News

The European Commission accused Meta of “failing to diligently identify, assess and mitigate the risks of minors under 13 years old accessing their services”

The European Commission has released its preliminary findings into whether Meta had breached the Digital Services Act (DSA), claiming the company had failed the adequately prevent under-13s from accessing its Instagram and Facebook platforms.

In a press release, the Commission said that Meta’s measures to prevent access by minors “do not seem to be effective”.

“Despite Meta’s own terms and conditions setting the minimum age to access Instagram and Facebook safely at 13, the measures put in place by the company to enforce these restrictions do not seem to be effective,” said the statement. “The measures do not adequately prevent minors under the age of 13 from accessing their services nor promptly identify and remove them, if they already gained access.”

It further stated that there are “no effective controls in place to check the correctness of the self-declared date of birth” and that Meta’s tools for reporting minors on the platform were “difficult to use and not effective”.

The first launched its investigation into company in 2024 following the implementation of the DSA, a broad legal framework covering how online platforms handle content and manage risks to customers online.

If the Commission’s preliminary findings are confirmed, Meta could face a fine of up to 6% of its total worldwide annual turnover.

Meta’s turnover in 2025 was roughly $201 billion, suggesting a fine could be in the region of $12.6 billion.

“Meta’s own general conditions indicate their services are not intended for minors under 13. Yet, our preliminary findings show that Instagram and Facebook are doing very little to prevent children below this age from accessing their services,” said Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy. “The DSA requires platforms to enforce their own rules: terms and conditions should not be mere written statements, but rather the basis for concrete action to protect users – including children.”

In a statement to the New York Times, Meta said it disagreed with the findings, claiming its methods of preventing access by under-13s were effective. It nonetheless says that it is rolling out additional measures “soon”, adding that “understanding age is an industry-wide challenge”.

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Press Release

• Safe Email: providing 24/7 proactive scam protection for email inboxes, scanning and flagging suspicious messages so customers know if something is a scam before they even open it.
• Safe SMS: using advanced AI to detect sophisticated scams in text messages, giving customers real-time protection and peace of mind every time they check their messages.
• Safe Web: harnessing AI to protect customers from scams while shopping or browsing online, blocking malicious sites before they cause harm.

Scam Assistant and Call Labelling: real-time analysis across every channel

New Scam Guard also introduces Scam Assistant, a tool that allows customers to upload screenshots of texts, emails, websites, social media messages or even QR codes to receive instant advice on whether they are safe. Alongside this, Call Labelling delivers automatic, network-level screening of every incoming call, giving customers the information they need before they pick up.

Monitoring, security and password management: complete digital protection

Social Media Monitoring and Dark Web Monitoring watch for suspicious activity across a customer’s online footprint, sending quick notifications so they can take action without delay. Mobile Device Security provides real-time protection against ransomware, viruses and other online threats, automatically blocking dangerous attachments before they can cause damage. Additionally, Password Manager creates, stores and auto-fills strong, secure passwords, removing one of the most common vulnerabilities in personal online security.

Malcolm Cubitt, Director of Product, Mobile, EE, said: “Fraud in the UK is at a record high, with AI making scams more convincing and harder to detect. As these threats evolve, we continue to adapt as the UK’s best network—constantly seeking new and innovative ways to protect and support our customers. This includes leading industry alliances, investing in network-level controls, and employing a dedicated team of security experts. And now with our newly enhanced Scam Guard service, we’re providing customers with an even greater level of cyber security protection.”

EE is committed to helping customers enjoy the benefits of the digital world with confidence through practical protections like Scam Guard. This is underpinned by BT Group’s purpose to connect for good and its wider work to help people with the digital skills, tools and support they need to connect, stay safe and succeed.

EE Scam Guard forms part of a number of cyber security solutions offered to BT Group, which collectively over the last 12 months (Jan-Dec 2025) saw:

• Blocked 1.6 billion attempts to access malicious domains
• Stopped 200 million scam SMS messages
• Blocked 61 million scam calls
• Flagged a further 175 million nuisance and fraud calls to keep customers protected

The new Scam Guard is now available to all EE pay monthly mobile customers and will be available to purchase as an add on.

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Digicel PNG has reportedly signed an agreement with Papua New Guinea’s National Information and Communications Technology Authority (NICTA) to deploy 4G services to rural communities around the country.

