Instagram head questioned in LA social media addiction trial

Microsoft has announced it has cut 4,800 jobs – roughly 2.1% of its workforce – with Xbox to bear a large number of its latest layoffs. Amy Coleman, executive vice president at Microsoft, told employees in a memo that the tech giant needed to focus on areas that can deliver for customers amid a “fast-changing…

Mark Poynting,Climate and science reporter, BBC News and Jonah Fisher,Environment correspondent PA Media England and Wales’ water companies have been ordered to refund more than £260m to customers for poor performance. The economic regulator Ofwat says 40% of that money has already been taken off this year’s bills, with the rest to come off next…

Taiwan says it will block access to popular Chinese social media app RedNote or Xiaohongshu for one year following concerns over online shopping scams. The island’s Criminal Investigation Bureau said Thursday it detected more than 1,700 fraud cases on the app since last year, with total losses worth more than NT$247m (£5.9m; $7.9m), local media…

Ofcom received complaints from 1,881 customers who reported difficulties cancelling. It added that some customers resorted to having to cancel their direct debits, which led to further difficulties such as missed payments impacting their credit score. Black said Ofcom had introduced “further safeguards to prevent this from happening again”, including its “One Touch Switch” process…

UK-based gambling reform campaigner Matt Zarb-Cousin punters betting on the World Cup will be “cross-promoted more addictive casino content”. And he pointed to a National Centre for Social Research report showing that, in the UK, 79% of gambling company winnings came from the top 10% of spenders, those who wagered at least £5,639 in a…