Tag: social media

EU says it is ‘seriously looking’ into Musk’s Grok AI over sexual deepfakes of minors

The European Commission said on Jan 5 it is “very seriously looking” into complaints that Mr Elon Musk’s AI tool Grok is being used to generate and disseminate sexually explicit child-like images.

“Grok is now offering a ‘spicy mode’ showing explicit sexual content with some output generated with child-like images. This is not spicy. This is illegal. This is appalling,” EU digital affairs spokesman Thomas Regnier told reporters.

He added: “This has no place in Europe.”

Complaints of abuse began hitting Mr Musk’s X social media platform, where Grok is available, after an “edit image” button for the generative artificial intelligence tool was rolled out in late December.

But Grok maker xAI, run by Mr Musk, said earlier in January it was scrambling to fix flaws in its AI tool.

The public prosecutor’s office in Paris has also expanded an investigation into X to include new accusations that Grok was being used for generating and disseminating child pornography.

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Pakistan sentences journalists, YouTubers and ex-military officers to life over inciting violence

A court in Pakistan’s capital sentenced seven people, including three journalists, two YouTubers and two retired army officers, to life imprisonment on Friday, after convicting them of inciting violence during riots in 2023 and spreading hatred against state institutions.

An anti-terrorism court judge, Tahir Abbas Sipra, announced the verdict in Islamabad after completing trials held in absentia.

None of the accused were present in court. They have been living abroad after leaving the country in recent years to avoid arrest.

Those convicted include former editor Shaheen Sehbai; two other journalists, Sabir Shakir and Moeed Pirzada; YouTubers Wajahat Saeed Khan and Haider Raza Mehdi; and retired army officers Adil Raja and Akbar Hussain.

According to the court order, the charges against the men stemmed from the violent unrest that erupted in May 2023 following the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a graft case.

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4chan and Kiwi Farms Tell Ofcom It Can’t Censor and Run From Lawsuits

Attorneys representing 4chan and Kiwi Farms have filed an opposition to the UK Office of Communications’ (Ofcom) motion to dismiss their US lawsuit, arguing that the British regulator’s attempt to enforce its Online Safety Act (OSA) on American platforms amounts to unlawful foreign censorship and overreach into the United States’ constitutional domain.

The filing, made in the US District Court for the District of Columbia on December 29, 2025, contends that Ofcom’s actions, sending legally binding “Section 100 Orders” via email to compel compliance with the OSA, violate US sovereignty and the First Amendment.

We obtained a copy of the filing for you here.

The plaintiffs assert that Ofcom’s conduct has no legal force in the United States because it bypassed all recognized international service procedures, including the Hague Service Convention and the US–UK Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.

Lawyers Ron Coleman and Preston Byrne argue that Ofcom’s regulatory model functions like a commercial enterprise rather than a sovereign body, funded through fees extracted from companies it regulates.

Under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, the plaintiffs maintain that this structure places Ofcom’s operations within the “commercial activity” exception, thereby stripping it of immunity from suit in US courts.

The opposition brief situates the dispute within a broader geopolitical context, describing a “diplomatic standoff” between Washington and London over the reach of online speech laws.

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Polish Deputy Minister Urges EU Investigation Into TikTok Over Videos Promoting “Polexit”

A senior Polish official is pressing the European Commission to take action against TikTok, claiming the platform is hosting a growing number of artificial intelligence-generated videos that urge Poland to withdraw from the European Union.

His appeal, directed to Brussels’ top digital regulator, calls for what amounts to a censorship regime over AI-generated speech.

Deputy Minister of Digital Affairs Dariusz Standerski wrote to Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen, who oversees the EU’s Tech Sovereignty, Security, and Democracy portfolio, insisting that the European Commission open a Digital Services Act (DSA) investigation into TikTok.

He accused the company of failing to build “appropriate mechanisms” to detect and moderate AI-created content and of neglecting to provide “effective” transparency tools that could trace how such material is produced.

The letter went further, urging the Commission to introduce “interim measures aimed at limiting the further dissemination of artificial intelligence-generated content that encourages Poland to withdraw from the European Union.”

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Ireland’s Simon Harris to Push EU-Wide Ban on Social Media Anonymity

Ireland’s next term leading the European Union will be used to promote a new agenda: an effort to end online anonymity and make verified identity the standard across social media platforms.

Tánaiste Simon Harris said the government plans to use Ireland’s presidency to push for EU-wide rules that would require users to confirm their identities before posting or interacting online.

