Meta watchdog says grassroots fact checks risk harm to users

Italian authorities said Thursday they had seized 20 million euros of assets in Tuscany, including property, vineyards and olive groves, allegedly bought with money embezzled from Bond Girl actress Ursula Andress.

Andress, now 90, had filed a complaint in her native Switzerland alleging a "progressive and significant depletion of her assets" by individuals charged with managing her finances, Italy's financial crimes police said in a statement.

Prosecutors in the Swiss canton of Vaud built a picture of a "systematic misappropriation of financial resources" worth around 18 million Swiss francs (around 20 million euros) carried out through multiple, opaque transactions, it said.

The money was traced to Italy, where prosecutors in Florence took up the case and police began following the paper trail.

They tracked it to a real estate complex in San Casciano Val di Pesa, near Florence, consisting of 11 real estate units and 14 plots of land used as vineyards and olive groves, as well as works of art and other assets, the statement said.

"The Judge for Preliminary Investigations of the Court of Florence, fully endorsing the prosecution's position, ordered the seizure of the entire illicit profit, up to the amount of CHF 18,000,000, to be enforced against the identified assets," it added.

No suspects were identified.

Andress surged to fame thanks to a scene in 1962 James Bond movie "Dr NO", in which she emerged from the sea onto a Caribbean beach in a white bikini, knife at her hip and a seashell in each hand.

That performance opposite Sean Connery launched a career in film and television that lasted for more than two decades.

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The global trading system is experiencing the "worst disruptions in the past 80 years", World Trade Organization chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala warned as the WTO ministerial conference opened Thursday.

"The world order and the multilateral system we use to know has irrevocably changed," she said, adding: "We cannot deny the scale of the problems confronting the world today."

The World Trade Organization's 166 members appear deeply divided as trade ministers gather in the Cameroonian capital for the WTO's top conference, amid global economic turmoil linked to the Middle East war.

Over four days in Yaounde, WTO members will try to revitalise an institution weakened by geopolitical tensions, stalled negotiations and rising protectionism -- against the backdrop of the war in the Middle East, which poses a serious threat to international trade.

"The scale of the problems confronting the world today, even before the conflict in the Gulf, destabilised trade in energy, fertiliser and food," Okonjo-Iweala said.

"National governments and international institutions alike have been struggling to navigate rising geopolitical tensions, intensifying climate pressures and rapid technological change. 

"Accompanying these shifts has been an increasingly loud questioning of multilateralism."

Okonjo-Iweala said these disruptions were just one symptom of broader upheavals shaking the international order created after World War II to prevent a repeat of the disasters of the first half of the 20th century.

"It feels appropriate that at the moment when the world is in turmoil with conflict in the Middle East, Sudan, Ukraine, and elsewhere, at this time of great disruption and uncertainty, we have gathered in Africa to discuss the road ahead for the global trading system," she said.

"Africa is the continent of the future."

WTO ministerial conferences are typically held every two years. This is the second to be held in Africa, after Nairobi in 2015.

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The European Union accused four pornographic platforms on Thursday of allowing children to access adult content in breach of digital rules, putting the companies at risk of large fines.

At the same time, Brussels also launched a separate wide-ranging probe into Snapchat over suspicions it is failing to adequately protect children online.

The move comes as pressure is piling up globally on social media to ensure children's safety, with a US ruling this week that found Meta and YouTube liable for harming a young woman because of their platforms' addictive design seen as a possible turning point. 

There are also expanding efforts, especially in Britain and France, to force porn sites to check users' age to prevent children from accessing online smut.

The European Commission said it preliminarily found Pornhub, Stripchat, XNXX and XVideos failed to protect children's rights and wellbeing in violation of the Digital Services Act (DSA) under the investigation launched in May 2025.

The EU said minors could access all four platforms by a simple click confirming they are over 18, and accused the companies of prioritising their reputation over children's safety.

The commission told the porn platforms they need to implement age verification measures that preserve privacy but prevent children seeing harmful content.

