MOSCOW: Russia has blocked the popular messaging service WhatsApp over its failure to comply with local legislation, the Kremlin said Thursday, urging its 100 million Russian users to switch to a domestic alternative.&nbsp;Moscow has for months been trying to shift Russian users onto Max, a domestic messaging service that lacks end-to-end encryption and that activists have called a potential tool for surveillance.&nbsp;&quot;As for the blocking of WhatsApp such a decision was indeed made and implemented,&quot; Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.&nbsp;Peskov said the <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/russia-threatens-total-ban-on-whatsapp" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">decision</a> was due to WhatsApp&#39;s &quot;reluctance to comply with the norms and letter of Russian law&quot;.&nbsp;&quot;Max is an accessible alternative, a developing messenger, a national messenger. And it is an alternative available on the market for citizens,&quot; he said.&nbsp;WhatsApp, owned by US social media giant Meta, said Wednesday that it believed Russia was attempting to fully block the service in a bid to force users onto Max.&nbsp;&quot;We continue to do everything we can to keep users connected,&quot; it said.&nbsp;Critics and rights campaigners say the restrictions are a transparent attempt by the Kremlin to ramp up control and surveillance over internet use in Russia.&nbsp;Russia&#39;s internet watchdog said Tuesday it would slap &quot;phased restrictions&quot; on the Telegram messaging platform, which it also accused of not complying with local legislation.

Artificial Intelligence

Russia has blocked WhatsApp for failing to comply with local laws, urging users to switch to the state-backed messenger Max. Critics warn the move increases surveillance, while authorities also plan phased restrictions on Telegram for allegedly violating Russian legislation.

Russia confirms WhatsApp ban, says it failed to abide by law

LOS ANGELES: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Wednesday rejected the notion that users could be clinically addicted to social media, as he testified in a landmark California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit.&nbsp;Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children.&nbsp;&quot;I think it&#39;s important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use,&quot; Mosseri said as he was grilled by plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier.&nbsp;&quot;I&#39;m sure I said that I&#39;ve been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don&#39;t think it&#39;s the same thing as clinical addiction,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Addiction is at the heart of the civil trial, which centers on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a young child.&nbsp;She started using YouTube at six and joined Instagram at 11, before moving on to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later.&nbsp;Mosseri was the first major Silicon Valley figure to appear before the jury to defend himself against accusations that Instagram functions as little more than a dopamine &quot;slot machine&quot; for vulnerable young people.&nbsp;In front of the jury of six men and women, Mosseri also pushed back against the idea that Meta was motivated by a &quot;move fast and break things&quot; ethos that valued profit over safety.&nbsp;&quot;Protecting minors over the long run is even good for the business and for profit,&quot; he said.&nbsp;Mosseri&#39;s testimony precedes the highly anticipated appearance of his boss, Mark Zuckerberg, currently scheduled for February 18, with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan the following day.&nbsp;In opening remarks this week, plaintiffs&#39; attorney Lanier told the jury that YouTube and Meta both engineer addiction in young people&#39;s brains to gain users and profits.&nbsp;Meta and Google &quot;don&#39;t only build apps; they build traps,&quot; Lanier said.&nbsp;Meta&#39;s attorney said that the suffering encountered by the plaintiff was due to her family context and could not be attributed to her use of Instagram or other social media.&nbsp;The attorney for YouTube insisted that the video platform was neither intentionally addictive nor technically social media.&nbsp;YouTube is selling &quot;the ability to watch something essentially for free on your computer, on your phone, on your iPad,&quot; the attorney insisted, comparing the service to Netflix or traditional TV. &#39;Gateway drug&#39;&nbsp;Stanford University School of Medicine professor Anna Lembke, the first witness called by the plaintiffs, testified Tuesday that she views social media, broadly speaking, as a drug.&nbsp;She also said young people&#39;s brains were underdeveloped, which is why they &quot;often take risks that they shouldn&#39;t,&quot; comparing YouTube to a gateway drug for kids.&nbsp;The trial is currently scheduled to run until March 20.&nbsp;Social media firms face more than a thousand lawsuits accusing them of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and even suicide.&nbsp;Kaley G.M.&#39;s case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding whose outcome could set the tone for a wave of similar litigation across the United States.&nbsp;Two further test trials are planned in Los Angeles between now and the summer, while a nationwide lawsuit will be heard by a federal judge in Oakland, California.&nbsp;In New Mexico, a separate lawsuit accusing Meta of prioritizing profit over protecting minors from sexual predators began on Monday.