Speaking to Extra.ie, Harris described the plan as part of a broader attempt to defend what he called “democracy” from anonymous abuse and digital manipulation.

He said the initiative will coincide with another policy being developed by Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan, aimed at preventing children from accessing social media.

O’Donovan’s proposal, modeled on Australian restrictions, is expected to be introduced while Ireland holds the EU presidency next year.

Both ideas would involve rewriting parts of the EU’s Digital Services Act, which already governs how online platforms operate within the bloc.

Expanding it to require verified identities would mark a major shift toward government involvement in online identity systems, a move that many privacy advocates believe could expose citizens to new forms of monitoring and limit open speech.

Harris said his motivation comes from concerns about the health of public life, not personal grievance.

Harris said he believes Ireland will find allies across Europe for the initiative.

He pointed to recent statements from French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who he said have shown interest in following Australia’s lead. “If you look at the comments of Emmanuel Macron…of Keir Starmer…recently, in terms of being open to considering what Australia have done…You know this is a global conversation Ireland will and should be a part of,” he said.

Technology companies based in Ireland, many of which already face scrutiny under existing EU rules, are likely to resist further regulation.

The United States government has also expressed growing hostility toward European efforts to regulate speech on its major tech firms, recently imposing visa bans on several EU officials connected to such laws.

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Lawyer’s daughter who proudly identified as con artist gets sentenced for bank fraud after using taxpayer cash to rent Miami mega-mansion

A former social media influencer who once proudly called herself a ‘con artist’ after scamming the federal government out of $1.5 million in COVID-related disaster loans will now be locked up for even longer.

Danielle Miller, the daughter of lawyer and former New York State Bar Association president Michael Miller, was sentenced Monday to 16 years in Florida state prison, after pleading guilty to 38 counts of fraudulently using personal identification information.

Prosecutors have said Miller came to Florida during the COVID pandemic, traveling to Sarasota with her was Ciera Blas, whom she met while locked up at New York City‘s infamous Rikers Island for using stolen credit card information to book appointments at a luxurious spa in the Upper West Side.

Miller then used others’ identification information to defraud banks throughout the Sunshine State.

The scam finally unraveled when an alert manager notified the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, who arrested her.

But this was not the first time Miller faced jail for bank fraud in the state, even going as far as proudly characterizing herself as a ‘con artist’ in a 2022 New York Magazine article.

That year, she was sentenced to five years in a Florida prison, after she attempted to use a California woman’s passport to obtain more than $8,000 at a Chase bank drive-through window in 2020, according to the Bradenton Herald.

By 2023, federal authorities accused Miller of stealing the identities of more than 10 people to set up bank accounts and obtain loans – which she then used for travel and for lavish purchases, including $27,000-a-month rent at a waterside villa in Miami.

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Disney to Pay $10 Million Penalty for Alleged Illegal Targeting of Children

It turns out even Disney’s “magic” has legal — and costly — limits.

The Justice Department’s Office of Public Affairs announced in a news release Tuesday that it has reached a settlement with the entertainment giant over alleged violations of federal children’s privacy law.

Under an order entered by a federal court, Disney Worldwide Services Inc. and Disney Entertainment Operations LLC — collectively referred to as “Disney” — will pay $10 million in civil penalties.

The settlement stems from allegations that Disney violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, commonly known as COPPA.

According to the Justice Department, the violations involved Disney’s handling of data connected to popular video content that’s distributed on YouTube and widely viewed by children.

A complaint filed in a California federal court by the DOJ alleged that Disney failed to properly designate certain YouTube videos as content directed at children, the news release states.

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U.K. opposition leaders demand human rights activist be stripped of citizenship for past tweets

Political opposition leaders in the United Kingdom have called for a human rights activist to be stripped of his citizenship over past social media posts allegedly containing violent and antisemitic language within days of the dual national returning to Britain after years in Egyptian prisons.

The leaders of the Conservative and Reform parties also demanded the deportation of Alaa Abd el-Fattah following the discovery of tweets from more than a decade ago in which he allegedly endorsed killing “Zionists’’ and police.

“The comments he made on social media about violence against Jews, white people and the police, amongst others, are disgusting and abhorrent,” Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch wrote Monday in the Daily Mail newspaper.

Abd el-Fattah on Monday apologized for the tweets while saying some had been taken out of context and misrepresented.

The activist has spent years in Egyptian prisons, most recently for allegedly spreading fake news about the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. He returned to the U.K. on Friday after Egyptian authorities lifted a travel ban that had forced him to remain in the country since he was released in September.

