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Deepfakes: India Urges Full Compliance from Social Media

India is mulling regulation to tame the spread of deepfakes and other user harm that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring along…reports Asian Lite News

The IT Ministry will issue advisories to social media intermediaries in the next two days on ensuring 100 per cent compliance on tackling deepfakes and spread of misinformation on their respective platforms, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said on Tuesday.

During the second ‘Digital India Dialogues’ meeting on misinformation and deepfakes with social media intermediaries, the minister reviewed the progress made since the meeting on November 24, when the Centre had given a seven-day deadline to platforms to tweak their policies as per Indian regulations in order to address the spread of deepfakes.

“Many platforms are responding to the decisions taken last month and advisories on ensuring 100 per cent compliance will be issued in the next two days,” said the minister.

“A new amended #ITRules to further ensure compliance of platforms, and safety and trust of #DigitalNagriks is actively under consideration,” Chandrasekhar added.

Deepfakes could be subject to action under the current IT Rules, particularly Rule 3(1)(b), which mandates the removal of 12 types of content within 24 hours of receiving user complaints.

The government will also take action of 100 per cent of such violations under the IT Rules in the future.

“The intermediaries are further mandated to remove such content within 24 hours upon receiving a report from either a user or government authority. Failure to comply with this requirement invokes Rule 7, which empowers aggrieved individuals to take platforms to court under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC),” the minister said.

“For those who find themselves impacted by deepfakes, I strongly encourage you to file First Information Reports (FIRs) at your nearest police station,” said Chandrasekhar, adding that the IT Ministry will help aggrieved users in filing FIRs in relation to deepfakes.

India is mulling regulation to tame the spread of deepfakes and other user harm that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can bring along.

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought Central government’s response in a PIL regarding the absence of regulations for AI and deepfake technologies in the country.

As the Indian government takes a tough stand on AI-generated fake content, especially deepfakes, Google said late last month the company’s collaboration with the Indian government for a multi-stakeholder discussion aligns with its commitment to addressing this challenge together and ensures a responsible approach to AI.

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IBM, Meta launch AI Alliance to build open, responsible AI

It aims to foster a vibrant AI hardware accelerator ecosystem by boosting contributions and adoption of essential enabling software technology…reports Asian Lite News

IBM and Meta on Tuesday launched the AI Alliance in collaboration with over 50 tech companies, founding members and collaborators globally.

The AI Alliance is focused on fostering an open community and enabling developers and researchers to accelerate responsible innovation in AI while ensuring scientific rigour, trust, safety, security, diversity and economic competitiveness.

“This is a pivotal moment in defining the future of AI. IBM is proud to partner with like-minded organizations through the AI Alliance to ensure this open ecosystem drives an innovative AI agenda underpinned by safety, accountability and scientific rigour,” said Arvind Krishna, IBM Chairman and CEO.

The AI Alliance plans to develop and deploy benchmarks and evaluation standards, tools, and other resources that enable the responsible development and use of AI systems at global scale, including the creation of a catalog of vetted safety, security and trust tools.

It aims to foster a vibrant AI hardware accelerator ecosystem by boosting contributions and adoption of essential enabling software technology.

The AI Alliance will launch initiatives that encourage open development of AI in safe and beneficial ways, and host events to explore AI use cases and showcase how Alliance members are using open technology in AI responsibly and for good.

The other participants in the AI Alliance are AMD, CERN, Cornell University, Dell Technologies, EPFL, ETH, Imperial College London, Intel, Linux Foundation, NASA, NSF, Oracle, Partnership on AI, Red Hat, Sony Group and Stability AI, among others.

Nick Clegg, President, Global Affairs of Meta, added that the AI Alliance brings together researchers, developers and companies to share tools and knowledge that can help us all make progress whether models are shared openly or not.

According to Lisa Su, AMD CEO and Chair, by embracing open standards and transparency across all aspects of the rapidly developing AI ecosystem, “we can help ensure the transformational benefits of responsible AI are broadly available”.

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Zuckerberg sells nearly $190 mn in Meta’s shares

According to Form 4 filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he placed orders to sell another 28,009 shares on November 29…reports Asian Lite News

Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold around $190 million in the company’s stock last month, the media reported.

Zuckerberg sold Meta shares every day in November, for a total of 560,180 shares last month, reports Market Watch.

According to Form 4 filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he placed orders to sell another 28,009 shares on November 29.

With the stock closing of $327.15, the value of the shares sold would be $192.9 million, the report noted. The bulk of the shares sold were acquired in 2004 as part of a “founder stock purchase.”

