Online Safety

Meta Just Pulled Back Its AI Photo Tool — Here’s How to Protect Your Instagram Pics If you have a public Instagram account, the photos you post are visible to anyone online. That includes not only people you don’t know, but also the automated systems that tech companies use to train artificial intelligence. Earlier this year, Meta introduced an AI tool that scanned public Instagram images without notifying users or asking for permission. After a wave of criticism from privacy advocates and users, the company has now scaled back the tool. But the underlying access to your public content hasn’t changed. ...

The Security Price of AI-Assisted Coding AI coding tools have become nearly indispensable for many developers. They accelerate repetitive tasks, suggest entire functions, and even explain unfamiliar code. But recent incidents involving Cursor IDE and other assistants have raised a serious question: are we trading security for speed without fully understanding the cost? ...

Is AI Coding Safe? 5 Steps to Protect Yourself from New Exploits AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Cursor IDE have become indispensable for many developers, slashing the time needed to write boilerplate and debug common patterns. But recent security incidents—including a two-click exploit that can take over a developer’s environment, poisoned repositories that auto‑execute malicious code, and AI‑generated malware that evades traditional scanners—are raising an uncomfortable question: does the productivity gain justify the risk? ...

AI Coding Tools Are Convenient, But Are They Safe? Here’s How to Protect Yourself Introduction AI coding assistants like GitHub Copilot and Cursor have become nearly indispensable for many developers. They promise faster iteration, less boilerplate, and help with unfamiliar libraries. But as these tools gain adoption, security researchers have started documenting real-world exploits that target them directly. The question isn’t whether to use these tools — it’s how to use them without opening the door to attacks. ...

Meta Backtracks on AI Tool That Automatically Grabbed Public Instagram Photos If you post photos on Instagram, there’s a good chance they’re publicly visible. Until recently, Meta was using those public images to train its AI systems—without explicitly telling you or asking for permission. After a wave of criticism, the company has now pulled back the tool that was collecting the data. Here’s what happened, why it matters, and what you can do to keep your content from being scraped. ...

Is Your AI Coding Assistant Putting Your Code at Risk? Here’s What to Watch For AI coding tools like Cursor, GitHub Copilot, and Tabnine have become nearly indispensable for many developers. They promise speed, fewer boilerplate tasks, and lower barriers to entry for non-professionals. But as their adoption grows, security researchers are showing a less flattering side: these tools can introduce new vulnerabilities, and in some cases, attackers are actively weaponizing them. ...

Meta Pulls AI Image Tool Over Privacy Fears: What You Need to Know Meta has removed a newly launched AI image-generation tool after users raised concerns that the feature was using their personal photos without clear permission. The decision followed a swift backlash on social media and privacy forums. While the company has not confirmed a data breach, the incident highlights growing risks around how social media platforms access and use personal content for AI training. ...

Meta Reins in AI Tool That Scraped Public Instagram Images: What You Need to Know Recent reports from the Associated Press (July 11, 2026) confirm that Meta has scaled back a new AI tool that was automatically accessing public Instagram images to train its models. The move comes after widespread criticism from users and privacy advocates. Here’s a clear breakdown of what happened, why it matters for your privacy, and what you can actually do about it. ...

Meta Reins in AI Tool After Backlash Over Scraping Public Instagram Images Meta has scaled back a new artificial intelligence tool that was automatically pulling public images from Instagram without explicit user consent. The move came after widespread criticism from privacy advocates and users who said the tool violated expectations around how their photos could be used. ...

7 Privacy Settings to Change Right Now to Stop Google AI From Using Your Data Google’s AI features are woven into Search, Photos, Assistant, and even YouTube. By default, many of these tools collect and retain your activity, location, voice recordings, and images. The company uses this data to train and improve its AI models, but you can limit what it keeps and how it’s used. ...