Melissa a Category 4 hurricane as Caribbean braces for impact
Hurricane Melissa has intensified into a Category 4 storm, packing winds of up to 140 mph (220 km/h) and is expected to strengthen further as it appro...
Australia's internet safety regulator has criticised YouTube and Apple for failing to track or respond adequately to reports of child sexual abuse material on their platforms.
The eSafety Commissioner’s report, released on Wednesday, found serious safety deficiencies across major online platforms, including YouTube and Apple. The platforms were said to lack basic systems to monitor user reports of child abuse content and had not provided information on how quickly such reports were addressed.
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said that “when left to their own devices, these companies aren’t prioritising the protection of children and are seemingly turning a blind eye to crimes occurring on their services”.
She added, “No other consumer-facing industry would be given the licence to operate by enabling such heinous crimes against children on their premises, or services.”
The report revealed that neither YouTube nor Apple could say how many user complaints they had received about child sexual abuse material, nor how many trust and safety staff they employed.
Following eSafety’s advice, the Australian government decided last week to include YouTube in its upcoming social media ban for teenagers, reversing its earlier decision to exempt the platform.
While Google has said that it uses artificial intelligence and hash-matching technology to identify and remove abuse material, the eSafety report found that many platforms are not applying these tools comprehensively across all services. Hash-matching is an established method of detecting known child abuse content by comparing image fingerprints to a central database.
Other platforms, including Meta, Discord, Microsoft, Skype, Snap and WhatsApp, were also required to disclose their safety protocols. The report found that most had significant gaps, such as a failure to block links to known child abuse material or prevent livestreaming of exploitation.
“In the case of Apple services and Google’s YouTube, they didn’t even answer our questions,” Inman Grant said, referring to basic inquiries about user reporting volumes and staffing for safety teams.
Google has previously stated that abusive material has “no place” on its platforms and highlighted its use of industry-standard detection tools. Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads, said it bans graphic videos and aims to swiftly remove harmful content.
The eSafety Commissioner, which was established to hold tech companies accountable for user safety, said some platforms had failed to improve despite repeated warnings in previous years.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A tsunami threat was issued in Chile after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the Drake Passage on Friday. The epicenter was located 135 miles south of Puerto Williams on the north coast of Navarino Island.
The war in Ukraine has reached a strategic impasse, and it seems that the conflict will not be solved by military means. This creates a path toward one of two alternatives: either a “frozen” phase that can last indefinitely or a quest for a durable political regulation.
A shooting in Nice, southeastern France, left two people dead and five injured on Friday, authorities said.
Snapchat will start charging users who store more than 5GB of photos and videos in its Memories feature, prompting backlash from long-time users.
A Czech fundraising drive has raised more than €500,000 in 48 hours to buy a Flamingo cruise missile for Ukraine, organisers said.
Democratic California Governor Gavin Newsom said in a Sunday interview that he is considering a run for the U.S. presidency in 2028, adding that he will make a decision after the 2026 midterm elections.
Argentines headed to the polls on Sunday for midterm legislative elections, a key test of President Javier Milei’s sweeping free-market reforms and austerity drive, and a measure of whether he retains enough political momentum to push forward with his economic overhaul.
Hurricane Melissa has intensified into a Category 4 storm, packing winds of up to 140 mph (220 km/h) and is expected to strengthen further as it approaches Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Sunday.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel will decide which foreign forces can participate in the planned international mission in Gaza, aimed at securing a fragile ceasefire under U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
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