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The Guardian reports: Meta staff discussed deploying a "whisper strategy" to undermine the influential US academic whose work has inspired a global social media crackdown, according to court documents. Employees at the parent group of Facebook and Instagram sought to discredit Jonathan Haidt, the social psychologist and author of The Anxious Generation, a book that helped tip the debate about online safety towards more stringent measures such as the under-16 ban in Australia. Minutes of internal meetings contained in a recent legal filing in the US showed that staff discussed how to "get the academic community to disavow Haidt". They appear in a document titled "Well-being Meeting Sound-check Notes", which refers to discussions of how Meta could "turn other academics against Haidt" and to a "whisper strategy" aimed at achieving that goal. It also mentions "debunking" his work. Minutes from a meeting on 8 March 2023 mention "Curtiss", an apparent reference to Meta's then vice-president of research, Curtiss Cobb. It states: "Curtiss's goal for this work: how do we get the academic community to disavow Haidt. Can't co-opt them, so how do we enrage them ... so the media finds him not credible." It then adds: "Not thinking about this as a loud strategy. A below-the-line campaign...." The minutes were produced before Haidt published his book in 2024 and discuss responding to a Substack post written by the academic in which he reviews "a bunch of articles". "It is not clear whether Meta acted on the ideas outlined in the minutes."

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01 Nov 2026 11:34am GMT

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01 Nov 2026 11:17am GMT

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01 Nov 2026 10:47am GMT

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01 Nov 2026 10:44am GMT

Arch Linux's November 2026 ISO features Linux kernel 7.2.11, systemd 262.1, and updated system packages for fresh installations.

01 Nov 2026 9:52am GMT

KDE developer unveils Kwi, a new terminal emulator using Ghostty technology, GPU acceleration, and a modern Kirigami interface.

01 Nov 2026 8:49am GMT

Clocks "fall back" one hour tonight to end Daylight Saving Time - though many Americans want to end the twice-yearly clock change, reports Axios. But the U.S. Congress "remains deadlocked about how to make that happen." The clocks are falling back despite a bipartisan House vote in July to make daylight saving time permanent and Trump's subsequent push for Senate action... While most Americans want to end the twice-yearly clock changes, they don't necessarily favor Trump's solution. Gallup found 48% of Americans support permanent standard time the entire year, compared with 24% who prefer permanent daylight saving time, as Trump wants... In 1974, the U.S. experimented with year-round daylight saving time but reversed course amid concerns about children going to school in the dark>. Experts still debate whether permanent DST is good for people. Supporters argue that permanent daylight saving time would provide more afternoon and evening sunlight, encouraging outdoor activities. But sleep experts warn that darker mornings and lighter evenings can disrupt sleep cycles, while permanent daylight saving time could force millions of children to travel to school in the dark. The bottom line: The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says it prefers permanent standard time because it better aligns with natural sleep cycles. "Hawaii and most of Arizona don't observe daylight saving time, so their clocks won't change," the article points out, adding that eliminating it for the rest of America "still faces opposition in the Senate and isn't expected to be considered by the end of the year. But "the upcoming midterms could change the balance of power in Congress, potentially shifting the debate."

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01 Nov 2026 7:34am GMT

Should generative AI be used for videogame development? Brandon Stirrup, a strategy manager at Xbox, claims Xbox is already using AI, reports Engadget. And he also says that those who say they aren't are merely "pretending." Stirrup deactivated his social media account shortly after (though his posts have been archived elsewhere), igniting conversations about what role generative AI actually has or should have in game development. In some ways, it would be unsurprising to learn that Xbox is using AI to the extent that Stirrup implies. Xbox recently announced the formation of Xbox Labs at least in part as a response to a rising trend of AI-coded game ports; the announcement heavily implied that the new team would use AI as well but didn't say it outright. Xbox owner Microsoft is also a major player in AI development... Developers including Capcom, Square Enix, Sega, Nexon and Activision have all either used AI in their games or pledged to do so. Fortnite developer Epic Games has been particularly up-front about its AI use, and CEO Tim Sweeney has aggressively promoted it on social media... On the other hand, there are large pockets of the game industry vocally opposed to generative AI. Notably, these tend to be smaller, independent studios without shareholders to impress by touting the cost-savings of AI. These studios include Tunic publisher Finji, Stardew Valley developer ConcernedApe and Clickolding developer Strange Scaffold, among many more. Due to the sheer number and variety of game studios, it's impossible to say just how much of the industry actually uses AI at this point, but claims that "everyone" is using it are clearly false. There's a similar divide among players about whether generative AI should be embraced or avoided at all costs. While some simply accept AI as part of games going forward, others have pledged to avoid games that use the technology outright due to its environmental costs, labor issues or pure aesthetic preference. That's led to the popularity of tools like a browser extension that makes Steam's AI disclosures more visible and grassroots efforts by developers to implement labels certifying their games as AI-free... Many players and developers alike justify the use of AI in generating code, even if they're opposed to it in other areas. "Gaming is the only industry slow-walking the transition," Xbox's Stirrup allegedly said, "because users have negative sentiment. Everyone else accepts reality." "Gaming is the only industry pretending to not use AI."

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01 Nov 2026 4:34am GMT

OpenShot 4.1 introduces direct text editing, an experimental CLI for video automation, automatic video optimization, and improved export reliability.

01 Nov 2026 12:06am GMT

A long flight home from feeding grounds messes with birds' internal clocks.

31 Oct 2026 11:15am GMT

The regulator says Tavneos was approved on the basis of manipulated study data. Should patients still have access to it?

31 Oct 2026 11:02am GMT

The space agency solicited ideas for reboosting Hubble four years ago, but they didn't go anywhere.

31 Oct 2026 12:07am GMT