Frances Haugen called on lawmakers in Brussels to seize the opportunity to create a "global gold standard" as they draft oversight regulation for tech giants.

Facebook became Meta Platforms on October 28 and subsequently announced its grand plans for bringing the virtual and physical worlds together in the metaverse. Since then, tech and entertainment giants have been jumping on the bandwagon and staking their own claims as builders of a new reality. But what exactly is the metaverse and what are the risks associated with it? Peter O'Brien takes a closer look in this week's Tech 24, the first in a new live format.

The Pakistani parliament has approved the law against sexual assault to allow courts to order chemical castrations — a punishment rights groups and lawyers called cruel.

The new German parliament has elected Olaf Scholz as chancellor as Angela Merkel departs after 16 years at the helm of Europe's largest economy. He is now scheduled to be sworn in, along with a new Cabinet.

Governments have set their eyes on the world's largest tech companies. But why has Big Tech come under so much fire? And how did it get so "Big" in the first place?

Lawmakers in the United States have voted to raise the government's borrowing limit by $2.5 trillion, narrowly avoiding a catastrophic default. The Senate passed the measure 50-49. The new debt ceiling will give the US government enough space to borrow until 2023, after the midterm elections. Focus in Washington will now return to whether President Joe Biden can get his $1.75 trillion social spending plan, "Build Back Better", passed by the end of the year.

Many Facebook groups based in Mali and Nigeria began sharing a video of a helicopter on December 9, claiming it showed an aircraft delivering weapons to terrorists. In Mali, the posts often accused the French government of operating the helicopter, while posts coming from Nigeria laid the blame on the Nigerian government. In reality, the video is from neither one of these countries – it was filmed in the Central African Republic during a routine supply drop.

A rapid uptake in technology has made living through a pandemic easier and safer. But regulators are starting to ask: at what cost?

Margrethe Vestager is a leader who is admired and feared at the same time – for taking up the fight against big tech companies. As the EU’s competition commissioner, she’s considered to be one of the most powerful women in Europe. How did she manage to make it all the way to the top? Let’s find out.

Germany's parliament on Wednesday began a debate on a possible wide-ranging coronavirus vaccine mandate, with three main options on the table so far: obligatory vaccinations for all adults, just for everyone 50 and above, or no mandate at all.

Denmark is the EU's first nation to lift all domestic Covid restrictions, raising hopes in northern Europe and beyond. Here in France, new infections have never been higher, but the authorities are relaxing rules too. That's because the vaccination rate is near 90 percent and hospitals are managing. The omicron variant is more infectious but milder. Milder if you are vaccinated, warns the World Health Organization. Many nations remain vulnerable.

For the first time since inception in 2004, Facebook lost about 5 lakh users on a daily basis during Oct-Dec 2021. That saw the shares of its parent company, Meta, plunge 20 percent on the exchanges, wiping off $200 bn in market capitalisation.