LONDON: After soccer players in England expressed anger about being targeted with racist messages, Instagram said Wednesday that it would disable accounts of users sending abuse.
But only repeated racism will see a user banned, Instagram acknowledged, without specifying how many messages it would take to remove an account.
“We don’t share this number publicly because we don’t want people to game our systems,” Instagram owner Facebook said in an emailed response to The Associated Press.
The British government has also being putting pressure on social media companies to do more to remove racists from their platforms.
Facebook pledged to disable accounts that send direct messages with abuse but declined to say why it had decided to act now, when players had been asking for tougher action for years. Players in England boycotted social media for 24 hours in 2019 over racism, but now Facebook is offering more specifics about the action it is taking.
“We have always been committed to tackling hate and racism on our platform, it’s an issue we take very seriously,” Facebook content policy manager Fadzai Madzingira said in a statement.
Players including Chelsea defender Reece James and sister Lauren James of Manchester United have criticized Instagram’s handling of racist abuse.
“Instagram doesn’t even have a clear ‘Racism’ option in their reporting system,” Lauren James said after highlighting the abuse she received last week.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said tougher action must be taken.
“For too long the world’s most popular and powerful social media companies have failed to tackle the stream of horrific racist attacks on their platforms,” Dowden said. “I welcome Instagram’s improved policies but racist abuse is still a fact of life for too many people and more has to be done across the board to stamp it out.
“We’re introducing a new age of accountability for these companies through our upcoming Online Safety Bill and this could see huge fines for firms which fail to clearly and transparently protect their users.”
The global footballers’ union, FIFPRO, said there has been a failure to address racism in a “strong and unequivocal manner” by platforms including Instagram and Twitter.
“Football players who have publicly and eloquently denounced online abuse have helped to highlight the serious and repetitive nature of these attacks,” FIFPRO General Secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann said. “All of these players will receive our continuous support to call out the lack of care and adequate protection provided by social media companies.
“We now urgently need both national and international authorities to step in and collaborate to make these companies clean up their platforms and remove the stream of abhorrent discrimination that continues to contaminate both public channels and personal lives on every continent.”
Instagram has offered to listen to ongoing concerns.
“We know there is more to be done and we will continue to work with the clubs, players and wider industry to collectively tackle this issue,” Madzingira said.
Soccer players pressure Instagram to do more to stop racism
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Soccer players pressure Instagram to do more to stop racism
- Instagram says it will disable accounts that repeatedly send racist messages after soccer players in England expressed anger about being targeted with abuse
- The British government has also put pressure on social media companies to do more to remove racists from their platforms
Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills wounded journalist, Hamas says
- Hamas said the strike killed a journalist and wounded a number of civilians
- The CPJ says at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it struck a Gaza hospital housing Hamas militants in a raid Tuesday that, according to the Palestinian group, killed a journalist wounded in an Israeli attack last month.
The strike, which Hamas said happened at dawn, ended a brief pause in fighting to allow the release of a US-Israeli hostage.
The military said in a Telegram post that “significant Hamas terrorists” had been “operating from within a command and control center” at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city.
“The compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (army) troops,” it said.
In a statement, Hamas said the strike killed a journalist and wounded a number of civilians.
“The Israeli army bombed the surgeries building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis at dawn on Tuesday, killing journalist Hassan Aslih,” said Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Aslih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, had been at the hospital for treatment after being wounded in a strike on April 7, he told AFP.
Two other journalists, Ahmed Mansur and Hilmi Al-Faqaawi, were killed in that bombing, according to reports at the time.The Israeli military said the April strike had targeted Aslih, alleging he operated for Hamas “under the guise of a journalist.”
It said Aslih had “infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the murderous massacre carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization” on October 7, 2023.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the strike.It said Aslih had worked for international media outlets until 2023, when the pro-Israeli watchdog HonestReporting published a photo of him being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The CPJ says at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the start of the war.
Israel had paused military operations in Gaza to allow for the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old US-Israeli soldier who had been held hostage since October 2023.
Alexander, believed to be the last surviving hostage with US citizenship, was released Monday ahead of a Middle East visit by US President Donald Trump.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.
