’d rather not pick a fight with them, but I don’t know how else to make them stop.”
In the past eight years, his business account has been suspended five times, while his personal account has faced four suspensions.
Emails from Meta show apologies for the errors, but Zuckerberg insists it takes months to regain access.
“The last time they did it, it was over six months before I got my account turned back on,” he said.
The bankruptcy attorney estimates that these suspensions have cost him thousands in advertising revenue.
“It’s like buying a billboard and then having it covered up. It’s not fair,” he added.
The lawsuit seeks to compel Meta to keep his accounts active and cover his attorney fees and lost advertising money.
As for the other Mark Zuckerberg, he joked, “If he wants to fly here personally and say ‘I’m sorry,’ I’d probably take him up on that.”
Currently, his account is back online, and a Meta spokesperson stated that it had been disabled in error, expressing appreciation for his patience.
Meta currently has lots of priorities Mark Zuckerberg likely never would have imagined back in the early days of Facebook. The company has pivoted from social networking to the metaverse and, most recently, to AI. But somehow, one of its earliest — and most useless — features has not only survived but is apparently getting a revamp. I’m talking, of course, about the poke, which Meta is once again trying to revive.
The company is making the storied feature easier to find by adding pokes back to user profiles in the Facebook app, according to a post it shared on Instagram. And you can track all poking-related activity between you and your friends at facebook.com/pokes. It even looks like there’s a Snapchat-streak like aspect where different emojis appear based on how many pokes have been exchanged.
Just in case you weren’t on Facebook two decades ago, “poking” was something of a novelty in the early days of the social network. At the time, there weren’t that many features for interacting with your friends. You could leave comments on their profile and … you could “poke.” The feature never really did anything, but depending on who it came from it was considered something between creepy or flirty. As Meta notes in its Instagram post, poking never really went away, but it was de-emphasized over the years and has been largely forgotten by users.
But the company has for some reason been trying to get poking to make a comeback for a while now. Meta said last year the feature was “having a moment” and that there had been a 13x spike in pokes after the company began surfacing the feature in the Facebook search bar. Now, it seems Meta is trying to build even more momentum for it, presumably for the current generation of younger Facebook users.
Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year he wants to bring back more “OG” Facebook features like… being able to find content posted by your actual friends. And it’s hard to get more “OG Facebook” than poking. Meta has also been on a years-long mission to win over “young adults,” so it might see the jokey feature as a way to appeal to a generation used to taking their Snap streak extremely seriously.
The classic feature from Facebook’s early days lets users get a friend’s attention with a virtual nudge of sorts. While the poke fell out of use ages ago, the company has more recently seen an uptick in its use among younger users, which has now prompted it to make the poke a more central part of the Facebook experience.
Now users are able to poke their friends from a new, dedicated button directly on their Facebook profile, which will alert the poke’s recipient through their notifications. In addition, Facebook users can see who poked them and find friends to poke at facebook.com/pokes. On this page, users will be able to track their “poke count” with friends, which grows every time they poke each other. They can also dismiss pokes if they don’t want to reciprocate.
The poke-tracking feature is largely designed to appeal to younger users who have grown up with gamification elements built into their social apps, like Snapchat and TikTok Streaks. These features ostensibly help friends keep track of those they message most, but streaks have come under regulatory scrutiny and have even led to lawsuits because of their addictive nature, as they keep kids hooked on the apps.
By highlighting poke counts and making the poke more prominent on Facebook, Meta wants to create a similar engagement mechanism. As users increase their poke counts with a friend, different icons will appear next to the friend’s name, like a fire emoji or “100,” among others.
This isn’t the first time in recent months that Facebook has tried to revive the poke. In March 2024, the company said it had made it easier for users to find the poking page via search and would make it easier to poke a friend after searching for them. These small changes led to a 13x spike in poking in the month after the changes, Meta said at the time.
As for why you’d want to poke someone, that’s up to users to decide. Facebook never explained the purpose of the poke, leaving it open to interpretation. A poke could be a way to catch someone’s attention, flirt, or just annoy them, depending on the user’s intent.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025
Poke counts may never become as popular as streaks, but adding them is clearly a signal that Meta is looking to boost Facebook engagement.
According to research from Jon Haidt, author of “The Anxious Generation,” which focused on social media’s potential harm to children’s brain development, Snap had known about streaks’ habit-forming nature for years. An article he co-published with a senior research scientist at NYU Stern, Zach Rausch, included quotes from internal documents that show Snap employees discussing how popular streaks were and how effective they were at driving engagement.
Though Facebook today remains a cash cow for Meta’s business, fueling its longer-term bets in areas like AI and metaverse projects, it has long been criticized for failing to appeal to younger users — a demographic that’s been declining, particularly in the U.S. The company has tried to recapture the youth market with various initiatives, including the short-lived, college-only feature Facebook Campus, shuttered in 2022, and more recently, a Gen Z-focused redesign.
Unrelated photos appearing to show people being arrested and escorted by police are circulating in Malaysia with false claims they show Dutch police detaining members of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The photos previously circulated in reports and posts that made no mention of the individuals being Israeli soldiers, and a spokesperson for the Dutch police told AFP that none of the pictured officers are wearing the force’s official uniform.
“Dutch police arrested Israeli Major General Shaitan Shaul, commander of the armoured corps, this morning on charges of war crimes in Rafah,” reads the Malay-language caption of a Facebook image shared on August 14, 2025.
The photo shows a man in handcuffs being escorted by law enforcement officers.
The caption goes on to claim he was arrested while on holiday at The Hague, adding that Dutch authorities are on a campaign to arrest IDF soldiers after the “International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a life sentence to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu”.
Screenshot of the false post taken on August 24, 2025 with a red X added by AFP
Screenshots of the false Facebook post captured on September 1, 2025, with red Xs added by AFP
Reverse image searches, however, show the pictured individuals are not linked to the Israeli military.
The ICJ has also not issued any ruling on Netanyahu — though the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for him and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza, including using starvation as a method of warfare (archived link).
The Hamas attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 63,459 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the UN considers reliable.
Unrelated photos
The first falsely shared photo was previously used in news reports by British newspapers The Telegraph and The Sun, which identified the man as Johnny Morissey, a UK national who was arrested in Spain in September 2022 for his role as a cartel enforcer (archived here and here).
Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the image from The Telegraph’s report in September 2022 (right)
The second photo, showing a policewoman handcuffing a woman who is lying face down, was previously shared on June 1, 2025 by the user AshnaGopal on DeviantArt, a platform for digital artists (archived link).
The owner of the account told AFP the photo was taken in the United Kingdom. The person who took the photo had not posted it elsewhere but gave the DeviantArt user permission to share it on their account, they said.
“This is actually a police training exercise, and the woman on the bottom is actually a student volunteer. You can see they are actually in a gym with a foam floor,” they said on August 25.
Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the image posted on DeviantArt (right)
The photo of a woman flanked by two men, one in a police uniform, was previously published by The Daily Mail in an August 2016 article titled, “Collapsed in the street, urinating in doorways and being carted off by police: It’s just another Bank Holiday night on the Toon for Newcastle revellers” (archived link).
The photo’s caption also makes no reference to the woman being an Israeli soldier.
Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the image published by The Daily Mail in 2016 (right)
The photo of a woman covering her face while a policewoman appears to escort her, was used in a September 2019 article by German daily Rheinische Post, which identified the woman as an Instagram beauty influencer who was charged with illegally injecting fillers into people’s lips and noses (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the false post (left) and the image published by Rheinische Post in 2019
A spokesperson for the Dutch national police, Lilian Scholten, told AFP that “no officers wearing a Dutch uniform can be seen” in the falsely shared photos.
Policemen in the Netherlands traditionally wear dark navy uniforms with bright yellow horizontal stripes across the chest and shoulders and are also equipped with utility belts and body cameras or other gear (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the false posts (left) and a photo showing Dutch police in their official uniform (right)
Belgian authorities in Antwerp did briefly hold and question two Israeli citizens attending the Tomorrowland music festival in July 2025 after they were accused of war crimes by pro-Palestinian groups (archived link). Their names were not made public.
AFP has repeatedly debunked false and misleading claims about the war in Gaza.
A pilot suffered “significant injuries” after an aircraft crashed and caught fire Aug. 28 in a field in Unadilla Township, according to the municipality’s police department.
The small, single-engine aircraft crashed and caught fire around 3:51 p.m. at the southern end of Richmond Field, the Unadilla Township Police Department wrote on Facebook. The township is located between Stockbridge and Pinckney.
Livingston County Central Dispatch received a crash detection notification from an iPhone, followed by calls from nearby residents. First responders found the pilot outside the aircraft, according to police.
The pilot, a 22-year-old man from Ohio, was flying from Charlevoix to Toledo, according to police. He was taken by ambulance to the University of Michigan Hospital.
The cause of the crash is unknown. Unadilla Township police, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
Anyone who may have witnessed or heard the crash is asked to call 734-498-2325.
Two people are in the hospital after they were injured in a plane crash Friday morning in New Smyrna Beach, the city’s fire department said on Facebook. It happened around 10:30 a.m. NSB fire and police units responded to the area of South Street and Clarendon Avenue, just outside of the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, regarding an airplane crash. Two people were on board at the time of the crash, and both were transported to Halifax Hospital. Area roads are closed. >> This is a developing story and will be updated
NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. —
Two people are in the hospital after they were injured in a plane crash Friday morning in New Smyrna Beach, the city’s fire department said on Facebook.
It happened around 10:30 a.m.
NSB fire and police units responded to the area of South Street and Clarendon Avenue, just outside of the New Smyrna Beach Municipal Airport, regarding an airplane crash.
Two people were on board at the time of the crash, and both were transported to Halifax Hospital.
Area roads are closed.
>> This is a developing story and will be updated
This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
As eastern India’s Bihar gears up for elections later this year, politicians across party lines have begun canvassing in the state, but footage of a massive crowd does not show a rally in support of opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi as claimed in social media posts. The video was filmed weeks earlier at a bullock cart race in Maharashtra state.
“Watch the charisma of Rahul Gandhi. If the media has courage, let them show it on TV,” reads a Hindi-language Facebook post shared on August 19, 2025.
The post also shares a 25-second clip showing a large crowd gathered in an open ground with a text overlay that reads, “Rahul Gandhi has earned this. The public has come to see Rahul Gandhi.”
Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on August 20, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The false claim surfaced after Gandhi launched a month-long “voter rights” rally in the key battleground state of Bihar on August 17 (archived link).
His Congress party will challenge the state’s ruling coalition formed by the Janata Dal United party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in an election expected later this year (archived here).
The party also alleged the Election Commission of India (ECI) had embarked on a “mass disenfranchisement” exercise after it gave voters in the state just weeks to prove their citizenship, requiring documents that few possess in a registration revamp.
The ECI has called Gandhi’s accusation “false and misleading”.
Its Marathi-language caption reads, “Pedgaon Hind Kesari ground 2025. Heartbeat of Millions — Mathur 1001”, with a text overlay reading, “look how the white Mathur (bull) walks”.
Mathur 1001 is a cross-bred bull famous in the region for winning several races (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the clip shared in the false posts (L) and the Instagram video
Subsequent keyword searches found multiple videos of the race on YouTube and Instagram shared in June 2025 (archived here and here).
Images of the venue on Google Maps also match the visuals in the false clip (archived link).
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared video (L) and image on Google Maps, with matching features highlighted by AFP
Tropical Storm Fernand is now rumbling through the Atlantic
