OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that there would be a wider range of speech on Facebook and other Meta platforms.

“We’re going to get back to our roots around free expression on Facebook and Instagram,” he said.

Here are some of the key changes:

Gone will be third-party fact-checkers eyeing Facebook posts for violations in the United States. Instead, Facebook will rely on “community notes,” a system used on X (formerly Twitter) that allows community members to flag posts and vote on the legitimacy of them.

Restrictions on topics such as immigration and gender identity will be lifted.

“What started as a movement to be more inclusive has increasingly been used to shut down opinions and shut out people with different ideas, and it’s gone too far. So, I want to make sure that people can share their beliefs and experiences on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Civic and political content, which the company stopped presenting to users in recent years, will be recommended again on Facebook, Instagram and Threads.

And the firm’s trust and safety and content moderation teams will move from California, considered a liberal state, to Texas, considered a conservative-leaning state. The move “will help us build trust to do this work in places where there is less concern about the bias of our teams,” he said.

Preparing for Trump

Zuckerberg’s announcement comes as Meta and other technology companies prepare for major policy and regulatory changes with the return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House this month.

In his attacks on the dominant technology companies, known collectively as Big Tech, Trump has been particularly critical of Meta, which suspended his account in 2021 after the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol Building. His accounts were restored in 2023.

At a press conference Tuesday, Trump was asked about Zuckerberg’s announcement.

“Honestly, I think they’ve come a long way,” he said. He said the firm was “probably” responding to his threats that he had planned to do something about Big Tech and censorship.

Reactions mixed

“This is cool,” Elon Musk said of the Meta announcement. Musk bought Twitter in 2023 and renamed it X and is a close adviser to Trump.

X Corp. CEO Linda Yaccarino said on X that “fact-checking and moderation doesn’t belong in the hands of a few select gatekeepers who can easily inject their bias into decisions. It’s a democratic process that belongs in the hands of many.”

Also on X, Representative Jim Jordan, a Republican from Ohio and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, praised Zuckerberg’s announcement as a “huge step in the right direction.”

“Social media, AI, and other technology companies must resist governments’ censorship pressure and instead work to ensure the open expression of ideas on their platforms,” Jordan posted. “We hope that other Big Tech companies, including Google, follow the lead of X and Meta in upholding freedom of speech online.”

Kate Starbird, a University of Washington professor of human-centered design and engineering, said on the social media site Bluesky that Meta’s decision will hamper people’s ability to find out the truth.

“One remaining concern for me is that even people who WANT to find accurate information are going to be challenged to do it, because we’re going to lose the groups that do this fact-checking work — unless non-profits step in to fill what is going to be a huge funding gap,” she posted.

Yoel Roth, a former head of Twitter’s trust and safety department, said on Bluesky that he was “genuinely baffled by the unempirical assertion that Community Notes ‘works.’ Does it? How do Meta know? The best available research is pretty mixed on this point.”

‘Too many mistakes’

In his statement Tuesday, Zuckerberg described a complex system of filters the company created to identify “legitimately bad stuff out there. Drugs, terrorism, child exploitation.”

But the systems, while well-intentioned, made mistakes, resulting in wrongly censored postings, he said.

“We’ve reached a point where it’s just too many mistakes and too much censorship,” he said.

The company will be “dialing back” content filters that scanned for policy violations with the goal to “dramatically reduce the amount of censorship on our platforms,” Zuckerberg said.

Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, said in a separate statement that “too much harmless content gets censored, too many people find themselves wrongly locked up in ‘Facebook jail,’ and we are often too slow to respond when they do.”

Biden ‘repeatedly pressured’

Without offering examples, Zuckerberg said in August that the U.S. government under the Biden administration pushed for censorship. In August, Zuckerberg said in a letter to Jordan that Biden officials “repeatedly pressured” Facebook to take down some COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.

“By going after us and other American companies, it has emboldened other governments to go even further,” Zuckerberg said Tuesday. “But now we have the opportunity to restore free expression, and I’m excited to take it.”
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Meta is ending its fact-checking program in the U.S. and replacing it with a “Community Notes” system similar to that on Elon Musk-owned X, the Facebook parent said on Tuesday.  

