World News by Wild Rose

Catholic influencers gathered hundreds of young people for an evening of prayer at Paris's Saint-Sulpice church ahead of Pope Leo XIV's visit, highlighting how social media is becoming a new tool for evangelisation. As youth baptisms rise in France, creators say their goal is to turn online engagement into real-life communities, while Church leaders warn that influencers themselves should not overshadow the faith they promote.

Bihar CM Choudhary shared on X a photograph of himself with the victim and her family members. The social media post was, however, quickly taken down.

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) is looking into a social media allegation that dog meat was being sold illegally in Singapore. The screengrabs shared on the Facebook group Dogs Singapore appeared to show an advertisement in Vietnamese offering various cuts of dog meat. A check on Friday morning found that the post containing the screengrab had been deleted. SFA has not approved any source of dog meat, the agency said early on Friday morning. “All food imports must meet SFA’s requirements....

Introducing legislation to protect minors by regulating social media use is among the options on the table, Hong Kong’s justice minister has said, after the latest policy address unveiled plans to create a task force to review the situation. Speaking to the South China Morning Post and other media outlets on Wednesday, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok dismissed concerns that such measures could infringe on individual rights and freedoms, emphasising that the goal was to protect children...

A conversation with Taylor Lorenz and Rachel Karten.

Social media is really strange these days: Increasingly, our feeds are starting to look uncanny, as AI slop proliferates all over the Internet. And for the professionals who are tasked with making content, whether it is social media managers or creators, it has been a head-spinning time of change. In this conversation, recorded at the Vermont in Hollywood, we get a primer on social media’s AI era with two veteran Internet commentators, Rachel Karten (social media consultant and the author of the

Malaysians on social media are offering increasingly outlandish solutions to a months-long royal tussle in Negeri Sembilan state, from making rival claimants sleep on a bed of nettles for a week to putting the entire state through Islamic spiritual healing. The dispute has left Negeri Sembilan with two men claiming the throne, a state government at odds with the palace and no clear legal route to settle the fight. One social media user suggested reviving adat perpatih – the customary law of...

The social media influencer “Clavicular”, who gained a following promoting the online “looksmaxxing” trend, has been charged in Massachusetts with raping a 17-year-old girl who told police she became heavily intoxicated after he gave her alcohol at his family’s Cape Cod home. Braden Peters, 20, is charged with rape, administering a substance for sexual intercourse and procuring alcohol for a person under 21 in the alleged May 23, 2025, assault in Chatham, according to court records. A...

In a social media post, the JD(S) “congratulated” the State government sarcastically for allegedly providing government chairs and cabins to retired ‘D’ grade employees and agents for handling file clearances in RTO offices

A man in northern China created a poignant record of his mother’s final 14 days, documenting her rapid decline from a vibrant woman to her last moments. Gao, hailing from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, shared that his mother travelled to his city for medical treatment after developing a fever and a persistent cough. On August 29, he captured her arrival at the railway station. Dressed in her favourite red coat, she appeared energetic and in good spirits, walking with confidence and a...

Denies the charge of having instructed or approved DMK IT Wing’s X post, which reportedly claimed that a narcotic drugs case accused John Britto was Minister Aadhav Arjuna’s relative

Three minors were arrested after videos capturing the assault went viral in India, sparking anger.

Social media users say an image from the brand's Instagram account resembled a KKK hood and hanging.

‘Aid influencers’ are being accused of exploiting Nepal flood victims to boost social media followers.

A 13-year-old boy from eastern China has garnered significant attention online for his ability to leverage artificial intelligence and programming to solve everyday challenges. Yang Xizhe, a junior secondary school student from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, stands at an impressive 1.9 metres tall and has amassed a following of over 500,000 on mainland social media platforms. Growing up in a city celebrated for its vibrant technology ecosystem, he identifies as an “AI native.” Yang believes that...

The EU laid out plans Thursday for strict age limits for children to access social media, games and AI assistants -- and on forcing companies to make platforms safe before minors use them. Speaking with FRANCE 24's Mark Owen, Lisa Dittmer, Researcher, Children and Young People’s Digital Rights at Amnesty International, says that "the harms have come to outweigh the benefits of social media and it is time for the EU to regulate at the design level, not simply accepting that responsibility be pushed on to parents".

