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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Technology
Rochelle Travers,Jon Weeks and Rachelle Abbott

OPINION - UK government clashes with Meta: Tech and Science Daily podcast

The controversial Online Safety Bill has passed its last parliamentary hurdle in the House of Lords, meaning it will finally become law after years of delay.

The bill has been in the works since 2019 but has experienced many delays and backlash over issues like freedom of speech and privacy.

One of the most controversial proposals would force platforms to undermine messaging encryption, so private chats can be checked for criminal content.

The UK government is calling on big social media companies - specifically Meta - not to ‘go dark’ on detecting child abuse.

The Home Secretary says the crisis of child grooming in the UK is at risk of worsening, due to Meta's planned introduction of end-to-end encryption on many of its platforms.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak faces backlash over his suspected plans to weaken key green policies.

This is said to include considering a five-year delay on the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars, which is currently due in 2030, as well as weakening the plan to phase out gas boilers from 2035.

And the rest

Fortnite players, could you be entitled to compensation? Google DeepMind AI speeds up search for disease genes, and India’s solar probe completes a key final manoeuvre around Earth as it slingshots towards the Sun.

Plus, bats finally get some good PR, what to expect from Microsoft’s ‘special’ event, and Brits believe London will be the first car-free city in the world by 2050.

Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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