decided

A Chinese tire company decided to take its factory to Serbia. And now it cannot export to the US

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USA ordered last thursday the immediate seizure of all shipments of tires manufactured by Linglong in Serbia. The decision by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service affects all US ports and is based on ‘reasonable indications’ of forced labor at the Zrenjanin plant, in the north of the Balkan country. “The message is clear: the United States will not tolerate forced labor in supply chains,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney S. Scott. Linglong, a Chinese manufacturer specializing in tires, has been operating in Europe since 2022, when its first tires went into production from the Zrenjanin plant. Why Washington is acting now. The measure comes three years after the European Parliament ask for investigations about trafficking of Vietnamese workers in this same factory. The CBP says it has based its order on workers’ testimonies, documents, photographs, NGO reports, press articles and academic research. According to the agency, the evidence demonstrates nine indicators of forced labor established by the International Labor Organization: withholding of identity documents, intimidation and threats, isolation, excessive overtime, non-payment of wages, debt bondage, abusive working conditions, deception and abuse of vulnerability. Questionable track record. The Linglong plant was the subject of great controversy in 2021, when hundreds of Vietnamese workers went on strike during the construction phase. The complaints spoke of deceptive practices in recruiting employees. Just like account According to L’Automobile, in February 2024, Serbian civil society organizations reported the case of 14 additional Indian workers allegedly subjected to forced labor. Each time, Serbian authorities rejected the accusations. The Chinese company declined all responsibility, arguing that the workers had been hired by one of its subcontractors. The underlying problem in Serbia. The Balkan country, a candidate for accession to the European Union, has multiplied its contracts with large Chinese companies in recent years. The European Parliament express already in 2021 its “concern about China’s growing influence in Serbia and the Western Balkans”, calling on the country to strengthen “its rules on regulatory compliance for Chinese business activities”. The European resolution stated that Serbian labor legislation should also apply to Chinese companies operating in the country, something that everything indicates has not happened. Beijing and Belgrade. Serbia signed a free trade agreement with China in July 2024. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić called the Linglong factory “the largest foreign direct investment in the history of Serbia” during the opening ceremony in September 2024, noting that the plant employs more than 1,200 workers. However, the US State Department pointed out in its report on human trafficking that the Serbian government “has made little progress in the ongoing investigation into allegations of forced labor at this factory.” What happens to retained tires?. As can be read in the CBP noteimporters of seized shipments now have three options: destroy the merchandise, re-export it, or prove that the products were not manufactured using forced labor. The agency reiterates that it is the fifth detention order issued by CBP in 2025 and the second in fiscal year 2026. Cover image | Robert Laursoo In Xataka | The US bans Chinese drones and turns DJI into the new Huawei. It’s an absolutely crazy idea.

In 1919 the Germans decided to sink their entire fleet in the North Sea. The steel from those ships ended up in space

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At 11:20 in the morning of June 21, 1919, Admiral von Reuter’s ship began to signal to the rest of the German ships in Scapa Flow Bay, England. The taps and water intakes were opened, the pipes were destroyed, the portholes were dismantled: no one noticed anything. Until around midday, the Friederich Der Grosse began to list to starboard. It was already late, the German flag was flying from the 74 masts. Scapa Flow. The image tells the story of Scapa Flowthe sinking of the German fleet immediately after World War I. While the Allies negotiated the terms of the Armistice with Germany, the fleet was held captive and stationed off the British coast. Von Reuter feared that the Allies would divide up the ships, so he decided to sink it completely, at any cost. The British naval ships that were on maneuvers arrived at 2:30 p.m. and were only able to save one ship. The last to sink was the battlecruiser Hindenburg. Nine Germans were killed, 16 were wounded, 1,774 were detained. 52 ships were sunk on June 21 at Scapa Flow. But they are no longer there: they are on the Moon, Jupiter and beyond the orbit of Pluto. steel is steel. A tough guy, with bad temper and few words. But in 1945 (or a little before), everything changed. We didn’t realize it at first, but we quickly discovered that although all steels are equal, there are some steels that are more equal than others. I’m not going around the bush: what happened in ’45 was the atomic bomb, the device of the Devil that made us change geological era. The problem. Since the first atomic bombs exploded on the Earth’s surface, the air contains traces of radioactive elements. They are there, dissolved in it, but the amount is so small that they are harmless. Unless for some strange reason you have to blow in enormous amounts of air in the manufacturing process of some material. It’s almost useless to us. That is, all steel manufactured after the explosion of the first atomic bomb is radioactive. Very little, almost nothing. But enough so that some medical, physical or astronomical instruments do not work correctly. For example, radioactivity monitoring systems used by spacecraft. He tells it David Bodanis in “E = mc². Biography of the most famous equation in the world“, a book that, although it has become somewhat outdated, is still a delight. You may have heard the story, but it is a good story. Steel = expensive. In the book, Bodanis explains that, faced with this problem, uncontaminated steel became very expensive. Above all, because before ’45 we did not make steel in quantities so industrial as now. I imagine dozens of NASA engineers rummaging through their family’s cutlery so they can send reliable machines into space. Until someone remembered Kaiser Wilhelm’s ships. The peculiarity of Scapa Flow. There are sunken ships in many places, but there are not many shallow inlets with 52 sunken ships in their waters. Not all of them were there, but a few were enough for us to manufacture the equipment that the Apollo mission left on the lunar surface, that which the Galileo probe took to Jupiter, and that which the Pioneer probe is taking even further. The evil, the sea. In Xataka | Quantum find in Cambridge points to solar ‘Holy Grail’: single-material solar panels In Xataka | The Atacama salt flat is the key on which the electric car industry pivots. And it’s starting to dry