Nearly 150,000 of the shares sold were acquired for $0 on the days they were sold through the exercising of options acquired in 2013, according to the report.

Meta registered $34 billion in revenue in its third quarter, up 23 per cent from the same quarter last year. Total costs and expenses were $20.40 billion, a decrease of 7 per cent (year-over-year) in the September quarter. Net income rose 164 per cent from a year earlier to $11.58 billion in the quarter.

However, the company is still burning cash with its Reality Labs division and Meta expects its operating losses there to increase “meaningfully” year-over-year. Meta’s AR-VR division has lost close to $25 billion since the start of last year.

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India’s Gen Z to lead key trends on Instagram in 2024

About 43 per cent in India hoped that 2024 will be their self-improvement era! The year when they will invest in their personal growth and development…reports Asian Lite News

Gen Z in India will lead the key trends on Instagram next year, from prioritising careers to being super on point with meme preferences, and exploring a variety of food flavours, the Meta-owned company said on Monday.

In various realms, including food, beauty, and fashion trends, Indian Gen Z have shown a heightened inclination to embrace and explore emerging trends, according to the ‘2024 Instagram Trend Talk’ insights.

“Indian Gen Z’s upbeat and entrepreneurial spirit stands out as they eagerly explore new interests and trends across different domains. Their dedication to chosen fandoms and commitment to self-improvement shine through distinctly in these insights,” said Paras Sharma, Director of Content and Community Partnerships, Meta India.

“While in many aspects, Indian Gen Z’s are similar to their global peers, these trends also show specific areas where they are different and unique,” Sharma added.

From ayurvedic ingredients to vegan products, plant-based meats and adaptogens, GenZ in India are most excited to try diverse food and ingredients.

In 2024, Gen Z in India have ranked staying healthy, exploring career paths, and traveling as their top priorities. However, in contrast to other nations, Gen Z in India exhibit a stronger focus on their career pursuits, the Instagram report mentioned.

About 43 per cent in India hoped that 2024 will be their self-improvement era! The year when they will invest in their personal growth and development.

“As compared to other countries, Gen Z in India also believe starting your own business is the best way to achieve wealth,” the findings showed.

About 44 per cent of Gen Z in India are interested in DIY (do-it-yourself) and wearing clothes in unexpected ways.

“A fourth of GenZ said their favourite beauty trend is getting a new hairstyle,” the report said.

Virtually every Gen Z in India aligns with a specific fandom, ranging from music aficionados like the BTS army, Swifties, AR Rahman, Shreya Ghoshal, and Anirudh, to gaming enthusiasts invested in Minecraft, Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Roblox. Sports-wise, their affiliations span the Indian Cricket Team, Barcelona, Real Madrid, Royal Challengers Bangalore, and Chennai Super Kings.

“Nine out of 10 GenZ in India consider themselves part of a fandom. India has the highest percentage of sports superfans, as compared to Gen Z from other countries,” said the report.

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X may go bankrupt under if advertisers keep fleeing

A new report by The Financial Times has claimed X will now turn to SMBs to shore up revenue after Musk angered big brands by supporting antisemitic content…Asian Lite News

The loans Elon Musk took out to buy Twitter (now called X) was about $13 billion and the social media company has to pay about $1.2 billion in interest payments every year.

As big advertisers quit the platform and X cannot pay the interest on its loans or pay employees, then it could actually go bankrupt, the BBC reported on Sunday. “But that would be an extreme scenario that Musk would surely want to avoid,” the report mentioned.

However, for a company he bought for $44 billion, bankruptcy might sound unthinkable but “it is possible”. Disney and Apple are no longer advertising on X and Musk told companies last week to “Go f*** yourself.”

Retail giant Walmart has confirmed that it is not advertising on X. “We aren’t advertising on X as we’ve found other platforms to better reach our customers,” a Walmart spokesperson was quoted as saying in reports.

The departure of Walmart adds to the growing list of firms leaving X after Musk endorsed an antisemitic post last month (for which, he apologised last week). Apple, Disney, IBM, Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery are among the companies no longer buying ads on X.

Last year, around 90 per cent of X’s revenue came from advertising. Not any more. Musk has warned that the loss of big advertisers would spell the end of X. “If the company fails, it will fail because of an advertiser boycott. And that will be what bankrupts the company.” he said.

“What this advertising boycott is going to do is kill the company. And the whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail,” Musk had told the audience at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit.

In 2022, Twitter’s advertising revenue was around $4 billion. Insider Intelligence estimates that this year, it will drop to $1.9 billion. After Musk’s outburst against big advertisers, X is reportedly aiming to tap small and medium businesses (SMBs) to offset the advertising loss from big companies.

