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The trial against Meta increasingly resembles that of tobacco. Zuckerberg has sworn things that his internal documents contradict

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Mark Zuckerberg has been testifying under oath in Los Angeles in what is already considered the largest trial in history against a social network. And each session leaves uncomfortable headlines for Meta. What is happening. A Los Angeles court judges whether Instagram is a platform designed to hook minors. The plaintiff, a 20-year-old woman identified as KGM, alleges that she became addicted to Instagram when she was nine years old and that it ruined her mental health during her adolescence. It is not the only case, since behind this trial there are more than 1,600 plaintiffshundreds of families and more than 250 school districts with similar complaints against Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap. These last two reached a financial agreement before the trial began. Meta and Google are still in. Tobacco. The parallel that is most repeated in the American media is that of the tobacco companies in the nineties, since the companies that knew about the damage caused by their products hid it and paid for the consequences decades later in court. Here the accusation holds that Meta designed features like the infinite scroll‘likes’, push notifications… All with the deliberate objective of maximizing the time that users spent in the app, including minors. The company’s internal documents are being the heaviest ammunition in the trial. What those documents say. During cross-examination, the plaintiff’s attorney, Mark Lanier, was presenting emails and internal messages from Meta before the jury. One of the most striking: a researcher from the company itself wrote in an email that “Instagram is a drug… we are basically traffickers,” according to shared the Financial Times. Another document, from 2018, estimated that in 2015 there were four million users under the age of 13 on Instagram, which was equivalent to approximately 30% of all American children between 10 and 12 years old. Zuckerberg had declared before Congress that minors under that age could not use the platform. Where the testimony squeaks. Zuckerberg insisted before the jury that Meta never aimed to maximize the time users spent in the app, that the company focuses on long-term “value” and “utility.” The problem is that the accusation brought to the table emails of his from between 2013 and 2022 in which this increase in screen time appears explicitly as an internal goal. He also presented documents from Adam Mosseri, director of Instagram, with specific objectives: reaching 40 minutes of daily use in 2023 and 46 minutes in 2026. Zuckerberg responded that these data are “milestones” to measure results, not objectives in themselves. lyou filters. One of the most tense moments of the statement came with questions about Instagram filters, you know, the ones that users can apply to their face through the camera. In 2019, Meta temporarily suspended them to study its impact. 18 experts consulted by the company itself concluded that they caused well-being problems, especially among adolescents, with effects linked to body dysmorphia. Zuckerberg decided to lift the restriction as well. At the trial he explained that he preferred “to err on the side of giving people the opportunity to express themselves” and that the restrictions seemed “paternalistic” to him. The prosecution also showed the jury an email from Margaret Stewart, then vice president of product design at Meta, warning that, although he would comply with Zuckerberg’s decision, he did not believe it was “the right decision given the risks.” Between the lines. What makes this trial especially delicate for Meta is not only what Zuckerberg says now, but the distance between that story and what has been revealed over time through internal documentation and emails. The accusation opts for a strategy in order to show that the company knew about it, that it discussed it internally and that it still prioritized the growth of its platform. What is at stake? Goal. An unfavorable ruling in Los Angeles would not only be an economic blow, as it would set a precedent for thousands of similar lawsuits that are waiting in courts across the country (and around the globe, perhaps). For now, there are similar cases planned for this summer in Northern California, focused on the impact on schools, and another trial already underway in New Mexico where the state attorney general accuses Meta of failing to protect minors from sexual predators on its platforms. “For the first time, Meta’s CEO will have to sit before a jury, under oath, and explain why the company launched a product that its own safety teams warned was addictive and harmful to children,” counted Matt Bergman, attorney representing hundreds of plaintiffs. And now what. The trial is expected to last until the end of March, according to they count from Bloomberg. Meta maintains its defense on two fronts: that science does not prove that social networks are addictive and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act exempts them from responsibility for the content that users publish. The prosecution, however, insists that the case is not about content, but about deliberate decisions about how the application is built. Cover image | Solen Feyissa and Wikimedia Commons In Xataka | TikTok’s infinite scroll has just entered the EU’s crosshairs: Brussels marks it as “addictive design” and demands changes

