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YouTube has officially defended its video recommendation algorithms, amid suggestions that the technology serves up increasingly extreme videos.

A BBC report on Thursday, explored how YouTube had helped the Flat Earth conspiracy theory spread.

Ben McOwen Wilson, the company’s new managing director for the UK, said YouTube “does the opposite of taking you down the rabbit hole”.

He told the BBC that YouTube worked to dispel misinformation and conspiracies.

But warned that some types of government regulation could start to look like censorship.

YouTube, as well as other internet giants such as Facebook and Twitter, have some big decisions to make. All must decide where they draw the line between freedom of expression, hateful content and misinformation.

And the government is watching. It has published a White Paper laying out its plans to regulate online platforms.

In his first interview since starting his new role, Mr McOwen Wilson spoke about the company’s algorithms, its approach to hate speech and what it expects from the UK government’s “online harms” legislation.

YouTube uses algorithms to recommend more videos for you to watch. These video suggestions appear in the app, down the side of the website and also show up when you get to the end of a video.

But YouTube has never explained exactly how its algorithms work. Critics say the platform offers up increasingly sensationalist and conspiratorial videos. But, Mr McOwen Wilson disagrees.

He says; “It’s what’s great about YouTube. It is what brings you from one small area and actually expands your horizon and does the opposite of taking you down the rabbit hole.”

Recently, Google removed several apps from the Google Play Store after discovering they violated the Play Store terms of service and, more importantly, could be used as stalkerware. You know what? that doesn’t mean they’re deleted from your Android device, though, we think its time to remove them.

“Stalkerware” involves giving a third party access to another user’s device, location data, and other sensitive information. These apps often present themselves as “normal” tracking tools for employee activity on company phones or your children’s whereabouts (a moral grey area to begin with), but they can also be used to spy on romantic partners, friends, or roommates.

These apps run afoul of Google’s policies for apps distributed via Google Play: “Surveillance and Commercial Spyware apps are explicitly prohibited on Google Play. Only policy compliant apps exclusively designed and marketed for parental (including family) monitoring or enterprise management may distribute on the Store with tracking and reporting features, provided they fully comply with the requirements described below.”

As part of these requirements, tracking apps must clearly show that they’re active and cannot mislead users about their purpose. In other words, apps that try to hide on a user’s device and send their location data to someone else are a no-go. Security company Avast was responsible for highlighting these seven stalkerware apps to Google.

Below are seven apps which you should remove from your Android device if you see them:

1. Employee Work Spy
2. Mobile Tracking
3. Phone Cell Tracker
4. SMS Tracker
5. Spy Kids Tracker
6. Spy Tracker
7. Track Employees Check Work Phone Online Spy Free.

Lifehacker.com suggest that if you don’t see them, but suspect your movements are being tracked in some fashion, consider performing a factory reset on your device. You’ll have to reinstall your apps—and you’ll want to back up critical data like your photos and videos before you kick off the reset—but it’s the best and easiest way to ensure that hidden apps aren’t tracking your whereabouts. Once you have your new device set up, make sure you’re using a stronger unlocking method so someone can’t get back in and reinstall any tracking tools.

FaceApp, the chart-topping Russian-made which allows users to see how they will look as they age, found itself in the eye of a political storm in the U.S. on Wednesday, with one senator urging an FBI investigation into its “national security and privacy risks”.

In a report by AFP has it that a celebrity favourite, the app deploys artificial intelligence to modify users’ photos, adding wrinkles or subtracting years from their faces.

But, on Wednesday, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer sounded the alarm over FaceApp’s Russian developer, calling for the FBI and the consumer protection agency FTC to “look into the national security and privacy risks” connected to the application.

“FaceApp’s location in Russia raises questions regarding how and when the company provides access to the data of U.S. citizens to third parties, including potentially foreign governments,” the New York senator said in a letter to the FBI.

“It would be deeply troubling if the sensitive personal information of US citizens was provided to a hostile foreign power actively engaged in cyber hostilities against the United States,” he added.

Currently the most downloaded free app on Google Play with more than 100 million users, FaceApp was launched two years ago and went viral after its latest editing tool, an aging filter, sparked a flood of celebrity selfies.

The developers are based in the Skolkovo high-tech hub near Moscow, often called Russia’s Silicon Valley, and its roots have stirred concern also within the US Democratic Party.

The party’s National Committee has warned campaigners in the primaries ahead of the 2020 presidential election to “delete the app immediately,” the Washington Post said.

The party is particularly sensitive to any possibility of surveillance involving Moscow after some Democratic officials were targeted by Russian hackers during the 2016 presidential election campaign.

Fears of cyber-espionage have flared in recent years, with US authorities worried about foreign governments having access to and potentially misusing personal data belonging to millions of Americans.

