Kalakshar US

When Meta announced last year that it was ditching third-party fact checkers in favor of an X-style Community Notes system, the company was careful to note that it would only implement the changes within the United States to start. Now, nearly a year later, the social media company is getting ready to expand the crowd-sourced fact checks to more countries, and is asking the Oversight Board for advice on a potential rollout. 

The company has requested that board weigh in on “factors we should consider when deciding which countries, if any, to omit from the international roll out” of Community Notes. Notably, Meta isn’t asking the Oversight Board to advise on the merits of replacing traditional fact-checking organizations. Instead, the company wants guidance on how to approach country-specific challenges and whether there should be any carveouts. 

“We respectfully ask the Board to focus its examination on the country-level factors relevant to omitting countries from the international roll-out, and not on topics such as general product design or the operation of the Community Notes algorithm,” the company wrote in its request shared by the board. 

Up to now, Meta has been experimenting with Community Notes on Facebook, Instagram and Threads in the United States only. People who want to be able to author notes still need to be approved, but the company allows anyone to rate notes. However, it seems that the feature so far hasn’t gained as much traction for Meta as it has on X. In September, the company said that just 6 percent of the more than 15,000 notes that had been contributed had actually been published. 

In a statement from the Oversight Board, the group said it would consider issues like whether a crowd-sourced fact checking system would make sense in countries with “low levels of freedom of expression” or without a free press, as well as places with “low levels of digital literacy.” It also said it was hoping to hear public comments from researchers who have studied different approaches to countering misinformation.

Unlike with a typical case from the Oversight Board, which deals with specific content moderation decisions, Meta has no obligation to implement any of the group’s recommendations. But, the company has previously chosen to follow its suggestions in previous policy advisory opinions, including its decision to roll back COVID-19 misinformation rules following a recommendation from the board.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-asks-the-oversight-board-to-weigh-in-a-little-on-community-notes-ahead-of-expansion-110000208.html?src=rss 

TikTok is the latest social platform to hand users more control over the amount of AI-generated content they see. The app is experimenting with a new setting that will allow users to request to “see less” AI in their “For You” feed.

The new toggle will be available in “the coming weeks” in the app’s “manage topics” section that lets people personalize the types of videos more likely to appear in their feed. In a blog post, TikTok says the control is meant to help users “dial things down” if they want to see less AI content in their recommendations. The update follows a similar move from Pinterest, which has faced complaints about AI slop drowning out authentic images on the platform.

TikTok, like most other platforms, has seen an influx of AI-generated content in recent years. The company, which requires users to label such creations, says that there are more than 1.3 billion videos with these labels. At the same time, the company notes that its existing methods for detecting AI content aren’t perfect, Currently, TikTok relies on a widely-used watermarking system called Content Credentials that adds metadata to AI-generated content. But these signals can get harder to detect when images or videos are edited in other apps or copied and reshared to other sites, as often happens with viral content. 

To address this, TikTok says that it will also experiment with an additional “invisible watermarking” system that could help it identify and label AI content more reliably. “‘Invisible watermarks’ add another layer of safeguards with a robust technological ‘watermark’ that only we can read, making it harder for others to remove,” the company explained.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-will-let-users-tone-down-the-amount-of-ai-content-in-their-feed-050100596.html?src=rss 

TikTok is replacing its screen time management page with a Time and Well-being space, which also comes with new wellness features. You can now find an affirmation journal, where you can set your intentions for the day using the 120-plus cards the app provides. You can, say, choose the “grace” card that reminds you to be free of the expectation of others. The card is downloadable on your device, and you can share it with others.

You’ll also find an in-app soothing sound generator that you can use to listen to relaxing audio, such as those featuring the sound of rain, waves and white noise. The sounds stop after a few minutes when the timer ends, so you can play them to induce sleep when you go to bed. TikTok says its users are 14 percent more likely to listen to music to help them relax or go to sleep than non-users. You’ll also find different types of breathing exercises you can do in the new space.

In addition, TikTok is rolling out new well-being missions, expanding the original set it launched in July. These missions, which are particularly designed for teens, will reward you with badges for completing challenges related to balanced digital habits. The new Sleep Hours Mission will award you with a badge if you stay off TikTok at night, while the daily screen time mission will earn you another if you set a screen time limit and manage to stick to it. There’s also a new weekly screen time mission that will prompt you to check your screen time report every week, as well as a well-being ambassador mission that will earn you badges if you invite others to do the missions.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-now-has-an-in-app-affirmation-journal-and-sound-machine-050100713.html?src=rss 

Typography nerds and Android fans, rejoice: You can now download an official version of “the next generation of Google’s brand typeface.” The company has released the Google Sans Flex font to the public for free.

The variable sans-serif font is part of Google’s Material 3 design language, which arrived in 2023. 9to5Google notes that it’s since been integrated into many of the company’s products, including in some corners of Pixel software.

A 2024 Google Design blog post about variable typography highlights the font’s flexibility, as seen in the image above. Casey Henry, a designer with the company, wrote that Google Sans Flex “allows the font’s letterforms to shape-shift at different scales.” OpenType Font Variations is the standard Google uses for variable fonts.

Meanwhile, a Reddit thread about the download dove deeper into typography nerdery. “Interesting behaviour when you condense the width,” u/hbpencil102 wrote. “Instead of circles becoming ovals, they become more rectangular with rounded tops and bottoms, reminding me of DIN 1451.” Amen to that.

You can download Google Sans Flex from Google Fonts.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/the-google-sans-flex-typeface-is-now-available-to-download-214535934.html?src=rss 

EV maker Polestar has announced that it’s bringing bi-directional charging — the ability for an electric car to be tapped as a battery for your home or the grid — to Polestar 3 owners who live in California. The feature is one of several ways EV owners can save money with their electric car, by either using less energy overall, or receiving credits for providing their excess power to the grid.

Polestar’s bi-directional charging feature uses direct current, according to the company, and enables “V2H functionality for Polestar 3 customers on the 400 Volt electrical architecture.” Polestar is offering the feature in partnership with home energy company dcbel, who helps administer a California Energy Commission program for installing “home energy stations” that can manage multiple clean energy sources in residential homes, including EVs with bi-directional charging. Polestar claims that using dcbel’s Ara system, customers can “reduce charging costs by up to $1,300 per year and use their car as an energy backup during blackouts for up to 10 days.”

The ability to send excess charge from an EV battery back into your home was originally a major selling point of Ford’s F-150 Lighting. Bi-directional charging has also shown up on GM’s EV lineup and the third-generation Nissan Leaf. Polestar says it’ll continue the development of the bi-directional charging capabilities of its cars and “plans to introduce a wider offer in the future.” While this partnership is the first time the EV maker is offering the charging feature in the US, Polestar already offers bi-directional charging to customers in Germany via a home charger it developed with Zaptec.

If you live in California and own a Polestar 3, you can apply for rebates on a home energy station at dcbel’s website so you can try the feature for yourself.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/polestar-evs-can-power-your-home-in-california-220215757.html?src=rss