Snapchat, TikTok, and other major tech companies were grilled late last year by the U.S. Congress for what was deemed as their half-hearted safety measures and algorithms to protect children from illicit drug deals, pornography exposure, and other potential problems. Now, Snapchat has taken a major step to ensure user safety by launching a Quick Add feature to protect minors between the ages of 13 to 17 from harassment and drug usage.
Quick Add is essentially a friend suggestion feature that allows a user to add friends faster rather than searching for them via their usernames. A user shows up in another person’s Quick Add list only if they have mutual friends or connections. For users younger than 18, in order to be discoverable in Quick Add, the underage user will need to have a certain number of mutual connections with the stranger to be allowed to add them to their network.
During the congressional hearing last October, it was revealed that two youngsters in Minnesota died after consuming pills purchased from dealers they met on Snapchat. Unbeknownst to them, the prescription painkillers were laced with fentanyl, which can be an extremely dangerous drug.
To counter this, Snapchat has put measures in place to identify drug slang and will also report potential cases to law enforcement. The company has also added the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) and Truth Initiative to its Heads Up portal to counter illegal drug usage. The platform claims that its updated A.I. algorithms can identify illegal accounts with more success, and even ban these users from creating new accounts.
Apps such as Instagram have also been called out over suggesting drugs to minors and for loopholes in profile restrictions for minors.
Two new highly requested iCloud plugins just got added to ChatGPT, giving people who rely on Apple’s Mail and Calendar services a way to search emails, check appointments, and manage their schedules directly through the chatbot.
The integration is rolling out to all ChatGPT plans, including the free tier. You can access it on the web, desktop, and iOS.
Google Play is borrowing one of the Nintendo Switch’s most useful little tricks. A new Sidekick tool called Playbacks captures a short clip after something interesting has already happened, sparing players from running a screen recorder throughout an entire game.
Playbacks is part of Google Play Store v53.8 and keeps saved clips on the phone. Google first announced it earlier this month, but the new Play Store update marks its arrival for players. Anyone who has watched a perfect win vanish because the record button came too late already understands the appeal.
Samsung’s scandal over its Game Optimizing Service, or GOS, has returned with a bill attached. South Korea’s Fair Trade Commission has tentatively fined the company 20.1 billion won, or about $15.1 million, over gaming claims made for the Galaxy S21, Galaxy S22, and Tab S8.
The regulator says Samsung promoted the devices as gaming powerhouses without disclosing that GOS placed preset CPU and GPU limits on certain demanding games. Samsung disputes that conclusion, calling GOS a legitimate way to manage heat.