Tech News || Twitter Verified Some "Fake" Accounts | Android 12 | YouTube Shorts | Instagram Launches New Security Measures

Twitter has acknowledged permanently banning a "small number" of fake accounts that it mistakenly verified within weeks of relaunching its public verification program. 

The error came to light after data scientist Conspirator Norteño discovered six verified accounts that had been created recently, more specifically on June 16. Neither of these accounts had posted a single tweet, and two used what appeared to be stock photos for profile photos." We mistakenly approved some verification forms for a small number of fake accounts ," Twitter explained in a statement. "We have now permanently suspended the accounts in question and removed their verified badge, as per our spam and platform tampering policy." The incident suggests that Twitter's verification process is struggling, failing to detect the kind of obviously inauthentic accounts that shouldn't be worthy of the platform's coveted blue badge. Twitter recently relaunched public verification apps with a revamped set of eligibility criteria based on the idea that an account must be "authentic, remarkable and active" to be worthy of verification. Clearly, the identified accounts were neither of these. As Norteño explains in a Twitter thread, the six accounts had 976 suspicious followers in common, all created between June 19 and June 20, and a large number of them used AI-generated profile images. In total, Norteño says they were part of a botnet consisting of at least 1,212 accounts.

Read more: Twitter Now Allows You To Verify Your account

Android 12 will allow us to play the games while we download them

Google is announcing a great new feature for its upcoming Android 12 update: you will be able to play games while you download them. For particularly large games, this could be very useful, as it means that you won't have to wait that long to jump into a game and start playing. The games will also open much faster thanks to this technology, which will make them run up to twice as fast when using the network at the same time as our data inside the phone. The feature is only available with games that use the Play Asset Delivery system. If they do, developers will not have to do anything to activate the feature, as it is something that will be activated automatically, making life easier for developers. The news comes as part of the Developer Summit called "Google For Games 2021", which will take place from July 12-13. At the event, Google also announced a new games panel for Android 12 that gives you easy access to utilities such as screen capture and recording . The panel will be available on "select devices" later this year, Google says. Android 12 is also set to bring many other major changes to Google's operating system, including a major new redesign.

Read also: The Digital Age Isn't Making Us Stupid

YouTube Shorts: TikTok competition reaches around the world

The TikTok competitor created by YouTube; YouTube Shorts is finally being launched globally. The service first launched in India last year, before expanding to around 26 countries, including the US and the UK . Now YouTube Shorts, which is still in beta, will be available "in more than 100 countries around the world where YouTube is available." YouTube Shorts is catching up with TikTok as the short-form video platform of choice, but Google's service is driving Shorts' integration with the broader YouTube ecosystem as a key selling point. It recently added the ability for short film makers to display audio from YouTube videos and says it is exploring ways to offer quick links from shorts to YouTube videos they have sampled. Ironically, while YouTube is doing its best to emulate the TikTok format , TikTok is experimenting with formats that are closer to YouTube's traditional approach. It recently tripled its maximum video duration to three minutes for all its users, and little by little it has been implementing applications on TV platforms such as Android TV and Fire TV.

Read more: Google's Tricks

Instagram launches new security measures to prevent hacking of previously hacked accounts

Instagram has introduced a new security check for anyone whose accounts have been hacked before. People with previously compromised accounts will see a message when they log in asking if they want to conduct a security review on their account. The feature guides users through some security-related steps, including confirming other accounts that share login information, reviewing login activity, and updating recovery contact information. Instagram also plans to add support for two-factor authentication through WhatsApp, something that could further unify the different Facebook applications to make them a cross-linked and much more secure environment. Instagram says there has been an increase in accounts claiming to be Instagram direct messages for people to share their passwords. The social network owned by Facebook only sends emails , and you can check if an email is authentic by looking at the "Instagram emails" tab in the settings.  

Read also: The Hacking Group REvil Offline

The enhanced security feature is rolling out amid a recent wave of password reset emails that have been cluttering some people's inboxes. The emails are legitimately from Instagram and are probably from bots trying to access a bunch of accounts at once. They are annoying if you get multiple of them at once, but it doesn't mean your account has been hacked.

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