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Meta Verified: Validation in the Digital Realm

It is human to seek validation. Social media validation, on the other hand, gives people a sense of superiority. There’s a reason why people heavily document their international vacations or even a weekend getaway on their social media through stories or posts. Showcasing that you’re living a better life than the average Joe has become the twisted reason why people post on social media nowadays, or at least, that’s what my pessimistic worldview says to me. To add fuel to the fire, social media also has a class divide. The verification badge!

A simple blue tick beside your name sets you apart from the masses. For years, the verification badge on your profile was something you earned by standing out from the crowd. An entertainer, a philanthropist, a businessman, or a content creator amongst many other notable professionals were awarded the verified status on social media. Well, those were different times and the new age of social media has allowed users to buy verification badges!

Meta Verified comes to India

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced on his broadcasts channel that the paid verification system has now launched in India. The US, Australia, and New Zealand were the first countries to receive the paid verification now followed by India, the UK, and Canada.

The verification subscription in India is directly available for purchase on Instagram or Facebook. People can purchase a monthly subscription for ₹699 on iOS or Android. Whereas, users with legacy blue ticks will maintain their verified status. This is a different approach from that of Twitter which decided to yank away the verification status of legacy users in the hopes of turning them into paid subscribers. So, what do you get besides a verified blue tick if you decide to buy the subscription?

After providing a government ID to confirm their identity, subscribers gain access to proactive impersonation protection along with direct access to customer support. Additionally, users also get benefits like badges and exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram along with 100 Stars per month on Facebook to support other creators.

Paid Verification: Double-edged Sword

The implementation of paid verification has garnered mixed reviews. The supporters of this subscription model believe that increases the platform’s dependability and openness. This translates to users being more likely to identify between real users and/or impostors. The Meta Verified subscription could lead to solid protection against identity theft, fraud, and fake news.

However, there are also people like me who believe that the service is a class divide between Instagram and Facebook users. The elite hierarchy of a verified badge could breed toxicity among social media users. Some creators on social media often look for shortcuts through unethical bot followers and fake engagement. In a way, Meta has enabled such users by introducing a paid subscription model. Creators who worked hard to achieve a verified status are clearly distraught by Meta’s money-spinning move. It won’t be long before everyone walks around with a verified status on social media and we’re all notable social media personalities!

Samsung’s Homecoming – Galaxy Unpacked Event in Seoul, Showcasing Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5

Samsung made a resolute announcement, declaring that its next Unpacked event will be held in Seoul, South Korea, marking a significant shift from its previous global city venues. While the exact date remains undisclosed, the event is confirmed to take place in July, setting the stage for an anticipated unveiling of the long-rumoured Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Unpacked has always served as Samsung’s premier showcase, unveiling groundbreaking smartphones and cutting-edge technology. However, this year, the company has chosen to return to its roots, bringing the event to its home country of South Korea for the very first time.

Despite Samsung’s intentional secrecy surrounding the upcoming event, it is widely speculated that the company will introduce two remarkable foldable devices: the Z Fold 5 and Z Flip 5, alongside the highly anticipated Galaxy Watch 6 lineup. Building upon the success of their predecessors, the Z Fold 4 and Z Flip 4, these new offerings are expected to feature incremental hardware improvements.

Notably, rumours suggest that the compact Flip 5 may undergo a captivating redesign. To power these foldable marvels, Snapdragon’s cutting-edge 8th Generation 2 System-on-a-Chip (SoC) is rumoured to be employed. Furthermore, industry insiders anticipate the official introduction of the Galaxy Tab S9 series, comprising the base Galaxy Tab S9, the Galaxy Tab S9+, and the top-tier Galaxy Tab S9 Ultra.

Samsung has consistently led the charge in the realm of foldable smartphones, releasing innovative devices annually, albeit exclusively in the premium market segment. The International Data Corporation (IDC) projects a robust global shipment of 21.4 million foldable phones, encompassing both flip and fold form factors, by the year 2023. However, Samsung now faces formidable competition from Chinese smartphone brands, with OnePlus poised to unveil its groundbreaking foldable flagship soon.

