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Deepfakes during Indian elections trigger arrests
India’s ruling BJP has condemned the use of deepfakes and morphed media in order to misrepresent its ideology and plans for the country as India’s elections take place and millions head to the polls across its states. Prime Minister Narendra Modi issued a strong statement and claimed that the videos aimed to cause social and civil unrest. Meanwhile, Federal Home Minister Amit Shah shared both real and morphed clips of him speaking, in order to clarify his point. He claimed that the Congress party was behind the false media. At least nine people, including six members of the Congress party who were working on its socials across various states, were arrested for allegedly circulating the media.
India’s elections will continue until June; the country has almost one billion voters and more than 800 million internet users. While tech giants and social media companies have promised to assist the government in stopping the spread of fake news and false media, the ongoing polls have been dubbed India’s first ‘AI elections.’
Apple records drop in quarterly revenue
Days ahead of an eagerly awaited Apple event on May 7, the iPhone-maker reported quarterly revenue of $90.8 billion, which has fallen by 4% year-over-year. A large factor behind this was a drop in the net sales of iPhones, iPads, and wearables in the past one year. However, Apple also announced a high-profile $110 billion stock buyback.
Revenue from iPhone sales fell to reach $45.7 billion. This was $51.3 billion a year earlier. Apple is dealing with falling demand in China as Huawei rises in popularity in the country. In Western countries, Apple is also being overshadowed by Samsung handsets. On the bright side, Apple customers are looking forward to iPad-related announcements during the upcoming event.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has left Bluesky board
Twitter co-founder and former CEO Jack Dorsey is no longer on the board of Bluesky, the decentralised social media platform he envisioned. Bluesky confirmed the news and said it was looking for a new board member in order to replace Dorsey, who also confirmed his departure with a single-word response on X (formerly Twitter).
After Twitter was sold to Elon Musk for $44 billion, Dorsey was part of the Bluesky project and its board. Bluesky’s actual CEO is Jay Graber, who has showcased the platform as a less toxic place where users can follow subjects of their choice and choose their own moderation controls. However, The Verge reported that Dorsey shut down his Bluesky account months ago. The platform has over 1.5 million users, compared to the tens of millions of accounts on X.