Movistar Plus+ was making a comeback after four years of losing customers. Telefónica has decided to cut its workforce

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Telefónica has set 119 final departures in Movistar Plus+part of the ERE that will eliminate 4,554 positions in Spain. It is a reduction compared to the more than 200 losses initially planned, but it comes at the worst moment: when the platform was finally adding clients again. Why is it important. Movistar Plus+ has 3.75 million (the most recent data is from September 30) , the best data since 2018 after years of collapse. It lost almost 650,000 clients between 2019 and 2023, hit rock bottom, and was already beginning to recover. Now Telefónica is cutting muscle just when it needed to step on the accelerator. The paradox. The company bet a lot of money buying Canal+ and launching its own productions to compete with Netflix and Prime Video. When the numbers improve, he reduces the workforce. The inevitable question: how are you going to keep up with global giants with fewer people and a tighter budget? Yes, but. Subscriber growth does not guarantee profitability. Telefónica has reoriented Movistar Plus+ towards a more flexible and cheaper offer, unrelated to convergent packages. That adds customers but compresses margins. And competing in streaming without a global scale is very expensive. The unequal context. Netflix already has more than 300 million subscribers in the world. Prime Video exceeds 200 million. Disney+ around 120 million. Movistar Plus+ has 3.75 million in Spain, at the end of the third quarter of 2025. The difference in scale is brutal and translates directly into budget for content, technology and distribution. What works. Football continues to be the lifeline. LaLiga and the Champions League keep many subscribers hooked who, without that content, perhaps would not have stayed for so long. But a platform cannot be built only on sports rights that also increase in price every cycle, as we saw a few days ago. What deserves more luck. Movistar Plus+’s own series and documentaries have objective quality. ‘Poison‘, ‘The Messiah‘, ‘The Plague‘, ‘riot police‘, ‘The Pioneer‘ either ‘Rapa‘ demonstrate the ability to find powerful stories with local cultural sensitivity. Netflix and Prime also produce Spanish content, but Movistar Plus+ has built its own catalog that transcends obvious trends and connects with the public in another way. The problem is not the quality of the content. Quality is sometimes not enough when you compete against infinite budgets and recommendation algorithms fine-tuned with data from hundreds of millions of users. The big question. What will become of Movistar Plus+ if it continues to contract? It was beginning to regain ground, but doing so with 119 fewer people makes it difficult to maintain the pace. Without the investment capacity to match the Netflix-Amazon-Disney triumvirate, the room for maneuver narrows every quarter. The background. This ERE is not an isolated case. Telefónica has been thinning its workforce for years while it pivots towards infrastructure and gets rid of unprofitable Latin American subsidiaries. Marc Murtra, president for one year, has renovated its entire dome. The 2024 one cost 1,300 million and took 3,421 positions. This new adjustment will be more expensive and deeper. Between the lines. The unions have ended up accepting forced dismissals in minority companies such as Movistar Plus+, despite having set it as an initial red line. The pressure from the workforce to guarantee early retirements in other subsidiaries has weighed more than maintaining positions. UGT and CCOO have appealed to “common sense” and “responsibility”common euphemisms to justify a capitulation. In Xataka | Telefónica is preparing a tough ERE, but for many veterans it will be like a prize Featured image | Xataka with Mockuuups Studio