600+ film and media insiders sign open letter demanding BBC airs delayed Gaza documentary
- Actors Susan Sarandon, Indira Varma, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson among those calling for immediate broadcast of ‘Gaza: Medics Under Fire’
- The film was delayed pending an investigation into another documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,” after it emerged the narrator of that film is the son of a Hamas official
DUBAI: More than 600 prominent figures from the film and media industries have signed an open letter urging the BBC to broadcast the delayed documentary “Gaza: Medics Under Fire.”
The signatories include actors such as Susan Sarandon, Indira Varma, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson, along with journalists, filmmakers and other industry professionals. One-hundred-and-thirty of them chose to remain anonymous; at least 12 were said to be BBC staff members.
The letter, addressed to BBC Director General Tim Davie, states: “Every day this film is delayed, the BBC fails in its commitment to inform the public, fails in its journalistic responsibility to report the truth, and fails in its duty of care to these brave contributors.
“No news organization should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling.”
The film was originally scheduled to air in January. BBC bosses said they decided to delay it while an investigation is carried out into another documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,” which was pulled from the schedules when it emerged that the narrator of that film is the son of a Hamas official.
Samir Shah, chairperson of the BBC, said this revelation was “a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and to be trustworthy” and that was why he and fellow board members were “determined to ask the questions.”
The writers of the letter said: “This is not editorial caution. It’s political suppression. The BBC has provided no timeline, no transparency. Such decisions reinforce the systemic devaluation of Palestinian lives in our media.”
“Gaza: Medics Under Fire” production company Basement Films said in the letter that it was “desperate for a confirmed release date in order to be able to tell the surviving doctors and medics when their stories will be told.”
The document concluded with a demand for the film to be released “NOW.”
A spokesperson for the BBC told Variety magazine the documentary will be broadcast “as soon as possible,” but the organization had taken “an editorial decision not to do so” while there was an “ongoing review” of the other Gaza-related film.
Former UK PM Theresa May to speak at Most Powerful Women summit in Riyadh
- Former Conservative Party leader will give her views on fractured trade ties, the erosion of multilateralism, and the race toward a greener economy
- The event on May 20 and 21 is Fortune’s first international summit in the region and aims to gather 125 of the world’s most influential female business leaders
DUBAI: The speakers and special guests at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh on May 20 and 21 will include the UK’s former prime minister, Theresa May, organizers revealed on Monday.
She will close the summit, at the St. Regis, with a talk moderated by Ellie Austin, the editorial director of Fortune Most Powerful Women, an invitation-only community of leaders from a wide range of industries worldwide.
The former leader of the Conservative Party, who was Britain’s prime minister from 2016 until 2019, will give her views on fractured trade ties, the erosion of multilateralism, and the race toward a greener economy. She will also talk about navigating globalization, seizing opportunities in the energy transition, and the need for bold and creative leadership in a volatile world.
The summit, which has the theme “A New Era for Business: Partnering for Global Prosperity,” is Fortune’s first international summit in the Middle East region. It aims to bring together 125 of the world’s most influential female business leaders.
The full lineup of speakers features public-sector leaders including: Ambassador Haifa Al-Jedea, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the EU; Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo; Neema Lugangira, a member of Tanzania’s parliament; and Silvana Koch-Mehrin, president and founder of non-profit organization Women Political Leaders.
Representatives from the private sector include: Amel Chadli, Gulf cluster president of Schneider Electric; Leah Cotterill, Cigna Healthcare’s CEO for the Middle East and Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia); Shazia Syed, general manager of the Personal Care Business Group with Unilever Arabia (GCC), Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and head of Unilever Arabia; and Julie Sweet, the CEO of Accenture.
French-Lebanese Saade holding company buys stake in Pathe cinemas
- Acquisition of one of the world’s oldest film company was announced on Monday for an undiscolsed amount
- Investment will focus on expanding Pathé’s international presence and modernizing its movie theaters, Saade said
PARIS: French-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saade’s family holding Merit France has acquired a 20 percent stake in French cinema chain Pathe for an undisclosed amount, privately owned Pathe said on Monday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Saade and his shipping company CMA CGM have already become leading players in the French media landscape in recent years, buying up several newspapers as well as Altice Media, which owns 24-hour news channel BFM TV.