Under the plans, only children over 15 would be able to set up their own social media accounts.

Evan Speigel says it would be "an important step forward for the industry" in an interview with the BBC.

The European Union unveiled proposals on Wednesday to ban social media for children under 13, as a growing number of countries look to restrict children's access to the platforms following a global backlash.

The killing of the 16-year-old nearly a year ago had shocked Malaysia and sparked debate about social media.

A growing number of young Chinese employees are increasingly turning down promotions, challenging the traditional notion that career advancement is the ultimate marker of success. This trend has gained significant traction on mainland social media, where related posts have attracted over 40 million views. Workers have shared scripts online that highlight their decisions to decline promotions, often expressing gratitude, citing feelings of insufficient readiness, and seeking better compensation...

Under what powers can the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights summon social media platforms and other companies?

On September 4, 2026, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 27 as the International Day for the Elimination of Child, Early and Forced Marriage. Child rights activists weigh in on what it takes, particularly in the online space, to counter the evil of child marriage

Authorities in China are taking content creators, fan groups and online platforms to task as their aggressive pursuit of online traffic upends lives and public services across the country. State media and local authorities have called on these parties to exercise restraint and stop attention-seeking behaviour from getting out of control. The warnings followed a wave of public attention that hit a 75-year-old man and his wife in Shaoxing in eastern Zhejiang province this month. Crowds of...

The Delhi Police have stepped up monitoring of social media platforms ahead of the event, with public posts being tracked for possible security threats and misinformation

Australia, which became the first country to ban social media for minors, is planning to crack down on Big Tech further. The government introduced new legislation to force social media firms to allow users to opt out of algorithms. The proposed laws also aim to strengthen online child protection. Opposition lawmakers say such measures would amount to government censorship.  

Social media and distrust of government has helped disinformation reach increasingly large audiences.

Um levantamento do Observatório Lupa mostra que pelo menos 37 conteúdos foram gerados com inteligência artificial (IA) nas contas oficiais dos candidatos em redes sociais. Em todos esses conteúdos, não havia nenhuma indicação da manipulação digital. Entre os 314 conteúdos suspeitos coletados entre 16 e 26 de agosto em redes sociais e aplicativos de mensagem, foi constatado o uso de IA em 282 deles. Desses conteúdos, a maioria deles era deepfake, peças artificiais criadas para simular a aparência, a voz ou a identidade de pessoas reais. Notícias relacionadas:TSE rejeita ação para derrubar imagem de Bolsonaro feita por IA .TSE e Google lançam ferramenta para proteger candidatos de deepfakes.Segundo o levantamento, o presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), candidato à reeleição, foi a maior vítima dos conteúdos falsos gerados por IA, aparecendo 115 vezes. A segunda maior vítima dos conteúdos falsos foi Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), aparecendo em 56 conteúdos. O Facebook é a rede com maior registros de conteúdo enganoso: foram 202 ocorrências, seguido do Instagram, com 62 ocorrências. “O que chama atenção nesses 37 casos é que não são conteúdos publicados por contas anônimas. São publicações feitas pelas contas oficiais de candidatos e partidos, que têm a obrigação de informar ao eleitor quando utilizam inteligência artificial”, alerta Cristina Tardáguila, gerente de inovação e formação e fundadora da Agência Lupa. Em março deste ano, o TSE aprovou as restrições para uso de IA nas eleições. A restrição vale para modificações com imagem e voz de candidatos ou pessoas públicas. A Corte eleitoral também reafirmou que os provedores de internet poderão ser responsabilizados pela Justiça se não retirarem perfis falsos e postagens ilegais de seus usuários.

Colombia's right-wing President Abelardo de la Espriella has been ordered to hide social media videos showing him walking past rows of the dead bodies of alleged guerrillas killed by the country's armed forces, according to a court document seen Wednesday. The newly sworn-in president has launched a fresh offensive at armed groups involved in the country's lucrative cocaine trade. 

The suicide rate among under-15s in Hong Kong rose to a decade-high in 2025, going against a downward trend overall, with social media activity strongly predictive of cases among young people, according to research from a local university. The Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention at the University of Hong Kong also used World Suicide Prevention Day on Thursday to call for schools to ramp up support for students in light of a spate of suicide attempts around the start of the academic...