>> JUST GETTING IN THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE 05:00AM ADVISORY ON TROPICAL STORM FAIR. NOT NOW. THIS IS REALLY JUST MAINTAINING STRENGTH, BUT IT’S OVER 300 MILES NOW EAST-NORTHEAST OF EVEN BERMUDA. SO THIS IS JUST OVER THE OPEN ATLANTIC AND IT IS MOVING TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST AT 12 MILES PER HOUR. SO NOT LOOKING ALL TOO IMPRESSIVE. AND WITH THE LATEST SPAGHETTI PLOTS, WE DO HAVE A REALLY GOOD CONSENSUS THAT HIGH PUNCHING THAT THIS CONTINUES TO TRACK NORTHEAST HEADING TOWARD THE FAR NORTHERN SUBTROPICAL ATLANTIC WHERE I DO EXPECT IT TO EVENTUALLY DISSIPATE BY THE END OF THE WEEK. SO THE LATEST FORECAST CONE SHOWING THAT WHAT WE COULD SEE SOME WOBBLES IN INTENSITY, PERHAPS SOME OCCASIONAL STRENGTHENING, NOT FOR LONG. WE DO NOT EXPECT THIS TO REACH HURRICANE STATUS OF HER. AND WE EXPECT THIS TO EVENTUALLY ON WEDNESDAY TRANSITION TO A POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE MEETING. IT WILL HAVE LOST ALL OF ITS TROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND IT POSES NO THREAT TO THE U.S.. THAT IS, OF COURSE NOT. THE ONLY THING I’M MONITORING THIS MORNING ON TOP OF TROPICAL STORM FAIR NON-LOCAL INTO THE SOUTH OVER THE WINDWARD ISLANDS THIS MORNING. A DISTURBANCE WITH LOW ODDS FOR DEVELOPMENT. WE’RE TALKING HAD DECREASED OVER THE WEEKEND TO JUST 10%. SO OVER THE NEXT 2 DAYS, EVEN THE NEXT WEEK, LOW ODDS TO SEE SOME SORT OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, REGARDLESS OF DEVELOPMENT, THIS IS STILL PRODUCING DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND STORMS. EVEN THOUGH THE COVERAGE IS DECREASING A BIT THIS MORNING AND FOR THE WINDWARD ISLANDS, AT LEAST SOME GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE THROUGHOUT E DAY TODAY, EVEN INTO TOMORROW AS THIS TROPICAL WAVE MOVES WEST. SO AS OF NOW, NOT SEEING HIGH LIKELIHOOD THAT THIS EVER ACTUALLY DEVELOPS. BUT WE’RE GOING TO BE STAYING ON TOP OF IT, OF COURSE, AT THIS POINT IN HURRICANE SEASON. WE’RE ALSO 3RD THROUGH OUR STORM NAMES LIST. THE NEXT NAME ON THE LIST. GABRIEL AND THEN UMBERTO. SO WE’RE GONNA BE WATCHING FOR THAT. AND KEEP IN MIND, WE’RE JUST ABOUT 2 WEEKS OUT FROM THE STATISTICAL PEAK OF HURRICANE SEASON. ALL RIGHT, LIVE RADAR, SWEEPING, CLEAR WATCHING SOME OF THOSE SPOTTY SHOWERS JUST OFF THE COAST OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY. BUT MOST OF US IN GREAT SHAPE AFTER A VERY SOGGY WEEKEND, HOWEVER, WITH EVEN SOME FLOODING CONCERNS FOR PARTS OF LEE COUNTY. SO WHO IS FAVORED TO SEE THE RAIN AGAIN TODAY? WHILE COASTAL SPOTS, SOME SPOTTY SHOWERS AND STORMS INTO THE MORNING HOURS. AND WE’RE LOOKING AT THAT POSSIBLE HEADING INTO THE AFTERNOON. SCATTERED STORM. SO WE DO NOT EXPECT THE COVERAGE TO BE NEARLY AS HIGH AS WHAT WE SAW SATURDAY OR SUNDAY. HOWEVER, YOU ARE STILL GOING TO WANT THE UMBRELLA HANDY. WE’RE LOOKING AT A RINSE AND REPEAT PATTERN STILL EVERY SINGLE DAY OVER THE NEXT WEEK. SO NOT SEEING THE RAINY SEASON WEAKENING ANYTIME SOON. IN FACT, THE RAINY SEASON DOESN’T COME TO AN END UNTIL USUALLY THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER. SO WE STILL HAVE QUITE A WAYS TO GO TEMPERATURE NO RELIEF THERE. LOW TO MID 90’S EVERY SINGLE DAY MORNINGS WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 70’S. SO PRETTY SEASONAL. I DON’T EXPECT RECORD HEAT, BUT WE’RE ALSO NOT GETTING IN ON ANY SORT OF COOL DOW
Tropical Storm Fernand pulls away from US
Tropical Storm Fernand is now rumbling through the Atlantic
The Atlantic Basin remains active as Tropical Storm Fernand spins over the open Atlantic and a disturbance near the Windward Islands has a low chance for development.Tropical Storm Fernand At 5 a.m. Monday, Tropical Storm Fernand maintained strength with sustained winds at 50 mph. It’s currently 360 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at 12 mph.It is forecast to head toward cooler sea surface temperatures and high wind shear, making a transition to post-tropical by Wednesday.Fernand poses no threat to the U.S. and is expected to dissipate by Thursday.Invest 99LNear the Windward Islands, the National Hurricane Center has designated a tropical wave as Invest 99L in the region highlighted in yellow. Chances for development have decreased to only 10% as the system tracks west. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall and gusty winds are the main threats in the Windward Islands over the next two days.As 99L pushes deeper into the Caribbean, there is potential that it could reach an area of more favorable development conditions later this week. Count on the Gulf Coast Storm Team to keep you informed.
FORT MYERS, Fla. —
The Atlantic Basin remains active as Tropical Storm Fernand spins over the open Atlantic and a disturbance near the Windward Islands has a low chance for development.
Tropical Storm Fernand
At 5 a.m. Monday, Tropical Storm Fernand maintained strength with sustained winds at 50 mph. It’s currently 360 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at 12 mph.
It is forecast to head toward cooler sea surface temperatures and high wind shear, making a transition to post-tropical by Wednesday.
Fernand poses no threat to the U.S. and is expected to dissipate by Thursday.
Invest 99L
Near the Windward Islands, the National Hurricane Center has designated a tropical wave as Invest 99L in the region highlighted in yellow.
Chances for development have decreased to only 10% as the system tracks west. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall and gusty winds are the main threats in the Windward Islands over the next two days.
As 99L pushes deeper into the Caribbean, there is potential that it could reach an area of more favorable development conditions later this week. Count on the Gulf Coast Storm Team to keep you informed.
Tech bro Mark Zuckerberg’s company has been caught in one of the most disturbing scandals yet. Reuters uncovered an internal Meta document that allowed its AI chatbots to flirt with children and engage in sensual conversations. The revelation sparked outrage, and Meta only reversed course after getting caught.
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM/NEWSLETTER
Threads app logo on a smartphone screen with the Meta logo above it.(Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Meta AI policy allowed chatbots to flirt with kids
According to internal “GenAI: Content Risk Standards,” Meta’s legal, policy, and engineering teams signed off on chatbot rules that made it acceptable for bots to describe a child as “a youthful form of art” or engage in romantic roleplay with minors. Even worse, the guidelines gave room for chatbots to demean people by race and spread false medical claims. This was not a bug. These were approved rules until Meta faced questions. Once Reuters started asking, the company quickly scrubbed the offensive sections and claimed it had been a mistake.
We reached out to Meta, and a spokesperson provided this statement to CyberGuy:
“We have clear policies on what kind of responses AI characters can offer, and those policies prohibit content that sexualizes children and sexualized role play between adults and minors. Separate from the policies, there are hundreds of examples, notes, and annotations that reflect teams grappling with different hypothetical scenarios. The examples and notes in question were and are erroneous and inconsistent with our policies, and have been removed.”
Meta told CyberGuy that their AI policies prohibit content that sexualizes children. (Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
Big Tech puts profit over kids’ safety
Let’s call this what it is. Meta didn’t stop this on its own. It only acted when exposed. That shows Big Tech’s priorities: money, engagement, and keeping kids glued to screens. Safety? Not even on the radar until someone blows the whistle. Meta has repeatedly shown it couldn’t care less about your children’s well-being. It’s about maximizing time online, pulling in younger users, and monetizing every click. This latest scandal proves once again that parents cannot rely on tech companies to protect kids.