Gadgets

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri rejected that users could be clinically addicted to social media, he testified in a California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit.

Instagram CEO denies addiction claims in landmark US trial

LOS ANGELES: Meta and Google-owned YouTube were vilified Monday for &quot;engineering addiction&quot; as a landmark social media trial began in earnest in a California court.&nbsp;The blockbuster trial in front of a Los Angeles jury could establish a legal precedent on whether the social media juggernauts deliberately designed their platforms to lead to addiction in children.&nbsp;The proceedings are expected to see Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg on the stand next week and Instagram boss Adam Mosseri in the courtroom as early as Wednesday. Besides Instagram, Meta&#39;s platforms include Facebook and WhatsApp.&nbsp;&quot;This case is about two of the richest corporations in history who have engineered addiction in children&#39;s brains,&quot; plaintiff&#39;s attorney Mark Lanier told the jury in his opening statement.&nbsp;&quot;This case is as easy as A-B-C,&quot; Lanier said as he stacked children&#39;s toy blocks bearing the letters.&nbsp;He contended the A was for addicting, the B for brains and the C for children.&nbsp;&quot;They don&#39;t only build apps; they build traps,&quot; Lanier said, saying Meta and YouTube pursued &quot;addiction by design.&quot;&nbsp;The case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding because its outcome could set the tone for a tidal wave of similar litigation across the United States.&nbsp;Social media firms are accused in hundreds of lawsuits of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization and even suicide.&nbsp;Lawyers for the plaintiffs are borrowing strategies used in the 1990s and 2000s against the tobacco industry, which faced a similar onslaught of lawsuits arguing that companies knowingly sold a harmful product.&nbsp;The trial before Judge Carolyn Kuhl focuses on allegations that a 20-year-old woman identified as Kaley G.M. suffered severe mental harm because she became addicted to social media as a child.&nbsp;&quot;This is the first time that a social media company has ever had to face a jury for harming kids,&quot; Social Media Victims Law Center founder Matthew Bergman, whose team is involved in more than 1,000 such cases, told AFP.&nbsp;The center is a legal organization pursuing social media companies for harm allegedly caused to young people online.&nbsp;Strongly disagreeInternet titans have argued that they are shielded by Section 230 of the US Communications Decency Act, which frees them of responsibility for what social media users post.&nbsp;However, this case argues that those firms are culpable for business models designed to hold people&#39;s attention and to promote content that can harm their mental health.&nbsp;A Meta spokesperson said &quot;we strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.&quot;&nbsp;The company pointed to recent efforts to provide more safeguards for young people, adding that &quot;we&#39;re always working to do better.&quot;&nbsp;Jose Castaneda, a YouTube spokesperson, said &quot;the allegations in these complaints are simply not true.&quot;&nbsp;&quot;Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work,&quot; he added.&nbsp;Snapchat and TikTok were named as defendants in the suit, but struck settlement deals before the start of the trial. The terms were not disclosed.&nbsp;Lawsuits, including some brought by school districts, accusing social media platforms of practices endangering young users are making their way through federal court in northern California and state courts across the country.&nbsp;A separate lawsuit accusing Meta of putting profit over the wellbeing of young users is also getting under way in New Mexico.&nbsp;&quot;Our investigation into Meta&#39;s social media platforms demonstrates that they are not safe spaces for children but rather prime locations for predators to trade child pornography and solicit minors for sex,&quot; New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez said in a statement.&nbsp;Meta has rejected the accusations and vowed to defend itself in court.