Netflix decided to kill sending content to the TV. Apple has taken advantage of the gap to score a great goal

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Netflix decided to start the month of December by eliminating one of the most basic and useful functions of its mobile application: the ability to send content (cast) from our smartphone to any television with Android TV either Google TV. An essential tool to find content quickly on your mobile and send it to your TV. What we did not expect is that, in less than two weeks, Apple has responded indirectly by bringing its Apple TV for Android the feature that Netflix has decided to kill. Better late. Goodbye to Netflix Cast. It was easy to realize this. At home I have a Google Chromecast with Google TV and a Google Nest. Every time I wanted to send content from my mobile to my television… only the Google Nest appeared. That’s when I read the confirmation of the disaster: Netflix had loaded the Cast without any explanation. The exceptions. In the Netflix support page An exception is specified to continue using the Cast function: having a third-generation or earlier Chromecast device. In other words, versions without remote control. The second, have a plan without ads. If you don’t pay, you can’t send content to TV. Cast icon on Apple TV, make a wish. Given the gap in the squad, great goal. Since yesterday, a couple of weeks after Netflix’s move, the Apple TV application for Android is compatible with Google Cast, a function that was missing since the launch of the app at the beginning of the year on the rival platform. It is necessary to have the app updated to version 2.2 to be able to send our content to the television on any Chromecast. Apple being less Apple. Apple has had to respond to Netflix in the face of an undeniable reality: its service is a minority within the ecosystem of streaming platforms. Netflix is ​​the absolute king, followed by Prime Video and Disney+. And one of the reasons was one that we know quite well: using Apple is using a product tied to its ecosystem. Despite this, Apple TV+ is dangerously close to HBO Max, about to take fourth place in the ranking, according to data from JustWatch. In this context, the introduction of Cast goes beyond a minor function: It is a surrender (more) from Apple towards a more open ecosystem. And this works in your favor Allows Apple TV+ to sneak into homes with Android phones and tablets Reduces friction of use Reduce dependence on Apple’s hardware ecosystem What are you doing to win in Spain. Apple’s strategy to continue growing in Spain is clear: swim against the current with a strategy that does not introduce advertising in the app, a small catalog but with a large presence of proposals (expensive) and own and, now, simplifying the use of its app to reduce friction that had been artificially introduced. It won’t be enough. We told it a year ago and the numbers reaffirm it: there is hardly any war in streamingsince most of the content is converging on Netflix. The post-pandemic stage forced platforms to fight to distinguish themselves, while Netflix went public at the end of December 2024 at pre-pandemic levels. Be that as it may, given the growth of Apple TV in 2025, fight head to head against an HBO focused on quality It is great news for the company. Image | Xataka In Xataka | The best streaming platforms 2025 | Comparison of Disney+, Netflix, HBO Max, Prime Video, Movistar Plus+, Filmin, Apple TV, SkyShowtime and Rakuten TV: catalog, functions and prices

For years, TV ads have been louder without violating any laws. Spain has decided that this is over