In May a Chinese mobile gaming company that bought top gay dating app Grindr said it would sell it by June 2020 following pressure from US authorities.

U.S. officials reportedly feared that people with American security clearances who use Grindr could be blackmailed if China’s government demanded user data from Beijing-based Kunlun Tech.

With millions of users in the US, FaceApp’s Russian backers have not responded to Schumer’s letter.

But its CEO told the Washington Post that Russian authorities did not have any access to any user data.

Yaroslav Goncharov also told the newspaper that most photos are deleted from its servers within 48 hours and said the app did not use the pictures for any other purpose.

FaceApp is no stranger to controversy. Soon after its launch, a ‘hot’ filter that automatically lightened faces sparked accusations of racism.

The same year, FaceApp’s developers were forced to remove a feature that allowed users to change their ethnicity, prompting some to liken the practice to ‘digital blackface’.

But the controversies have done little to dim the app’s allure among selfie-lovers and celebrities including music superstar Drake, rapper Cardi B and NBA champion Steph Curry.

MTN Nigeria has change the loading pattern on its recharge cards across Nigeria.

The latest MTN card now has 10 digit recharge PIN and new loading code *3551*10 digit pin#, against *555*PIN#.

The new development, Techplace24.com believes that below issues might be the reason;

1. To reduce Recharge card hacking and other recharge card fraudulent activities.

2. Other telecom provider might be using same loading pattern (i.e, *555*PIN#)

3. A new upgrade or change of system might had warrant the new development.

4. Change of partnership deal with recharge card producers.

Google, the owners of Adsense is set to discontinue the AdSense app for iOS and Android in the coming months.

The apps will be completely removed from all app stores by the end of 2019 a source told Techplace24.com.

As Google discontinues the AdSense app, improvements will be rolling out to the AdSense mobile web interface.

So there will be a better mobile browser experience to switch over to when the AdSense app is no longer available.

The decision to sunset the AdSense app was made after the company conducted a review of its mobile strategy, Google says.

In an announcement, the company clearly stated:

“By investing in a common web application that supports all platforms, we will be able to deliver AdSense features optimized for mobile much faster than we can today.”

According to another source from searchenginejournal.com, it sounds like these improvements will be helpful to current mobile users, and may even appeal to those who access AdSense on desktop only.

There’s room to grow when it comes to AdSense on mobile. Only a third of users access AdSense from mobile devices, Google revealed.

Although that’s still a fair amount of people who will be affected by these upcoming changes.

That’s all the information available at this point. More details about the improved web interface will be released later this year.

Big Brother 2019 housemate, Mercy has been seen masturbating in a new video..

In the below video her hand can be seen moving in between her legs while she lay on bed.

Nollywood actress, Chioma Akpotha has taken to social media to share a video which shows her calling out her telecommunication company.

The actress has called out 9mobile for charging her N15,000 for making a 5-minute call.

According to the Nollywood actress, she is beyond speechless for the high charges and went on to ask that her followers tag the company.

In her words;

Guys!!! What just happened!!! I’m speechless!!! Was I just charged over 52 naira per second?!!! Is this normal?!!! Please help me tag Etisalat to explain because I am FURIOUS!!!

Have you ever get tired or out of time to visit the nearest GOtv office, bank or ATM to renew your subscription but time has been your friend. Worry no more, Techplace24.com have you covered..

How to renew your GOtv subscription without visiting the bank, ATM or GOtv office;

To begin simply dial *389*9*IUC No# or Pay online HERE

Note: ‘IUC No’ here means your decoder number.

According to North Korean party daily Rodong Sinmun, North Korea has developed software designed to teach ideology to party members and workers.

The sofware known as Chongseo 1.0, contains writings by the country’s founder Kim Il-sung and his son former leader Kim Jong-il.

The encyclopaedia-like electronic book program aggregates classical works and anecdotes about the two Kims, as well as material related to current leader Kim Jong-un, the paper explained.

Further findings by the BBC has it the program works on different devices and operating systems including Windows and North Korea’s Linux-based Red Star – and the plan is to distribute it nationwide.

And it won’t stop there. Developers are already working on the next version Chongseo 2.0, adding various functions, including voice reading.

Rodong Sinmun has been issuing articles with ideological themes recently, in the run up to the anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s death. “People must try harder to learn the teachings of the founder Kim,” the paper said in an editorial on 8 July – the day of the anniversary.

But this focus on doctrine seems to be part of a wider effort by the government to counter foreign influences that increasingly penetrate the isolated country through the proliferation of technology.

The digitisation has seen a steady trickle of foreign news and entertainment entering North Korea on portable devices like USB memory sticks – something that presents a challenge for the authorities.

North Korea’s approach has been to embrace technology while making sure that it serves its purpose – to portray the state-sanctioned version of reality to the people.

It is estimated that around six million mobile phones are being used in North Korea, which has a population of 25 million.