The Community Notes model will allow users on Meta’s social media sites Facebook, Instagram and Threads to call out posts that are potentially misleading and need more context, rather than placing the responsibility on independent fact checking organizations and experts.  

“Experts, like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives. This showed up in the choices some made about what to fact check and how … A program intended to inform too often became a tool to censor,” Meta said.  

Meta added that its efforts over the years to manage content across its platforms have expanded “to the point where we are making too many mistakes, frustrating our users and too often getting in the way of the free expression we set out to enable.” 

The company said it would begin phasing in Community Notes in the United States over the next couple of months and would improve the model over the course of the year. 

It will also stop demoting fact-checked content and use a label notifying users there is additional information related to the post, instead of the company’s current method of displaying full-screen warnings that users have to click through before even viewing the post.  
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LAS VEGAS — Home appliances that do chores, cars that know your favorite cafe, and robot pets aiming to please are among artificial intelligence-infused offerings at the Consumer Electronics Show opening Tuesday.

All these will compete for attention at the annual CES extravaganza in Las Vegas, as vendors behind the scenes seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

AI is once again a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies.

South Korean consumer electronics giant LG kicked off a media day Monday by outlining a vision for “Affectionate Intelligence” in which home appliances watch over people — from tracking how well they sleep to making sure they remember umbrellas when rain is in the forecast.

“At LG, we’re seamlessly integrating AI into physical living spaces around us,” said CEO William Cho.

“We see space not merely as a physical location but as an environment where holistic experiences come to life — across the Home, Mobility, Commercial and even Virtual spaces.”

Before the show floor even opened, vendors enticed visitors with electric roller skates, hologram booths for life-size remote collaboration, and even a robot that looked like a lamp affixed to the top of a walking table.

Most offerings boasted being enhanced with AI.

“Everybody is going to be talking about AI … whether it is there or not,” Creative Strategies analyst Carolina Milanesi told AFP.

AI on the move

CES will also be a gigantic auto show, with carmakers and those supplying software and parts showing off self-driving and automated safety capabilities.

“CES has been an auto show for a while now, and if anything, it is more so this year,” said Techsponential analyst Avi Greengart.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close relationship with Trump is expected to reduce regulatory speed bumps regarding autonomous vehicles.

And while still far from being a part of everyday life, flying cars will be part of the CES scene, according to independent tech analyst Rob Enderle.

“You should start seeing flying vehicles you can buy,” Enderle said. “Getting approval to fly them is a whole other matter.”

Robots designed to handle work tasks or be comforting companions — and even adorable pets — are among CES’ exhibits.

Gadgets for calming the mind, beautifying the body, or helping get a sound night’s sleep are on display as tech continues to seep into every aspect of existence.

“Digital health is going to be huge,” said Greengart.

“We are seeing a lot more tech being worn or used to track your health markers.”

AI-enhanced tech will also be infusing homes, from a spice dispenser that “learns” a cook’s taste and robot swimming pool cleaners.

Tariff anxiety?

Tariffs talked about by Trump would raise costs for imported items, and that will likely be on the minds of CES attendees targeting the U.S. market, according to analysts.

A lot of the products at the show have imported components, and if Trump hits Canada, China and Mexico with tariffs, it will mean a spike in prices, analyst Enderle said.

“There will be a lot of concerned vendors at CES,” Enderle said of the tariff trepidation.

Talk at CES will include how to navigate supply chain constraints that could be caused by tariffs, according to Greengart.

“But a lot of the talk will happen behind closed doors to not anger the coming administration,” he added.

Chinese companies with significant U.S. presence, like smart television rivals TCL and Hisense, are at CES.

But Greengart warns of a “growing bifurcation of market between China and the rest of the world” as trade frictions play out.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. cyber watchdog agency CISA said Monday there was “no indication” the recently reported breach at the U.S. Treasury Department had affected any other federal agency. 

