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Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, is facing a series of privacy complaints after it used European Union users’ data to train AI models without obtaining consent. This issue came to light when a vigilant social media user noticed a setting indicating that X had started processing regional user data for its Grok AI chatbot. The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees X’s compliance with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), expressed “surprise” at this discovery. The GDPR mandates that any use of personal data must have a valid legal basis, and violations can result in fines of…

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Justice Department have filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, accusing them of violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). This law mandates that digital platforms must notify and obtain parental consent before collecting and using personal data from children under the age of 13. In a press release issued Friday, the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection claimed that TikTok and ByteDance were “allegedly aware” of the requirement to comply with COPPA, yet spent “years” knowingly allowing millions of children under 13 to use their platform. The FTC…

A recent study revealed that vulnerabilities in the design of several dating apps, including popular ones like Bumble and Hinge, enabled malicious users or stalkers to pinpoint the location of their victims to within 2 meters. Researchers from the Belgian university KU Leuven discovered these vulnerabilities while analyzing 15 popular dating apps. Among those, Badoo, Bumble, Grindr, happn, Hinge, and Hily were found to have the same issue, which could potentially allow a malicious user to identify another user’s near-exact location. Although these apps do not share exact locations when displaying the distance between users on their profiles, they use…

Growing up in China, Xiaoyin Qu was passionate about learning to build paper airplanes that could perform flips in the air. However, neither her parents nor her teachers had the time or expertise to support her curiosity. This experience inspired Qu to create an AI that could act as a dedicated coach and companion for children, helping them learn and explore their interests. Qu founded Heeyo, a startup that provides children aged three to eleven with an AI chatbot and over 2,000 interactive games and activities, including books, trivia, and role-playing adventures. Heeyo also allows parents and children to design…

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced on Thursday that WhatsApp now boasts over 100 million monthly active users in the United States, a country where SMS and text messaging are traditionally popular. This announcement marks the first time WhatsApp has shared user statistics specifically for the U.S. The company also revealed that more than 50% of its U.S. users are on iPhones, reflecting iOS’s majority market share in the country. Globally, WhatsApp is immensely popular with over 2 billion monthly active users. The app has traditionally focused on markets like India, its largest user base with over 500 million monthly active…

A hacker has claimed to be selling data related to thousands of current and former employees of the Indian conglomerate Piramal Group, which operates in the pharmaceutical, financial services, and real estate sectors. However, Piramal Group denies that its systems were breached, asserting that the data came from a third party. Last week, the hacker posted a sample of the allegedly stolen data on a known cybercrime forum. The data sample included full names and email addresses. Such information could be valuable to cybercriminals for launching targeted attacks against employees. Piramal Group employs over 10,000 people from 21 nationalities across…

OpenAI has entered the search engine arena with the launch of SearchGPT, a new feature designed to provide timely answers to user queries by drawing from web sources. On Thursday, OpenAI unveiled SearchGPT, which closely resembles the company’s existing chatbot platform, ChatGPT. Users can type in a query, and SearchGPT returns information and images from the web, along with links to relevant sources. This allows users to ask follow-up questions or explore related searches in a sidebar. Some searches in SearchGPT are tailored based on the user’s location. OpenAI explains that the feature collects and shares general location information with…

Robinhood, the popular stock-trading app, is making a significant move into the cryptocurrency market with the acquisition of crypto exchange Bitstamp. On Thursday, Robinhood announced that it expects the final transaction value to be around $200 million, with the deal anticipated to close in the first half of 2025. Known primarily for its stock-trading services, Robinhood has been progressively expanding into the crypto sector over the past few years. The company has introduced support for numerous leading cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, though it restricted some of its crypto offerings last year due to increased regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. Crypto…

Microsoft has officially launched its AI-powered Designer app, now available to all users on iOS and Android. This Canva-like app allows users to generate images and designs using text prompts, creating items such as stickers, greeting cards, invitations, collages, and more. The Designer app, accessible in over 80 languages on the web, is now available as a free mobile app and as an application within Windows. One of the standout features of Designer is its “prompt templates,” which help kickstart the creative process. These templates include various styles and descriptions that users can experiment with and customize. Additionally, users can…

Russian cybersecurity firm Kaspersky will lay off dozens of employees and exit the U.S. market following a U.S. government order banning the sale of its software, citing security risks. Kaspersky announced it will “gradually wind down” its U.S. operations starting July 20, when the ban comes into effect, stating that its U.S. business is “no longer viable.” Independent journalist Kim Zetter first reported the news on Monday, noting that fewer than 50 employees in the United States will be affected by the layoffs. Kaspersky spokesperson Sawyer VanHorn confirmed the company’s statement and the layoffs. VanHorn was also among those laid…