Digital business models

Taiwan targets Facebook scam ads with new penalties

Taiwan’s Ministry of Digital Affairs plans to impose penalties on Meta for failing to enforce real-name verification on Facebook ads, according to Minister Huang Yen-nan. The move follows a recent meeting with law enforcement and growing concerns over scam-related losses.

A report from CommonWealth Magazine found Taiwanese victims lose NT$400 million (US$13 million) daily to scams, with 70% of losses tied to Facebook. Facebook has been the top scam-linked platform for two years, with over 60% of users reporting exposure to fraudulent content.

From April 2023 to September 2024, nearly 59,000 scam ads were found across Facebook and Google. One Facebook group in Chiayi County, with 410,000 members, was removed after being overwhelmed with daily fake job ads.

Huang identified Meta as the more problematic platform, saying 60% to 70% of financial scams stem from Facebook ads. Police have referred 15 cases to the ministry since May, but only two resulted in fines due to incomplete advertiser information.

Legislator Hung Mung-kai criticized delays in enforcement, noting that new anti-fraud laws took effect in February, but actions only began in May. Huang defended the process, stating platforms typically comply with takedown requests and real-name rules.

Under current law, scam ads must be removed within 24 hours of being reported. The ministry has used AI to detect and remove approximately 100,000 scam ads recently. Officials are now planning face-to-face meetings with Meta to demand stronger ad oversight.

Deputy Interior Minister Ma Shi-yuan called on platforms like Facebook and Line to improve ad screening, emphasizing that law enforcement alone cannot manage the volume of online content.

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Google launches Gemini Live and Pro/Ultra AI tiers at I/O 2025

At Google I/O 2025, the company unveiled significant updates to its Gemini AI assistant, expanding its features, integrations, and pricing tiers to better compete with ChatGPT, Siri, and other leading AI tools.

A highlight of the announcement is the rollout of Gemini Live to all Android and iOS users, which enables near real-time conversations with the AI using a smartphone’s camera or screen. Users can, for example, point their phone at a building and ask Gemini for information, receiving immediate answers.

Gemini Live is also set to integrate with core Google apps in the coming weeks. Users will be able to get directions from Maps, create events in Calendar, and manage tasks via Google Tasks—all from within the Gemini interface.

Google also introduced new subscription tiers. Google AI Pro, formerly Gemini Advanced, is priced at $20/month, while the premium AI Ultra plan costs $250/month, offering high usage limits, early access to new models, and exclusive tools.

Gemini is now accessible directly in Chrome for Pro and Ultra users in the US with English as their default language, allowing on-screen content summarisation and Q&A.

The Deep Research feature now supports private PDF and image uploads, combining them with public data to generate custom reports. Integration with Gmail and Google Drive is coming soon.

Visual tools are also improving. Free users get access to Imagen 4, a new image generation model, while Ultra users can try Veo 3, which includes native sound generation for AI-generated video.

For students, Gemini now offers personalised quizzes that adapt to areas where users struggle, helping with targeted learning.

Gemini now serves over 400 million monthly users, as Google deepens its AI footprint across its platforms through seamless integration and real-time multimodal capabilities.

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OpenAI buys Jony Ive’s AI hardware firm

OpenAI has acquired hardware startup io Products, founded by former Apple designer Jony Ive, in a $6.5 billion equity deal. Ive will now join the company as creative head, aiming to craft cutting-edge hardware for the era of generative AI.

The move signals OpenAI’s intention to build its own hardware platform instead of relying on existing ecosystems like Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android. By doing so, the firm plans to fuse its AI technology, including ChatGPT, with original physical products designed entirely in-house.

Jony Ive, the designer behind iconic Apple devices such as the iPhone and iMac, had already been collaborating with OpenAI through his firm LoveFrom for the past two years. Their shared ambition is to create hardware that redefines how people interact with AI.

While exact details remain under wraps, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Ive have teased that a prototype is in development, described as potentially ‘the coolest piece of technology the world has ever seen’.

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M&S website still offline after cyberattack

Marks & Spencer’s website remains offline as the retailer continues recovering from a damaging cyberattack that struck over the Easter weekend.

The company confirmed the incident was caused by human error and may cost up to £300 million. Chief executive Stuart Machin warned the disruption could last until July.

Customers visiting the site are currently met with a message stating it is undergoing updates. While some have speculated the downtime is due to routine maintenance, the ongoing issues follow a major breach that saw hackers steal personal data such as names, email addresses and birthdates.

The firm has paused online orders, and store shelves were reportedly left empty in the aftermath.

Despite the disruption, M&S posted a strong financial performance this week, reporting a better-than-expected £875.5 million adjusted pre-tax profit for the year to March—an increase of over 22 per cent. The company has yet to comment further on the website outage.

Experts say the prolonged recovery likely reflects the scale of the damage to M&S’s core infrastructure.

