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Meta's Oversight Board has deemed Meta was right to leave up two videos reported for hate speech and harassment, though it recommends changes for the company. The decision follows revisions Meta made in January to its Hateful Conduct Policy. The Board started looking into the two posts last August. One of the videos showed a trans woman being confronted in a bathroom by another woman who misgenders the trans woman and asks why they should be allowed to use the women's room. The included caption states that the trans woman is a "male student who thinks he's a girl." The second is of a trans woman winning a track race with onlookers disapproving. That caption similarly calls the individual, a "boy who thinks he's a girl" and names the person (who is a minor). In its decision, the Board claims that "public debate on policies around transgender peoples' rights and inclusion is permitted, with offensive viewpoints protected under international human rights law on freedom of expression." Yes, you did read "offensive viewpoints" and "permitted" in the same sentence. It goes on to state that a majority of the Board couldn't find a strong enough "link" between removing these posts and limiting harm to trans individuals and that they didn't "represent" harassment or bullying. "Transgender women and girls' access to women's bathrooms and participation in sports are the subjects of ongoing public debate that involves various human rights concerns. It is appropriate that a high threshold be required to suppress such speech," the decision continues. The Board states that Meta's recent "hastily announced" policy changes didn't influence its decision but that it is concerned about content and implementation. "Meta should identify how the policy and enforcement updates may adversely impact the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, including minors, especially where these populations are at heightened risk," the Board states. "It should adopt measures to prevent and/or mitigate these risks and monitor their effectiveness. Finally, Meta should update the Board every six months on its progress, reporting on this publicly at the earliest opportunity." The Board also calls out a specific line in Meta's updated policy which states, "We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality and common non-serious usage of words such as 'weird.'" It recommends Meta remove the word "transgenderism," a phrase organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign called out as signaling "a disturbing alignment with anti-LGBTQ+ political rhetoric."This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/metas-oversight-board-criticizes-companys-hastily-announced-hate-speech-policy-changes-120042137.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
I liked Logitech's MX Creative Console when I tested it last year, but one of biggest issues was a lack of support for specific content creation and other apps. The company has rectified that with a major update now available on the company's Logi Marketplace. It expands the console's compatibility to several key apps including DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Lightroom and Figma. As a reminder, the MX Creative Console is a control panel that connects to your Mac or PC and is designed to speed up creative chores for apps like Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. It's more compact than rival consoles and features a modern design and a pair of slick control dials, along with dynamic display keys that change depending on the app and page youre looking at. A key new addition is support for Adobe's Lightroom, rather than just Lightroom Classic as before. It lets you use the dial controller on the MX Creative Console to straighten images or adjust brightness, contrast and clarity. The buttons can also be set up to do things like rate and flag images for quicker processing. Logitech also worked with Blackmagic Design to get the console working with DaVinci Resolve, a popular editing and effects app that's an alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro. You can now use the console to navigate the timeline, cut, trim and retime clips and navigate Fusion's effects nodes efficiently. It added similar functionality for Apple's Final Cut Pro, while also letting you do precise color grading via the app's Color Wheels. For the interface design tool Figma, the MX Creative Console lets you quickly access essential tools and actions, manage assets, text alignments, spacing and layout adjustments and adjust text size, weight and height with the dial. Logitech got into creative control surfaces in a big way when it purchased Steam Deck rival Loupedeck in 2023. The $200 MX Creative Console arrived a year later, and though it took Adobe nearly seven months to release a major update, support for the new apps makes the console far more versatile. "Adding these highly requested plugins will unlock the MX Creative Consoles potential for a broader range of creative professionals, noted Logitech GM Anatoliy Polyanker. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/logitechs-mx-creative-console-editing-panel-now-supports-davinci-resolve-and-lightroom-120035406.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
Following reported delays over political concerns, the European Commission (EC) has penalized Apple and Meta over anti-competitive activities. The fines of 500 million and 200 million respectively (around $570 million and $228 million) are the first to be issued under Europe's new Digital Markets Act (DMA), according to the EC. The fines were issued after what the Commission called extensive consultation with the two companies after the probes were opened in March 2024. Apple violated the DMA by blocking developers from informing customers about sales and other offers outside the App Store. "Consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers," the Commission wrote, adding that it failed to demonstrate the restrictions are "objectively necessary." The 500 million fine levied against Apple takes into account the "gravity and duration" of the non-compliant behavior. The EC also ordered Apple to remove the restrictions and refrain from imposing them in the future. However, the Commission also closed its investigation into another Apple matter around app choices "thanks to early and proactive engagement by Apple on a compliance solution." Namely, Apple changed its browser choice screen, made it easier for users to change default settings for things like calls, messages, keyboards and password managers, and agreed to allow users to uninstall apps like Safari. Meanwhile, the EC hit Meta for its "consent or pay" system that forced EU users to either shell out 10 ($11) monthly for an ad-free subscription or be forced to share their data. Meta introduced a new version of the free personalized ads model in November 2024 that supposedly uses less personal data to display ads (while also cutting the subscription price to 6), but the Commission is still assessing that. The 200 million fine thus takes into account the time period between March 2024 and November 2024 when Facebook was violating DMA rules. However, Meta could face further penalties depending on how the EC evaluates the new personalized adds. On a positive note for Meta, the EC rules that Facebook Marketplace is no longer designated under the DMA, following "careful assessment of Meta's arguments and as a result of... additional enforcement and continued monitoring measures." Last month, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg specifically urged President Trump to intervene on potential EU sanctions around the pay for privacy issue. The White House also released a memo in February saying it could retaliate against any European DMA sanctions against US tech companies. However, Meta has its own problems in the US that could have more dire consequences. The Justice Department accused it of squashing competition through acquisition and could force it to sell off key apps like WhatsApp and Instagram. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-and-meta-hit-with-first-fines-under-europes-new-digital-markets-act-112545713.html?src=rss
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Marketing and Advertising
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