A new report by The Financial Times has claimed X will now turn to SMBs to shore up revenue after Musk angered big brands by supporting antisemitic content.

“Small and medium businesses are a very significant engine that we have definitely underplayed for a long time,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying. “It was always part of the plan, now we will go even further with it,” the company added.

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Instagram Threads now supports ‘all languages’ in search

To comply with the EU’s regulations, Meta might offer a view-only mode of its app to users in the region for consumption…reports Asian Lite News

Instagram’s Thread now supports all languages in its latest keyword search update, as it takes on Elon Musk-run X social media platform.

According to Instagram head Adam Mosseri, keyword search will be “supported in all languages.”

“We’re expanding keyword search everywhere Threads is available. This feature is supported in all languages – we hope this makes it easier to find and join conversations you’re interested in,” he posted on Threads.

“More improvements are coming to search soon, let me know in the replies if you have feedback,” he added.

The feature was initially tested in English-speaking markets including Australia and New Zealand in August before expanding to other countries.

“That will make the app, now used by nearly 100 million people per month, more useful to a broader, global audience,” reports TechCrunch.

Meta’s social network Threads could launch the platform in the EU next month, according to The Wall Street Journal.

To comply with the EU’s regulations, Meta might offer a view-only mode of its app to users in the region for consumption.

“This means users won’t necessarily have to make a profile in order to view posts. But they might have to create one for posting,” the report noted.

Additionally, the company rolled out a way for users to delete their Threads profile without deleting their Instagram profile.

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WhatsApp launches secret code for chat lock

You’ll have the option to hide the Locked Chats folder from your chatlist so that they can only be discovered by typing your secret code in the search bar…reports Asian Lite News

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Thursday launched secret code feature for millions of users, an additional way to protect sensitive chats on its platform.

With a secret code, the users will be able to set a unique password different from what they use to unlock their phones to give their locked chats an extra layer of privacy.

“Rolling out secret code to Chat Lock on WhatsApp so you can protect your chats with a unique password. Now you can set your locked chats to only appear when you type the secret code in the search bar, so no one can unintentionally discover your most private conversations,” Meta Founder and CEO mark Zuckerberg said on his WhatsApp Channel.

You’ll have the option to hide the Locked Chats folder from your chatlist so that they can only be discovered by typing your secret code in the search bar.

“If that doesn’t suit your needs, you can still choose to have them appear in your chatlist. Whenever there’s a new chat which you want to lock, you can now long press to lock it rather than visiting the chat’s settings,” the company said in a statement.

The move will make the chats harder to find if someone has access to your phone or you share a phone with someone else. Earlier this year, WhatsApp had rolled out Chat Lock to help people protect their more sensitive conversations.

“We’re so happy our community has been loving Chat Lock, and hope that secret code makes it even more useful to them. Secret code starts rolling out today, and in the coming months will be available globally,” said the company.

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‘Meta knowingly designed platforms to hook kids’

Others acknowledged Facebook and Instagram also were popular with children under age 13 who, per company policy, were not allowed to use the service…reports Asian Lite News

Facebook parent Meta Platforms deliberately engineered its social platforms to hook kids and knew — but never disclosed — it had received millions of complaints about underage users on Instagram but only disabled a fraction of those accounts, according to a newly unsealed legal complaint described in reports from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.

The complaint, originally made public in redacted form, was the opening salvo in a lawsuit filed in late October by the attorneys general of 33 states.

Company documents cited in the complaint described several Meta officials acknowledging the company designed its products to exploit shortcomings in youthful psychology such as impulsive behavior, susceptibility to peer pressure and the underestimation of risks, according to the reports.

Others acknowledged Facebook and Instagram also were popular with children under age 13 who, per company policy, were not allowed to use the service.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks during a news conference in New York, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2023. New York is bidding to put new controls on social media platforms that state leaders say will protect the mental health of younger users. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

‘Addictive’ social media feeds that keep children online targeted by New York lawmakers

Meta said in a statement to The Associated Press that the complaint misrepresents its work over the past decade to make the online experience safe for teens, noting it has “over 30 tools to support them and their parents.”

With respect to barring younger users from the service, Meta argued age verification is a “complex industry challenge.”

Instead, Meta said it favors shifting the burden of policing underage usage to app stores and parents, specifically by supporting federal legislation that would require app stores to obtain parental approval whenever youths under 16 download apps.

One Facebook safety executive alluded to the possibility that cracking down on younger users might hurt the company’s business in a 2019 email, according to the Journal report.

