Author: TechBrunch

In an effort to prevent the spread of suicide and self-harm content online, the nonprofit Mental Health Coalition (MHC) today announced Thrive, a new program aimed at encouraging people to share “signals” of potentially harmful content on online platforms. Thrive, whose founding members include Meta, Snap, and TikTok, offers a way for platforms to share hashes — essentially unique fingerprints — of content that depicts suicide or self-harm, or that depicts or encourages viral challenges. The hashes are associated only with the content and do not contain identifying information about accounts or individuals, MHC said. Meta provided the technology infrastructure,…

The UK government has introduced new legislation to Parliament proposing new legal protections for digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and carbon credits. The bill comes as the crypto industry faces a variety of regulatory headwinds. In the United States, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has ruled that certain crypto assets are securities, and earlier this year the SEC approved the first U.S.-listed exchange-traded fund (ETF) tracking Bitcoin. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) is also introducing new legislation to regulate cryptocurrencies and make transactions easier to track. The UK is also working on similar regulation, but its…

Elon Musk's social network X is considering a new feature that would let users block direct messages from other users, but this would be separate from its account blocking feature. Currently, when you block an account, they can't interact with you in public posts or direct messages (DMs). With this new feature, the company will have two blocking features: one for personal messages and one for public posts. Yesterday, several app researchers published screenshots showing what DM blocking would look like, with Musk citing one of these posts saying, “DMs will be separate from public posts, so if you want…

Elon Musk's social network X is considering a new feature that would let users block direct messages from other users, but this would be separate from its account blocking feature. Currently, when you block an account, they can't interact with you in public posts or direct messages (DMs). With this new feature, the company will have two blocking features: one for personal messages and one for public posts. Yesterday, several app researchers published screenshots showing what DM blocking would look like, with Musk citing one of these posts saying, “DMs will be separate from public posts, so if you want…

A lot has changed in the 16 months since I last stepped foot inside Figure's Sunnyvale headquarters. For starters, there's a sign hanging outside the company's nondescript Silicon Valley office building in a Silicon Valley office park. And there's no empty desk to be seen anywhere. The robotics company now employs 130 engineers, according to CEO Brett Adcock, who met me at the company to get a closer look at its latest humanoid robot, Fig. 02. Next year, Fig. plans to use some of its $1.5 billion funding to move into new, bigger offices a short drive away. The robots…

Is a business coach really worth the investment? Executives often seek out coaches to enhance various aspects of their work, such as communication skills or productivity. Empirically, at least, these skills appear to improve with coaching. A survey by the nonprofit International Coach Federation found that 80% of executives who hired a coach experienced improved self-confidence. Will Fouchier, a former financial analyst and founder of AI-powered coaching business AceUp, said he tried workplace coaching himself a few years ago and experienced many benefits. “In 2015, I was transitioning from a career as a financial analyst to working at the nonprofit…

Humanz, a marketing platform for content creators and brands, has entered the U.S. market, the company announced on Thursday. Founded in Israel in 2017, Humanz has gained significant traction in global markets, including Europe, Latin America, South Africa and the Middle East. Currently, Humanz connects with over 300,000 content creators, facilitating over 15 million creator collaborations and contributing to nearly $500 million in revenue. With spending on influencer marketing now a big chunk of the overall marketing sector, now estimated to be a $250 billion industry, Humanz's US expansion shows there's growing demand for marketing tools designed for content creators.…

Small businesses are the unsung heroes of the American economy, employing nearly half of the American workforce and accounting for 44% of the country's GDP. But when it comes time for small business owners to sell their companies, their options are limited. Some turn to small business brokers, some pass the business on to their children, and some go out of business altogether. Large companies are traditionally bought at the best price, often with investment banks like Goldman Sachs, but Wall Street giants waste no time in buying acquisitions for less than $25 million. Founded by former investment banker Ori…

Google's main privacy regulator in the European Union has opened an investigation into whether the company complies with EU data protection law regarding its use of personal information in training its generative AI. Specifically, it is investigating whether the tech giants should have carried out Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs) to proactively consider the risks that AI technology may pose to the rights and freedoms of individuals whose information was used to train their models. Generative AI tools are notorious for generating plausible-sounding lies. That tendency, combined with their ability to provide personal information on demand, creates significant legal risks…

WhatsApp is now enabling small and medium-sized businesses in India to register for the Meta Verified badge and send customized messages to their customers. India has more than 65 million small businesses, but only about 5 million of them sell online, according to a joint report released in May by Mehta and Bain & Co. The company is looking to capitalize on this market opportunity by promoting WhatsApp Business, as the app is used by a majority of Indians for messaging and has emerged as a preferred way for small businesses to connect with customers. The company said that the…