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A common experience among millions of viewers: you are watching your favorite series at a comfortable volume when an advertising block bursts in, forcing you to rush headlong towards the remote control. This calculated shock could have its days numbered in Spain thanks to quantifiable technical criteria to monitor the sound level of advertisements. The law. The National Markets and Competition Commission has established for the first time a series of criteria so that the sound level of the advertising blocks does not exceed that of the programs, according to the agreement INF/DTSA/083/25 published on November 20, 2025. The regulations extend the regulation that from summer 2025 DTT governs the entire audiovisual ecosystem: video streaming platforms such as YouTube and on-demand services, music applications such as Spotify, pay television and conventional and digital radio stations. The regulator warns that non-compliance constitutes a minor infraction with penalties that can reach 200,000 euros in serious cases. The technical deception: dB vs. LUFS. The advertising industry has for decades exploited a fissure in the traditional measurement of sound. Conventional decibels record the electrical amplitude of the signal, but ignore a crucial factor: how the human brain processes that sound information. Two recordings may register identical values ​​on a traditional peak meter, and yet one is perceived as noticeably louder than the other. The secret is in the frequency composition. Our auditory system responds unevenly depending on the pitch: mid frequencies (especially between 1 and 4 kHz, where the human voice is concentrated) are much more audible to us than deep bass or extreme treble. This physiological characteristic allows advertisers to create messages that sound louder without violating technical decibel limits. The birth of the LUFS. The solution came when the International Telecommunication Union published the ITU-R BS.1770 standardadopted in August 2010 by the European Broadcasting Union. This system introduces the LUFS (Loudness Units relative to Full Scale), which integrate a weighting filter K that mathematically replicates the sensitivity of the ear. The result: a measurement that reflects actual perception, not just electrical power. Spain aligns itself with Europe. He Royal Decree 250/2025approved in March, established for the first time an objective parameter for Spanish DTT: -23.0 LUFS with a tolerance of ±1.0 LU (Loudness Unit). This figure is not arbitrary, but coincides exactly with the normalized value that the European Broadcasting Union has been recommending since 2010. The CNMC has now taken the next step and has extended these criteria beyond traditional television. Implementation. The Spanish regulator has opted for a gradual approach. The CNMC does not require platforms to reencode millions of hours of historical content immediately. The document allows operators to adopt “technical criteria that offer an equivalent level of protection”, a flexible formula that recognizes the characteristics of each medium. But implementation faces complex obstacles. While traditional television networks control every second of broadcast from a production room, the streaming It works with distributed architectures where advertising is dynamically inserted through programmatic systems. YouTube, for example, hosts content generated by millions of users with disparate equipment, from professional studios to smartphones. Technically monitoring each ad inserted in real time in this tangle becomes a considerable logistical challenge. Photo of Vadim Babenko in Unsplash / Elyas Pasban in Unsplash

Time magazine decided that “the architects of AI” were ‘Person of the Year’. And chaos broke out in the betting houses

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‘Time’ magazine has named ‘Person of the Year’, its traditional editorial recognition of the most relevant people of the year, to the “Architects of AI”. The topic is sensitive and controversial, and has unleashed opinions for and against the election. But it has also unleashed a parallel and unexpected tidal wave: people losing small fortunes at betting houses because of this Time decision. Beings of the year. When ‘Time’ revealed on December 11 that “AI Architects” (and not simply “AI”) would be its “Person of the Year 2025”, betting platforms Polymarket and Kalshi were plunged into absolute chaos. More than $75 million was left hanging over semantic disputes over what exactly constitutes a “person.” We are not going to go into the legitimacy of that decision or the technical quality of the cover assembly, but we can comment on how The cover effect among betting professionals brings to the table some characteristics of unregulated speculative markets that convert cultural events into casino chips. The collapse of betting. The users of Polymarket who invested more than $6 million betting on “AI” as the winner discovered that its interpretation did not match the platform’s rules. The final decision established that the title “Architects of AI” was not equivalent to designating artificial intelligence as such, giving thousands of bets as losers. The distinction was crucial: Naming those who build the technology differs radically from crowning the technology itself. In KalshiHowever, bets on individual executives (Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Jensen Huang, Mark Zuckerberg, Dario Amodei, Lisa Su and Demis Hassabis) were winners, while those who bet on corporate entities such as “ChatGPT” or “OpenAI” lost. Polymarket had more restrictive rules: betting specifically on “Jensen Huang” was a losing option, validating only the generic “Other” option. Polymarket cited an illustrative precedent: if ‘Time’ awarded “Donald Trump and the MAGA movement,” bets on Trump would win; but if the title were just “The MAGA Movement,” Trump would be excluded even if he was on the cover. Other Polymarket controversies. This scandal adds to a series of episodes that question the integrity of Polymarket. In November 2024, an unauthorized modification to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) maps temporarily showed a Russian advance on the Ukrainian city of Myrnohrad. The change allowed bettors to earn returns of up to 33,000% before ISW admitted to fraudulent editing and fire the responsible geospatial specialist. weeks latersomeone identified as AlphaRaccoon generated profits of $1.15 million by betting with suspicious accuracy on the results of the 2025 ‘Google Year in Search’. Meta engineer Haeju Jeong documented on social media that the bettor had gotten 22 of 23 predictions right, including that singer d4vd (with just 0.2% probability) would top the searches. the same user had previously won $150,000 predicting the exact launch of Gemini 3.0, which fueled accusations of privileged access to Google information. Semantic controversy. And another one from Polymarket, which got into define whether President Zelensky had worn a suit at the NATO summit in the summer of 2024. Despite more than forty global media describing his outfit as a formal suit, the resolution protocol UMA (a decentralized oracle on Ethereum that verifies real-world data for blockchain applications) ruled “No” in a series of bets that moved $242 million. Numerous media They talked about large holders of UMA tokens manipulating the result through coordinated voting. Person of the Year, or whatever. Time magazine has been deliberately stretching the definition of “person” for decades, setting precedents that preempted this year’s confusion. In 1982 he chose “The Computer” under the title “Machine of the Year”, while 1988 crowned “The Endangered Earth” as “Planet of the Year”. The 2006 edition generated controversy by awarding an indeterminate “You”, referring to all users of digital content. “The Silence Breakers” of the #MeToo movement (2017) and “US Scientists” (1960) are other examples of award-winning collective entities. In Xataka | Five years ago he worked from his bathroom on the brink of ruin. Today he runs a company valued at 8 billion