Late last month the U.S. Treasury reported that an unspecified number of computers had been compromised by Chinese hackers following a breach at contractor BeyondTrust, which provides cybersecurity services.  

BeyondTrust said last month that a limited number of clients were affected but has not elaborated. 

“As the forensic investigation is ongoing, BeyondTrust is unable to confirm the other customers who may or may not have been impacted,” the company said Monday in an email. 

The Washington Post has reported that the hackers breached the U.S. Treasury office that administers economic sanctions, aiming to steal information about Chinese entities that the U.S. government might be considering designating for financial sanctions. 

Republican lawmakers have demanded a briefing about the breach, which is the latest in a series of intrusions blamed on Beijing. 

Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, has previously described the Treasury hack reports as “irrational” and represented “smear attacks” against China. 
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Will TikTok in the U.S. be banned this month?

That’s the pressing question keeping creators and small business owners in anxious limbo as they await a decision that could upend their livelihoods. The fate of the popular app will be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on Jan. 10 over a law requiring TikTok to break ties with its Chinese-based parent company, ByteDance, or face a U.S. ban.

At the heart of the case is whether the law violates the First Amendment with TikTok and its creator allies arguing that it does. The U.S. government, which sees the platform as a national security risk, says it does not.

For creators, the TikTok doomsday scenarios are nothing new since President-elect Donald Trump first tried to ban the platform through executive order during his first term. But despite Trump’s recent statements indicating he now wants TikTok to stick around, the prospect of a ban has never been as immediate as it is now with the Supreme Court serving as the final arbiter.

If the government prevails as it did in a lower court, TikTok says it would shut down its U.S. platform by Jan. 19, leaving creators scrambling to redefine their futures.

“A lot of my other creative friends, we’re all like freaking out. But I’m staying calm,” said Gillian Johnson, who benefited financially from TikTok’s live feature and rewards program, which helped creators generate higher revenue potential by posting high-quality original content. The 22-year-old filmmaker and recent college graduate uses her TikTok earnings to help fund her equipment for projects such as camera lens and editing software for her short films “Gambit” and “Awaken! My Neighbor.”

Johnson said the idea of TikTok going away is “hard to accept.”

Many creators have taken to TikTok to voice their frustrations, grappling with the possibility that the platform they’ve invested so much in could soon disappear. Online communities risk being disrupted, and the economic fallout could especially be devastating for those who mainly depend on TikTok and have left full-time jobs to build careers and incomes around their content.

For some, the uncertainty has led them to question whether to continue creating content at all, according to Johnson, who says she knows creators who have been thinking about quitting. But Nicla Bartoli, the vice president of sales at The Influencer Marketing Factory, said the creators she has interreacted with have not been too worried since news about a potential TikTok ban has come up repeatedly over the years, and then died down.

“I believe a good chunk think it is not going to happen,” said Bartoli, whose agency works to pair influencers and brands.

It’s unclear how quickly the Supreme Court will issue a decision. But the court could act swiftly to block the law from going into effect if at least five of the nine justices deem it unconstitutional.

Trump, for his part, has already asked the justices to put a pause on the ban so he could weigh in after he takes office. In a brief — written by his pick for solicitor general — Trump called the First Amendment implications of a TikTok ban “sweeping and troubling” and said he wants a “negotiated resolution” to the issue, something the Biden administration had pursued to no avail.

While waiting for the dust to settle in Washington, some creators are exploring alternatives ways to promote themselves or their business, encouraging users to follow them on other social media platforms or are investing more time producing non-TikTok content.

Johnson says she is already strategizing her next move and exploring alternative opportunities. While she hasn’t found a place quite like TikTok, she’s begun to spend more of her time on other platforms, such as Instagram and YouTube, both of whom are expected to benefit financially if TikTok vanishes.

According to a report by Goldman Sachs, the so-called creator economy, which has been fueled in part by TikTok, could be worth $480 billion by 2027.

Because the opportunity to monetize content exists across a range of platforms, a vast amount of creators have already diversified their social media presence. However, many TikTok creators have credited the platform — and its algorithm — with giving them a type of exposure they did not receive on other platforms. Some say it has also boosted and provided opportunities for creators of color and those from other marginalized groups.

