Alphabet Inc.’s Google is set to appoint a manufacturing and policy veteran as its top government affairs executive

Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook lost its fight at the European Union’s top court to topple a German antitrust

It started like any other outage: unexplained error messages that told users they had hit their “rate limit”, and Twitter posts refusing to load. But as the weekend progressed, it became clear that these weren’t just any old technical problems, but rather issues that could define the future not only of Twitter but of the internet. Elon Musk took to Twitter on Saturday and announced that he would be introducing a range of changes “to address extreme levels of data scraping [and] system manipulation”. Users would only be able to see a limited number of posts, and those who are not logged in wouldn’t be able to see the site at all. That decision triggered those error messages, since users were hitting the “rate limit” that meant they were requesting too many posts for Twitter to be able to handle. The new limits – apparently temporary, though still in effect – meant that users were being rationed on how many tweets they were able to see, and would see frustrating and unexplained messages when they actually hit that limit. In many ways it was yet another perplexing and worrying decision by Mr Musk, whose stewardship of Twitter has lurched from scandal to scandal since he took over the company in October last year. (He appointed a chief executive, Linda Yaccarino, last month, but is still seemingly deciding, executing and communicating the company’s strategy.) But something seems different about the chaos this time around. For one, it is not one of the many content policy issues or potentially hostile ways of encouraging people to sign up for Twitter’s premium service that have marked Mr Musk’s leadership of Twitter so far; for another, it seemed to be part of a broader issue that is rattling the whole internet, and which Twitter might only be one symptom. It remains unclear whether Mr Musk’s latest decision really has anything to do with scraping by artificial intelligence systems, as he claimed. But the explanation certainly makes sense: AI systems require vast corpuses of text and images to be trained on, and the companies that make them have generated that by scraping and regurgitating the text that can be easily found across the web. Every time someone wants to load a web page, their computer makes a request to that company’s servers, which then provide the data that can be reconstructed on the user’s web browser. If you want to load Elon Musk’s Twitter account, for instance, you direct your browser to the relevant address and it will show his Twitter posts, pulled down from the internet. That comes with costs, of course, including the price of running those servers and the bandwidth required to be sending vast amounts of data quickly across the internet. For the most part on the modern internet, that cost has been covered by also sending along some advertising, or requiring that people sign up for a subscription to see the content they are asking for. AI companies that are scraping those sites make frequent requests for that data, however, and quickly. And since the system is automated, they are not able to look at ads or pay for subscriptions, meaning that companies are not paid for the content they are providing. That issue looks to be growing across the internet. Companies that host text discussions, such as Twitter, are very aware that they might be serving up the same data that could one day render them obsolete, and are keen to at least make some money from that process. It also looks to be some of the reason behind the recent fallout on Reddit, too. That site is especially useful for feeding to an AI – it includes very human and very helpful answers to the kinds of questions that users might ask an AI system – and the company is very aware that it is, once again, giving up the information that might also be used to overtake it. To try and solve that, it recently announced that it would be charging large amounts of access to its API, which serves as the interface through which automated systems can hoover up that data. It was at least partly intended as a way to generate money from those AI companies, though it also had the effect of making it too expensive for third-party Reddit clients – which also rely on that API – to keep running, and the most popular ones have since shut down. There is good reason to think that this will keep happening. The web is increasingly being hoovered up by the same AI systems that will eventually be used to further degrade the experience of using it: Twitter is, in effect, being used to train the same bots that will one day post misleading and annoying messages all over Twitter. Every website that hosts text, images or video could face the same problems, as AI companies look to build up their datasets and train up their systems. As such, all of the internet could become more like Mr Musk’s Twitter did over the weekend: actively hostile to actual users, as it attempts to keep the fake users away. But just as likely is that it is Mr Musk’s explanation for why the site went down conveniently chimes with the zeitgeist, and helpfully shifts blame to the AI companies that he has already voiced significant skepticism about. The truth may be that Twitter – which has fired the vast majority of its staff, including those in its engineering teams – might finally be running into problems with infrastructure that happen when fewer people are around to keep the site online. Twitter’s former head of trust and safety, Yoel Roth, is perhaps the best qualified person to suggest that is the case. He said that Mr Musk’s argument for the new limits “doesn’t pass the sniff test” and instead suggested that it was the result of someone mistakenly breaking the rate limiter and then having that accident passed off by Mr Musk as being intentional, whether he knows that or not. “For anyone keeping track, this isn’t even the first time they’ve completely broken the site by bumbling around in the rate limiter,” Mr Roth wrote on Twitter rival Bluesky. “There’s a reason the limiter was one of the most locked down internal tools. Futzing around with rate limits is probably the easiest way to break Twitter.” Mr Roth also said that Twitter has long been aware that it was being scraped – and that it was OK with it. He called it the “open secret of Twitter data access” and said the company considered it “fine”. And he too suggested that the events of the weekend could be a hint about what is coming to the internet, offering an entirely different alternative. It’s not Twitter, Reddit and other companies who should really be upset about what is going on, he suggested. “There’s some legitimacy to Twitter and Reddit being upset with AI companies for slurping up social data gratis in order to train commercially lucrative models,” Mr Roth said. “But they should never forget that it’s not *their* data — it’s ours. A solution to parasitic AI needs to be user-centric, not profit-centric.” Read More Twitter to stop TweetDeck access for unverified users Meta’s Twitter alternative Threads to be launched this week – report Twitter rival Bluesky halts sign-ups after huge surge in demand Twitter is breaking more and more Twitter rival sees huge increase in users as Elon Musk ‘destroys his site’ What does Twitter’s rate-limiting restriction mean?