Technology director Robert Cottrill described the company’s cautious approach as essential, noting that rushing to restore systems without full security checks could risk a second compromise. He stressed that cyber resilience must be considered a boardroom priority, especially for complex global operations.

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Crypto assets to be treated as property in Russia

Russia’s Ministry of Justice is working on legislation that would classify crypto assets as property, enabling their confiscation during criminal investigations. The draft bill aims to tighten control over digital currencies increasingly used for illegal activities.

Deputy Justice Minister Vadim Fedorov stated that the new law would allow authorities to seize not only physical wallets but also credentials like seed phrases. Experts will assist in managing the secure handling of digital assets.

Courts may also be given the power to block transactions linked to certain wallets.

The move comes in response to a rise in crypto-related crime, particularly through darknet markets. One such platform, Kraken, has recorded a 68% surge in crypto transactions since the shutdown of Hydra in 2022.

Fedorov highlighted the challenges posed by digital currencies, citing their anonymity and lack of central control as major attractions for criminals.

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Quantum computing partnership launches in Doha

Quantinuum and Al Rabban Capital have announced a new venture aimed at advancing quantum computing in Qatar and the region.

The partnership seeks to provide access to Quantinuum’s technologies, co-develop relevant quantum applications and train a new generation of developers.

This move aligns with Qatar’s ambition to become a hub for advanced technologies. Applications will focus on energy, medicine, genomics, and finance, with additional potential in emerging fields like Generative Quantum AI.

The venture builds on existing collaborations with Hamad Bin Khalifa University and the Qatar Center for Quantum Computing. Quantinuum’s expansion into Qatar follows growth across the US, UK, Europe, and Indo-Pacific.

Leaders from both organisations see this as a strategic milestone, strengthening technological ties between Qatar and the West. The joint venture not only supports national goals but also reflects rising global demand for quantum technologies.

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Tesla robot learns to cook and clean

Tesla has released a new video showing its Optimus robot performing a variety of domestic tasks, from vacuuming floors to stirring food. Instructed through natural language prompts, the robot handled chores such as cleaning a table, tearing paper towels, and taking out the bin with notable precision.

The development marks another step forward in Tesla’s goal of making humanoid robots useful in everyday settings. The Optimus team claims a breakthrough now allows the robot to learn directly from first-person human videos, accelerating task training compared to traditional methods.

Reinforcement learning is also being used to help Optimus refine its skills through trial and error in simulations or the real world. Tesla hopes to eventually deploy thousands of these robots in its factories to perform repetitive or hazardous jobs.

While still far from superhuman, Optimus’s progress highlights how Tesla is positioning itself in the race to commercialise humanoid robots. Competitors around the world are also developing robots for work and home environments, aiming to reshape how humans interact with machines.

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Epic Games wins long battle with Apple

Fortnite has returned to the Apple app store in the US, nearly five years after it was removed in 2020. The ban followed Epic Games’ attempt to bypass Apple’s 30% commission by introducing its own payment system, sparking a major legal fight.

The game is now also available on the Epic Games Store and AltStore in the EU. This development is being widely viewed as a win for Epic Games in its lengthy dispute over app store practices.

Analysts say it may shift power dynamics in distribution, giving creators more influence against platform holders.

The US return comes just days after Fortnite was briefly unavailable globally due to a blocked update. It had already reappeared in the EU earlier this year due to new competition laws. With over 400 million players worldwide, Fortnite remains one of the most popular games in the world.

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Ransomware threat evolves with deceptive PDFs

Ransomware attacks fell by 31% in April 2025 compared to the previous month. Despite the overall decline, the retail sector remained a top target, with incidents at Marks & Spencer, Co-op, Harrods and Peter Green Chilled drawing national attention.

Retail remains vulnerable due to its public profile and potential for large-scale disruption. Experts warn the drop in figures does not reflect a weaker threat, as many attacks go unreported or are deliberately concealed.

Tactics are shifting, with some groups, like Babuk 2.0, faking claims to gain notoriety or extort victims. A rising threat in the ransomware landscape is the use of malicious PDF files, which now make up over a fifth of email-based malware.

These files, increasingly crafted using generative AI, are trusted more by users and harder to detect. Cybersecurity experts are urging firms to update defences and strengthen organisational security cultures to remain resilient.

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Google brings sign language translation to AI

Google has introduced Gemma 3n, an advanced AI model that can operate directly on mobile devices, laptops, and tablets without relying on the cloud. The company also revealed MedGemma, its most powerful open AI model for analysing medical images and text.

The model supports processing audio, text, images, and video, and is built to perform well even on devices with less than 2GB of RAM. It shares its architecture with Gemini Nano and is now available in preview.

MedGemma is part of Google’s Health AI Developer Foundations programme and is designed to help developers create custom health-focused applications. It promises wide-ranging usability in multimodal healthcare tasks.

Another model, SignGemma, was announced to aid in translating sign language into spoken text. Despite concerns over Gemma’s licensing, the models continue to see widespread adoption.

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