Germany asks EU to rein in Twitter

The eight weeks that Musk has officially owned Twitter have been riven by chaos. (AFP/File)
The eight weeks that Musk has officially owned Twitter have been riven by chaos. (AFP/File)
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Updated 22 December 2022
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Germany asks EU to rein in Twitter

Germany asks EU to rein in Twitter
  • Economy ministry state secretary urges EU to declare Twitter a “gatekeeper” under the bloc's new Digital Markets Act

LONDON: Germany appealed to the European Union on Thursday to consider regulating “abrupt” and “arbitrary” decisions at Twitter since Elon Musk’s takeover.

Economy ministry state secretary Sven Giegold of the Green party wrote to the EU Commission citing his “great concern” about policy zig-zagging at the troubled social media platform.

In the letter Giegold also posted on Twitter, he said the Commission should carry out the necessary reviews as soon as possible to declare Twitter a “gatekeeper” under the bloc's new Digital Markets Act.

The designation subjects companies with a dominant market position to particular scrutiny.

He also called for the complementary Digital Services Act, which comes into force in February 2024, to prevent “capricious deplatforming” of users.

The DSA was designed to combat online hate speech, disinformation and piracy in Europe at a time when much of the internet content seen by EU citizens is controlled by US-based companies.

Giegold cited his concerns about “Twitter’s platform rules and their abrupt changes and arbitrary application” in the letter to Commission Executive Vice President Margrethe Vestager and Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton.

“The EU should use all the possibilities at its disposal to protect competition and freedom of speech on digital platforms,” he said.

The eight weeks that Musk has officially owned Twitter have been riven by chaos, with mass layoffs, the return of banned accounts and the suspension of journalists critical of the South African-born billionaire.

Musk’s takeover also saw a surge in racist or hateful tweets, drawing in scrutiny from regulators and chasing away big advertisers, Twitter’s main source of revenue.

Giegold said banning journalists’ accounts and restricting links to rivals “threaten not only free competition but also pose a risk for democracy as well as freedom of speech, information and the press.”


Namshi and adidas launch #YouthOfTheFuture campaign to celebrate Saudi National Day

Namshi and adidas launch #YouthOfTheFuture campaign to celebrate Saudi National Day
Updated 20 September 2023
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Namshi and adidas launch #YouthOfTheFuture campaign to celebrate Saudi National Day

Namshi and adidas launch #YouthOfTheFuture campaign to celebrate Saudi National Day

DUBAI: Online retailer Namshi and sportswear brand adidas have launched a new campaign, “#YouthOfTheFuture,” to celebrate Saudi National Day.

The digital-first campaign encourages Saudi youth to share a photo or video of adidas in Saudi Arabia on any social media platform for a chance to win SR1,000 Namshi credits, which can be spent on adidas products.

The photos or videos can be of any adidas product shot in the Kingdom.

“Namshi is a homegrown brand with deep roots in the Kingdom,” Areej Al-Babtain, project manager at Namshi, told Arab News.

“We’re proud to partner with adidas to celebrate local style, honoring the rich culture, heritage and unique identity that define Saudi Arabia this National Day,” she said.

Participants must tag @namshi, @adidas and #youthofthefuture in their posts, which will be reposted by Namshi on its social media channels. The post with the most likes will win SR1,000 in Namshi credits, which can be spent on adidas products.


Abu Dhabi crown prince launches new vision for Abu Dhabi Media

Abu Dhabi crown prince launches new vision for Abu Dhabi Media
Updated 20 September 2023
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Abu Dhabi crown prince launches new vision for Abu Dhabi Media

Abu Dhabi crown prince launches new vision for Abu Dhabi Media
  • Strategy underlines key role of media for emirate’s development, Sheikh Khaled said
  • Event unveils new network, multilingual channels, and children’s content

LONDON: Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council Sheikh Khaled bin Mohammed has unveiled a new media strategy for the emirate.

During a launch ceremony held on Tuesday at Abu Dhabi National Theatre, Sheikh Khaled announced the launch of Aletihad News Centre, a new unified media center to provide coverage of local, regional and global developments.

The network will provide round-the-clock news bulletins across finance, business, economic affairs, sports and more, in a variety of languages.

Newspaper Aletihad and magazine Zahrat Al Khaleej will also be redesigned and offered in both English and Arabic, with the magazine focusing on showcasing the successes of women in the UAE and the Arab world.

The strategy also emphasizes the importance of producing rich, diverse and impactful children’s content, in both Arabic and English, for Majid magazine and Majid Kids TV.

Sheikh Khaled said that the new strategy is designed to enhance the landscape of public media, as well as develop engaging educational and informative content tailored to all segments of the community based on Emirati values.

The goal is to accelerate the growth of the knowledge economy across all media platforms, including broadcast, digital, and print, he explained.

At the event, which was also attended by Sheikh Zayed bin Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, chairman of the National Media Office, Sheikh Khaled emphasized the UAE leadership’s commitment to the media sector and its role in supporting the country’s progress and prosperity over the past 50 years.


AI to revolutionize children’s literature, but authors should be wary, experts tell LPTA meeting

AI to revolutionize children’s literature, but authors should be wary, experts tell LPTA meeting
Updated 20 September 2023
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AI to revolutionize children’s literature, but authors should be wary, experts tell LPTA meeting

AI to revolutionize children’s literature, but authors should be wary, experts tell LPTA meeting
  • AI can be used across sector, but its adoption must remain ethical, Dr. Anas Al-Ghamdi says
  • Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority held meeting to discuss challenges and opportunities of AI in the sector

LONDON: Artificial intelligence can revolutionize children’s literature, but authors should be wary of its potential to displace human creativity, experts told a Literature, Publishing and Translation Authority meeting on Tuesday in Riyadh.