Congress pushes Meta to explain disturbing AI rules
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and a bipartisan group in Congress are demanding that Meta come clean. Lawmakers want to know how and why these policies ever got approval. Hawley called on Meta to release all internal documents and explain why chatbots were allowed to simulate flirting with children. Meta insists it has “fixed” the problem, but critics argue these corrections only came after they were exposed. Until real regulations arrive, parents are on their own.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers is demanding that Meta release internal documents and explain why chatbots were allowed to simulate flirting with children.(Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson)
How parents can protect kids from risky AI chatbots
While Congress investigates, families need to take immediate steps to protect their children from the dangers exposed in Meta’s AI scandal.
1) No unsupervised access to AI chatbots
Children should never have free access to AI chatbots, including Meta AI. The internal documents show these systems can cross boundaries that no parent would approve of. Supervision is the first line of defense.
2) Turn on parental controls across all devices
Enable parental controls on phones, tablets, and computers. These tools give you more visibility and limit access to risky apps where inappropriate chatbot conversations could happen.
3) Talk with kids regularly about AI and online dangers
The Meta revelations prove AI can go places parents would never expect. Ongoing conversations with your children about what is safe and what is not online are essential for their protection.
4) Use content filtering tools to block risky apps
Apps like Bark allow parents to block or filter certain programs where AI interactions may slip through. With tech companies failing to self-police, filtering tools give parents more control.
5) Install strong antivirus software on every family device
While antivirus software won’t stop AI flirting, it adds a much-needed layer of security. Hackers and bad actors often target kids through the same devices where chatbots live, so whole-family protection matters. The best way to safeguard from malicious links that install malware, potentially accessing you and your family’s private information, is to have strong antivirus software installed on all your devices. This protection can also alert you to phishing emails and ransomware scams, keeping your personal information and digital assets safe.
Get my picks for the best 2025 antivirus protection winners for your Windows, Mac, Android & iOS devices at CyberGuy.com/LockUpYourTech
These steps won’t solve the problem entirely, but they give parents more power at a time when Big Tech seems unwilling to put children’s safety first.
If you thought chatbots were harmless fun, think again. Meta’s own documents prove its AI bots were allowed to cross dangerous lines with children. Parents must now take a proactive role in monitoring tech, because Big Tech will not protect your kids until forced.
Kurt’s key takeaways
Meta’s scandal shows once again why blind trust in Silicon Valley is dangerous. AI can be powerful, but without accountability, it becomes a threat. Congress may push for answers, but parents must stay one step ahead to safeguard their children.
Do you think Big Tech companies like Meta should ever be trusted to police themselves when kids’ safety is on the line? Let us know by writing to us at Cyberguy.com/Contact
Sign up for my FREE CyberGuy Report Get my best tech tips, urgent security alerts, and exclusive deals delivered straight to your inbox. Plus, you’ll get instant access to my Ultimate Scam Survival Guide – free when you join my CYBERGUY.COM/NEWSLETTER
Copyright 2025 CyberGuy.com. All rights reserved.
Kurt “CyberGuy” Knutsson is an award-winning tech journalist who has a deep love of technology, gear and gadgets that make life better with his contributions for Fox News & FOX Business beginning mornings on “FOX & Friends.” Got a tech question? Get Kurt’s free CyberGuy Newsletter, share your voice, a story idea or comment at CyberGuy.com.
Relentless rains across northern Pakistan have triggered deadly flooding and landslides, but footage of thick mud crashing onto buildings does not show the recent situation in the South Asian nation. The clip, featured in a compilation with thousands of views, was shot in the Japanese town of Atami in July 2021.
“May Allah protect all of us from natural calamities. Amen,” reads the Urdu-language caption of a Facebook video viewed more than 11,000 times since it was shared on August 16, 2025.
The caption includes hashtags for areas in Pakistan’s mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where torrential monsoon rains have triggered deadly flooding and landslides (archived link).
The video comprises several clips, with the first showing mud and debris crashing down a hillside.
Screenshot of the false Facebook post captured on August 18, 2025, with a red X added by AFP
The monsoon season brings about three-quarters of South Asia’s annual rainfall, which is vital for agriculture and food security but also causes widespread destruction.
The rains that have battered Pakistan have caused flooding and landslides that have swept away entire villages, leaving many residents trapped in the rubble and hundreds missing.
But the clip used at the beginning of the circulating compilation was not filmed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
AFP reported that torrents of mud crashed through part of the town following days of heavy rain (archived link). The devastating landslide killed 27 people.
The video has been misrepresented several times on social media as showing unrelated disasters.
Other clips in the compilation depict raging floodwaters and buildings being toppled over.
While AFP was unable to verify if they all show the impact of the monsoon rains on northern Pakistan in August 2025, at least one of the clips is several years old.
The video of a muddy torrent furiously gushing across buildings has circulated on Facebook and YouTube since at least August 2022 (archived here and here).
The latter post says it was taken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Swat district.
Screenshot comparison of the falsely shared clip (left) and the video posted in 2022 (right)
Monsoon rains in 2022 submerged a third of the country and resulted in approximately 1,700 deaths.
AFP reported at the time that many rivers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had burst their banks, demolishing scores of buildings including a 150-room hotel that crumbled into a raging torrent (archived link).
Officials said that year’s monsoon flooding affected more than 33 million people — one in seven Pakistanis — destroying or badly damaging nearly a million homes.
AFP earlier debunked another false claim about the recent monsoon flooding in Pakistan here.
Meta is rolling out an AI-powered voice translation feature to all users on Facebook and Instagram globally, the company announced on Tuesday.
The new feature, which is available in any market where Meta AI is available, allows creators to translate content into other languages so it can be viewed by a broader audience.
The feature was first announced at Meta’s Connect developer conference last year, where the company said it would pilot test automatic translations of creators’ voices in reels across both Facebook and Instagram.
Meta notes that the AI translations will use the sound and tone of the creator’s own voice to make the dubbed voice sound authentic when translating the content to a new language.
In addition, creators can optionally use a lip sync feature to align the translation with their lip movements, which makes it seem more natural.
Image Credits:Meta
At launch, the feature supports translations from English to Spanish and vice versa, with more languages to be added over time. These AI translations are available to Facebook creators with 1,000 or more followers and all public Instagram accounts globally, where Meta AI is offered.
To access the option, creators can click on “Translate your voice with Meta AI” before publishing their reel. Creators can then toggle the button to turn on translations and choose if they want to include lip syncing, too. When they click “Share now” to publish their reel, the translation will be available automatically.
Creators can view translations and lip syncs before they’re posted publicly, and can toggle off either option at any time. (Rejecting the translation won’t impact the original reel, the company notes.) Viewers watching the translated reel will see a notice at the bottom that indicates it was translated with Meta AI. Those who don’t want to see translated reels in select languages can disable this in the settings menu.
Image Credits:Meta
Creators are also gaining access to a new metric in their Insights panel, where they can see their views by language. This can help them better understand how their content is reaching new audiences via translations — something that will be more helpful as additional languages are supported over time.