“Tourismphobia” threatens to thwart Spain’s tourism boom. In Andalusia they have decided to nip it in the bud

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That tourism is a millionaire business It doesn’t have much discussion. Which is a sensitive sector in which it is terribly easy die of successneither. We are seeing it in Japan, where the avalanche of foreigners is encouraging a growing tourismphobia that already permeates the political sphere. In Spain the situation is somewhat different, but the record of travelers is also encouraging demonstrations against overcrowding, some as high-profile as the one that killed residents of Barcelona shooting with water guns to the vacationers on the terraces. In Andalusia they have decided to tackle the problem at its roots. “The Andalusian Treatment”. The Government of Andalusia just launched a tourist campaign, “The Andalusian Treatment”. The person in charge of presenting it was the advisor of the branch, Arturo Bernal, who explained its key points to representatives of the sector and the media. So far exceptional. The curious thing is that in this case the campaign does not seek to attract more visitors or open new markets. Its objective is to give certain guidelines to tourists and “raise awareness” about the sector. In the words of Bernalestablish “a contract of coexistence between the Andalusian and the visitor.” What does that mean? That the Andalusian Government wants to eliminate any hint of tourismphobia and insist on the importance of locals and tourists “coexisting” in the same territory. The statement launched by the Board leaves little doubt in this regard: although it is not excessively long, that word (“coexistence”) is repeated over and over again along with others such as “respect” or “responsibility.” Hence, during his presentation on Tuesday, Bernal asked his countrymen to join the “Andalusian Treaty” to achieve “tourism that reflects the best of our land and projects a future of opportunities for all.” He also spoke of “responsible tourism” and even turning the community into “an example of how a territory can welcome the world without losing its essence.” From theory to practice. The Board’s intention is to deploy the campaign through media and “innovative media” (it does not specify which ones) that allow it to be brought to visitors in the busiest points of the region. Its key piece is a video of two minutes in which tourists are encouraged to bet on local businesses and products, get to know the region beyond its large cities or respect the rest of locals and their right to enjoy spaces such as beaches. In total, the pact is articulated in eight points, including one that asks tourists to use water responsibly. Click on the image to go to the tweet. Tourism: side A and B. It is no coincidence that the Andalusian Government launches a campaign with that focus now, just when Spain registers a record flow of foreign tourists and aspires to become the most visited country of the planet, even ahead of France. The problem is that as the influx of tourists grows, so does the tension it exerts on commerce, transportation or (above all) housing, where the appearance of tourists is encouraged. vacation rentals. One word: tourismphobia. The result of this tension is a feeling of rejection towards mass tourism, a phenomenon that the Board knows well. In 2023 he published a report in which he already recognized that, although the majority of Andalusians agree that tourism is an economic engine, the sector must think about how it wants to grow in the future. “The excessive influx, especially of the most disruptive visitors, causes problems of coexistence, noise, dirt and incidents.” The report It goes further and leaves two warnings. First, the risk that the avalanche of tourists will saturate municipal infrastructure and resources. Second, an excess of visitors can end up degrading the quality of the destination. It’s nothing new. I warned about a similar risk not long ago a study from the Malaga City Council and in fact there are guides that they are already advising against visit certain saturated destinations in Spain, such as Mallorca or Barcelona. Beyond paper. Beyond the reports, the tensions generated by mass tourism can also be seen in the streets. Over the last few months, cities like Malaga, Seville, Palm, San Sebastian either Barcelona They have registered demonstrations by residents who are crying out against the saturation of their cities and the effect that this has (especially) on the residential rental market. Of all of them, perhaps the most media-worthy is the one that was held last year in Barcelona, ​​where a group of neighbors shot tourists in the street with water guns, an image captured by media around the world. There are billions of euros at stake. According to data managed by the Ministry of Industry and Tourism, only during the first ten months of the year have international visitors spent their time in Spain more than 118,000 million of euros, 7% more than in 2024. If we talk about Andalusia, during the same period the community received a record of 12.9 million of foreign tourists who accumulated an expenditure of approximately 18,000 million euros. Images | Chris Boland (Unsplash) In Xataka | There is a reason why Vigo is announcing its Christmas in Japan. And it has little to do with Japanese tourists