But he immediately became embroiled in controversy after Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he was “delighted” that Abd el-Fattah was back in the UK and had been reunited with his family.

That triggered the republication of messages on the social media platform Twitter, now X, that were described as antisemitic, homophobic and anti-British.

Abd el-Fattah expressed shock at the turn of events in a statement released Monday.

“I am shaken that, just as I am being reunited with my family for the first time in 12 years, several historic tweets of mine have been republished and used to question and attack my integrity and values, escalating to calls for the revocation of my citizenship,’’ he said.

The remarks were mostly expressions of a young man’s anger and frustrations in a time of regional crises such as the wars in Iraq, Lebanon and Gaza and the rise of police brutality against young people in Egypt, Abd el-Fattah said.

“Looking at the tweets now – the ones that were not completely twisted out of their meaning – I do understand how shocking and hurtful they are, and for that I unequivocally apologise,’’ he said in the statement.

But that has not staunched the flow of anger from politicians.

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Virginia to Enforce Verification Law for Social Media on January 1, 2026, Despite Free Speech Concerns

Virginia is preparing to enforce a new online regulation that will curtail how minors access social media, setting up a direct clash between state lawmakers and advocates for digital free expression.

Beginning January 1, 2026, a law known as Senate Bill 854 will compel social media companies to confirm the ages of all users through “commercially reasonable methods” and to restrict anyone under sixteen to one hour of use per platform per day.

We obtained a copy of the bill for you here.

Parents will have the option to override those limits through what the statute calls “verifiable parental consent.”

The measure is written into the state’s Consumer Data Protection Act, and it bars companies from using any information gathered for age checks for any other purpose.

Lawmakers from both parties rallied behind the bill, portraying it as a way to reduce what they described as addictive and harmful online habits among young people.

Delegate Wendell Walker argued that social media “is almost like a drug addiction,” while Delegate Sam Rasoul said that “people are concerned about the addiction of screen time” and accused companies of building algorithms that “keep us more and more addicted.”

Enforcement authority falls to the Office of the Attorney General, which may seek injunctions or impose civil fines reaching $7,500 per violation for noncompliance.

But this policy, framed as a health measure, has triggered strong constitutional objections from the technology industry and free speech advocates.

The trade association NetChoice filed a federal lawsuit (NetChoice v. Miyares) in November 2025, arguing that Virginia’s statute unlawfully restricts access to lawful speech online.

We obtained a copy of the lawsuit for you here.

The complaint draws parallels to earlier moral panics over books, comic strips, rock music, and video games, warning that SB 854 “does not enforce parental authority; it imposes governmental authority, subject only to a parental veto.”

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New York To Demand Warning Labels On Social Media Platforms

New York is requiring warning labels on social media platforms about addictive features in a bid to address a youth mental health crisis.

Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the bill into law on Dec. 26, targeting infinite scrolling, auto-play videos, and algorithmic feeds that encourage prolonged use.

The law, S4505/A5346, sponsored by Democrats state Sen. Andrew Gounardes and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, requires social media platforms to display non-dismissible warnings when young users first encounter these features and at regular intervals during use.

As The Epoch Times’ Kimberley Hayek details below, the required warnings are based on consumer protections seen on products such as tobacco and alcohol, noting risks like increased anxiety, depression, and poor body image.

“Keeping New Yorkers safe has been my top priority since taking office, and that includes protecting our kids from the potential harms of social media features that encourage excessive use,” Hochul said in a statement.

“New Yorkers deserve transparency. With the amount of information that can be shared online, it is essential that we prioritize mental health and take the steps necessary to ensure that people are aware of any potential risks.”

Studies highlighted in the legislation suggest that teens spending more than three hours daily on social media face doubled risks of anxiety and depression symptoms. About half of adolescents report that platforms worsen their body image, and those with heavy usage are nearly twice as likely to describe their mental health as poor.

“New York families deserve honesty about how social media platforms impact mental health. By requiring warning labels based on the latest medical research, this law puts public health first and finally gives us the tools we need to make informed decisions,” Rozic said in a statement.

“I’m proud to sponsor this legislation alongside Senator Gounardes as part of our broader effort to create a safer digital environment for kids.”

In June 2024, Hochul signed the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, also sponsored by Gounardes and Rozic, mandating parental consent for minors to access addictive algorithms while also banning unsolicited nighttime notifications.

The SAFE Act aims to address how platforms exploit vulnerabilities for engagement while profiting billions in ad revenue from minors. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who helped draft the bill, sought public input on it in 2024.

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