iWorld
Farewell, MSN Messenger
MUMBAI: It was in the month of June when Google announced that it will shut Orkut down at the end of September 2014.
And now, Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger aka MSN Messenger will be switched off in China in October, marking an end to the 15-year-old service.
The instant messenger was launched in 1999 as a simple text chat service and as a rival to AOL’s AIM service and ICQ. Till 2006, Microsoft released seven major versions and added features such as photo delivery, video calls and games as the technology developed.
At its peak, MSN Messenger had 330 million users worldwide, as per reports.
However, when the company purchased Skype for $8.5 billion in 2012 it spelled the beginning of the end for the MSN service. It was in 2012 end that Microsoft announced that Messenger and Skype services would merge in the first quarter of 2013, with users of Messenger client software moving to Skype.
In January 2013, Microsoft had emailed Messenger users and informed them that with the exception of mainland China, the Messenger service would stop working on 15 March 2013 and users would not be able to sign in.
Gigaom reports that the Tencent-owned company has over 200 million users in China. Following the rise of rival messenger platform QQ, MSN Messenger and Skype hopes to increase the competition in the country.
After 31 October Chinese Messenger users too will need to use Skype, ending their relationship with the Messenger.
Farewell, MSN Messenger.
iWorld
UK races towards under-16 social-media ban and tighter leash on AI chatbots
Ministers eye Australian-style curbs within months, vowing to close loopholes that expose children to risky AI and online harms
UK: Britain is sprinting towards a social-media ban for under-16s and a clampdown on AI chatbots, as ministers scramble to get ahead of fast-moving digital risks to children.
An Australian-style prohibition on under-16s using social platforms could arrive as early as this year. At the same time, the government wants to shut a loophole that leaves some AI chatbots outside existing safety rules.
Keir Starmer’s government launched a consultation last month on banning social media for under-16s and is now working on legislative changes that could land within months of the consultation closing.
The push comes amid a broader international shift. Spain, Greece and Slovenia are exploring similar bans after Australia became the first country to block social-media access for under-16s. Scrutiny of AI has intensified since Elon Musk’s flagship chatbot, Grok, was found to be generating non-consensual sexualised images.
Britain’s 2023 Online Safety Act is among the world’s toughest regimes, yet it does not cover one-to-one interactions with AI chatbots unless content is shared with other users. That gap, Liz Kendall said, will be closed.
“I am concerned about these AI chatbots… as is the prime minister, about the impact that’s having on children and young people,” Kendall told Times Radio. Some children, she said, were forming one-to-one relationships with AI systems “that were not designed with child safety in mind.”
Proposals will be set out before June. Tech firms, Kendall said, would be responsible for ensuring their systems comply with British law.
Ministers are also consulting on automatic data-preservation orders when a child dies, allowing investigators to secure vital online evidence — a measure long sought by bereaved families. Other ideas include curbs on “stranger pairing” on gaming consoles and blocks on sending or receiving nude images. The changes would come as amendments to crime and child-protection laws now before parliament.
The child-safety drive is not without friction. Such rules can have knock-on effects for adults’ privacy and access to services, and have already stirred tensions with the United States over free speech and regulatory overreach.
Some large pornography sites have chosen to block British users rather than conduct age checks. Those blocks are easily sidestepped with virtual private networks, which the government is considering restricting for minors.
Many parents and safety advocates favour a ban. Yet some child-protection groups fear it could push harmful behaviour into darker, less regulated corners of the internet or create a sharp cliff edge at 16. Ministers still need to define, in law, what counts as social media before any ban bites.
The direction of travel, though, is clear: faster rules, fewer loopholes, and a shrinking tolerance for digital wild west. For tech firms and teenagers alike, Britain’s online free ride looks set to end at speed.