millions of websites are down after an internal failure

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History repeats itself just a few weeks later. cloudflareone of the fundamental pillars of the internet infrastructure, is suffering from technical problems that have left a multitude of web pages and digital services inoperative and with loading failures. The incident is especially affecting electronic commerce, with giants such as PCComponentes or MediaMarkt experiencing drops in their services. what’s happening. According to the official company status pageat 08:56 (09:56 CEST) Cloudflare has begun investigating “issues with Cloudflare Dashboard and related APIs.” Although the company already indicates that it is investigating, the impact on clients who use its APIs is immediate, causing requests to fail and errors to be displayed. Coincidentally, the company is carrying out scheduled maintenance in its Chicago data center (ORD), although at the moment it is unknown if there is a direct relationship between both incidents. The impact. The decline is palpable in our country. Users and reports on social networks confirm that high-traffic websites such as PCComponentes and MediaMarkt have ceased to be operational. There are also complaints about communication services like Zoom. We do not yet know the magnitude of the failure, since it has just occurred, but it is notable that pages like Downdetector have also succumbed. The tool we use to check if a service is down is having trouble loading. It rains in the wet. This is not the first time this has happened. Less than a month ago, on November 18, Twitter and ChatGPT were the “snitches” of a Unusual traffic spike on Cloudflare services which wiped out many other websites until service was restored. This recurrence highlights the extreme dependence that the network has on this provider. When your systems fail, the domino effect is inevitable: if Cloudflare goes down, half the internet goes down. At this time, the incident status remains marked as “investigating.” However, some websites are beginning to return to normal: Downdetector itself already reflects the Cloudflare incident. In Xataka | The battle between LaLiga and Cloudflare is claiming many victims. Now those victims are joining forces

An internal “blablacar” to lower the fumes of its employees

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Telefónica has put on the table a simple idea that has little to do with her Core Business, but much with the mental and economic well -being of its employees: An internal “blablacar” service so that their employees can share a car to go to the offices of Madrid, Barcelona and Bilbao. In this way, those who drive can receive a small amount of money that would cover the fuel and maintenance expenses of the vehicle, although the true key of the measure is to better take advantage of displacements by reducing the traffic on accesses to work centers at rush hour. A “carpooling” only for telephone The measure proposed by Telefónica and Ratified by CCOO It can be underway from October 1, and seeks that the private cars of their employees will go more full with colleagues who share the same route. In this sense, Telefónica has not invented anything againor since it is the same concept after companies of Carpooling as Blablacar. The novelty is that Telefónica uses that same approach internally, encouraging its employees to share a car in exchange for a small financial compensation of 15 cents per kilometer. The proposal is articulated through an exclusive app for company workers. From it, you can contact other employees with whom a daily route is shared using a system very similar to Blablacar. An employee with a private car publishes the journey of the day and the stops planned in the application. The rest of the employees can request a place on that route and adjust schedules to go together. On the other hand, trying to make your employees leave the car at home to go to your work centers is not something exclusive to Telefónica. For decades, many companies from all over the country offer Autocar Sunset Services which connects a meeting point established with the company’s facilities. In this case, the objective is double: cover the Public transport deficiencies efficient for your employees to reach your job and reduce the influx of private cars to their facilities. Less cars, less pollution According to CCOO statementThe application allows to generate energy savings certificates by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, which is aligned with the Telefónica strategy to reduce the ecological footprint and improve the quality of life of those who work at its headquarters. According to A study from the University of Zaragoza, the Carpooling manages to clearly reduce the amount of cars that circulate and, with it, contributes to lower emissions pollutants and the co₂ that generates each journey. In International publications On the subject, it is highlighted that sharing a car is a real tool for mitigate pollution in Spanish citiesespecially when the participation of many people adds. Studies on sustained mobility They emphasize that this initiative can support the national emission reduction objectives: the more employees opt for shared car, the easier it is to notice the impact on air and quality of life around large offices. Less stress with company According to A study carried out by the Kennessaw University (USA), sharing a car with other people is associated with the Stress reduction In labor displacements. One of the main causes of Stress during displacement It is the feeling of lack of control against traffic and lost time, but the use of shared car contributes to relieve that pressure and allows you to better take the trip time, promoting a most relaxed and less distressing experience. This has an improvement in general well -being during the working day. Telefónica’s shared car application not only seeks to improve the displacements of multinational employees, but also seeks to strengthen the sense of community in the company. Shared routes make employees of different teams known and support, generating ties beyond work. In Xataka | The shared car can also be a danger, according to the DGT: its advice for the nows Image | Telefónica, Unspash (Nelson Ndongala)