Meta recommends that creators who want to use the feature face forward, speak clearly, and avoid covering their mouth when recording. Minimal background noise or music also helps. The feature only supports up to two speakers, and they should not talk over each other for the translation to work.
Plus, Facebook creators will be able to upload up to 20 of their own dubbed audio tracks to a reel to expand their audience beyond those in English or Spanish-speaking markets. This is offered in the “Closed captions and translations” section of the Meta Business Suite, and supports the addition of translations both before and after publishing, unlike the AI feature.
Meta says more languages will be supported in the future, but did not detail which ones would be next to come or when.
“We believe there are lots of amazing creators out there who have potential audiences who don’t necessarily speak the same language,” explained Instagram head Adam Mosseri, in a post on Instagram. “And if we can help you reach those audiences who speak other languages, reach across cultural and linguistic barriers, we can help you grow your following and get more value out of Instagram and the platform.”
The launch of the AI feature comes as multiplereports indicate that Meta is restructuring its AI group again to focus on four key areas, including research, superintelligence, products, and infrastructure.
When Anteres and Louis Turner longed for grandparents in their sons’ lives, they connected with Janet Firestein Daw through the Surrogate Grandparents USA Facebook page. Two years later, “Nana J” has become an inseparable part of the family.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced Thursday what he called a “world-leading” plan to implement a social media ban for all children under the age of 16. While much of the detail of the proposed legislation has yet to be made clear, the Australian leader said at a news conference that the bill involves an age verification process where “the onus will be on social media platforms to demonstrate they are taking reasonable steps to prevent access” to their platforms.
Under the proposed legislation, social media companies would face sizable fines for allowing younger children to access their platforms, but there would be no penalties for users or parents of users who ignore the law, the Australian government said in a statement.
“Social media is doing harm to our kids and I’m calling time on it,” Albanese declared Thursday. “I’ve spoken to thousands of parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles. They, like me, are worried sick about the safety of our kids online, and I want Australian parents and families to know that the government has your back.”
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discusses legislation that would make 16 the minimum age for children to use social media, at a press conference in Canberra, Nov. 7, 2024.
Mick Tsikas/AAP Image via AP
The government said the proposed legislation would not allow exemptions for children whose parents consent to their use of social media platforms. The bill also will not include “grandfathering arrangements” that could exempt young people who already have social accounts.
Australian Minister of Communications Michelle Rowland told reporters social media companies had been consulted about how to practically enforce such a ban, and she mentioned Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, X and YouTube as platforms that would likely be affected by the legislation.
CBS News has sought comment from all five social media companies about the Australian government’s plans.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said in a statement that the company has already created several safety tools for teens on its services.
“There’s a solution that negates many of these concerns and simplifies things immeasurably for parents: parental consent and age verification should happen on the app store. And we think Australia should make it law,” the company said.
Last month, a coalition of over 140 Australian and international experts signed an open letter to Albanese outlining concerns about the proposed age limit.
“The online world is a place where children and young people access information, build social and technical skills, connect with family and friends, learn about the world around them and relax and play,” the letter says. “We are concerned that a ‘ban’ is too blunt an instrument to address risks effectively.”
In April, a bipartisan group of U.S. senators including Republican Ted Cruz of Texas and Democrat Brian Schatz of Hawaii introduced legislation that, among other provisions, would “prohibit children under the age of 13 from creating or maintaining social media accounts, consistent with the current practices of major social media companies,” and “Prohibit social media companies from recommending content using algorithms to users under the age of 17.”
A 2023 advisory from the U.S. Surgeon General’s office said there were mental health benefits for children and teens when they reduce or eliminate exposure to social media for longer than a month.
Most social media companies have policies that bar children under the age of 13 from setting up accounts, but a 2022 study conducted by the U.K.’s media regulator Ofcom found that nearly 80% of children in the country had social media accounts by the age of 12.
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is feeling the downside of high expectations on Thursday, as Microsoft and Meta Platforms drag U.S. stock indexes lower despite delivering strong profits for the summer.
The S&P 500 was down 1.6% in midday trading and on track for its worst day in nearly eight weeks, falling further from its record set earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 418 points, or 1%, as of 11:15 a.m. Eastern time. The Nasdaq composite was 2.4% lower and heading for a second straight loss after setting its latest all-time high.
Microsoft reported bigger profit growth for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue also topped forecasts, but its stock nevertheless sank 6% as investors and analysts scrutinized for possible disappointments. Many centered on Microsoft’s estimate for upcoming growth in its Azure cloud-computing business, which fell short of some analysts’ expectations.
The parent company of Facebook, meanwhile, likewise served up a better-than-expected profit report. As with Microsoft, though, that wasn’t enough for the stock to rise. Investors focused on Meta Platforms’ warning that it expects a “significant acceleration” in spending next year as it continues to pour money into developing artificial intelligence. It fell 3.6%.
Both Microsoft and Meta Platforms have soared in recent years amid a frenzy around AI, and they’re entrenched among Wall Street’s most influential stocks. But such stellar performances have critics saying their stock prices have simply climbed too fast, leaving them too expensive. It’s difficult to meet everyone’s expectations when they’re so high, and Microsoft and Meta were both among Thursday’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500.
The next two companies in the highly influential group of stocks known as the “Magnificent Seven” to deliver their latest results will be Apple and Amazon. They’re set to report after trading ends for the day, and both fell at least 1.3% on Thursday.
Earlier this month, Tesla and Alphabet kicked off the Magnificent Seven’s reports with results that investors found impressive enough to reward with higher stock prices. The lone remaining member, Nvidia, will report its results later this earnings season, and its 4.3% drop was Thursday’s heaviest weight on the market after Microsoft.
The tumble for Big Tech on the last day of October is helping to wipe out the S&P 500’s gain for the month. The index is down 0.7% and on track for its first down month in the last six, even though it set an all-time high during the middle of it.
Still, it wasn’t a complete washout on Wall Street thanks in part to cruise ships and cigarettes.
Norwegian Cruise Line Holding steamed 8.2% higher after delivering stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. The cruise ship operator said it was seeing strong demand from customers across its brands and itineraries, and it raised its profit forecast for the full year of 2024.
Altria Group rose 7.6% for another one of the S&P 500’s bigger gains after it also beat analysts’ profit expectations. Chief Executive Billy Gifford credited resilience for its Marlboro brand, among other things, and announced a cost-cutting program.
Oil-and-gas companies also generally rose after the price of a barrel of U.S. crude gained 1.3% to recoup some of its losses for the week and for the year so far. ConocoPhillips jumped 4.9%, and Exxon Mobil gained 1%.
In the bond market, Treasury yields continued their climb following a mixed set of reports on the U.S. economy.