The country has been producing its own smartphones, albeit apparently using Chinese components. Pyongyang 2425 – the latest version launched in April, is said to feature Wi-Fi, wireless charging, and face-recognition unlocking technology.

North Koreans have also been allowed access to a local intranet, but under the watchful eye of the authorities.

For hours now Facebook users have gone in shock after popular social media platform, Facebook went abnormal.

Visible problems are the disappearance of profile pictures, uploads and anything that have to do with photo on the platform, although some users are facing much problems than others..

In the other hand, Facebook owned chating app, WhatsApp is having nearly same issue, but this one affects status update, sharing and chat..

Checks conducted by www.Techplace24.com shows that some users are facing much difficulties than others.

For about an hour Internet users faced problems accessing many websites because of a problem with Cloudflare.

The company provides internet security and other services meant to help online businesses operate smoothly.

BBC reports that many members of the public had reported seeing “502 errors” displayed in their browsers when they tried to visit its clients.

The service has more than 16 million customers ranging from the chat service Discord to the dating site OKCupid.

The problem had now been resolved although some of its analytics tools were still facing disruption, Cloudflare said.

Among the casualties was Downdetector, a popular site used to monitor disruption.

Also, CoinDesk a news site specialising in cryptocurrencies was one of those affected. It said that it had received bad data from its providers as a consequence, which resulted in it misreporting prices.

“Calm down everyone, Bitcoin is not $26,” it tweeted before adding that it had now resolved the issue.

The plane-tracking service Flightradar24, social media statistics service Social Blade and vineyard monitoring system Vinelytics were among others to confirm they had been affected.

In the verge for the Network error, a 502 error code signifies that an internet server has received a invalid response from another server it is trying to contact.

Report says that there has been speculation that San Francisco-based Cloudflare had suffered a distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack in which it had been flooded with traffic.

But it has denied this was the case and has blamed the incident instead on a “bad software” update that had been “rolled back”.

“This was not an attack (as some have speculated) and we are incredibly sorry that this incident occurred,” blogged John Graham-Cumming, the firm’s chief technology officer.

“Internal teams are meeting as I write performing a full post-mortem to understand how this occurred and how we prevent this from ever occurring again.”

The Register reported that the firm also experienced issues last week, although that time it appears that the telecoms network Verizon was at fault.

Google Adsense has released new rules for publishers. Techplace24.com believes that this sudden changes have to do with SSL, ads placement, among others.

The announcement was made some hours ago, it was only visible in adsense dashboard.

See the message below;

“Global Better Ads Standards. Google Chrome will support the Better Ads Standards globally from July 9th. Ads may be filtered on Chrome browsers if you don’t comply with the standard.”

Bulk SMS business in Nigeria has seen growth in recent years.

Bulk SMS is a process of using the internet or other means of sending SMS in (bulk) i.e, to many people at a time.

In Nigeria, there are good websites or company (ies) to invest on when bulk SMS is mention.

Below are some of the best SMS platfrom to invest in.

Written by: Techplace24.com,

The season 4 of BBNaija kicked started on Sunday, June 30th, Techplace24.com reports. Great talents and profession has been recorded among the 21 housemates so far. One of the housemates, Jackye who happen to be a professional software/app developer is so exceptional among others. In the world today, findings shows that a very few numbers of women are software/app developers.

To conclude it all, she is beautifully made with brain.

Now, lets visit some facts about her;

Just like her spirit animal the lioness, Jackye is a fierce hunter who led her software engineering team to winning a contract to build a Fintech app for one of the biggest companies in Africa. The 23-year-old has only had one boyfriend her entire life and she relaxes by watching football, playing games and eating spaghetti, her favourite meal. Her life mantra is, “I never lose, either I win or I learn.”

What irritates you most in other people: When they are slow – I’m not a fan of slow people.

What will you do with the prize money: I will invest it in an ongoing tech project which will make AI affordable to Nigerians.

Why will you be a fan favourite: I don’t know if people will like me.

As all this was happening, Sharon arrived at his house and the gate man let her in because everyone knew that she was in a relationship with Roland. It was already passed 8pm in the evening; Sharon planned on spending the night with him, hopefully after they had reconciled. She had a spare key to his house so she was able to get in without Roland’s knowledge.

Sharon checked the living room in search of him but he wasn’t there. She climbed upstairs and walked towards his room, she heard some funny sounds coming from his room but thought it was the television. The door wasn’t locked so she gently pushed it forward. The sight of what she saw broke her heart into pieces and she didn’t know when tears started falling off her eyes.

Sharon held her heart as she sobbed and shouted “Roland!”.

End of episode 2.

Stay tuned in few hours to see what happened next.

Written by Sonia Okehie

Note: If you are just joining us, visit page to read previous episode.