DUBAI: Hackers aligned with Russia broke into the social media accounts of dozens of Ukrainian military officers and were working to upload videos of defeated and surrendering Ukrainian soldiers when the plot was disrupted.
This is according to a report from Meta that details a troubling increase in social media disinformation this year.
The report from the owner of Facebook and Instagram found a surge in content linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as well as an uptick in domestic disinformation and propaganda in countries around the world, suggesting that tactics pioneered by foreign intelligence agencies are now being used more widely.
“While much of the public attention in recent years has been focused on foreign interference, domestic threats are on the rise globally,” said Nick Clegg, Meta’s president for global affairs and a former British deputy prime minister.
Russia and its allies are major players, according to the report, with groups linked to the Kremlin spreading disinformation about its invasion of Ukraine while amplifying pro-Russian conspiracy theories at home.
Meta traced the effort to take over the social media accounts of dozens of Ukrainian military leaders back to a shadowy hacker organization known as Ghostwriter, which previous research has linked to Belarus, a Russian ally. Ghostwriter has a history of spreading content critical of NATO, and also has tried to hack email accounts.
“This is a tried-and-true thing that they do,” said Ben Read, director of cyberespionage analysis at Mandiant, a prominent US cybersecurity firm that has tracked Ghostwriter’s activities for years. Last year Mandiant said digital clues suggested the hackers were based in Belarus, though EU officials have previously blamed Russia.
Belarus and Russia have not responded to the claims.
Meta outlined other disinformation campaigns tied to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including one involving dozens of fake accounts that spread anti-Ukrainian rhetoric. Another network filed thousands of fake complaints about Ukrainian Facebook users in an effort to get them kicked off the platform. That network hid its activities in a Facebook group supposedly dedicated to cooking.
Within Russia, the Kremlin has blocked hundreds of news sources and websites, including Facebook and Twitter, and threatened jail time to anyone who tries to report on the war. In the place of accurate journalism, the state-controlled media have pumped out discredited conspiracy theories about Ukrainian Nazis or secret US bioweapon labs.
Meta and other big tech companies have responded by removing or restricting Russian state-run media, by targeting disinformation networks and by labeling content it does not remove. Twitter this week announced it would also label state-controlled media from Belarus.
The prevalence of Russian-linked propaganda and disinformation on social media shows that a more aggressive response is needed, according to the Center for Countering Digital Hate, a London-based nonprofit that supports greater social media regulation. A study by the group found numerous Facebook mentions of Russia’s discredited bioweapon conspiracy theory.
“Despite taking action against state channels under enormous pressure, Meta is failing badly to contain major disinformation narratives that benefit Putin’s regime,” said Imran Ahmed, the center’s CEO.
Meta said it would be rolling out additional policies in the coming weeks and months to make sure it stays ahead of groups looking to exploit its platforms. Nathaniel Gleicher, Meta’s head of security policy, noted that groups looking to spread disinformation and propaganda are adapting their tactics too.
“We would expect them to keep coming back,” Gleicher said.
Meta: Russian invasion driving more disinformation online
https://arab.news/wbhqr
Meta: Russian invasion driving more disinformation online
- The report from the owner of Facebook and Instagram found a surge in content linked to Russia's invasion of Ukraine
- Meta traced the effort to take over the social media accounts of dozens of Ukrainian military leaders back to a shadowy hacker organization known as Ghostwriter
Three Middle Eastern brands make it onto YouTube’s global list of year’s top 10 adverts
- Telecom Egypt, Orange Egypt and Qatar Airways earned places on the eighth annual YouTube Cannes Ads Leaderboard
- Collectively, the commercials that earned places on this year’s list streamed in a total of 28 countries across five continents
DUBAI: Three brands from the Middle East appear on the eighth annual YouTube Cannes Ads Leaderboard, which was unveiled on Tuesday and features the top 10 most-watched adverts globally on the video-streaming platform over the past 12 months.
Collectively, the commercials that earned places on this year’s list streamed in a total of 28 countries across five continents.
Telecom Egypt’s “WE Summer Campaign,” featuring Akram Hosny, ranked second. Qatar Airways’ official FIFA World Cup song “C.H.A.M.P.I.O.N.S” featuring DJ Rodge and Cheb Khaled took fifth spot; and Orange Egypt’s “Crazy about Football” commercial was seventh.