One report said a measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve likes to use slowed to 2.1% in September from 2.3%. That’s almost all the way back to the Fed’s 2% target, though underlying trends after ignoring food and energy costs were a touch hotter than economists expected.
A separate report said growth in workers’ wages and benefits slowed during the summer. That could put less pressure on upcoming inflation. A third report, meanwhile, said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week. That’s an indication that the number of layoffs remains relatively low across the country.
Treasury yields swiveled up and down several times following the reports before climbing. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.30% late Wednesday. That’s up sharply from the roughly 3.60% level it was at in the middle of last month.
Yields have been rallying following a string of stronger-than-expected reports on the U.S. economy. Such data bolster hopes that the economy can avoid a recession, particularly now that the Fed is cutting interest rates to support the job market instead of keeping them high to quash high inflation. But the surprising resilience is also forcing traders to downgrade their expectations for how deeply the Fed will ultimately cut rates.
In stock markets abroad, indexes sank across much of Europe and Asia.
South Korea’s Kospi dropped 1.5% for one of the larger losses after North Korea test launched a new intercontinental ballistic missile designed to be able to hit the U.S. mainland in a move that was likely meant to grab America’s attention ahead of Election Day.
Recommended newsletter Data Sheet: Stay on top of the business of tech with thoughtful analysis on the industry’s biggest names. Sign up here.
Trump’s relationship with Apple CEO Tim Cook is one of the most congenial the former president has shared with a Silicon Valley leader. Cook maintained a relationship with Trump during his time in office, often meeting with the president and serving on advisory panels influencing policy decisions that affect Apple’s business, such as tariffs and immigration.
Cook has not publicly confirmed that this most recent call took place. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment from WIRED.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg
Shortly after the assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, this summer, the former president claimed that Zuckerberg called him. In an interview with New York magazine, Trump claimed that Zuckerberg said, “‘I will never vote for people running against you after watching what you did.’”
While Meta wouldn’t detail the contents of the call, Zuckerberg confirmed he had called Trump after the assassination attempt, calling the former president “bad ass” in July.
“Seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg said.
Under Trump, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg sustained countless attacks from the Trump administration and conservative lawmakers over censorship allegations. In 2020, Zuckerberg donated $350 million in pandemic support to election departments around the country. Republicans accused these “Zuckerbucks” donations of being unfairly distributed to Democratic districts. In 2021, following the January 6 riot at the Capitol, Trump was banned from Facebook and Instagram.
Blue Origin CEO and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos
Former Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has been under fire in recent days after he decided that the Washington Post would no longer endorse presidential candidates, despite the paper having a Harris endorsement in the works.
Trump has long criticized Bezos for his ownership of the Washington Post, but Trump said that Bezos had called him after this summer’s assassination attempt. “It is the most incredible thing I’ve ever watched,” Trump said Bezos told him. “I said, ‘Despite the fact you own the Washington Post, I appreciate it.” Amazon’s CEO, Andy Jassy, reportedly called Trump after the July shooting as well.
Meta is bringing facial recognition tech back to its apps more than three years after it shut down Facebook’s “face recognition” system amid a broader backlash against the technology. Now, the social network will begin to deploy facial recognition tools on Facebook and Instagram to fight scams and help users who have lost access to their accounts, the company said in an update.
The first test will use facial recognition to detect scam ads that use the faces of celebrities and other public figures. “If our systems suspect that an ad may be a scam that contains the image of a public figure at risk for celeb-bait, we will try to use facial recognition technology to compare faces in the ad against the public figure’s Facebook and Instagram profile pictures,” Meta explained in a blog post. “If we confirm a match and that the ad is a scam, we’ll block it.”
The company said that it’s already begun to roll the feature out to a small group of celebs and public figures and that it will begin automatically enrolling more people into the feature “in the coming weeks,” though individuals have the ability to opt out of the protection. While Meta already has systems in place to review ads for potential scams, the company isn’t always able to catch “celeb-bait” ads as many legitimate companies use celebrities and public figures to market their products, Monika Bickert, VP of content policy at Meta, said in a briefing. “This is a real time process,” she said of the new facial recognition feature. “It’s faster and it’s more accurate than manual review.”
Separately, Meta is also testing facial recognition tools to address another long-running issue on Facebook and Instagram: account recovery. The company is experimenting with a new “video selfie” option that allows users to upload a clip of themselves, which Meta will then match to their profile photos, when users have been locked out of their accounts. The company will also use it in cases of a suspected account compromise to prevent hackers from accessing accounts using stolen credentials.
The tool won’t be able to help everyone who loses access to a Facebook or Instagram account. Many business pages, for example, don’t include a profile photo of a person, so those users would need to use Meta’s existing account recovery options. But Bickert says the new process will make it much more difficult for bad actors to game the company’s support tools “It will be a much higher level of difficulty for them in trying to bypass our systems,” Bickert said.
With both new features, Meta says it will “immediately delete” facial data that’s used for comparisons and that the scans won’t be used for another purpose. The company is also making the features optional, though celebrities will need to opt-out of the scam ad protection rather than opt-ion.
That could draw criticism from privacy advocates, particularly given Meta’s messy history with facial recognition. The company previously used the technology to power automatic photo-tagging, which allowed the company to automatically recognize the faces of users in photos and videos. The feature was discontinued in 2021, with Meta deleting the facial data of more than 1 billion people, citing “growing societal concerns.” The company also faces lawsuits, notably from the Texas and Illinois, over its use of the tech. Meta paid $650 million to settle a lawsuit related to the Illinois law and $1.4 billion to resolve a similar suit in Texas.
It’s notable, then, that the new tools won’t be available in either Illinois or Texas to start. It also won’t roll out to users in the United Kingdom or European Union as the company is “continuing to have conversations there with regulators” in the region, according to Bickert. But the company is “hoping to scale this technology globally sometime in 2025,” according to a Meta spokesperson.
A TikTok video of actor Brian Baumgartner, from the American version of The Office, calling for the overthrow of the president of a small European country was an early sign that this would be no ordinary election.
Late last year, Baumgartner appeared among a lineup of American celebrities addressing Maia Sandu, the current, pro-European president of Moldova and proclaiming in bad Russian: “We, Hollywood stars, support the people of Moldova in their desire to overthrow you, Sandu.” These weren’t deepfakes. Instead the videos—which researchers suggested were part of a pro-Kremlin influence operation—were commissioned on Cameo, the app that lets anyone buy personalized greetings from celebrities. Neither Cameo nor Baumgartner’s representatives replied to WIRED’s request for comment.
For years, Moldova—a country similar in size to the US state of Maryland, sandwiched between the EU and Ukraine—has complained of Russian meddling. But more recently, as this former Soviet state prepares for a pivotal presidential vote and referendum on whether to join the EU, the country has become a cautionary tale about how the world’s biggest social media platforms can be exploited to create and fund a complex disinformation operation that sows discord around some of a society’s most divisive subjects.