Meta and Google-owned YouTube face a landmark California jury trial accusing them of engineering addictive social media that harmed children.

Meta, Google face jury in landmark US addiction trial

Web Desk

ISLAMABAD: Meta has begun deprecating the desktop version of its Messenger app, confirming that users on Windows and Mac computers will no longer be able to access the service through a standalone application.&nbsp;According to Meta, the Messenger app for Windows is being phased out as part of a deprecation process. Once the process is complete, users will no longer be able to log into the app and will be automatically redirected to use Facebook&rsquo;s desktop platform or the web-based version of Messenger for messaging.&nbsp;Meta said users can continue all their conversations through Facebook&rsquo;s desktop app or web platforms, with the same features previously available on the Messenger desktop app, including desktop calling.&nbsp;Will users be notified about the change?Meta said users of the Messenger desktop app will receive in-app notifications once the deprecation process begins.&nbsp;Users will have 60 days to continue using the Messenger desktop app before it is fully disabled. After the 60-day period, access to the app will be blocked.&nbsp;&ldquo;We encourage you to delete the app since it will no longer be usable,&rdquo; Meta said in its Help Center guidance.&nbsp;When did the app become unavailable?While Meta has not publicly announced a specific shutdown date, media reports, including by TechCrunch, indicate that the Messenger desktop app became unavailable earlier this week.&nbsp;Attempts to download the Windows version now redirect users to Facebook.com or Messenger.com. Meta has not provided an official explanation for discontinuing the standalone desktop app.&nbsp;Will chat history be saved?Meta has assured users that their chat history will remain intact, provided certain steps are followed.&nbsp;Users who have not enabled secure storage in Messenger are advised to turn it on and set up a PIN through the desktop app before transitioning to the web version. Once secure storage is enabled, chat history will be accessible across platforms after logging into Facebook.com or Messenger.com.&nbsp;Meta said users can check secure storage by navigating to Settings, then Privacy &amp; Safety, followed by End-to-end encrypted chats, and Message storage.&nbsp;What about Messenger-only users?Meta clarified that users who use Messenger without a Facebook account will continue to have access to the service.&nbsp;Such users will be redirected to Messenger.com, where they can log in without creating a Facebook profile.&nbsp;The change affects only users who relied on the standalone Messenger application on desktop computers. Messenger will remain available through web browsers and on mobile devices.

According to Meta, the Messenger app for Windows is being phased out as part of a deprecation process.

Meta discontinues Messenger app for Windows and Mac

NEW YORK: Facebook owner Meta is cutting 600 jobs in its artificial intelligence division in a move intended to streamline operations after an aggressive hiring spree, US media reported on Wednesday. The job cuts will not affect the TBD Lab, an operation established by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, according to reports in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and other publications. The lab&#39;s staffing was quickly grown through the poaching of top researchers with expensive pay packages from rivals like OpenAI and Apple. Rather, the job cuts will target teams focused on artificial intelligence products and infrastructure, aiming to boost efficiency without sacrificing work on the company&#39;s most ambitious ventures, according to a Wall Street Journal report that said many of the affected workers could be deployed elsewhere by the company. The New York Times described the job cuts as aimed at addressing &quot;organizational bloat&quot; following aggressive hiring to build up the AI program. Both newspapers quoted a memo from Chief AI Office Alexandr Wang that the job cuts mean &quot;fewer conversations will be required to make a decision.&quot; Meta did not respond to an AFP query on the matter.

The layoffs come after an aggressive hiring spree. Reports say the move targets product and infrastructure teams to improve efficiency, while Zuckerberg’s elite TBD Lab and core AI research remain untouched.

