UK online safety law leads to 5m extra age checks a day for pornography sites

Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the introduction of age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data.The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said there had been a sharp increase in additional age checks in the UK since Friday, when age verification became mandatory for accessing pornography under the Online Safety Act.“As a result of new codes under the Online Safety Act coming into force on Friday, we have seen an additional 5m age checks on a daily basis, as UK-based internet users seek to access sites that are age-restricted,” said Iain Corby, the executive director of the AVPA.The UK has also seen a surge in popularity of virtual private networks, which obscure a user’s real location and thus allow them to access sites blocked in their own country. Four of the top five free apps on the Apple download store in the UK are VPN apps, with Proton, the most popular, reporting a 1,800% increase in downloads

People in the UK: have you been the victim of phone theft recently?

According to data compiled by an insurance firm, nearly two in every five mobile phones stolen in Europe are taken in the UK. Claims made to the American insurance company SquareTrade showed 39% of all phone thefts across the company’s 12 European markets were in Britain.The data revealed that phone theft claims in the UK had increased by 425% since June 2021 and 42% of phone thefts in the UK occurred in London.We’d like to hear from people who have been the victim of phone theft in the UK in the last six months? Has your phone been snatched out of your hands? What happened next and how easy was it to secure your data and accounts? Did you report it to the police? Has it changed your behaviour using your phone or sense of safety on the streets? Why do you think that the UK is the phone theft capital of Europe.You can tell us if you have been the victim of phone theft in the UK by filling in the form below

UK viewers: are you watching YouTube on your TV more than other channels?

YouTube has become popular to watch on TV with children and older people choosing the video platform when they first switch on their televisions.Viewers aged 55 and over watched almost twice as much YouTube than they did in 2023, with 42% of them watching on a TV. The platform is also the most popular first TV destination for generation Alpha viewers, aged four to 15.We’d like to hear from people who watch YouTube on their TV more than other channels. When and why did your watching habits change and how does it differ to what you grew up with? What are your favourite YouTube shows and why?You can tell us why you watch YouTube more than other broadcast channels on your TV by filling in the form below

Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 7 review: great-looking and fun, but iterative Android

Samsung’s seventh-generation Flip phone trims the fat, gains a bigger cover screen on the outside and a larger folding display on the inside, but fundamentally doesn’t reinvent the wheel.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The Galaxy Z Flip 7 joins the book-style Z Fold 7 as Samsung’s two flagship folding phones for 2025

YouTube most popular first TV destination for children, Ofcom finds

Children are now heading to YouTube from the moment they turn on the television, in the latest sign of the video platform’s migration from the laptop to the living room.YouTube is the most popular first TV destination for generation Alpha, according to a comprehensive survey of the UK’s viewing habits by Ofcom, the communications regulator.One in five young TV viewers aged from four to 15 turned straight to the platform last year. The survey showed Netflix close behind. While BBC One was in the top five first destinations, children were just as likely to choose BBC iPlayer

The trillion-dollar AI arms race is here

Hello, and welcome to TechScape. Johana Bhuiyan and Dara Kerr here, filling in for Blake Montgomery, who’s enjoying the beach but likely getting sunburned.Tech companies are fighting to claim the title of having the world’s most advanced AI. The goal is to supercharge their bottom line and keep investors and Wall Street happy. But developing the world’s most advanced AI means spending billions on data centers and other physical infrastructure to house and power the supercomputers needed for AI