Instagram’s new Twitter competitor app “Threads” is slated to be rolled out on Thursday in the US and on Friday for the rest of the world, according to a listing spotted on Apple’s App Store. The Twitter alternative app from Instagram’s parent company Meta briefly showed up on Google Play on Saturday and was spotted by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi, who flagged some of its features on the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. Screenshots and some initial details revealed some of the app’s UI elements, including its login screen, which suggested an ability to log into the app with one’s Instagram account. The interface, as seen on the screenshots, also appears similar to other text-based social media apps. “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow,” said the app’s App Store preview notes. “Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things – or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions, and creativity with the world.” Meta has also launched a new webpage with a countdown ahead of Threads’ release. The tech giant has been working on the app for some time now, initially under the name “Barcelona”. The Threads app was being planned for an end-of-July release, but its launch is being sped up following Twitter users expressing frustration over Mr Musk’s “rate limiting” fiasco, 9to5Mac reported. Chaos erupted on Twitter on Saturday as the company’s owner and chief technology officer Mr Musk announced new limits on the number of posts accounts can read in a day. The Tesla boss said the decision was made to “address extreme levels of data scraping & system manipulation”. He had previously expressed displeasure with artificial intelligence firms like ChatGPT-owner OpenAI using Twitter’s data to train their AI models. Many users expressed their frustration over the weekend as they got notifications saying, “Sorry, you are rate limited. Please wait a few moments then try again”. The growing frustration among Twitter’s users has also led to a new surge of activity on rival social networks like Mastodon and Bluesky. Threads’ rollout in this atmosphere of backlash against Twitter’s moves might see the new app get more takers. The Twitter competitor also appears to directly port over users’ Instagram followers and following lists, instead of rebuilding their communities from scratch. Read More Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter Twitter down: Rival Mastodon sees huge increase in users as Elon Musk ‘destroys his site’ Twitter rival Bluesky halts sign-ups after huge surge in demand following Musk’s rate limits Twitter rival Bluesky halts sign-ups after huge surge in demand Twitter is breaking more and more Twitter rival sees huge increase in users as Elon Musk ‘destroys his site’

By Sheila Dang (Reuters) -Twitter users will soon need to be verified in order to use TweetDeck, the social media

A British insurance group is pushing its members, which include Allianz SE, Aviva Plc and Chubb Ltd., to

Petitioners allege it benefits the white and wealthy while discriminating against minority students.

Bitcoin bulls are seeking to take advantage of light market liquidity ahead of the July 4 holiday to

Twitter rival Bluesky has been forced to temporarily pause sign-ups after experiencing a surge of interest following Elon Musk’s decision to introduce new limits to his social network. The tech billionaire began limiting the number of tweets people can read on Saturday, claiming that it was necessary to address “extreme levels of data scraping and system manipulation”. The move prevents unverified users from seeing more than 600 Twitter posts a day, while paid subscribers can view up to 6,000. It prompted renewed interest in rival apps, including Mastodon, whose creator said 110,000 new users joined the platform in just one day. Bluesky, which was founded by former Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey, is currently in private beta, meaning people can only sign up if they have an invite code from another user. “We will temporarily be pausing Bluesky sign-ups while our team continues to resolve the existing performance issues,” the company said over the weekend. “We’ll keep you updated when invite codes will resume functionality. We’re excited to welcome more users to our beta soon!” Among those making the transition from Twitter to Bluesky to Twitter is Paul Cooper, host of the Fall of Civilization podcast. Last month, Mr Musk encouraged the history podcast to “please upload your podcasts” to Twitter, though Mr Cooper replied that he considered the platform “too compromised” to make such a move. “It’s become a safe haven for hate speech, and meanwhile crypto scammers and bots are paying to be boosted to the top of replies,” the podcast host wrote. “Everything that once made Twitter special seems to be leaching away.” Mr Musk said the limits introduced for Twitter users would be temporary, though did not specify when they would be removed. Twitter responded to a request from The Independent for more information with its customary poop emoji. Read More Twitter alternative Bluesky launches as Android app