"Children are accessing adult content at increasingly younger ages and these platforms must put in place robust, privacy-preserving and effective measures to keep minors off their services," EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.

If confirmed to be in breach, the EU can fine the platforms up to six percent of their respective global turnover.

Pornhub is owned by Cyprus-based Aylo and Stripchat is also headquartered on the Mediterranean island. XNXX and XVideos are based in the Czech Republic.

- Transatlantic alignment on minors? -

As the EU announced its wide-ranging probe into Snapchat, the commission said it feared the platform was "exposing minors to grooming attempts" and information about the sale of illegal products like drugs.

"Snapchat appears to have overlooked that the Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users. With this investigation, we will closely look into their compliance with our legislation," Virkkunen said.

Snapchat has around 97 million monthly active users in the EU.

The company said its users safety and wellbeing was a "top priority".

"We have fully cooperated with the commission to date -- engaging proactively, transparently and working in good faith to meet the DSA's high safety standards -- and we will continue to do so," a Snapchat spokesperson said.

The EU's actions come after a Los Angeles jury on Wednesday found Meta -- the American parent company of Facebook and Instagram -- and YouTube liable for harming a young woman through the addictive design of their platforms.

Virkkunen welcomed the verdict, which handed plaintiffs in more than a thousand similar pending cases significant leverage,  saying it sent "a very clear message" that online platforms need to take seriously "the risks they are posing".

- More EU moves -

Facebook and Instagram are also under investigation in the EU in two separate probes, one of which is focused on how the platforms protect children.

Virkkunen indicated that there would be preliminary findings "soon" in the case, especially regarding the probe's focus on age verification.

In a watershed moment, the EU last month told Chinese-owned platform TikTok to change its "addictive design" or face heavy fines under the EU's DSA.

The EU is also developing an age verification app with pilot schemes ongoing in six member states including Denmark and France.

Brussels says when it is rolled out, it will be a "user-friendly and privacy-preserving age verification method".

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Hong Kong aviation giant Cathay Pacific announced Thursday it was raising fuel surcharges on all flights by 34 percent as a result of increasing oil costs due to the Middle East war. 

"The price of jet fuel comprises both the crude oil component and the refinery component, both of which have increased significantly in recent weeks," the company said in a statement.

It also shared a list outlining surcharge increases on short-haul flights of 34.1 percent, while medium- and long-haul would increase by 34 percent exactly.

The hike in fees will apply to tickets from April 1, the statement added.

Average jet fuel prices increased globally to US$197 per barrel last week, up from US$95.50 a month ago, according to data by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). 

"If the steep increase of fuel costs cannot be effectively mitigated, we would not be able to sustain the effective operations of our network," Cathay said.

It previously doubled fuel surcharges for most of its routes as a result of the war in the Middle East, and this week extended flight suspensions to and from Dubai and Riyadh until May 31.

It also said Wednesday it will operate extra flights to London, Paris and Zurich "to cater for an upsurge in market demand for Europe".

Many global airlines have implemented fuel surcharges in response to the increase in oil costs.

Cathay said it will review and revise its fuel surcharge every two weeks as a temporary measure because fuel prices remain volatile.

Analysts told AFP that while carriers all hedge a portion of their fuel costs, their margins could still be affected.

Cathay said Thursday its hedging covers only around 30 percent of the crude oil component, but does not apply to the refinery component.

The measure is insufficient "given the scale of the recent surge in jet fuel prices", it said.

The airline "is determined to manage this significant cost challenge as best we could, in order to maintain our network and frequencies during these unprecedented times".

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The European Union launched an investigation on Thursday into Snapchat over suspicions the platform is not doing enough to protect children using the app.

US messaging app Snapchat has around 97 million monthly active users in the 27-nation bloc and is a wildly popular platform with teenagers and young adults.

The European Commission said it was looking into whether Snapchat breached digital content rules by "exposing minors to grooming attempts" as well as to information about the sale of illegal products like drugs.

The probe is the first into Snapchat under the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA) law, which has come under attack from President Donald Trump's administration.