But a year later, the same executive expressed frustration that while Facebook readily studied the usage of underage users for business reasons, it didn’t show the same enthusiasm for ways to identify younger kids and remove them from its platforms, the Journal reported.

The complaint noted that at times Meta has a backlog of up to 2.5 million accounts of younger children awaiting action, according to the newspaper reports.

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WhatsApp rolling out view once photos, videos option

According to the report, the button to set the image as a view once message is available within the caption bar in the drawing editor on WhatsApp for Windows…reports Asian Lite News

Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out the ability to send view once photos and videos from desktop apps, a feature which was initially removed one year ago.

The company removed the feature from WhatsApp Web and Desktop for added privacy, reports WABetaInfo. In the past few weeks, the company, however, decided to bring back the feature.

According to the report, the button to set the image as a view once message is available within the caption bar in the drawing editor on WhatsApp for Windows.

The report noted that the feature is not only limited to WhatsApp for Windows but also available for users to use from macOS and linked devices.

“Recently, the ability to send view once photos and videos have also been released on WhatsApp Web, expanding the feature’s availability across various platforms,” the report said.

The ability to send view once messages from desktop apps will let users send photos and videos that can be viewed only once, preventing them from being stored in the device’s memory and offering a better level of privacy.

The feature is available to some users who install the latest updates of WhatsApp for Windows, WhatsApp for macOS, and WhatsApp Web, and it’s rolling out to more users over the coming weeks, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature that will display profile information within users’ conversations under the contact name on Android. Specifically, the profile info will be visible when the contact is offline, alternating with the last seen if it’s available.

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Centre sets deepfake crackdown in motion

Social media companies, NASSCOM, and AI professors actively participated in the discussions, indicating a united front against the growing threat…reports Asian Lite News

In response to the escalating menace of deepfake technology, Union Minister for Electronics and Information Technology and Communications, Ashwini Vaishnaw, spearheaded a meeting with key stakeholders, including social media platforms, government officials, and cybersecurity experts.

Minister Vaishnaw said, “We need to take very urgent steps as far as possible either legal, regulatory or technological. We need to take all kinds of steps. We had a detailed meeting with all the social media platforms today. Everybody has accepted the seriousness of this threat. Deepfake has emerged as a huge social threat today. We had long and very candid discussions”.

The high-level discussions, marked by urgency, centred around formulating a comprehensive strategy to combat the challenges posed by deepfake content.

Vaishnaw said, “We’ve to focus on four aspects-detection, prevention, reporting mechanism of deep fake and awareness needs to be increased. New regulations will be brought and in the coming weeks, efforts will be made to complete the drafting of regulations”.

During the meeting, Minister Vaishnaw emphasized the need for immediate action and revealed a consensus among all stakeholders.

He also mentioned that the next meeting on the issue of ‘Deepfake’ will be held in the first week of December.

Focusing on four pillars- Detection, Prevention, Strengthening the Mechanism and Awareness.

The minister underscored the gravity of the deepfake threat, stating, “Deepfake has emerged as a new threat in society. We need to take immediate steps.”

Acknowledging the collaborative effort required, he disclosed that regulations addressing these concerns would be drafted promptly.

Vaishnaw said, “Deep fake has emerged as a new threat in the society. We need to take immediate steps. Today a meeting was held with social media platforms. We’ve to focus on four aspects-detection, prevention, and reporting mechanism of deep fake and awareness needs to be increased. New regulations will be brought and in the coming weeks, efforts will be made to complete the drafting of regulations. Social media companies, NASSCOM, and professors working on Artificial intelligence (AI) were also present in today’s meeting.”

The minister also highlighted the key aspects to be addressed in combating deepfake technology, including detection, prevention, reporting mechanisms, and the imperative to raise awareness.

“We have all agreed that within the next about 10 days, we will come up with clear actionable items…All the companies, all the platforms, and the entire industry understood that this is not free speech. They understood that this is something which is really harmful for the society. They understood the need for much heavier regulation on this. So we agree that we will start drafting the regulation today. We’ll start drafting the regulations today itself. And within a very short time frame, we will have a new set of regulations for deep fake” the Minister said.

Social media companies, NASSCOM, and AI professors actively participated in the discussions, indicating a united front against the growing threat.

Looking ahead, Minister Vaishnaw announced the initiation of drafting regulations, and a follow-up meeting on deepfake concerns is scheduled for the first week of December.

The proactive stance taken by the government underscores the gravity of the deepfake issue and the commitment to safeguarding against its detrimental impacts. (ANI)

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