Your network group is separated in the midst of a massive internal restructuring

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Lip-bu Tan, the general director of Intel, is deeply restructuring this company with the purpose of increasing its competitiveness and returning to profitability. Just four days ago formalized quarterly losses of 2.9 billion dollarsand, in addition, since June 18 and throughout the month of July they will be forced to leave their jobs Between 8,000 and 10,900 workers Of the factories that this company has spread throughout the planet. Shortly after his arrival It was leaked that lip-bu so He planned to launch a new cut of the Intel template in a clear attempt to reduce their operating expenses, among which personnel costs or marketing expenses are counted. The figure that the company was considering on this occasion amounted to 20% of its workforce, which in practice implied Become approximately 20,000 workers. These people join the more than 15,000 employees of which Intel has dispensed with during the last months of 2024. Now BU has launched the second phase of his deep restructuring plan. And the first thing he has done has been to split his group of networks, known as Nex (Network and Edge Group). From now on, this division will be a completely independent company specialized in the development of network hardware and the deployment of communications infrastructure. “This new independent company will accelerate its customer -oriented strategy and its product roadmap innovating faster,” Sachin Katti holdsChief of the group and current strategy leader of artificial intelligence (AI) of Intel. Now are the Intel factories that are in the spotlight The rescue of Intel semiconductor factories is A priority for the US government. The bad economic results that has chained this company For several consecutive years they have placed it in a very delicate position that at the beginning of last December triggered The departure of Pat Gelsingerits general director for almost four years, through the back door. Anyway, Intel cannot fall. And cannot do it because it is the largest manufacturer of integrated circuits in the US. The administration led by Donald Trump asked TSMC in mid -March to help rescue Intel chip factories Its network of production, packaging and chip verification extends not only for its country of origin, but also by Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Central America. The problem is that it is not competitive. This is the reason why the administration led by Donald Trump asked TSMC in the middle of last March that helped rescue intel semiconductor factories. An initiative like this would hardly prosper not to have the government’s approval, but not only has it; The US administration is promoting it. Two years before leaving, Pat Gelsinger acknowledged that I saw with good eyes the possibility that the network of integrated circuit factories of the company will break somewhat from the Intel matrix. At that time this was an interesting option to increase the competitiveness of its chips production plants, and in current circumstances it seems even more advantageous. Especially if TSMC, The largest semiconductor manufacturer on the planetget on this car. However, this last company has insisted on several occasions in which she is not interested in taking care of Intel factories. We will see what happens finally. Image | Intel More information | Tom’s hardware In Xataka | Bill Gates has radiographed Intel. And his diagnosis is overwhelmingly accurate

