Gambling firm appears to trivialise Lebanon pager blasts in social media post

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The gambling company that owns the William Hill, 888 and Mr Green brands has apologised after one of its social media accounts appeared to make light of the pager explosions in Lebanon that killed 12 people and injured thousands,The explosions on Tuesday were followed by walkie-talkies exploding on Wednesday, killing another 20 people,The post was shared on the Israeli Facebook page of London-listed Evoke plc, previously known as 888 Holdings, and included a crudely drawn image of what it described as a “beeper”,The caption above the picture read: “If that’s what they’ve managed to do with beepers, imagine what it’s like to work with technology,Wow.

Luckily we are recruiting well,”The company said the post, which was later deleted, was “totally unacceptable” and that it was investigating,The post included a link to a webpage advertising vacancies at Evoke, which was founded in the 1990s by a group of Israeli technology entrepreneurs,The page currently lists 20 vacancies in Israel, and positions in New York, New Jersey, Gibraltar and Ceuta, an autonomous Spanish city on the north African coast,The Facebook post appears to be referring to Tuesday’s attack, when pagers used by hundreds of members of the militant group Hezbollah exploded almost simultaneously in Lebanon and Syria.

Israel has been blamed but has not confirmed it was behind the attack.Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding, said: “It’s just tasteless but it points to a broader issue.It plays into the dehumanisation that underpins these conflicts, where the death and injuries of others is not in any way respected.Until people start understanding how each other are suffering, it’s going to be really hard to move forward.”A spokesperson for Evoke said: “The deleted post was totally unacceptable, and as soon as it was discovered it was immediately removed.

We sincerely apologise for any offence caused.We are investigating internally to ensure this does not happen again.”Evoke is listed on the London Stock Exchange, where its shares are valued at £285m.In 2021, Evoke completed a £2.2bn purchase of William Hill International.

When Evoke was an online casino specialist, the company indicated it intended to keep William Hill’s 1,400 shops as part of its foray into bricks-and-mortar betting.

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British MPs and international organisations hacked on X

British politicians and international organisations have had their accounts on X hacked on Wednesday night.MPs including Shabana Mahmood, the justice secretary, and the Labour MPs Chris Elmore and Carolyn Harris all shared the same message on the social media site. Although quickly removed, the messages could still be read on TweetDeck, a dashboard used to manage accounts on X, formerly Twitter.The messages, which also included a lengthy code, said: “THIS IS HACKED ACCOUNT!!!! INTRODUCING HACKED ON SOLANA on each account we hack we publish the token address so we pump it and make profits together.”The message on the justice secretary’s account was posted at 7

September182024

All 23andMe board members but CEO resign over no adequate buyout offers

Seven of eight members of 23andMe’s board have resigned in yet another blow to the struggling genetics company. The CEO is now the only remaining member.The independent directors of the genetic testing firm said in a letter posted Tuesday that they were quitting the company’s board after not receiving a satisfactory buyout offer from the CEO, Anne Wojcicki.“After months of work, we have yet to receive from you a fully financed, fully diligenced, actionable proposal that is in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders,” said the seven directors, including the CEO of YouTube, in a letter to the company’s co-founder and CEO.In a memo to employees reported by the Wall Street Journal, Wojcicki responded: “I am surprised and disappointed by the decision of the directors to resign

September182024

Albanese government forging ahead with social media age restrictions despite Meta’s new Instagram teen accounts

The Albanese government is forging ahead with its plans for an age restriction on social media despite Meta announcing new restrictions for teens on Instagram, with the communications minister arguing children’s use of social media is unbalanced.On Wednesday Instagram announced changes to teen accounts, including giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times and to see accounts their child is exchanging messages with and the content categories they are viewing.Teens under the age of 16 will need parental permission before any of the settings can be changed. Meta said the move had been planned for months, but the announcement came a week after the federal government announced plans to introduce legislation to parliament, by the end of the year, to raise the age children can access social media up to an as-yet-undefined age – likely between 14 and 16.The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, said the government welcomed the announcement, but “it does not negate the government’s intention to introduce legislation this year to mandate a minimum age for access to social media

September182024

Meta to put under-18 Instagram users into new ‘teen accounts’

Meta is putting Instagram users under the age of 18 into new “teen accounts” to allow parents greater control over their activities, including the ability to block children from viewing the app at night.The change will apply to new teen users but will also be extended to existing accounts held by teenagers over the next few months.Changes under the teen account setting include giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times, see the accounts their child is exchanging messages with and being shown the content categories they are viewing.Teenagers signing up to Instagram are already placed by default into the strictest privacy settings, which include barring adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them and muting notifications at night.However, under the new “teen account” feature users under the age of 16 will need parental permission to change those settings, while 16- and 17-year-olds defaulted into the new features will be able to change them independently

September172024

Users of ‘throuples’ dating app Feeld may have had intimate photos accessed

Users of Feeld, a dating app aimed at alternative relationships, could have had sensitive data including messages, private photos and details of their sexuality accessed or even edited, it has emerged, after cybersecurity experts exposed a string of security “vulnerabilities”.Feeld, registered in the UK, reported soaring revenues and profits this month, thanks to millions of downloads from non-monogamous, queer and kinky users across the world.But while the app has gone from strength to strength financially – and attracted plaudits for its approach to sexuality – a British cybersecurity company claims to have uncovered serious failings in Feeld’s systems earlier this year.Feeld said it had dealt with the concerns “as a matter of urgency”, resolved them within two months and that it had not seen any evidence that user data had been breached.It did not know how long the vulnerabilities had existed before it was told about them in March by the London-based cybersecurity firm Fortbridge

September172024

OpenAI says the latest ChatGPT can ‘think’ – and I have thoughts

We are fast approaching two years of the generative AI revolution, sparked by the November 2022 release of ChatGPT by OpenAI. So far it’s been a mixed bag.OpenAI recently announced it had crossed 200 million weekly active users – nothing to be sniffed at, but it got its first 100 million within two months of release. A recent YouGov study found that the inclusion of AI in a product is as likely to turn off a potential purchaser as much as it is to get them to hand over their cash.Nevertheless, money keeps flowing into the sector, and advances keep coming

September172024

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