Dr. Anas Al-Ghamdi, an AI specialist, said that the technology can be used across different aspects of the sector, from helping writers develop their stories to creating personalized reading experiences for young readers.

He explained that as AI expands into more areas of life, its ability to analyze and deduce information in an increasingly human-like way gives it vast potential for adoption in young people’s literature.

However, Al-Ghamdi warned that authors should be careful not to let AI replace their own creativity and noted that while AI is still a new technology and requires more research and development, it is important to ensure that its adoption is ethical and responsible.

The meeting, which is part of a wider program promoted by the LPTA to hold dialogues on industry-related topics, was attended by a number of authors, publishers, and academics.

Over the last few months, AI has been deployed across different stages of publication, including sales and production, such as choosing ink, manufacturing and selecting appropriate papers, and describing texts, in addition to analyzing the style of buyers.

Al-Ghamdi identified several AI applications that can serve writers in this field, such as platforms that can create drawings and pictures according to preferences, help with grammar and formatting, and provide indicators of the positivity, neutrality, and negativity of a text as well as its desirable target audience.


Arab Media Excellence Award to dedicate next session to coverage of natural disasters

Arab Media Excellence Award to dedicate next session to coverage of natural disasters
Updated 20 September 2023
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Arab Media Excellence Award to dedicate next session to coverage of natural disasters

Arab Media Excellence Award to dedicate next session to coverage of natural disasters
  • Decision taken in light of recent natural disasters in Libya, Morocco
  • Award was launched by the Arab League to advance regional media landscape

LONDON: The Arab Media Excellence Award Committee will dedicate its next session to “Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Media” in light of the recent natural disasters that have hit several Arab countries, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

Members of the Arab League’s journalistic initiative, now in its eighth session, gathered for a two-day meeting earlier this week to discuss upgrading and developing the details of the award.

Chief of the Arab Media Excellence Award Committee Hamad Al-Badri said that one of the goals of the award is to encourage and motivate the media and journalists in their work to “serve the Arab community.”

The committee will hold two more meetings to finalize the details, and the winning works will be selected according to specific standards.

The General Secretariat of the Council of Arab Information Ministers launched the Arab Media Excellence Award in 2015 in celebration of Arab Media Day, which falls annually on April 21.

The award is given to media organizations and individuals in a variety of categories, including audiovisual, press, and online media, for producing media reports that promote Arab solidarity. A different theme for the award is chosen by the committee each year.

Since it was first awarded in 2016, the Arab Media Excellence Award has been well-received by many Arab media organizations and professionals, who expressed their hope that this award would contribute to the advancement of Arab media.


Google’s Bard AI adds fact-checking, other features in bid to gain ground on rival ChatGPT

Google’s Bard AI adds fact-checking, other features in bid to gain ground on rival ChatGPT
Updated 19 September 2023
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Google’s Bard AI adds fact-checking, other features in bid to gain ground on rival ChatGPT

Google’s Bard AI adds fact-checking, other features in bid to gain ground on rival ChatGPT
  • The tech giant said Bard can also now import and analyze users’ personal data from other Google apps when responding to queries
  • Google said it is gearing up for a monumental technological shift as it approaches its silver anniversary on Sept. 27

LONDON: Google said on Tuesday that its generative artificial intelligence chatbot, Bard, is now capable of fact-checking its answers and analyzing users’ personal data when preparing responses.

It marks an expansion of Bard’s limited functionality, which previously lacked the ability to understand and execute prompts, according to a Bloomberg report.

Google parent company Alphabet is locked in a battle for supremacy with Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT, one of the fastest-growing consumer applications in the world and one of the top 30 websites in the world in terms of visitor numbers.

In comparison, Google’s Bard has lagged behind. In August, its website received 183 million visits, just 13 percent of ChatGPT’s total, according to website analytics firm Similarweb.

As it seeks to gain ground in the fast-moving AI space, Google has now rolled out Bard Extensions, which enables users to import personal data from other Google products. For instance, they can ask Bard to search their files on Google Drive and Docs and answer questions about their personal content, or to provide a summary of the contents of their Gmail inbox.

The company said Bard can also now retrieve real-time information from Maps, YouTube, Hotels, and Flights, and users can upload images using Google Lens, get Google Search images in response, and modify Bard’s responses in all supported languages to be more professional or more casual as required.

For now, Bard users can only pull such information from Google’s own apps but the company said it is working with external businesses to connect their services.

As Google approaches its 25th anniversary on Sept. 27, it said it is preparing for another large-scale technological shift.

In a message ahead of the silver anniversary celebrations, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, wrote that the company’s mission is to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”

He added: “With AI, we can do things that matter on an even bigger scale. It’s a fundamental rewiring of technology and an incredible accelerant of human ingenuity.”

In the past few months, Google has implemented AI technologies across its portfolio, including popular services such as Gmail, YouTube and the Android operating system, which powers devices that compete with Apple’s iPhone.

Pichai said that 15 of these products are used by more than half a billion individuals and businesses, and six by more than 2 billion users. AI is being used to localize products and reach more consumers through regionally relevant content, he added.

In July, Google launched its latest generative AI experiment, Bard in Arabic, which allows Arabic speakers to harness their creative potential and boost productivity. The company also recently announced a Cloud setup in Doha which will be part of a global network in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

 

With Reuters