Since war broke out in neighboring Ukraine two years ago, bots have been scouring the Moldovan internet, searching for authentic content to boost to wide audiences, such as videos of Ukrainian-refugees behaving badly. Then ordinary Moldovans complained their Facebook feeds were being inundated with political, often anti-government ads launched by pages with Vietnamese names. A year later, researchers estimated Meta had earned at least $200,000 from a pro-Kremlin ad campaign targeting Moldova alone. Russia’s foreign ministry did not reply to WIRED’s request to comment.
“It’s unprecedented in terms of complexity,” says Ana Revenco, Moldova’s former interior minister, now in charge of the country’s new Center for Strategic Communication and Combating Disinformation. What’s happening in Moldova on Facebook, Telegram, TikTok, and YouTube, she believes, carries a warning for the rest of the world. “This shows us our collective vulnerability,” she says. “Platforms are not only active here. If [Russia] can use them here, they can use them everywhere.”
Ahead of the vote on Sunday, accounts linked to Russia have reached new levels of aggression, Revenco says. “They activate accounts that have been created long ago and have been on standby,” she explains. “They are engaging bots, and they’re synchronizing posts across multiple platforms.”
Glocks, military-style rifles and “ghost guns” have all been advertised for sale on easily accessible sites like Facebook and Instagram. Each ad appears to be in direct violation of Meta’s own policies, raising questions about the company’s ability to effectively moderate content. Some of the ads go even further, potentially violating local and federal laws.
Meta has banned ads for the sale of firearms since 2016. The company’s policy simply states: “Ads must not promote the sale or use of weapons, ammunition or explosives. This includes ads for weapon modification accessories.”
But more than 230 of these ads ran on Meta’s platforms in just over two months, many directing users to Telegram for the actual transaction, according to a new study released Oct. 7 by the Tech Transparency Project and the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund.
“TTP’s investigation shows that Meta is giving gun traffickers unparalleled reach,” said Katie Paul, director of Tech Transparency Project. “Until Meta enforces the rules it has on the books, its advertising engine will continue to be a vector for dangerous weapons that threaten the safety of Americans and others around the world.”
Meta’s massive reach
Meta’s business help center explains that “ads can appear on Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Meta Audience Network.” That means an individual ad can have a massive reach across platforms, showing up in a user’s individual Facebook and Instagram feed as well as in stories or in their Messenger inbox.
But ads are just one part of the problem.
In fact, a CBS News investigation released Oct. 2 found numerous listings on Facebook Marketplace for firearms, pellet and BB guns, in violation of the company’s policies. After CBS News asked Meta about the listings, they were removed, though CBS News continued to find new listings. A Meta spokesperson said 98.4% of problem listings on Marketplace are caught by its systems before being flagged by users.
When CBS News reached out to Meta to ask about the TTP report’s findings on the prevalence of gun ads, a Meta spokesperson explained that the company’s ad review is an ongoing process both before and after publication, and pointed CBS News to Meta’s ad policies.
“We’re committed to delivering trustworthy shopping experiences for people, communities and businesses through our policies, safety measures and technology,” according to a Meta business blog.
In the past few years, several people have been charged with selling firearms and illegal gun accessories on Meta platforms, specifically via Instagram profile pages.
“We enforce our commerce policies through our commerce review system. As part of our ads review process — which includes both automated and human reviews — we have several layers of analysis and detection, both before and after an ad goes live,” the company said in a statement provided to CBS News.
A redacted image of guns for sale on social media, from the Tech Transparency Project report released Oct. 7, 2024.
Tech Transparency Project report
In the past few years, several people have been charged with selling firearms and illegal gun accessories on Meta platforms, specifically via Instagram profile pages.
In 2019, two former police officers were found guilty of conspiracy to deal firearms without a license, selling firearms to a convicted felon and making false statements about the sales on federal firearms licensing paperwork. They both advertised the guns on their Instagram pages.
Two Los Angeles-based men were charged in June 2024 with selling more than 60 firearms, including untraceable “ghost guns” and guns with scratched-off serial numbers, through Instagram accounts. Both men have pleaded not guilty.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CBS News’ questions about how prevalent gun sales are on social media platforms.
It’s not clear whether the allegations in those cases involved specific ads or just posts on their feeds. However, ads are frequently used across Meta platforms to increase business and profile reach and are a revenue driver for the company.
Furthermore, each ad on the platform is supposed to be reviewed by Meta systems before going live. A 2021 announcement from Facebook explains, “Our ad review system is designed to review all ads before they go live. This system relies primarily on automated technology to apply our Advertising Policies to the millions of ads that run across our apps. While our review is largely automated, we rely on our teams to build and train these systems, and in some cases, to manually review ads.”
Studying Meta’s ads
Between June 1 and Aug. 20, 2024, TTP searched the Meta Ad Library for “a series of gun-related terms: pistol(s), Sig Sauer, Glock(s), Glock 17, Glock 19, Glock 43, Draco, rifle(s), Ruger, ammunition, ammo, automatic switch, automatic sear, and rounds.”
Two of TTP’s search terms — “automatic switch” and “automatic sear” — refer to illegal machine gun conversion devices. These small, inexpensive devices are easy to install onto semi-automatic firearms to immediately turn them into fully automatic weapons, allowing users to shoot up to 1,200 rounds a minute. They’ve been illegal since 1986.
Thirty-four of the ads TTP found were for auto sears or switches. Two of those also included photos of switches that had swastika designs.
Most of the gun ads TTP identified — 215 out of the total 237 — ran on Instagram. The platform remains one of the most popular social networks for teens in America; a 2023 Pew Research survey showed about 59% of teens between 13 and 17 use Instagram.
Many of these ads also reached Instagram users in EU countries, where gun sales are strictly regulated. Meta’s data showed that one ad reached more than 15,500 adults in the EU, specifically the Netherlands and Portugal.
Summary data on three gun-related ads from Meta, from the Tech Transparency Project report released Oct. 7, 2024.
Tech Transparency Project report
Most of the ads push users to Telegram to complete the actual sales. Telegram is not owned by Meta and has been sharply criticized for its unwillingness to enact any kind of moderation on users. In August, the owner of Telegram was arrested by French authorities. The Paris prosecutors office said he was detained as part of an investigation into complicity in complicity in cybercrimes like the transfer and creation of child sexual abuse material and narcotics trafficking. Some of the Telegram accounts found in TTP’s study advertised international shipping, which could violate numerous international laws regulating arms sales.
In a statement to CBS News, a Telegram spokesperson said, “While Telegram already removes millions of pieces of harmful content each day, further strengthening moderation is the top priority of 2024.”
