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An investigative report from Bloomberg paints a disturbing picture of Twitch’s difficulties in moderating the livestreaming platform — especially its Clips feature, which allows users to preserve short videos. The outlet reports that, after analyzing about 1,100 clips, it found at least 83 with sexualized content involving children. Twitch removed the videos after it was alerted, and a company spokesperson wrote to Engadget in an email that it has since “invested heavily in enforcement tooling and preventative measures, and will continue to do so.”

Bloomberg highlighted one incident that exemplified the problem with Clips’ permanent nature on the otherwise transient platform. It recounts the unsettling story of a 12-year-old boy who took to Twitch last spring “to eat a sandwich and play his French horn.” He soon began taking requests from viewers, which (in a sad reflection of online behavior) somehow led to the boy pulling his pants down.

The outlet describes the incident as being over “in an instant.” Still, Clips’ recording function allowed one viewer — who allegedly followed over a hundred accounts belonging to children — to preserve it. This allegedly led to over 130 views of the 20-second Clip before Twitch was notified and removed it.

Clips launched in 2016 as a way to preserve otherwise ephemeral moments on the platform. The feature records 25 seconds before (and five seconds after) tapping the record button. This has the unfortunate side effect of allowing predators to save a troubling moment and distribute it elsewhere.

Twitch has planned to expand Clips this year as part of a strategy to produce more TikTok-like content on the platform. It plans to launch a discovery feed (also similar to TikTok) where users can post their short videos.

Bloomberg’s report cites the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, which reviewed the 83 exploitative videos and concluded that 34 depicted young users showing their genitals on camera. The bulk were allegedly boys between the ages of five and 12. An additional 49 clips included sexualized content featuring minors “exposing body parts or being subjected to grooming efforts.”

The organization said the 34 “most egregious” videos were viewed 2,700 times. The rest tallied 7,300 views.

Twitch’s response

“Youth harm, anywhere online, is unacceptable, and we take this issue extremely seriously,” a Twitch spokesperson wrote to Engadget. In response to being alerted to the child sexual abuse material (CSAM), the company says it’s developed new models to detect potential grooming behavior and is updating its existing tools to more effectively identify and remove banned users trying to create new accounts (including for youth safety-related issues).

Twitch adds that it’s stepped up its safety teams’ enforcement of livestreams, the root of Clips. “This means that when we disable a livestream that contains harmful content and suspend the channel, because clips are created from livestreams, we’re preventing the creation and spread of harmful clips at the source,” the company wrote. “Importantly, we’ve also worked to ensure that when we delete and disable clips that violate our community guidelines, those clips aren’t available through public domains or other direct links.”

“We also recognize that, unfortunately, online harms evolve,” the spokesperson continued. “We improved the guidelines our internal safety teams use to identify some of those evolving online harms, like generative AI-enabled Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).” Twitch added that it’s expanded the list of external organizations it works with to (hopefully) snuff out any similar content in the future.

Twitch’s moderation problems

Bloomberg reports that Clips has been one of the least moderated sections on Twitch. It also notes the company laid off 15 percent of its internal trust and safety team in April 2023 (part of a harrowing year in tech layoffs) and has grown more reliant on outside partners to squash CSAM content.

Twitch’s livestream-focused platform makes it a trickier moderation challenge than more traditional video sites like YouTube or Instagram. Those platforms can compare uploaded videos with hashes — digital fingerprints that can spot previously known problematic files posted online. “Hash technology looks for something that’s a match to something seen previously,” Lauren Coffren of the US National Center for Missing & Exploited Children told Bloomberg. “Livestreaming means it’s brand new.”

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/twitchs-clips-feature-has-reportedly-enabled-child-abuse-to-fester-on-the-platform-201058947.html?src=rss 

Microsoft Teams is finally coming to Android Auto — an app that allows Android phones to connect to the car’s pre-existing infotainment system — next month, nearly a year after being announced by Google at I/O 2023. This is according to a Microsoft 365 roadmap that details future releases.

While the app launches in February, we still don’t have too many details regarding how it’ll be used. Microsoft has stated that you’ll be able to “join meetings and make calls” from the calendar view. There’s no information as to whether or not it’ll integrate with messages from the service or engage in some of the other Teams-specific features, like file and data collaboration. Of course, driving down a highway is probably not the best time to be fiddling with random work files.

Neither Microsoft or Google have offered up any information as to why Teams took so long to release for Android Auto. Google also announced Android Auto integration for Zoom and Webex at I/O 2023. Both software suites launched on the platform back in September. Android Auto also recently got apps by The Weather Channel and YouTube. The platform even offers games for passengers or when the car is parked, including a version of Solitaire and a simple racing game called Beach Buggy Racing 2.

Google says Android Auto currently integrates with 200 million cars, so the addition of Microsoft Teams is certainly a welcome one. Meanwhile, the company has also suggested that the adoption rate of Android Automotive — the similarly named but distinct product which is, unlike the Android Auto app, a full-fledge infotainment operating system — has exploded in the past year, as automobile manufacturers have begun to phase out internal infotainment systems in favor of Google’s operating system. Companies like Chevrolet, Volvo, Polestar, Honda, Renault and even GM have all announced the adoption of Google’s platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-teams-finally-coming-to-android-auto-nearly-a-year-after-being-announced-181847262.html?src=rss 

If you’re sick of misplacing your keys, bag or even your jacket, a Bluetooth tracker can help. Walmart is currently selling a four-pack of Tile Mate tags in gray for $38. That puts them at $9.50 per tracker, which is a pretty good deal considering a set of four retails for $100 or $25 each at full price (though we’ve seen them selling for around $17 per fob lately). Even if you were just planning on getting two, you may as well snag this deal and get a few bonus trackers so you can get creative on what you tag, such as an umbrella or the family cat.      

Apple AirTags are probably the better known product in the Bluetooth tracker category, but we found plenty to like about Tile’s fobs in our tests. For one, they’ll work with Android phones, which AirTags just wont. They also conveniently have a hole in them, whereas Apple’s smooth discs require an additional accessory to attach them to anything. And finally, when you tap Find in the Tile app, the Tile Mate rings louder than the AirTags and will helpfully keep making sound until you find your item, unlike the AirTags which ring for seven seconds then stop.  

That said, the Tile finding network is smaller than Apple’s incredibly vast network that relies on every nearby iPhone to anonymously search for a lost AirTag. Tile’s network relies on other Tile and Life 360 users, which number in the millions, and, when we simulated losing a Tile tracker out in the world, it only took a few minutes longer than Apple to send a notification that the tag had been “spotted by the community.”  

One thing to keep in mind is that Tile requires a membership to activate separation alerts, the notification that tells you you’ve left your tagged items behind. The Tile Mate also doesn’t have a replaceable battery. The Tile Pro trackers, which we named best companions for Android phones in our guide, have swappable batteries and are currently 37 percent off for a two-pack directly from Tile. 

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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/a-four-pack-of-tile-mate-bluetooth-trackers-is-on-sale-for-only-38-164403211.html?src=rss