VeryCodedly Today: Meta vs. NSO, Spotify's Next Move, and the iPhone Baby Bust

It's Meta vs. NSO, UK vs. under-16s, AI vs. Insta users, plus an iPhone study you won't believe. Here's VeryCodedly Today.

Meta Files Contempt Against NSO

Meta announced it's filing a federal court contempt order against NSO Group. It's an Israeli spyware firm blacklisted by the US government for activities "contrary to national security or foreign policy interests". The charge? NSO violated a permanent injunction that barred them from ever targeting WhatsApp and its users. The crime? New spear-phishing attempts linked to NSO. They targeted users with "1-click phishing campaigns" that compromise a device with just a click.

They have history with Meta, last year, a US court ordered NSO to stop targeting WhatsApp and awarded Meta $168 million in damages (reduced to $4 million). Meta is now backed by 12 civil rights organizations, security researchers, and more who filed to support the permanent ban. NSO is appealing the injunction.

Sending love and light.

UK Plans Ban For Under-16s

After a nationwide consultation that closed last month, the UK Prime Minister is reportedly preparing to announce a ban on social media for children under 16 within days.

Their government is also launching a separate consultation to guide parents on when a child should get their first smartphone and how much screen time is safe. This is something that should've followed the influx of smartphones, but 20 years later, we'll take it.

The verdict? Tech firms must prove their services are safe for kids or get banned from under-16s.

20k+ Insta Accounts Hacked via AI Chatbot

Meta filed a data breach notice stating that 20,225 Instagram accounts were hacked through its AI-powered support chatbot. The attacks started on April 17 and were discovered on May 31, so about six weeks of active exploitation.

How? Hackers used VPNs to match their location to their target accounts, initiated password resets then asked the assistant to link their own email address to the target's account. The assistant did what it was designed to do. Assist. It sent a password reset link to the hacker's email, so they reset passwords and took over accounts. The attack only worked on accounts that didn't have two-factor authentication enabled. Meta disabled the tool, and is investigating the attack.

They targeted high-profile accounts, so, you're probably fine.

iPhone Study Links Device To Birth Rate Drop

A new study says the iPhone rollout explains 33% to 52% of the decline in US births between 2007 and 2011. Big numbers. Huge.

The researchers compared birth rates in US counties with good AT&T coverage (more iPhones) versus counties with poor coverage (fewer iPhones), controlling for local economic conditions. The results? Ages 15-19, iPhone access dropped births by 4.5-8.0%. At ages 20-24, births dropped 3.2-6.6%. Effects were smaller but still significant for older women.

They're saying iPhones reduced real life socializing, increased porn access, and improved access to contraception and abortion info, but there's a catch. The Great Recession happened at the same time (Dec 2007 - June 2009) in America, and is known to cause similar drops in birth rates. So before you go blaming the iPhone, "it's an example of the kinds of social influences that have led to the decline in birth rate".

Spotify Wants To Livestream Festivals

Spotify wants in on live music, which is presently YouTube's territory. Bloomberg says the company approached concert promoters for licensing rights to show live video of music festivals.

They've previously experimented with live audio shows, but no live video at scale. After locking down premium music-video and podcast rights, this is probably what's next on the world domination list.

Spotify's also launching the Reserved feature this summer. It will identify artists' most dedicated Premium subscribers and "reserve" two tickets for them before the sale. After dropping "tens of millions of dollars" to beat Apple and Amazon for the Live Nation deal, they gotta get that money back somehow.

SBF Applies For Presidential Pardon

Sam Bankman-Fried who was convicted in 2024 on multiple fraud charges related to FTX's $8 billion collapse, is serving a 25-year sentence in federal prison. He's served about two years, and has formally applied for a "pardon after completion of sentence" from the US President.

He didn't ask for commutation (a shorter sentence), just a pardon which would forgive his crimes under the law after he serves his full sentence. He is also appealing his conviction and has continued to maintain his innocence. Earlier this year, the US President's response when asked about a pardon for SBF was "No".

For context, SBF's application is one of more than 20,000 pending pardon requests. Good luck?

Ireland's "Bring Your Own Power" Data Center Rule

Ireland now requires new data centers to have their own power plants on site or contracts for sustainable sources produced nearby, so they can't just draw juice from the public grid.

Why? Tech companies built so many data centers in Ireland that the industry now uses a fifth of the country's electricity, which is more than all of Ireland's urban homes combined. The country had to block new data centers entirely for most of the past three years to protect its electricity grid. So with this solution there'll be new data centers and expansions, but tech companies have to take responsibility for the energy they use, instead of competing with the Irish for existing supply.

Grand.

That's all for today, folks. See ya tomorrow!