Snapchat said the safety and wellbeing of its users was a "top priority".

"As online risks evolve, we continuously review, strengthen, and invest in these safeguards," a spokesperson said.

"We have fully cooperated with the commission to date -- engaging proactively, transparently and working in good faith to meet the DSA's high safety standards -- and we will continue to do so," the spokesperson added.

The commission -- the EU's digital watchdog -- said its broad investigation would focus on five areas to find out whether Snapchat ensures a high level of safety, privacy and security for children online.

Snapchat is for users aged 13 and over but the EU suspects the app does not have sufficient measures in place to stop younger children from accessing it.

Another fear is that Snapchat is "not adequately protecting" children from being contacted by users seeking to sexually exploit or recruit them for criminal activities, for example, by allowing adults to pretend to be minors.

The EU also suspects Snapchat's default settings do not provide "sufficient" privacy for children and that the platform's tools are ineffective in stopping minors from seeing the sale of age-restricted items like vapes and alcohol.

Finally the investigation will focus on Snapchat's mechanisms for notifying illegal content, which the commission said seem to be neither easy to access nor user-friendly.

"Snapchat appears to have overlooked that the Digital Services Act demands high safety standards for all users. With this investigation, we will closely look into their compliance," EU tech tsar Henna Virkkunen said in a statement.

Snapchat is among over 20 very large online platforms that must adhere to the DSA's tougher rules or risk fines that could reach as high as six percent of their global turnover, or even a ban for serious and repeated violations.

There is no deadline for the completion of the investigation but Snapchat can offer commitments to address the EU's concerns.

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European lawmakers cleared the way Thursday for tougher penalties for irregular migrants and their potential deportation to so-called "return hubs" outside the bloc.

The measures, criticised by human rights groups, are part of a tightening of Europe's immigration rules in response to pressure across the 27-nation bloc to curb migration.

The European Parliament approved the package with support from centre-right and far-right groups in a 389 to 206 vote in Brussels -- bringing it a step closer to final approval.

"The decisive changes introduced by this regulation will make it possible to simply guarantee this straightforward principle: if you come to Europe illegally, rest assured that you will not stay here," said centre-right French parliamentarian Francois-Xavier Bellamy. 

The reform would notably allow for the opening of centres or "return hubs" outside the EU's borders to which migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected would be sent.

It also envisages harsher penalties for migrants who refuse to leave, including through detention and entry bans.

It has proven divisive. 

Some in the bloc, including France and Spain, have questioned the effectiveness of return centres, which the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO, has described as "legal black holes". 

"They will be located outside of EU territory, where policymakers cannot guarantee that people's rights will be upheld," said the IRC's Marta Welander.

A small group of countries, including Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands, is nevertheless ploughing ahead and exploring options to set them up, according to a diplomatic source. 

- 'ICE-style' -

Proponents say the hubs could act as a deterrent and discourage migrants from attempting to reach Europe in the first place.

Critics instead point to the hurdles faced by similar projects.

Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake.

EU member states gave their green light to the package -- first proposed by the European Commission last year -- in December.

Negotiations with parliament after the vote are likely to zero in on a small number of issues, including the extent of search powers that could be granted to authorities seeking out irregular migrants, observers say.

A group of 70 rights groups warned in February that the reform would allow for "ICE-style immigration enforcement" -- a reference to the heavy-handed practices used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the United States under President Donald Trump. 

European governments have sought a tougher stance amid a souring of public opinion on migration that has fuelled far-right electoral gains across the continent. 

With migrant arrivals down in 2025, focus in Brussels has turned to improving the repatriation system, which currently sees about 20 percent of people ordered to leave actually returned to their country of origin.

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The body created by Facebook to review content moderation decisions warned Thursday that user-generated fact-checks could harm people living under repression or conflict if they are introduced worldwide.

Facebook parent Meta announced last year that it would end its use of external fact-checkers in the US.

That scheme had employed third parties including AFP to expose misinformation.

Instead, Meta said it would ask ordinary users to verify controversial claims in a system known as "community notes", aping methods on X and other social networks.