Experts say risk of extinction by AI should be a global priority

What started off as a harmless chatbot capable of answering our questions back in November 2022 in the form of ChatGPT has quickly become a global concern. 2023’s hottest buzzword and technology AI has been making headlines every day for notorious reasons. It was just a few weeks back when the Whitehouse representatives met with major AI CEOs to discuss the data privacy concerns surrounding AI. Now, industry experts and technology leaders have signed an open letter which says that AI may lead to human extinction!

AI could lead to human extinction

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war” read the statement recently released by tech leaders around the world. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI which made ChatGPT along with executives from Google’s AI arm DeepMind and Microsoft were among those who signed the short statement from the Center of AI Safety.

Sam Altman, who can be credited as the man who brought chatbot AI technology into the mainstream has been campaigning against the possible risks of the technology for the longest time now. He was the one who suggested that there should be multiple safety resources and regulations imposed upon AI in order to stop the technology from taking over the world.

The technology has managed to gain massive pace in recent months with the outlandish success of ChatGPT which managed to cross 100 million users in just two months since its launch. The statement released recently revealed that there have been increasing discussions about a broad spectrum of important and urgent risks from AI. Sam Altman admitted back in March that he is scared of AI as he worries authoritarian governments could develop the technology to cause harm to humanity. The concept of an AI becoming a threat to humanity was only previously seen in films like The Avengers or Terminator but we’re living in times where it could become a reality! Will a real-life Skynet ever come into existence? It is too soon to answer that just yet!

BGMI finally makes a comeback with limitations

It’s almost like everywhere you went in the past week, people were talking about BGMI making a comeback. “It is available on the Playstore but the servers are inactive” and “Will BGMI ever even come online?” were some of the things my friends were spotted saying mid-conversation. Well, mobile gamers can finally breathe a sigh of relief as after a long and tedious wait, BGMI has officially made a comeback in the Indian market.

BGMI is back!

Krafton’s Battlegrounds Mobile India has finally made its official comeback. Users can now simply download the BGMI 2.5 version from their respective app stores and experience the newly updated and also heavily Indianized version of the PUBG Mobile. Besides the comeback, BGMI is also offering up to four rewards which include free permanent skins to celebrate its comeback, but there is a catch!

BGMI 2.5 is forced to follow the regulations set by the Indian government. This has translated to Krafton imposing a limited playtime of only 3 hours for players aged below 18. Players above the age of 18 can enjoy the game for 6 hours only (not that you should be playing the game for that long)

Besides the limitations comes the addition of a new map titled Nusa. It is a 1×1 map of a resort island placed somewhere in the tropical zone. It is said to be one of the smallest maps ever introduced in the game with each match in the game lasting only about 8 minutes. There are also several new features in the game like zip lines and elevators which can be installed in hotels for quick transportation across the island.

Besides the new map, new updates have also been made to the older maps. BGMI’s Livik map has received improved textures while Miramar receives new supply shops. It looks like Krafton was long waiting to make a comeback in the Indian market with BGMI as the relaunch of the game also brings about new in-game events. Some of the events in-game vents include Race To The Top In Battlegrounds, Hot Drop Into The Battlegrounds, Gameplay Glory, Underworld Unleashed, and much more.

Google removes YouTube Stories from the platform

At this point, it feels like stories have become the most common form of communication when it comes to social media. Creators now maximize their stories as opposed to posts in order to update their followers about their life happenings. While stories on Instagram and Snapchat seem to be soaring high, YouTube is going in the opposite direction and bidding them goodbye. Starting next month, YouTube will no longer support stories.

YouTube bids goodbye to stories

The Google-owned video-streaming giant YouTube will be ending support for stories starting on June 26. The company aims to direct its attention to other essential features like Shorts, Community Posts, Live Videos, and more. YouTube said in a blog post recently – “Starting on June 26, 2023, the option to create a new YouTube Story will no longer be available. Stories that are already live on that date will expire seven days after they were originally shared,”

Additionally, the company also revealed that the creators will be notified about the shutdown of YouTube Stories via a variety of channels including forum posts, reminders in YouTube Studio, in-app messages and more. While YouTube is bidding farewell to stories, the video platform suggested that both “Community posts and YouTube Shorts are great alternatives that can deliver valuable audience connections and conversations”.