Australia has decided to ban social media for those under 16 years of age. The mystery is how they are going to achieve it

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December 10 was the date marked on the Australian calendar for prohibit social networks for minors under 16 years of age. Australia becomes the first country to implement a measure of this type, although there are others that also want to do it like Denmark or France. The ban is already in force, however there are still many doubts about how the measure will be enforced and how effective it will be. What exactly does it prohibit? The Online Safety Amendment establishes 16 years as the minimum age to have a social media account. This means that minors can access networks without logging into an account, which will allow them to consult public posts on social networks, watch YouTube or read Reddit threads. Without an account, they will not be able to access personalized feeds, receive notifications or communicate with other users. Currently, the amendment includes eleven services prohibited for minors: Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, X (Twitter), Reddit, YouTube, Twitch, Kick, Threads and Lemon8. It is not ruled out that the list will change in the future. How are they going to verify the age? The million-dollar question and the one that leaves us with the biggest doubt of all. The amendment details the prohibitions, but leaves it up to the platforms to do the work of verifying the age of their users. It does not say how they should do it, it only specifies that they will not be able to do it just by asking for the DNI and they will not be able to save data related to age verification. Although they do not establish rules on how to carry it out, the Australian Government published a report in which they concluded that age verification technologies were technically viable. In the report they analyze several methods: Checking documents and identity records. Age estimation using biometrics and facial recognition. Age estimation from the user’s behavior or fingerprint. Parental control mechanisms. Image: Wikipedia The doubts about the effectiveness We have the recent case of United Kingdom when it banned porn for those under 18. They also proposed various age verification methods such as those mentioned in the Australian report. The reality has proven to be more complex and, after the blockade, there were a brutal spike in downloads of VPN serviceswhich means that many users fake their location to bypass the block. The law is made, the trap is made. Furthermore, the system is not perfect. They count in NYTimes that some teenagers have used the facial recognition option in some apps and it has incorrectly estimated their ages. And there is also the issue of privacy. Although the law says that platforms cannot collect data from the age verification process, there is no standardization in this regard and if we have learned something after decades on the internet, it is that leaks happen. What are the platforms doing? Instagram, Facebook and Threads Meta has already done his homework. On November 20, it notified users minors under 16 that their accounts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads were going to be deleted. Regarding age verification, in September 2024 already announced “accounts for teenagers”which restrict certain features, such as making the account private by default and limited messages. To detect age, since April they have been using AI tools to detect users who lie about their age. In statements to Vergea representative of Meta has assured that the regulations “isolate adolescents from online communities and information, while providing inconsistent protection in the numerous applications they use.” TikTok and Lemon8 Bytedance apps have confirmed that from its entry into force, they will deactivate the existing accounts of those users under 16 years of age and will not allow them to create new accounts. Additionally, content from underage Australian users will be hidden. Regarding facial recognition, they offer several methods such as age estimation through facial recognition, credit card authorization, and verification of official identification documents. reddit Reddit has also started suspending the accounts of those under 16, but gives them the option to download their data first. In a post on the platformthey say that age verification will be done through “a prediction system.” The platform has taken a stand against this decision and states that the law “undermines everyone’s right to freedom of expression and privacy.” YouTube YouTube communicated that as of December 10, it would begin to suspend the accounts of those under 16, although they will be able to continue watching YouTube without being logged in since the law does allow it. They do not say how the age verification will be done, what they do say is that the new law is a mistake and that it will have a counterproductive effect since, by deleting the account, the possibility for parents to control what their children see will be lost, so minors will be even more insecure. snapchat In one publication on your website, Snapchat confirms that from December 10 it will block all accounts of those under 16. They will keep the account blocked for three years and if users turn 16 during that time, they will be able to recover it using age verification. Verification will be done in three ways: connecting the app with an Australian bank account, scanning the ID document and using the age estimation through a selfie. Twitch The streaming platform will prevent users under 16 from creating an account. For this they will use their verification system through facial recognition. Existing accounts will be deactivated starting January 9. Kick In the case of Kick, as published Guardianthey will use the same age verification system that Snapchat uses. X (Twitter) Elon Musk’s social network requested last September that the entry into force of the new regulations be delayed, as published Guardian. From X they expressed “serious doubts” about the legality of the regulations. What happens if the platforms do not comply? The law does not say how they should ensure that minors create an account, but it does say the consequences … Read more

