Senators want YouTube investigated over showing targeted ads to kids, again
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge A report from ad quality transparency platform Adalytics suggests that YouTube served adult-focused ads on almost 100 videos considered “made for kids.” Some of these ads reportedly involved content inappropriate for children, such as car wrecks, medical injuries, and clips from TV-MA shows.
Read moreZepotha is huge on TikTok, but it’s no Goncharov
The seminal 1987 horror film “Zepotha” is back on TikTok. Reaction videos to the film’s gory forest scenes dominate user feeds. TikTok users are digging through their parents’ wardrobes to recreate the vintage outfits from the movie. Fanart of the characters and convoluted theories about the movie’s ambiguous ending keep
Read moreAI2 drops biggest open dataset yet for training language models
Language models like GPT-4 and Claude are powerful and useful, but the data on which they are trained is a closely guarded secret. The Allen Institute for AI (AI2) aims to reverse this trend with a new, huge text dataset that’s free to use and open to inspection. Dolma, as
Read moreRoblox faces a new class action lawsuit alleging it facilitates child gambling
In a new class action lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California this week, two parents accuse Roblox of illegally facilitating child gambling. While gambling is not allowed on the platform, which hosts millions of virtual games that cater to children and teens, the lawsuit points to third-party gambling
Read moreGoing to TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 is cheaper when you bundle
Anyone with a Costco card knows you save more when you buy in bulk. Now apply that same theory to TechCrunch Disrupt 2023, and you can save a bundle when you take your team, your clients or your star startups to San Francisco in September. Heck, take your family and
Read moreIs JPMorgan turning a corner on climate finance?
Let’s get this out of the way: JPMorgan Chase doesn’t have the best reputation in the climate sector. Since the Paris Agreement was signed in 2016, the bank has financed more than $430 billion worth of fossil fuel projects, according to the most recent Banking on Climate Chaos report, far
Read moreCyber Security Today, Week in Review for the week ending Friday, August 18, 2023
Welcome to Cyber Security Today. This is the Week in Review for the week ending Friday, August 18th, 2023. I’m Howard Solomon, contributing reporter on cybersecurity for ITWorldCanada.com and TechNewsday.com in the U.S. In a few minutes David Shipley of New Brunswicks’ Beauceron Security will be here to discuss recent
Read moreCruise robotaxi involved in a crash with fire truck, one passenger injured
A Cruise robotoaxi and an emergency vehicle crashed late Thursday night and left a passenger injured. The crash is the latest in a string of incidents that occurred this week after winning approval from the California Public Utilities Commission to expand commercial operations in San Francisco. Cruise posted a few
Read moreSpaceX’s new Bandwagon program is a big threat to small launch providers
SpaceX is expanding its rideshare program with a new series of missions aimed at meeting the demand for launches to mid-inclination orbits. The new program, which was quietly announced at a space industry conference earlier this month, is the latest sign that SpaceX intends to take no prisoners in the
Read morePentagon urges US space companies to stay vigilant against foreign intelligence
Investments, joint ventures, or acquisitions could be vehicles for foreign adversaries to gain a foothold in the U.S. space industry, the Pentagon said in a new bulletin published today. The new guidance, “Safeguarding the U.S. Space Industry,” warns that foreign intelligence entities (FIEs) could use a range of strategies –
Read more