Despite fears about the fate of TikTok, industry analysts note creators are generally avoiding making any big changes, like abandoning platform, until something actually happens.

“I’m anxious but also trying to be hopeful in a weird way,” said Brandon Hurst, who credits TikTok with rescuing his business from obscurity and propelling it into rapid growth.

A year after joining TikTok, the 30-year-old Hurst, who sells plants, said his sales doubled, outpacing the traction he’d struggled to gain on Instagram. He built his clientele through the live feature on TikTok, which has helped him sell more than 77,000 plants. The business has thrived so much that he says he now employs five people, including his husband and mom.

“For me, this has been my sole way of doing business,” Hurst said.

Billion Dollar Boy, a New York-based influencer marketing agency, has advised creators to download all of their TikTok content into a personal portfolio, which is especially important for those who post primarily on the platform, said Edward East, the agency’s founder and group CEO. This can help them quickly build their audiences elsewhere. Plus, it can serve as a resume for brands who might want to partner with them for product advertisements, East said.

But until the deadline of Jan. 19 comes around, East said creators should continue to post regularly on TikTok, which has 170 million monthly U.S. users and remains highly effective in reaching audiences.

If the Supreme Court does not delay the ban, as Trump is asking them to do, app stores and internet service providers would be required to stop providing service to TikTok by Jan. 19. That means anyone who doesn’t have TikTok on their phone would be unable to download it. TikTok users would continue to have access, but the prohibitions — which will prevent them from updating the app — will eventually make the app “unworkable,” the Justice Department has said.

TikTok said in court documents that it estimates a one-month shutdown would cause the platform to lose approximately a third of its daily users in the U.S. The company argues a shutdown, even if temporary, will cause it irreparable harm, a legal bar used by judges to determine whether to put the brakes on a law facing a challenge. In under three weeks, Americans will know if the Supreme Court agrees.
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NEW YORK — Your car is spying on you. 

That is one takeaway from the fast, detailed data that Tesla collected on the driver of one of its Cybertrucks that exploded in Las Vegas, Nevada, earlier this week. Privacy data experts say the deep dive by Elon Musk’s company was impressive but also shines a spotlight on a difficult question as vehicles become less like cars and more like computers on wheels. 

“You might want law enforcement to have the data to crack down on criminals but can anyone have access to it?” said Jodi Daniels, CEO of privacy consulting firm Red Clover Advisors.  

Many of the latest cars not only know where you’ve been and where you are going, but also often have access to your contacts, your call logs, your texts and other sensitive information thanks to cell phone syncing. 

The data collected by Musk’s electric car company after the Cybertruck packed with fireworks burst into flames in front of the Trump International Hotel Wednesday proved valuable to police in helping track the driver’s movements. 

Within hours of the New Year’s Day explosion that burned the driver beyond recognition and injured seven, Tesla was able to track Matthew Livelsberger’s movements in detail from Denver to Las Vegas — and confirm that the problem was explosives in the truck, not the truck itself. Tesla used data collected from charging stations and from onboard software. 

“I have to thank Elon Musk, specifically,” said Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Kevin McMahill to reporters.  

Some privacy experts were less enthusiastic. 

“It reveals the kind of sweeping surveillance going on,” said David Choffnes, executive director of the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at Northeastern University in Boston. “When something bad happens, it’s helpful, but it’s a double-edged sword. Companies that collect this data can abuse it.” 

General Motors, for instance, was sued in August by the Texas attorney general for allegedly selling data from 1.8 million drivers to insurance companies without their consent. 

Cars equipped with cameras to enable self-driving features have added a new security risk. Tesla itself came under fire after Reuters reported how employees from 2019 through 2022 shared drivers’ sensitive videos and recordings with each other, including videos of road rage incidents and, in one case, nudity. 

Tesla did not respond to emailed questions about its privacy policy. On its website, Tesla says it follows strict rules for keeping names and information private. 