Slipping through the cracks
Gun safety advocacy groups have long criticized tech companies for not doing enough to crack down on gun sales.
“Meta has made a clear promise to keep gun sales off their platforms and it is clear that Meta has failed to do so,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy of Everytown for Gun Safety.
A spokesperson for Meta said in a statement that between April and June 2024, the company “took action” on 1.9 million pieces of firearm content on Facebook and 242,000 pieces of firearm content on Instagram. They said over 99% of that content was caught before it was reported by users. These numbers do not include advertisements.
A spokesperson for Meta pointed to a recent community standards enforcement report that found between April and June 2024, the company “took action” on 1.9 million pieces of firearm content on Facebook and 242,000 pieces of firearm content on Instagram. They said over 99% of that content was caught before it was reported by users. These numbers do not include advertisements.
Europe’s most famous privacy activist, Max Schrems, landed another blow against Meta today after the EU’s top court ruled the tech giant cannot exploit users’ public statements about their sexual orientation for online advertising.
Since 2014, Schrems has complained of seeing advertising on Meta platforms targeting his sexual orientation. Schrems claims, based on data he obtained from the company, that advertisers using Meta can deduce his sexuality from proxies, such as his app logins or website visits. Meta denies it showed Schrems personalized ads based on his off-Facebook data, and the company has long said it excludes any sensitive data it detects from its advertising operations.
The case started with Schrems challenging whether this practice violated Europe’s GDPR privacy law. But it took an unexpected turn when a judge in his home country of Austria ruled Meta was entitled to use his sexuality data for advertising because he had spoken about it publicly during an event in Vienna. The Austrian Supreme Court then referred the case to the EU’s top court in 2021.
Today, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) finally ruled that a person’s sexual orientation cannot be used for advertising, even if that person speaks publicly about being gay.
“Meta Platforms Ireland collects the personal data of Facebook users, including Mr. Schrems, concerning those users’ activities both on and outside that social network,” the court said. “With the data available to it, Meta Platforms Ireland is also able to identify Mr. Schrems’ interest in sensitive topics, such as sexual orientation, which enables it to direct targeted advertising at him.”
The fact that Schrems had spoken publicly about his sexual identity does not authorize any platform to process related data to offer him personalized advertising, the court added.
“Now we know that if you’re on a public stage, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you agree to this personal data being processed,” says Schrems, founder of the Austrian privacy group NOYB. He believes only a handful of Facebook users will have the same issue. “It’s a really, really niche problem.”
The CJEU also ruled today Meta has to limit the data it uses for advertising more broadly, essentially setting ground rules for how the GDPR should be enforced. Europe’s privacy law means personal data should not be “aggregated, analyzed, and processed for the purposes of targeted advertising without restriction as to time and without distinction as to type of data,” the court said in a statement.
“It’s really important to set ground rules,” says Katharina Raabe-Stuppnig, the lawyer representing Schrems. “There are some companies who think they can just disregard them and get a competitive advantage from this behavior.”
Meta said it was waiting for the CJEU’s judgment to be published in full. “Meta takes privacy very seriously and has invested over 5 billion Euros to embed privacy at the heart of all of our products,” Meta spokesperson Matt Pollard told WIRED. “Everyone using Facebook has access to a wide range of settings and tools that allow people to manage how we use their information.”
Schrems has been a prolific campaigner against Meta since a legal challenge he made resulted in a surprise 2015 ruling invalidating a transatlantic data transfer system over concerns US spies could use it to access EU data. His organization has since filed legal complaints against Meta’s pay-for-privacy subscription model and the company’s plans to use Europeans’ data to train its AI.
“It’s major for the whole online advertisement space. But for Meta, it’s just another one in the long list of violations they have,” says Schrems, of this latest ruling. “The walls are closing in.”
Meta just announced its own media-focused AI model, called Movie Gen, that can be used to generate realistic video and audioclips.
The company shared multiple 10-second clips generated with Movie Gen, including a Moo Deng-esque baby hippo swimming around, to demonstrate its capabilities. While the tool is not yet available for use, this Movie Gen announcement comes shortly after its Meta Connect event, which showcased new and refreshed hardware and the latest version of its large language model, Llama 3.2.
Going beyond the generation of straightforward text-to-video clips, the Movie Gen model can make targeted edits to an existing clip, like adding an object into someone’s hands or changing the appearance of a surface. In one of the example videos from Meta, a woman wearing a VR headset was transformed to look like she was wearing steampunk binoculars.
An AI-generated video made from the prompt “make me a painter.”
Courtesy of Meta
An AI-generated video made from the prompt “a woman DJ spins records. She is wearing a pink jacket and giant headphones. There is a cheetah next to the woman.”
Courtesy of Meta
Audio bites can be generated alongside the videos with Movie Gen. In the sample clips, an AI man stands near a waterfall with audible splashes and the hopeful sounds of a symphony; the engine of a sports car purrs and tires screech as it zips around the track, and a snake slides along the jungle floor, accompanied by suspenseful horns.
Meta shared some further details about Movie Gen in a research paper released Friday. Movie Gen Video consists of 30 billion parameters, while Movie Gen Audio consists of 13 billion parameters. (A model’s parameter count roughly corresponds to how capable it is; by contrast, the largest variant of Llama 3.1 has 405 billion parameters.) Movie Gen can produce high-definition videos up to 16 seconds long, and Meta claims that it outperforms competitive models in overall video quality.
Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated Meta AI’s Imagine Me feature, where users can upload a photo of themselves and role-play their face into multiple scenarios, by posting an AI image of himself drowning in gold chains on Threads. A video version of a similar feature is possible with the Movie Gen model—think of it as a kind of ElfYourself on steroids.
What information has Movie Gen been trained on? The specifics aren’t clear in Meta’s announcement post: “We’ve trained these models on a combination of licensed and publicly available data sets.” The sources of training data and what’s fair to scrape from the web remain a contentious issue for generative AI tools, and it’s rarely ever public knowledge what text, video, or audioclips were used to create any of the major models.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes Meta to make Movie Gen broadly available. The announcement blog vaguely gestures at a “potential future release.” For comparison, OpenAI announced its AI video model, called Sora, earlier this year and has not yet made it available to the public or shared any upcoming release date (though WIRED did receive a few exclusive Sora clips from the company for an investigation into bias).
Considering Meta’s legacy as a social media company, it’s possible that tools powered by Movie Gen will start popping up, eventually, inside of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In September, competitor Google shared plans to make aspects of its Veo video model available to creators inside its YouTube Shorts sometime next year.
While larger tech companies are still holding off on fully releasing video models to the public, you are able to experiment with AI video tools right now from smaller, upcoming startups, like Runway and Pika. Give Pikaffects a whirl if you’ve ever been curious what it would be like to see yourself cartoonishly crushed with a hydraulic press or suddenly melt in a puddle.
.jpg)