Good morning, and happy hump day to you. Let’s get into the tech news.
1. Optus fined $1.5 million
Kicking things off with the ACMA, which says that Optus has paid a $1.5 million fine for “large-scale breaches of public safety rules”. The ACMA found that Optus failed 200,000 customers by not uploading required information to the Integrated Public Number Database, which provides emergency alerts for police, ambulances, and fire brigades, and offers critical alerts for floods and bushfires. Read our story on it here.
2. Tesla slams the car lobby on emissions standards
Tesla has slammed the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (the FCAI), in its submission to the now closed vehicle emissions standards consultation, The Guardian reports. Tesla has accused the lobby of making “plainly false” claims, and that the lobby group — of which Tesla is a member — has been conducting a “concerted public campaign” against the development of standards, including claiming that new rules would lead to higher car prices.
3. Yes, Facebook and Instagram were down
In the early hours of the morning, both Facebook and Instagram suffered an outage, but it looks like things are operational again. “We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologise for any inconvenience,” communications director at Meta Andy Stone said on Twitter/X.
Earlier today, a technical issue caused people to have difficulty accessing some of our services. We resolved the issue as quickly as possible for everyone who was impacted, and we apologize for any inconvenience. https://t.co/ybyyAZNAMn
— Andy Stone (@andymstone) March 5, 2024
4. Google to improve search results, fight AI
Google has finally said it will do something about all that AI-generated spam clogging up Search results. In a blog post, Google said that it would be “strengthening our policy to focus on this abusive behaviour”, involving large-scale AI-generated content made to rank highly in search, though the company did also say it would strengthen its results to clamp down on low-quality content made by humans as well.
5. ‘Volcano Group’ claims Tesla arson
The ‘Volcano Group’, a far-left militant group, has claimed an arson attempt on a power pylon outside Tesla’s Berlin car factory, Reuters reports. The group claimed that the attack was “a step on the path to liberation from patriarchy”, and the arson attempt resulted in the shuttering of the plant for several days. The group has previously attacked cable ducts on railway lines, radio masts, data lines, and company vehicles.
BONUS ITEM: Every day I log on to the internet and see a fun new creature. Today:
Everyone thinks they know what a sheep looks like until they see a Beltex Sheep pic.twitter.com/RwJpsp2PxT
— Żarówka (@BivouacChillin) March 5, 2024
Have a lovely day.
Image: Zachariah Kelly/Gizmodo Australia