Meta to cut 600 jobs in artificial intelligence

HOLLY RIDGE: In a rural corner of Louisiana, Meta is building one of the world&#39;s largest data centers, a $10 billion behemoth as big as 70 football fields that will consume more power in a day than the entire city of New Orleans at the peak of summer. While the colossal project is impossible to miss in Richland Parish, a farming community of 20,000 residents, not everything is visible, including how much the social media giant will pay toward the more than $3 billion in new electricity infrastructure needed to power the facility. Watchdogs have warned that in the rush to capitalize on the AI-driven data center boom, some states are allowing massive tech companies to direct expensive infrastructure projects with limited oversight. Mississippi lawmakers allowed Amazon to bypass regulatory approval for energy infrastructure to serve two data centers it is spending $10 billion to build. In Indiana, a utility is proposing a data center-focused subsidiary that operates outside normal state regulations. And while Louisiana says it has added consumer safeguards, it lags behind other states in its efforts to insulate regular power consumers from data center-related costs. Mandy DeRoche, an attorney for the environmental advocacy group Earthjustice, says there is less transparency due to confidentiality agreements and rushed approvals. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t follow the facts, you can&rsquo;t follow the benefits or the negative impacts that could come to the service area or to the community,&rdquo; DeRoche said. Private deals for public power supply Under contract with Meta, the power company Entergy agreed to build three gas-powered plants that would produce 2,262 megawatts &mdash; equivalent to approximately one-fifth of Entergy&#39;s current power supply in Louisiana. The Public Service Commission approved Meta&rsquo;s infrastructure plan in August, following Entergy&#39;s agreement to enhance protections to prevent a spike in residential rates. Nonetheless, nondisclosure agreements conceal how much Meta will pay. Consumer advocates tried but failed to compel Meta to provide sworn testimony, submit to discovery, and face cross-examination during a regulatory review. Regulators reviewed Meta&rsquo;s contract with Entergy, but were barred from revealing details. Meta did not address AP&rsquo;s questions about transparency, while Louisiana&#39;s economic development agency and Entergy say nondisclosure agreements are standard to protect sensitive commercial data. Davante Lewis &mdash; the only one of five public service commissioners to vote against the plan &mdash; said he remains unclear about how much electricity the center will use, whether gas-powered plants are the most economical option, and whether it will create the promised 500 jobs. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s certain information we should know and need to know but don&rsquo;t have,&rdquo; Lewis said. Additionally, Meta is exempt from paying sales tax under a 2024 Louisiana law that the state acknowledges could lead to &ldquo;tens of millions of dollars or more each year&rdquo; in lost revenue. Meta has agreed to fund about half the cost of building the power plants over 15 years, including cost overruns, but not maintenance and operation, said Logan Burke, executive director of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, a consumer advocacy group. Public Service Commission Jean-Paul Coussan insists there will be &ldquo;very little&rdquo; impact on ratepayers. However, watchdogs warn that Meta could pull out of or not renew its contract, leaving the public to pay for the power plants over the remainder of their 30-year lifespan. Additionally, all grid users are expected to contribute to the $550 million transmission line serving Meta&rsquo;s facility. Ari Peskoe, director of Harvard University&rsquo;s Electricity Law Initiative, said tech companies should be required to pay &ldquo;every penny so the public is not left holding the bag.&rdquo; How is this tackled in other states? Elsewhere, tech companies are not being given such leeway. More than a dozen states have taken steps to protect households and business ratepayers from paying for rising electricity costs tied to energy-hungry data centers. Pennsylvania&rsquo;s utilities commission is drafting a model rate structure to protect customers from rising costs associated with data centers. New Jersey&rsquo;s utilities regulators are studying whether data centers cause &ldquo;unreasonable&rdquo; cost increases for other users. Oregon passed legislation this year ordering utilities regulators to develop new, and likely higher, power rates for data centers. And in June, Texas implemented what it calls a &lsquo;kill switch&rsquo; law, empowering grid operators to order data centers to reduce their electrical load during emergencies. Locals have mixed feelings Some Richland Parish residents fear a boom-and-bust cycle once construction ends. Others expect a boost in school and health care funding. Meta said it plans to invest $200 million in water and road infrastructure in Richland Parish, as well as 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy in Louisiana. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t come from a wealthy parish, and the money is much needed,&rdquo; said Trae Banks, who runs a drywall business that has tripled in size since Meta arrived. In the nearby town of Delhi, Mayor Jesse Washington believes the data center will eventually have a positive impact on his community of 2,600. But for now, the construction traffic frustrates residents, and property prices are skyrocketing as developers try to house thousands of construction workers. More than a dozen low-income families were evicted from a trailer park whose owners are building housing for incoming Meta workers, Washington says. &ldquo;We have a lot of concerned people &mdash; they&rsquo;ve put hardship on a lot of people in certain areas here,&quot; the mayor said. &ldquo;I just want to see people from Delhi benefit from this.&rdquo;