“It’s great to see the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region’s diversity and creativity shine through on YouTube this year, which exemplifies the different formats on YouTube that allow brands to explore different styles and approaches to storytelling on the platform,” said Anthony Nakache, Google MENA’s managing director.
Mohammed Abutaleb, Telecom Egypt’s commercial vice-president, said that “agility is key to product success” in a “competitive technology marketplace.” The company is always ready to “test, adjust and reshape” its digital strategy, and “Google ad technology has been integral to our success on that front,” he added.
A spokesperson for Qatar Airways said: “YouTube is a great place for driving brand awareness and one of the key channels to communicate to a wide audience of football fans from around the world.”
Orange Egypt described YouTube as “one of the main platforms that help us increase top-of-mind awareness.”
The selection of the ads on the leaderboard was based on an algorithm that uses internal YouTube data to measure audience engagement and retention. Only one advert from each brand can appear, to “better reflect the broad range, quality and popularity of YouTube ads throughout the year,” according to YouTube.
Netflix took the top spot on the list with an advert featuring a prank in New York City to promote its “Addams Family” spin-off show, “Wednesday.” Apple’s “Introducing iPhone 14 Pro” was in third place, followed by the official trailer for the Max (formerly HBO Max) streaming show “The Last of Us.” The remaining brands that made the top 10 were Samsung, Bulgari, streaming service Peacock, and Burger King.
The ads on the list have cumulatively racked up 213.5 million views, 2.5 million likes and 70,000 comments.
About ducking time: Apple to tweak iPhone autocorrect function
- Texting tweak to stop changing some of the most common expletives
LONDON: One of the most notable happenings at Apple’s event for developers on Monday is likely the iPhone maker’s tweak that will keep its autocorrect feature from annoyingly correcting one of the most common expletives to “ducking.”
“In those moments where you just want to type a ducking word, well, the keyboard will learn it, too,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s software chief.
The iPhone keyboard autocorrect feature has always had its quirks, sometimes taking a misspelled word while texting and substituting what it deems a logical option that ends up changing the meaning of a particular phrase or sentence.
Such occurrences generally produce follow-up texts along the lines of “damn autocorrect!” But the “ducking” substitution is a long-standing source of mirth or frustration, depending on how many times one has had to rewrite their own texts or scream at one’s own device (the iPhone cannot correct one’s verbal epithets).
Apart from the texting tweak, the company had a lot on its agenda — an expensive new mixed-reality headset, details on a revamping of its desktop and a laptop revamp.
Apple shares hit an all-time record Monday, putting the company’s market valuation just shy of $3 trillion, which would also be a record. Its gains of 280 percent over the past five years clearly demonstrates the power of the iPhone’s market share.
Of course, iPhone users have always had the option to turn off the autocorrect feature on their phones, which would allow its foul-mouthed users to be as profane as they want.
Prince Harry tells UK court press has blood on its hands
- Prince Harry and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011
LONDON: Prince Harry said the press had blood on its hands as he gave evidence against a tabloid publisher whose titles he accuses of phone-hacking and other unlawful activities, becoming the first senior royal in a witness box in more than a century.
Harry, the fifth-in-line to the throne, briefly smiled as he passed the phalanx of waiting photographers and camera crews when he arrived at the modern Rolls Building in central London, ahead of the very rare court appearance by a royal.
He and more than 100 others are suing Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over allegations of widespread wrongdoing between 1991 and 2011.
The younger son of King Charles III entered the witness box to face hours of cross-examination from Andrew Green, MGN’s lawyer, over 33 newspaper articles Harry said were based on information which had been unlawfully gathered.
Green began by personally apologizing to Harry on his client’s behalf over one instance in which it admitted unlawful information gathering.
“It should never have happened and it will not happen again,” he said, adding if the court agreed MGN had committed wrongdoing on other occasions “you will be entitled to, and you will receive a more extensive apology.”
In questioning, Harry was asked about a passage in his written witness statement in which he referred to “appalling” behavior by the British press. “How much more blood will stain their typing fingers before someone can put a stop to this madness?” he wrote.
Asked by Green if he was suggesting MGN journalists who wrote the articles at the center of his lawsuit had blood on their hands, Harry replied: “Some of the editors and journalists that are responsible for causing a lot of pain, upset and in some cases — perhaps inadvertently — death.”