According to the company, creators who wish to share lightweight updates, promote new videos and start conversations with their audience can do so effectively with community posts. However, the restriction of not being able to post videos in the community posts may stick out as a sore thumb.

Besides this, the company also believes that YouTube Shorts is the way to go for users who wish to create short-form content and reach a wider audience. YouTube also shared that shorts drive more subscribers to a creator’s channel than stories. In an oversaturation of stories on various social media channels, getting rid of them from the most prominent video-sharing platform is a surprising move, to say the least.

Elon Musk’s brain implant company Neuralink wins FDA approval

Elon Musk’s ambitious brain-implant company Neuralink has been under controversy and public scrutiny ever since its inception. The much-talked-about company aims to implant human brains with a chip that can control electronic devices like computers and phones. The concept sounds something straight out of a Black Mirror episode and has been mercilessly trolled on the internet for being dystopian but that did not stop Elon and the company from working on it tirelessly. The company also entered some troubled waters when it was revealed that its animal testing is being needlessly rushed causing irresponsible deaths. Now, after years worth of controversies, Neuralink finally has the green light to begin human clinical trials.

FDA Approves Human Trials for Neuralink

Neuralink took to Twitter and announced that it has gained FDA approval for a first-in-human study. The company wrote – “We are excited to share that we have received the FDA’s approval to launch our first-in-human clinical study! This is the result of incredible work by the Neuralink team in close collaboration with the FDA and represents an important first step that will one day allow our technology to help many people. Recruitment is not yet open for our clinical trial. We’ll announce more information on this soon!”

Musk’s vision of brain implant chips could cure a number of human conditions such as obesity, autism, depression, and schizophrenia. The chip implant also aims at enabling web browsing and telepathy. The billionaire had previously made the statement that he was so confident in the device’s safety that he would be willing to implant them into his own children… I say let’s start with him getting chipped first (Maybe he already is?)

Musk has been hyping up Neuralink’s human trials since 2019 but the company only sought FDA approval in early 2022. The agency had previously rejected the approval application pointing out several concerns which needed to be addressed before sanctioning human trials. One of the major issues revolved around the lithium battery of the device and the possibility of the implant’s wiring migrating within the brain. FDA had also challenged the company’s safety of extracting the device without causing any brain damage. It will be interesting to see whether Neuralink’s efforts will come to fruition and the future where getting chipped is as common as getting vaccinated comes to reality but I surely hope for the opposite!

Meta fined €1.2 billion by EU over European data transfer

Meta, the parent company of Facebook has been fined a record whopping €1.2 billion by the Irish regulator for breaching EU data protection rules. The Irish Data Protection recently announced that Meta has violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by moving data between Europe and the US. Regulators added that Meta failed to protect European users from having their data used under US law.

Meta fined record €1.2 billion

Meta will now be fined €1.2 billion and also be required to delete the Facebook data or move it back to Europe. This fine is the most EU has levied upon any company under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations. The previous record was held by Amazon. The Jeff Bezos-owned company was fined a hefty €746 million by regulators in Luxembourg. However, the four biggest fines after Amazon have been paid by Meta itself as a part of issues revolving around Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Meta has issued a statement calling the fine ‘unjustified and unnecessary’ adding that it will appeal the ruling. It also stated that there will be immediate disruption to the way Facebook operates. The company has been vocal about how the new limits on data transfer to the US could cause the company to shut down operations in the EU. This could lead to Facebook and Instagram shutting down in Europe entirely.

Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg and chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement that the company feels disappointed to have been singled out. The ruling was called unjustified and a dangerous precedent for countless other companies. This marks the third fine imposed on Meta so far just this year in the EU and its fourth in six months. With Meta always being in the news in recent times over company-wide layoffs and budget cuts, the big fine only puts the company down furthermore.

Netflix Reportedly Planning To Cut Spending by $300 Million

Netflix is known to spend a big chunk of its money on content generation which has been wildly criticized by both the trades and fans over the years. Netflix dropped $200 million for the film Red Notice which featured Ryan Reynolds and The Rock in prominent roles back in 2021 making it the most expensive direct-to-stream film of that year. This was followed by The Gray Man which was yet another humungous project budget-wise with its $200 million budget in 2022. Now, it looks like Netflix is finally getting a hold of its expenses and winding down its spending for 2023.