A Meta logo is pictured at a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany. (Reuters)

Meta is building a massive $10 billion data center in rural Louisiana, raising concerns about the $3 billion power infrastructure costs and transparency.

 Meta’s $3 billion power upgrade in the US raises questions over cost responsibility

Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Meta Platforms launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with an integrated display on Wednesday, building on the success of its popular Ray-Ban smart glasses in the AI era.&nbsp;&nbsp;The company&rsquo;s CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses along with a new wristband controller at Meta&rsquo;s Connect event, despite some technical difficulties during the demonstration.&nbsp;Zuckerberg highlighted the glasses as an ideal way to achieve &ldquo;personal superintelligence&rdquo; by enabling users to stay engaged with their surroundings while accessing AI tools that apparently improve communication, memory, and senses.&nbsp;&nbsp;The new glasses feature a small digital display on the right lens for simple tasks like notifications and will be priced at $799, available in stores starting September 30.&nbsp; <img src="https://paktv-assets-7d41fab8.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/c4d42edf-7c68-40a2-bf05-98acb744a011.png" style="width: 300px;" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Meta Platforms launched its first consumer-ready smart glasses with an integrated display on Wednesday, building on the success of its popular Ray-Ban smart glasses in the AI era. (Meta.com)"> &nbsp;The package includes a wristband that converts hand gestures into commands such as replying to texts and calls.Meta also introduced Oakley-branded Vanguard glasses designed for athletes, priced at $499. These glasses integrate with fitness platforms and offer nine hours of battery life, with availability beginning October 21. The company also refreshed its Ray-Ban glasses without displays, enhancing battery life and camera quality, priced now at $379, up from $299.&nbsp;The glasses were unveiled at Meta&rsquo;s annual Connect conference in Menlo Park, California. Although Meta has been a pioneer in smart glasses technology, it still trails competitors like OpenAI and Google in releasing advanced AI systems.&nbsp;Zuckerberg has initiated efforts to recruit top engineers from competitors and pledged substantial investments in cutting-edge AI hardware.Although analysts don&rsquo;t expect strong initial sales for the Display model, it is seen as a step toward Meta&rsquo;s future &quot;Orion&quot; glasses scheduled for 2027, a prototype of which was shown last year.&nbsp;&nbsp;Industry experts compare the new glasses to Apple&rsquo;s launch of the smartwatch as a new wearable tech category, recognizing the potential of glasses as a practical, everyday device despite the need to convince consumers of their value.&nbsp;Meanwhile, Meta faces scrutiny over its handling of child safety issues on its social media platforms, including reported controversial interactions between chatbots and children, and concerns about virtual reality&rsquo;s impact on young users.&nbsp;

Meta launches AI-powered smart glasses with gesture control

The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses along with a new wristband controller at Meta’s Connect event, despite some technical difficulties.