If rolled out worldwide, that scheme "could... pose significant human rights risks and contribute to tangible harms," Meta's Oversight Board said in a Thursday advisory.

That was especially true in "repressive human rights regimes, in particular electoral contexts and in ongoing crisis and conflict situations," it added.

AFP was one of 23 organisations whose public comments were accepted by the Oversight Board as it prepared its advisory.

The independent board is often referred to as Instagram and WhatsApp owner Meta's "supreme court", ruling on moderation decisions and advising on policy.

Created and voted on by ordinary social media users, community fact-checks generally rely on independent journalism to back up their claims.

This is difficult or impossible in repressive regimes, the board noted.

During conflicts, some groups may be cut off from access and unable to weigh in with their side of the story, they added.

The board recommended that community notes should not be introduced where there is active fighting or widespread obstacles to getting online.

Free media and civil society are also needed for ordinary people to fact-check claims in the midst of elections.

Without them, "the program risks publishing misleading notes", the board said.

And in some parts of the world, "malicious actors have repeatedly demonstrated the ability to coordinate large numbers of accounts to promote deceptive information" and could do so via Meta's community notes, it added.

"This risk will become more acute as artificial intelligence facilitates the scaled creation and operation of these networks," the board warned, suggesting that Meta rule out countries with histories of disinformation campaigns.

Other factors to take into account included language barriers and political polarisation.

The board urged Meta to test for "risks related to contributor anonymity, coordinated disinformation campaigns and gaming of the system, language representation and contributor participation" before launching community notes in a country.

It should also grant outside researchers access to data on the scheme.

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Chinese artificial intelligence powerhouse and TikTok creator ByteDance has quietly rolled out its latest video generator SeeDance 2.0 worldwide, while its US rival OpenAI called time on a similar product.

The SeeDance 2.0 model was launched in China last month, both stunning and spooking the entertainment industry with its ability to produce near-Hollywood-quality clips from simple text prompts.

However, it has also sparked concerns over copyright infringement

"We have further expanded Dreamina Seedance 2.0 in more markets in CapCut today, across Africa, South America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, with more regions coming soon," CapCut, ByteDance's popular video editing tool, posted on X on Thursday.

It said the SeeDance 2.0 model would initially be available to some paid users.

The rollout includes "firm safeguards" to prevent violations of its safety policies, including the unauthorised use of individuals' likenesses or intellectual property, CapCut said.

Major Hollywood production studios including Disney, Paramount, Warner Bros and Netflix, have threatened legal action against Beijing-based ByteDance over accusations of copyright infringement.

Reports this month suggested that backlash had prompted ByteDance to pause SeeDance 2.0's global launch.

It was not immediately clear if ByteDance had resolved those legal issues. The United States is not among the current rollout markets.

ByteDance, which runs popular short video platforms TikTok and Douyin, has invested heavily in AI in recent years against a backdrop of increasing global regulatory scrutiny of such platforms.

ByteDance announced on Friday the sale of Moonton, an important gaming asset, to a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia's sovereign fund for more than $6 billion.

Moonton runs Mobile Legends: Bang Bang, one of Southeast Asia's most popular gaming titles.

ByteDance's move coincides with a broader shift in the AI industry towards more "agentic" tools that focus on performing practical, real-life tasks.

US AI giant OpenAI said on Tuesday it was shutting down its popular consumer-facing video-generating service Sora, a move widely understood to focus more on providing business users with agentic AI capacities.

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Israel struck new targets across Iran on Thursday, after Tehran rejected US overtures to wind down the nearly four-week Middle East war and vowed to keep up its "resistance".

Hopes for a negotiated end to the US-Israeli war with Iran -- which has mushroomed to engulf much of the Middle East -- rose after the United States was said to have put a 15-point peace plan to Tehran.

But the Islamic republic's top diplomat flatly denied any "negotiations" with President Donald Trump's administration late Wednesday -- conceding only that messages were being exchanged through "friendly countries".