Apple has put an internal date to its great leap in AI

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Siri, as we know it, continues to fulfill its function, but it takes time without experiencing an important evolutionary leap. The advance of generative artificial intelligence in recent years has changed the panorama: He has taught us what is possible and has raised the bar. Many users have started waiting for something else. A more fluid Siri, more intuitive. That idea began to take shape in the WWDC of 2024when Apple presented Apple Intelligence. Among its many functions, one stood out: a new redesign Siri, capable of understanding our consultations based not only on what we say, but also on what happens on the screen and the use we make of the iPhone. A Siri who, finally, was going to make the leap. A pending jump. In March, Apple itself acknowledged that these functions They would not be ready until 2026. AND At the developer conference held this weekthere were no news. In a later interviewCraig Federight explained that, although they had a functional version, they decided not to launch it because it did not reach the level of reliability that Apple considers acceptable: “It would have been more disappointing to launch something that did not meet our quality standard. We made the decision we believed better. And I would take it again.” New window on the horizon: Spring of 2026. Although there is no official communication, Bloomberg has published that Apple has marked as an internal objective the spring of 2026. According to the sources consulted by Mark Gurman, the company plans to launch the new Siri along with iOS 26.4, an update that normally arrives in March. It is the same launch window that has been used in previous years with iOS 17.4 and iOS 18.4. That calendar, however, is far from being closed. The sources insist that everything will depend on how development evolves in the coming weeks. If the advance is solid, it is not ruled out that Apple shows a preliminary version next to the new iPhone this fall. But, today, there are no definitive decisions. Technical challenges. The new Siri is not only an update. Internally, the change has been deep. According to the American media, one of the greatest challenges was the coexistence between two architectures: the classic Siri system, which continues to manage basic tasks such as timers, and the new AI engine that should take care of the most advanced functions. The redesign brought changes in the organization chart. John Giannandrea, until now responsible for Siri, lost control of consumer products. The project was in the hands of Mike Rockwell, creator of Vision Pro, and Craig Federight. Rockwell currently leads the development of Siri LLM, the internal system that will support the new functions. Apple’s strategy. In this week’s presentation, Apple opted to show Liquid Glass and functional improvements in their operating systems. There were news in iOS, iPados and Macos, and also in AI: Open Language Models to developers, Spam call detectionbut nothing of the new Siri. At the moment, the only thing that is known with certainty is that there will be no new Siri in 2025. And that, if everything goes well, we could see it in spring of 2026. Images | Apple In Xataka | If the question is whether a new version of macOS was necessary every year, Apple’s response is: small practical improvements

an internal battle within Apple Intelligence for the control of everything

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The unfulfilled promises of Apple Intelligence have left Apple something exposed. The case suggests a company somewhat divided by opposite visions and structural problems that culminated in its greatest public stumbling in years. The background. The plan to renew Siri completely, presented at the WWDC 2024It turned out to be a fictitious demo that not even the engineers of the Siri team had seen work. According to a long and detailed report of The Informationthe only real element of the demo was the new interface that appears when invoking Siri. Advanced functions such as contextual postal analysis or integration with applications were practically non -existent. This break with Apple’s tradition of showing only functional technology has left him in an awkward position: have to delay some of the promised functions Until 2026. Between bambalins. The investigation of The Information Talk about an internal war between the AI ​​/ML team (artificial intelligence / Machine Learning, ‘automatic learning’) led by John Giannandrearesponsible for Siri since 2018, and the software group of Craig Federight Aka ‘Pelazo’. This conflict is the result of gathering two opposite philosophies: Giannandrea: Cauto approach, oriented to incremental improvements, focused on privacy. Federight: more agile, pragmatic and results -oriented approach. Apple engineers sarcastically nicknamed the AI/ml group as “Aimless” (without a goal), referring to generalized frustration with their leadership and lack of ambition. The crossroads. Siri’s course has been confusing from the beginning, marked by inconsistent decisions. Initially it was proposed to develop two language models for this new version: “Mini Mouse” to work at home. “Mighty Mouse” to execute in the cloud and oriented to the most complex tasks. Then, the team pivoted towards a single cloud model, before making other technical changes that engineers did not fit well. Script turn. In March 2025, Apple changed the chairs, putting Craig Federight and Mike Rockwell (architect of the Vision Pro) at the head of the Siri project. The first important change was to eliminate the restriction of using only internal language models. Now Federight has instructed to “do whatever it takes to build the best functions of AI”, even if that means using third -party models. This decision contrasts with the previous policy to only use external models as a comparative reference, despite the fact that internal models “did not give up as well as OpenAi technology.” In perspective. Apple’s stumbling block is the reflection of a major problem: its obsession with privacy and total control has collided with the reality of the development of modern. Rivals like Amazon (with Alexa+), Microsoft (COPILOT) and Samsung have been directly associated with Openai or Anthropic, Apple has tried to build everything internally. The results are not being spectacular. The new direction implies that Apple has understood that it needs to find a balance between its privacy principles and the need to advance rapidly in AI. It is that or, irremediably, losing relevance. And now what. Within Apple there is optimism that Federight and Rockwell, known for delivering complex projects on time, can straighten the course. The next one WWDC 2025 In June it will be key to see if Apple can recover the confidence of developers and users after one of the most delicate episodes in the company’s recent history. Outstanding image | APPSHUNTER.IO in Unspash In Xataka | Apple and Trump’s dance is taking shape: threat, panic … and an imminent exemption