A year ago, Warner wanted to sink Suno’s AI to generate songs. Today he has decided to ally with her

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From chaos to order: when AI burst onto the music scene it seemed like everything was going to fall apart. And some of the latest news in that field seems to go in that direction: uncontrolled multiplication of false groups created with AI on streaming platforms, accelerated sophistication of AIs that allow the creation of music indistinguishable from that created by humans… however, the majors of the industry have taken action on the matter to turn the situation in their favor. And no, it is not that they have won the multiple lawsuits they filed against the AI ​​companies. It is, perhaps, something much more disturbing: they have reached agreements. What has happened? In just eighteen months, Warner Music Group has completed a radical strategic pivot regarding its relationship with AI. In June 2024the record company sued Suno along with Sony and Universal for massive copyright infringement, accusing the platform of training its models with millions of songs it owned and without authorization. But now he announces an alliance with that same company to license its complete catalog. What is Suno? A music generator through artificial intelligence that has attracted almost 100 million users in two years, and allows complete songs to be created from simple textual descriptions. Users can specify genre, mood, instrumentation and tempo, and the system generates two versions of the requested song in about 15 seconds. To achieve this, Suno combines its own musical model with ChatGPT, and from there come both the music and the lyrics, creating pieces that can include voices and instrumentation or be purely instrumental. What the agreement consists of. The pact establishes that Suno will launch in 2026 new advanced and licensed models that will completely replace your current systems. Artists in Warner’s catalog (Lady Gaga, Coldplay or Ed Sheeran, among many others) will have control over whether or not they allow their names, images, voices and compositions to be used in that AI-generated music. Neither Warner nor Suno disclosed the financial terms of the deal, although Warner CEO Robert Kyncl stated that the goal is to “compensate and protect artists, songwriters and the creative community.” As part of the deal, Suno acquired SongkickWarner’s concert discovery platform. Besides, from now on Song downloads generated by Suno will require a paid account, with download limits and options to purchase additional downloads, a bit like the usage limits established by the level free of other AI models. The original demand. The complaint of 2024 accused Suno and Udio of massive infringement of protected recordings. The record companies they requested damages up to $150,000 per infringed song. Suno admitted that he had trained his model with tens of millions of protected recordings but defended that it was “fair use” (the famous fair use Anglo-Saxon) And what is the reason for the change in Warner and company’s strategy? Suno closed a $250 million financing round at a valuation of $2.45 billion just a week ago, according to The Hollywood Reporter. They are not the first. This is not a desperate deal major allying himself with someone who just a year ago he considered an enemy. It is an industry trend: in June 2024, for example Universal Music reached an agreement with SoundLabs to offer its artists vocal cloning tools through the plugin MicroDrop. In November of this same year, Universal, Sony and Warner themselves closed separate agreements with the brand new startup KLAY to train your “Large Music Model” with licensed music Without a doubt, they are significant agreements, especially because, unlike the cinema wave pressto mention other leisure and communication sectors strongly impacted by AI, majors of music are the first to bury the hatchet. With what it may mean for hostilities to soften in other fields. A doubtful future. For a startSony and Warner maintain active lawsuits against Udio and Suno. And there are multiple doubts about the scope of the contract: supposedly the artists have the right to veto, but As Irving Azoff saysfounder of the Music Artists Coalition, “artists end up on the margins with crumbs.” Other analysts like Frankie Pizá They are even more pessimistic: “What some of us see as a collapse in what we understood as artistry/authorship is quietly becoming a new order regulated by the major record labels themselves” Pizá adds: “The music industry has been perfecting its ability to absorb any technological disruption for decades. It did so with Napster, with YouTube, with the streaming and now with generative AI. The pattern repeats itself: first moral resistance, then demands, then agreement and finally implementation.” Header | Amin Asbaghipour in Unsplash