The investment in Pathe builds on the family’s interests in media and culture.
CONTEXT
Pathe, owned by French businessman Jerome Seydoux, is one of the world’s oldest film companies, and is a leading producer as well as movie theater operator in Europe and Africa.
The investment will help Pathe accelerate its development in producing films and series with an international reach, and to modernize its movie theaters, the statement said.
KEY QUOTE
“We are committed to contributing to the development of the sector and promoting French film culture around the world,” said Rodolphe Saade.
‘Tool for grifters’: AI deepfakes push bogus sexual cures
- The trend underscores how rapid advances in artificial intelligence have fueled what researchers call an AI dystopia, a deception-filled online universe designed to manipulate unsuspecting users into buying dubious products
WASHINGTON: Holding an oversized carrot, a brawny, shirtless man promotes a supplement he claims can enlarge male genitalia — one of countless AI-generated videos on TikTok peddling unproven sexual treatments.
The rise of generative AI has made it easy — and financially lucrative — to mass-produce such videos with minimal human oversight, often featuring fake celebrity endorsements of bogus and potentially harmful products.
In some TikTok videos, carrots are used as a euphemism for male genitalia, apparently to evade content moderation policing sexually explicit language.
“You would notice that your carrot has grown up,” the muscled man says in a robotic voice in one video, directing users to an online purchase link.
“This product will change your life,” the man adds, claiming without evidence that the herbs used as ingredients boost testosterone and send energy levels “through the roof.”
The video appears to be AI-generated, according to a deepfake detection service recently launched by the Bay Area-headquartered firm Resemble AI, which shared its results with AFP.
“As seen in this example, misleading AI-generated content is being used to market supplements with exaggerated or unverified claims, potentially putting consumers’ health at risk,” Zohaib Ahmed, Resemble AI’s chief executive and co-founder, told AFP.
“We’re seeing AI-generated content weaponized to spread false information.”
The trend underscores how rapid advances in artificial intelligence have fueled what researchers call an AI dystopia, a deception-filled online universe designed to manipulate unsuspecting users into buying dubious products.
They include everything from unverified — and in some cases, potentially harmful — dietary supplements to weight loss products and sexual remedies.
“AI is a useful tool for grifters looking to create large volumes of content slop for a low cost,” misinformation researcher Abbie Richards told AFP.
“It’s a cheap way to produce advertisements,” she added.
Alexios Mantzarlis, director of the Security, Trust, and Safety Initiative at Cornell Tech, has observed a surge of “AI doctor” avatars and audio tracks on TikTok that promote questionable sexual remedies.
Some of these videos, many with millions of views, peddle testosterone-boosting concoctions made from ingredients such as lemon, ginger and garlic.
More troublingly, rapidly evolving AI tools have enabled the creation of deepfakes impersonating celebrities such as actress Amanda Seyfried and actor Robert De Niro.
“Your husband can’t get it up?” Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, appears to ask in a TikTok video promoting a prostate supplement.
But the clip is a deepfake, using Fauci’s likeness.
Many manipulated videos are created from existing ones, modified with AI-generated voices and lip-synced to match what the altered voice says.
“The impersonation videos are particularly pernicious as they further degrade our ability to discern authentic accounts online,” Mantzarlis said.
Last year, Mantzarlis discovered hundreds of ads on YouTube featuring deepfakes of celebrities — including Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, and Mike Tyson — promoting supplements branded as erectile dysfunction cures.
The rapid pace of generating short-form AI videos means that even when tech platforms remove questionable content, near-identical versions quickly reappear — turning moderation into a game of whack-a-mole.
Researchers say this creates unique challenges for policing AI-generated content, requiring novel solutions and more sophisticated detection tools.
AFP’s fact checkers have repeatedly debunked scam ads on Facebook promoting treatments — including erectile dysfunction cures — that use fake endorsements by Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and former US cabinet member.
Yet many users still consider the endorsements legitimate, illustrating the appeal of deepfakes.
“Scammy affiliate marketing schemes and questionable sex supplements have existed for as long as the Internet and before,” Mantzarlis said.
“As with every other bad thing online, generative AI has made this abuse vector cheaper and quicker to deploy at scale.”