China set up its own “OPEC of solar panels” to avoid an internal price war. It came out regular

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If there is currently a power in renewables, it is China. The country installs 60% of the world’s renewable capacity and has huge projects underway like his ‘Solar Great Wall‘, he largest wind turbine in the world and ambitious plans offshore energy both wind and photovoltaic. In the solar energy segment there are so many companies competing for the same piece of the pie that even the biggest ones are drowning. And with problems everywhere, the industry wanted to emulate the oil sector with a great self-control pact. The first attempt has gone wrong. Saturation. The storm began in 2021. It was the year in which China presented its net zero emissions plan for 2060 with a very ambitious goal: at least 1,200 GW of solar and wind capacity installed by 2030. Energy companies got down to business , but there were also companies not endemic to the energy sector that jumped on the bandwagon of what aimed to be a very lucrative business. The problem is that it was carried out without apparent control, with everyone fighting the war on their own. The result? Large projects throughout the country and such a beastly production of solar panels that it has stifled companies from outside Chinabut also an annual production capacity of around 1,200 GW of panels. So we don’t all fit. This might seem good, but it is not: it represents double global demand in 2024 and is more than expected for 2030. The situation pushed many companies to deduct prices, sometimes below costs, creating a kind of ‘Ice Age’ of the photovoltaic sector with companies such as GLC Tecnology – the second solar company in China and one of the largest in the energy sector– asking the state for help. The reason is that the prices of the entire production chain (from silicon to photovoltaic modules) had fallen below costs and companies were losing money with each sale. As we read In South China Morning Post, the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, or CPIA, estimates that prices in each segment of the panel supply chain fell between 60% and 80% in 2024 from their peak in 2023. Following in the footsteps of OPEC. The problem is that demand also did not follow the trend. According to the energy think tank Ember, global solar installations grew by 29% in 2024 compared to 87% in 2023. In China alone, the expected growth in 2024 was 28%, far from 55% the previous year. In addition, 39 of the 121 publicly traded photovoltaic producers, reported losses in Chinaand giants like Longo Green Energy had to lay off 5% of their workforce. It was necessary to take control of this unlimited production, and it is something that was attempted to be tackled at the CPIA meeting in December of last year. In the la, 33 of the main manufacturers signed a self-control commitment based, according to SCMP, on the agreements of the OPEC -Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries-. The idea was to agree on production quotas based on their capacity, respect the minimum recommended price established by the Association and, with this, wait for the market to regulate itself. First problems. It is curious that, just two weeks after the signing of that self-control pact, the CPIA issued an open letter criticizing a solar project in Xinjiang that was violating the agreement. The problem? The company, a subsidiary of the China Energy Investment Group, set a price “significantly lower” than the 0.68 yuan – about 0.09 euros – per watt stipulated by the CPIA. It is something that has weakened the morale of an industry that considered an OPEC-style pact as one of the last realistic resources to save solar-related companies and jobs in the country before taking actions that end with closures and layoffs. The Government puts its hand. This is something that worries government institutions and companies themselves because a negative climate in which companies are operating at a loss or without achieving financial objectives can have a disastrous consequence: compromising the quality of the panels and the industry, prevent innovation and, therefore, make China blur what has been achieved in recent years, disappearing the competitive advantage and causing the loss of talent. And the CPIA is not the only one that has tried to control the situation. The central government also imposed some measures to curb the expansion, such as increasing minimum capital requirements for new panel manufacturing projects from 20% to 30%, lower export tax rebates, and stricter limits on water and energy consumption. . For example, the permitted electricity consumption for existing manufacturers was reduced from 80 kWh/kg to 60 kWh/kg. It’s complicated. The problem is that the industry is, at this point, too big. With the new government measures on energy use, it is estimated that production capacity will be between 20% to 30%. But the problem is, as Jessica Jin – an analyst at S&P Global – points out, that the main obstacle will be controlling all the factories in the country to ensure that they comply with the measures. In the end, what is happening in China is something that has been brewing for months: they lead the solar panel market (by a lot), but they have grown without control and this accelerated boom is currently being regulated based on demand both internal and external. Images | Korea Aerospace Research Institute Xataka | China is regularly hit by typhoons. Now it has a mega wind turbine to take advantage of them

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