"At present, our policy is the continuation of resistance", Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV, adding: "We do not intend to negotiate -- so far, no negotiations have taken place."

Under near-daily bombardment since the joint US-Israeli attack that started the war on February 28, Iran was hit early Thursday by what the Israeli army called "wide-scale" strikes targeting infrastructure.

Local media reported attacks in the central cities of Isfahan and Shiraz, as well as Bandar Abbas in the south, Tabriz in the northwest and Mashhad in the northeast -- an area largely spared until now.

Iran, in turn, kept up its retaliatory attacks on Israel, where medics said six people were lightly wounded by missile attacks in the country's centre.

Fresh violence also flared in the Gulf, with two people killed by debris from an Iranian ballistic missile intercepted near Abu Dhabi, while Saudi Arabia said it shot down at least 18 drones, and Kuwait reported a new missile and drone attack.

Iran has targeted Gulf nations it accuses of serving as launchpads for US strikes, notably with hits on energy sites that have sent markets into a tailspin, threatening lasting damage to the global economy.

- Rival conditions -

Crude prices have fallen since last week, as Trump appears to step back from the goal of regime change.

But the divergent messages on talks and de-escalation saw oil prices rise Thursday and equities mixed, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz -- through which 20 percent of the world's oil and gas passes -- continued to cast a shadow.

Tehran has largely blocked the vital strait in retaliation for the US-Israeli attacks -- with "maritime routes" a key element of the US proposal to end the fighting, according to The New York Times, along with Iran's nuclear and missile programmes.

Details of the purported 15-point plan emerged via Pakistan, where two officials said Islamabad had passed it on to Tehran.

But Iran's state-controlled Press TV cited an unidentified official as saying Tehran had "responded negatively", and instead put forward its own five conditions for hostilities to end.

These include guarantees that the United States and Israel do not resume the war and compensation for damages.

Trump insisted at a dinner with lawmakers Wednesday night that Tehran wanted to "make a deal" -- but was covering up ongoing talks out of fear.

"They're afraid to say it, because they figure they'll be killed by their own people," he told a dinner with lawmakers. "They're also afraid they'll be killed by us."

The White House has declined to identify its interlocutor in Tehran following the assassination of supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The late leader's son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei has not been seen since ascending to the role.

- No Lebanon 'surrender' -

Pro-Iran Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on March 2 to avenge Khamenei's killing, drawing Lebanon into the war.

The militant group said its fighters launched more than 80 attacks against Israel on Wednesday, the largest daily number in the current war, and attacked Israeli forces in nine border towns.

As the fighting showed little sign of stopping, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military had "created a genuine security zone" in southern Lebanon, where an Israeli soldier was killed in the fighting on Thursday.

Hezbollah meanwhile launched a new volley of missiles early Thursday at military sites in central Israel, after its chief Naim Qassem said negotiations with Israel would amount to "surrender".

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Spanish singer Rosalia was forced to interrupt a concert in Italy half way through due to food poisoning, according to fan footage posted on social media.

The 33-year-old Grammy-winning singer was performing at the Unipol Forum in Milan on Wednesday, when she stopped to tell the crowds she was feeling unwell.

"I've tried to do this show. Since the beginning I've been sick. I've had big time food poisoning," she said in English in a video posted on X.

"I've tried to push it until the end, but I'm feeling extremely sick. I'm puking out there. I really want to give the best show, and I'm like in (on) the floor," she said.

After saying she would try to carry on if physically possible, a sad-looking Rosalia eventually blew a kiss to the crowds and -- with a hand on her stomach -- walked off stage.

Rosalia, hailed for her genre-defying versatility, was in Milan as part of a tour which began in France earlier this month and will end in Puerto Rico in September.

The singer, who won best international artist at the Brit Awards this month, has earned widespread praise for her fourth album "Lux".

The sweeping, spiritual work, released at the end of last year, marks a departure from her previous flamenco and R&B rhythms.

The album features lyrics sung in 13 languages including German, English and Sicilian in addition to her native Spanish.

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