The prince is the first senior British royal to give evidence for 130 years. He was speaking from the same witness box in Court 15 where singer Ed Sheeran and French actress Eva Green have both recently appeared in separate and unrelated cases.
The MGN trial began last month, with lawyers for Harry and the other claimants seeking to prove that unlawful information gathering was carried out with the knowledge and approval of senior editors and executives.
Harry is one of four test cases, and his specific allegations form the focus of the first three days of this week.
However, he did not appear on Monday, having only left the United States, where he now lives with his American wife Meghan, the previous evening as it was his daughter Lilibet’s birthday on Sunday. The judge, Timothy Fancourt, said he was surprised at his absence.
Looking serious and speaking firmly but quietly, Harry said thousands if not millions of stories had been written about him, as Green pressed him on whether he had specifically read the MGN articles in question.
Harry agreed that he and his lawyers had chosen the most intrusive articles and those which had caused the most distress for his complaint.
Asked if he remembered reading the first story he had complained about, an article about his mother visiting him for his 12th birthday, Harry said: “I was a child, I was at school, these articles were incredibly invasive. Every time one of these articles were written it had an effect.”
On Monday, Harry’s lawyer David Sherborne said his late mother Princess Diana, had also been a victim of hacking, and the prince referred to this in his witness statement, laying the blame at the Daily Mirror’s former editor Piers Morgan.
He said the thought of Piers Morgan and his “band of journalists earwigging” into my mother’s messages “makes me feel physically sick and even more determined to hold those responsible, including Mr. Morgan, accountable for their vile and entirely unjustified behavior.”
Morgan, now a high-profile broadcaster who works for Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, has always denied any involvement in, or knowledge of phone-hacking or other illegal activity.
MGN, now owned by Reach, has previously admitted its titles were involved in phone-hacking, settling more than 600 claims, but Green has said there was no evidence that Harry had ever been a victim.
The publisher also argues that some of the personal information involved had come from senior royal aides, including from one of his father’s former top officials.
US fines Microsoft $20 million over child data violations
- Microsoft allegedly collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system from 2015 to 2020 without their parents’ permission and retained this information
WASHINGTON: Microsoft will pay $20 million to settle government charges that it collected personal information from children without their parents’ consent, officials said Monday.
The Federal Trade Commission alleged that from 2015 to 2020 Microsoft collected personal data from children under age 13 who signed up to its Xbox gaming system without their parents’ permission and retained this information.
To open an account, users had to provide their first and last names, an email address, and date of birth.
The FTC said Microsoft violated a law called the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, or COPPA.
“Our proposed order makes it easier for parents to protect their children’s privacy on Xbox, and limits what information Microsoft can collect and retain about kids,” said Samuel Levine, head of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.
“This action should also make it abundantly clear that kids’ avatars, biometric data, and health information are not exempt from COPPA,” Levine added.
The decision still needs the approval of a federal court before it can be implemented.
The FTC said Microsoft will be required to take several steps to bolster privacy protections for child users of its Xbox system.
Under the COPPA law, online services and websites aimed at kids under 13 must notify parents about the personal information they collect and obtain verifiable parental consent before collecting and using any personal information collected from children.
Microsoft did not immediately reply to an AFP request for comment.
Saudi Data and AI Authority joins Majarra’s Renaissance Partners program
- The authority will fund 1,000 free subscriptions to Majarra, an Arabic digital content provider, for data experts and AI applications specialists
- Majarra will provide an additional 1,000 subscriptions for Saudi youths who are interested in pursuing careers in technical fields
DUBAI: The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority has joined Arabic digital content provider Majarra’s Renaissance Partners program. The initiative offers organizations the opportunity to sponsor subscriptions for people who cannot afford to pay for Majarra content.
As part of the partnership agreement, the authority will fund 1,000 free subscriptions for data experts and AI applications specialists in the Kingdom. Majarra will match this by providing an additional 1,000 subscriptions for Saudi youths interested in pursuing careers in technical fields.
“With strategic partners like SDAIA, Saudi youth interested in the field of artificial intelligence can access up-to-date, exclusive content every day that would help them understand recent developments in their fields of interest, and enhance their skills accordingly,” said Dia Haykal, director of brand and partnerships at Majarra.
A Majarra subscription grants access to five websites: Harvard Business Review, MIT Technology Review, Popular Science, Nafseyati, and Stanford Social Innovation.