Netflix cuts costs

Netflix is reportedly planning to implement extensive budget cuts in 2023 in order to make the streaming platform more profitable. It was not long ago when Netflix revealed that it will be taking down the password-sharing option in order to increase profits. The Wall Street Journal reported that the streaming mogul is planning to cut down its spending by $300 million in 2023. The cost-cutting methods are limited to just cutting down expenses for now and the company is not expected to venture out to any layoffs at least for now.

Back in 2022, Netflix lost a sizeable chunk of subscribers amounting to 1 million which has prompted the company to cut costs and maximize profits. The streaming giant’s recent actions towards the password-sharing crackdown hints that the company is still seeking an increase in subscriptions.

The company’s decision to cut down costs means that the platform will likely produce lesser original content this year. Netflix has already been in troubled waters over canceling fan-favorite original shows. Halting or canceling shows furthermore in order to cut costs could result in greater fan scrutiny. Netflix stands at an interesting spot right now with increasing fan disappointment and decreasing costs for production. It undoubtedly has to charter these troubled waters with efficiency in order to go past this phase.

Microsoft to solve ChatGPT privacy concerns with new version

It was not long ago when it was revealed that tech giants like Samsung have started banning generative AI tools like ChatGPT in offices. The reason behind the ban was reportedly due to concerns regarding privacy and alleged data leaks. On the other hand, various countries from around the world have also started questioning the credibility of generative AI tools with regard to data privacy. Now, it is revealed that Microsoft is working on a new version of ChatGPT which addresses the privacy concerns surrounding the AI platform.

Safer ChatGPT is on its way

Microsoft has reportedly negotiated a $10 billion deal with OpenAI to produce a secure version of ChatGPT which allows people to benefit from the technology without privacy concerns. While this is a welcoming change for sure, readers should note that the new version which focuses extensively on privacy might cost users more than ten times the current cost of ChatGPT Plus.

OpenAi has been in troubled waters since the inception of ChatGPT last year facing privacy concerns from different locations. Authorities in Italy have also put a temporary ban on the chatbot over privacy concerns. The company now aims to get more clients including IT and banking companies on board.

On the other hand, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed in a recent interview that the company will no longer be using customer data in order to train GPT-4. The decision was made after customers expressed their opposition to the use of their data. It surely is a step in the right direction however it is unsure how the company will be tackling the data privacy concerns. The new privacy-centric ChatGPT is expected to roll out later this quarter.

Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI CEOs called to meet VP Kamala Harris to discuss AI

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT & Microsoft Bing have made their way to the mainstream. While these tools are surely a pathbreaking step in the world of tech, the looming threat around the misuse of this technology also remains prevalent. To discuss these concerns, chief executives of major tech firms like Microsoft, Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic are expected to meet with US Vice President Kamala Harris and other government officials soon. Tech leaders like Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman, and Dario Amodei will be meeting with the US Vice President. The formal invitation was obtained by Reuters recently which revealed that US President Joe Biden wants to meet the CEOs in order to make sure their products are safe before making them available to the public.

Tech Leaders to Meet US Vice President

The US Vice President’s meeting with tech leaders around AI does not come as a surprise as the technology has been under troubled waters recently. Recently, several notable tech entrepreneurs like Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla/Twitter owner Elon Musk signed a letter demanding a pause in AI research until at least the end of the year. The report highlights furthermore that the said meeting is expected to take place on May 4th. It will reportedly be attended by the US President’s Chief of Staff Jeff Zients, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Deputy Chief of Staff Bruce Reed, director of the National Economic Council Lael Brainard, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

Surprisingly, it is expected that the tech CEOs of the world may talk about AI regulations with the US government. OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman has been vocal about regulating AI, reiterating the same in several interviews. On the other hand, similar concerns were shared between Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, with the former stating publically that the technology can be very harmful if it’s not deployed correctly. The world of AI has definitely been taking a negative turn as Geoffrey Hinton, who is referred to as the ‘God of AI’ announced his departure from Google to warn humanity about the perils of AI. It will be interesting to see how the meeting between the US Vice President and Tech CEOs turns out to be.