In 2011 Japan closed the largest nuclear power plant on the planet. Now he has decided to reopen it in the midst of the energy debate

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The nuclear debate, which Japan thought closed, returns to the scene. The authorization of the governor of Niigata to reactivate Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, the largest atomic plant in the world, has set off alarms: citizen distrust, the shadow of Fukushima and doubts about whether TEPCO is the right company to lead the country’s new energy stage are emerging. A new nuclear revival? The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, managed by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has not produced a single kilowatt since 2012. The closure was a direct consequence of the 2011 tsunami and the three meltdowns from Fukushima Daiichia blow that left reactors with similar designs under suspicion. That technical coincidence was enough to keep its seven reactors on hold for more than ten years, despite the fact that the plant was essential for the electricity supply of northeastern Japan. According to Japan TimesHideyo Hanazumi has authorized a step-by-step reactivation that will start with reactor 6—one of the most recent and powerful—and that, later, will also include reactor 7. Altogether, the complex exceeds 8,000 MW of capacity, a figure that not only imposes: it maintains it as the largest nuclear facility on the planet. A significant change for the Japanese country. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa has gone from a technical project to a strategic move. As reported by the Financial TimesTokyo trusts that its reactivation will contribute to lowering the electricity bill and ensuring energy sources with fewer emissions, at a time complicated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the fall of the yen, which makes fossil fuel imports more expensive. Japan, which before Fukushima generated almost 30% of its electricity with atomic plants, fell to practically zero after the disaster. Since then 14 reactors have reopened and others await local or regulatory approvals. The government aims for nuclear energy to once again represent 20% of the mix in 2040. In addition, TEPCO would improve its annual accounts by around 100 billion yen thanks to the restart, according to Japan Forwardat a time when it continues to face enormous costs for the dismantling of Fukushima Daiichi. The reactivation process. The restart will begin with unit 6, which already has fuel loaded and will begin commercial operations before March of next year. To move forward, TEPCO must respond to the Government’s demands, which include updating all security systems and improving emergency evacuation plans. The process has not been easy. As detailed by Japan Timesthe plant passed safety reviews in 2017, but then suffered a veto from the Nuclear Regulatory Authority due to deficiencies in anti-terrorist measures, lifted in 2023. In addition, TEPCO had to incorporate biometric controls and correct security flaws after new internal incidents. Is there controversy? Yes, and a lot. According to a survey cited by the BBC50% of Niigata residents support the revival, while 47% oppose it. However, almost 70% express their concern because the person operating the plant is the same company that caused the accident. From Japan Times He adds that the rejection intensifies in some of the towns located within 30 kilometers of the plant, where the majority fear a new disaster or distrust the company. Another source of discomfort, also pointed out by this medium, is that the electricity generated is not used in Niigata, but in the Tokyo region. The political dimension is equally tense. Hanazumi, aware of the sensitivity of her decision, has announced that he will submit his continuity as governor to the vote of the prefectural assembly, the only body that can remove him. But there is something else at play. The reopening of Kashiwazaki-Kariwa is seen as a pillar to ensure the country’s energy security and avoid possible power outages in Tokyo. It would also allow reducing electricity rates that have increased notably since 2011. At the same time, Japan is not only restarting reactors: it is also is planning the construction of new plants with fourth generation reactors, which would mark a new chapter in the country’s energy policy. More than a return to the atom. The country that one day vowed not to depend on atomic energy again has ended up returning to it, driven by necessity, geopolitics and the urgency to decarbonize. It remains to be seen if this decision will also ignite the confidence of a citizenry that still carries the memory of Fukushima or if, on the contrary, the return to the atom will deepen a division that has been open for more than a decade. Although the governor’s approval is the decisive step, there are still procedures: the prefectural assembly must debate and vote on the decision in December, and the Japanese nuclear regulator must complete the formal procedures for reactivation. Image | IAEA Imagebank Xataka | In 2011, Japan promised itself not to bet on nuclear energy again. Until he met reality

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