“No one but you would have knowledge of your activities, location, or a history of where you’ve been,” according to a statement. “Your information is kept private and secure.” 

Auto analyst Sam Abuelsamid at Telemetry Insight, said he doesn’t think Tesla is “especially worse” than other auto companies in handling customer data, but he is still concerned. 

“This is one of the biggest ethical issues we have around modern vehicles. They’re connected,” he said. “Consumers need to have control over their data.” 

Tensions were high when the Cybertruck parked at the front doors of Trump’s hotel began smoking, then burst into flames. Just hours earlier, a driver in another vehicle using the same peer-to-peer car rental service, Turo, had killed 15 people after slamming into a crowd in New Orleans, Louisiana, in what law enforcement is calling a terrorist attack. 

Shortly before 1 p.m., the Las Vegas police announced they were investigating a second incident. 

“The whole Tesla senior team is investigating this matter right now,” Musk wrote on X. “Will post more information as soon as we learn anything.” 

Over the next few hours, Tesla was able to piece together Livelsberger’s journey over five days and four states by tracking, among other things, his recharging stops in various locations, including Monument, Colorado, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Flagstaff, Arizona. 
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Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.

The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a five-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.

The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.” Some of the recorded conversations were then shared with advertisers in an attempt to sell their products to consumers more likely to be interested in the goods and services, the lawsuit asserted.

The allegations about a snoopy Siri contradicted Apple’s long-running commitment to protect the privacy of its customers — a crusade that CEO Tim Cook has often framed as a fight to preserve “a fundamental human right.”

Apple isn’t acknowledging any wrongdoing in the settlement, which still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White. Lawyers in the case have proposed scheduling a February 14 court hearing in Oakland to review the terms.

If the settlement is approved, tens of millions of consumers who owned iPhones and other Apple devices from Sept. 17, 2014, through the end of last year could file claims. Each consumer could receive up to $20 per Siri-equipped device covered by the settlement, although the payment could be reduced or increased, depending on the volume of claims. Only 3% to 5% of eligible consumers are expected to file claims, according to estimates in court documents.

Eligible consumers will be limited to seeking compensation on a maximum of five devices.

The settlement represents a sliver of the $705 billion in profits that Apple has pocketed since September 2014. It’s also a small fraction of the roughly $1.5 billion that the lawyers representing consumers had estimated Apple could have been required to pay if the company had been found guilty of violating wiretapping and other privacy laws had the case gone to a trial.

The attorneys who filed the lawsuit may seek up to $29.6 million from the settlement fund to cover their fees and other expenses, according to court documents.
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Washington — A U.S. appeals court ruled on Thursday the Federal Communications Commission did not have legal authority to reinstate landmark net neutrality rules.

The decision is a blow to the outgoing Biden administration that had made restoring the open internet rules a priority. President Joe Biden signed a 2021 executive order encouraging the FCC to reinstate the rules.

A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the FCC lacked authority to reinstate the rules initially implemented in 2015 by the agency under Democratic former President Barack Obama, but then repealed by the commission in 2017 under Republican former President Donald Trump.

Net-neutrality rules require internet service providers to treat internet data and users equally rather than restricting access, slowing speeds or blocking content for certain users. The rules also forbid special arrangements in which ISPs give improved network speeds or access to favored users.

The court cited the Supreme Court’s June decision in a case known as Loper Bright to overturn a 1984 precedent that had given deference to government agencies in interpreting laws they administer, in the latest decision to curb the authority of federal agencies. “Applying Loper Bright means we can end the FCC’s vacillations,” the court ruled.

The decision leaves in place state neutrality rules adopted by California and others but may end more than 20 years of efforts to give federal regulators sweeping oversight over the internet.

FCC Chair Jessica Rosenworcel called on Congress to act after the decision. “Consumers across the country have told us again and again that they want an internet that is fast, open, and fair. With this decision it is clear that Congress now needs to heed their call, take up the charge for net neutrality, and put open internet principles in federal law,” Rosenworcel said in a statement.

