Meta’s Labor Day celebrations were cut short yesterday after the company was handed a $402 million fine by the European Union. The social network is believed to have mishandled children’s private data on Instagram, offering business accounts to users as young as 13. This risked exposing their email addresses and phone numbers to the wider public, itself a violation of the bloc’s GDPR regime. A Meta spokesperson said the fine related to settings changed more than a year ago, and it was reviewing the decision. The fine is the second largest ever handed out by the EU for a GDPR breach, and the biggest Meta has received.
– Dan Cooper
The biggest stories you might have missed
Hackers buried malicious code inside the picture.
NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO
The images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope have been breathtaking, offering us new insight into the heavens around us. Unfortunately, these snaps have also provided an easy target for hackers, who have used the picture above as cover to smuggle malware onto machines as part of a phishing campaign. The image’s large file size and popularity means people might not be as cautious downloading it as they are with other files sent to their inbox. Thankfully, you can stay safe if you remain wary of unsolicited emails, even the ones promising to share the untold secrets of the cosmos.
Hackers said they have access to TikTok’s source code.
TikTok is on the defensive after hackers claimed they had breached the app’s source code. The short form video giant said it found “no evidence of a breach” and that the material posted by the hackers as proof is “unrelated to TikTok’s backend source code.” Third party security expert Troy Hunt threw some cold water on the claims, too, saying the data looks “inconclusive.” So, uh, nothing to worry about?
25 million global viewers in a single day.
Amazon Studios
Amazon needs The Lord of the Rings to deliver a bona fide hit to Prime Video and has spent the GDP of a small country to make it happen. In the first 24 hours of The Rings of Power being available, the mega-retailer said it had more than 25 million viewers. That’s a big figure, and one worth taking with a pinch of salt given that Amazon hasn’t been clear on how it calculates a “viewer.” If true, (and I say again, if) it would make it one of the biggest hits in the modern erapulling in two and a half times more than the other swords-and-sorcery prestige TV series that started airing last week.
If you can believe it.
91mobiles
We’re just hours away from Apple’s new iPhone-and-everything-else launch, and one of the biggest rumors concerns a “Pro” version of the Apple Watch. The rumors say it will be a beefier, more rugged wearable for tough-mudder types who’d normally buy a pricey Garmin. Renders have filtered through the soil pipe to suggest the watch will get a bigger screen and an additional hardware button to hit more easily when you’re running. Oh, and Apple will abandon a lifetime of attempting to make its designs elegant and sleek by embedding the button and Digital Crown in this ugly-as-sin carbuncle on the side of the body. If it’s real, we can all be sure of one thing: Sir Jonathan Ive will be spinning in his… office.
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