Chaos at Twitter has seemingly led to a new surge of activity on Mastodon, a rival social network, according to its creator. Mastodon has seen some success since Elon Musk took over at Twitter, as users search for alternatives. Unlike its rival, Mastodon has a decentralised structure that relies on users to support and build the network itself. “Looks like Mastodon‘s active user base has increased by 110K (110,000) over the last day. Not bad,” Eugen Rochko, creator and chief executive of Mastodon, wrote on the platform late on Sunday. “I would prefer it if Elon Musk was destroying his site during the work week. This isn’t the first time,” another post from Rochko read. On Saturday, Twitter boss Elon Musk announced new limits on the number of posts accounts can read in a day. Previously, he had expressed displeasure with artificial intelligence firms like OpenAI, the owner of ChatGPT, for using Twitter’s data to train their large language models. Musk took over Twitter in October 2022. Since then, his erratic management style has prompted some users and advertisers to turn away from the site. Mastodon has similar features to Twitter but rather than being controlled by one company, it is installed on thousands of computer servers, largely run by volunteer administrators who join their systems together in a federation. After Mr Musk’s announcements over the weekend, Twitter is also now requiring people to log on to view tweets and profiles - a change in its long-time practice to allow everyone to peruse the chatter on what Mr Musk has frequently touted as the world’s digital town square. The restrictions could result in users being locked out of Twitter for the day after scrolling through several hundred tweets. Thousands of users complained on Saturday of not being able to access the site. In a tweet on Friday, Mr Musk described the new restrictions as a temporary measure that was taken because “we were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users”. Additional reporting by agencies Read More Twitter is breaking more and more What Twitter’s ‘rate limit’ message means and why Elon Musk has imposed restrictions Jack Dorsey calls for ‘open internet’ as Musk imposes new reading limits on Twitter

A California startup says it has been certified by the Federal Aviation Administration for testing what it describes as the first flying car with US government approval — a fully electric vehicle that can both fly and travel on roads.

The universe went in “extreme slow motion” at its beginning, and has dramatically sped up since, scientists have found. The discovery, predicted by Einstein’s general theory of relativity, was finally confirmed after scientists observed the universe soon after the Big Bang. Einstein’s theory suggests that we should be able to see the distant universe, when it was much older than it is today, running much more slowly. But scientists have not been able to actually look that far and confirm the theory. Now scientists have used bright quasars as a sort of space clock, allowing them to measure time when the universe was much older than it is today. “Looking back to a time when the universe was just over a billion years old, we see time appearing to flow five times slower,” said Geraint Lewis from the University of Sydney, lead author on the new research. “If you were there, in this infant universe, one second would seem like one second – but from our position, more than 12 billion years into the future, that early time appears to drag.” Professor Lewis and other researchers gathered data from 200 quasars for the research. Quasars are very active supermassive black holes that sit in the middle of early galaxies, and hence provide a reliable way to look back at a much younger universe. Previous researchers have done the same using supernovae, or massive exploding stars. Those are useful but they are also difficult to see at the very very long distances of the early universe, meaning that the confirmation was limited only to about half the age of the cosmos. Now by using quasars scientists were able to look much further back, to just a tenth of the age of the universe, when it was only a billion years old. “Thanks to Einstein, we know that time and space are intertwined and, since the dawn of time in the singularity of the Big Bang, the universe has been expanding,” Professor Lewis said. “This expansion of space means that our observations of the early universe should appear to be much slower than time flows today. “In this paper, we have established that back to about a billion years after the Big Bang.” The work is described in a new paper, ‘Detection of the cosmological time dilation of high-redshift quasars’, published in Nature Astronomy. Read More Astronomers discover ‘shooting stars’ on the Sun Tonight’s ’supermoon’ will be biggest full moon of 2023 so far – here’s how to see it Euclid: UK-backed space mission takes off to uncover mysteries of dark universe Astronomers discover ‘shooting stars’ on the Sun Tonight’s ’supermoon’ will be biggest full moon of 2023 so far – here’s how to see it Euclid: UK-backed space mission takes off to uncover mysteries of dark universe