The FCC voted in April along party lines to reassume regulatory oversight of broadband internet and reinstate open internet rules. Industry groups filed suit and successfully convinced the court to temporarily block the rules as they considered the case.

Incoming FCC Chair Brendan Carr voted against the reinstatement last year. He did not immediately comment on Thursday.

Former FCC Chair Ajit Pai said the court ruling should mean the end of efforts to reinstate the rules, and a focus shift to “what actually matters to American consumers – like improving Internet access and promoting online innovation.”

The Trump administration is unlikely to appeal the decision but net-neutrality advocates could seek review by the Supreme Court.

The rules would have given the FCC new tools to crack down on Chinese telecom companies and the ability to monitor internet service outages.

A group representing companies including Amazon.com AMZN.O, Apple AAPL.O, Alphabet GOOGL.O and Meta Platforms META.O had backed the FCC net-neutrality rules, while USTelecom, an industry group whose members include AT&T T.N and Verizon VZ.N, last year called reinstating net neutrality “entirely counterproductive, unnecessary, and an anti-consumer regulatory distraction.”
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Beijing has launched a series of retaliatory actions against U.S. technological sanctions, including cutting off supplies of rare earth elements and punishing American companies operating in China. U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly warned of additional tariffs on Chinese exports, and analysts believe he will further tighten technological restrictions on China. What other cards might Beijing play on the 2025 U.S.-China trade and technology battlefield? 

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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Quantum computing is emerging as a revolutionary technology capable of solving complex problems that traditional computers cannot address. The U.S. leads in quantum innovation, driven by companies like Google and IBM, robust government funding and top-tier research institutions. China, however, has rapidly advanced through massive state-led investments, dominating global quantum patents and establishing specialized research centers. 

Click here for the full story in Mandarin.
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TIRANA, ALBANIA — Albania’s prime minister said Saturday the government will shut down the video service TikTok for one year, blaming it for inciting violence and bullying, especially among children. 

Albanian authorities held 1,300 meetings with teachers and parents following the stabbing death of a teenager in mid-November by another teen after a quarrel that started on TikTok. 

Prime Minister Edi Rama, speaking at a meeting with teachers and parents, said TikTok “would be fully closed for all. … There will be no TikTok in the Republic of Albania.” Rama said the shutdown would begin sometime next year. 

It was not immediately clear if TikTok has a representative in Albania. 

In an email response Saturday to a request for comment, TikTok asked for “urgent clarity from the Albanian government” on the case of the stabbed teenager. The company said it had “found no evidence that the perpetrator or victim had TikTok accounts, and multiple reports have in fact confirmed videos leading up to this incident were being posted on another platform, not TikTok.” 

Albanian children comprise the largest group of TikTok users in the country, according to domestic researchers. 

There has been increasing concern from Albanian parents after reports of children taking knives and other objects to school to use in quarrels or cases of bullying promoted by stories they see on TikTok. 

TikTok’s operations in China, where its parent company is based, are different, “promoting how to better study, how to preserve nature … and so on,” according to Rama. 

Albania is too small a country to impose on TikTok a change of its algorithm so that it does not promote “the reproduction of the unending hell of the language of hatred, violence, bullying and so on,” Rama’s office wrote in an email response to The Associated Press’ request for comment. Rama’s office said that in China TikTok “prevents children from being sucked into this abyss.” 

Authorities have set up a series of protective measures at schools, starting with an increased police presence, training programs and closer cooperation with parents. 

Rama said Albania would follow how the company and other countries react to the one-year shutdown before deciding whether to allow the company to resume operations in Albania. 

Not everyone agreed with Rama’s decision to close TikTok. 

“The dictatorial decision to close the social media platform TikTok … is a grave act against freedom of speech and democracy,” said Ina Zhupa, a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party. “It is a pure electoral act and abuse of power to suppress freedoms.” 

Albania holds parliamentary elections next year. 
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Generative artificial intelligence companies are racing to build on the popularity of programs like ChatGPT, but AI regulation has not kept pace with the technology. Now, an incoming administration could favor U.S. domination over risk mitigation. Tina Trinh reports.
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