According to a report in Papua New Guinea newspaper The National on Tuesday, Digicel PNG will roll out 4G infrastructure in underserved and rural areas including parts of Oro, Gulf, Morobe, Bougainville and Southern Highlands.

The NICTA agreement was awarded via the National Procurement Commission Board as part of the government’s commitment to bridge Papua New Guinea’s digital divide and enable access to digital services, including education, healthcare and financial services, the report said.

“When people and communities are connected, they gain access to digital services needed for education, healthcare, financial services, and economic participation,” Digicel PNG acting CEO Abdallah Nassar was quoted as saying.

Nassar also said the agreement highlighted the benefits of public-private sector collaboration to advance the country’s digital transformation, the report added.

News

The deal with Egg Power will supply roughly 5% of the company’s energy demands

Today, Virgin Media O2 (VMO2) is expanding its renewable energy usage, signing a new 10-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with solar power provider Egg Power.

The deal will see VMO2 source power from Egg’s new solar farm  70MW solar farm in Suffolk, which is currently under construction and is expected to begin power generation in 2027.

In total, the agreement is expected to cover around 5% of VMO2’s total energy demand.

Egg Power is a natural energy partner for VMO2, with both companies being owned by Liberty Global.

The deal is expected to significantly contribute to VMO2’s Net Zero carbon emissions goals, with the operator currently aiming for neutrality across its entire value chain by 2040.

“This agreement with egg Power is the latest step in Virgin Media O2’s journey to achieve net zero emissions by the end of 2040,” said Mark Hardman, Director, Finance Operations at VMO2. “We’re committed to growing and operating our business in a way that’s good for people and the planet, where we’re cutting carbon, securing renewable energy on a long-term basis, and sourcing renewable energy generation from the UK.”

The deal builds on a similar 10-year agreement for wind power that VMO2 signed with The Renewables Infrastructure Group last year. Combined, the two deals mean around 20% of VMO2’s energy usage will come from renewable PPAs.

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Telkom Indonesia announced on Monday that it has launched a next-gen agentic AI platform that it says will accelerate digital transformation via intelligent automation, business process integration and data-based decision making.

The platform, dubbed Agentic AI by BigBox, differs from reactive, conversation-based AI in that it can execute semi-automatic and automatic actions according to the needs of the organization.

Telkom said agentic AI is designed to break down large work into more structured stages, manage execution through specialist agents, conduct self-evaluations, and connect with various external systems.

Agentic AI by BigBox supports cross-system workflow orchestration, data integration and end-to-end AI capabilities, as well as improved operational efficiency on an enterprise scale.

Telkom said it’s using agentic AI internally to consolidate and integrate IT systems across its various entities, optimise operational costs and investment, accelerate data-based decision making, and automate strategic business processes.

Its enterprise and B2B customers can use Agentic AI by BigBox to improve customer experience, automate services and operations, present advanced analytics, predictive decisions, and cross-platform integration, said Telkom’s digital IT director Faizal Rochmad Djoemadi.

“We designed Telkom Agentic AI not only as an AI tool, but as a digital platform that is able to work and execute,” Faizal said. “This is our step to encourage organizations to be faster, more integrated, and more adaptive in facing digital business dynamics.”

Telkom is also touting Agentic AI by BigBox as a flagship solution from its AI Center of Excellence (AI CoE) initiative, which was launched in September last year as a “national AI ecosystem enabler.”

Telkom first unveiled Agentic AI by BigBox at last week’s ITD Summit in Bandung.

News

The project saw a self-driving vehicle successfully operate in a live commercial setting

The P-CAL (Port-Connected and Automated Logistics) project has been completed at the Port of Tyne, bringing a major UK deep-sea port one step closer to autonomous operations.

The project saw a fully autonomous terminal tractor deployed on a working quayside for the first time, as well as the handling of commercial containers.

The project was carried out by a consortium including the North East Automotive Alliance (NEAA), autonomous vehicle specialist Oxa, and various industry and academic partners, alongside the Port of Tyne itself.

The pilot builds upon the consortium’s previous connected and automated mobility (CAM) projects, as part of the UK government’s £150 million CAM Pathfinder programme. These projects include 5G CAL, which showed that a 5G network could be used to support autonomous driving and teleoperation of a heavy goods vehicle (HGV), and the V-CAL project, which saw four autonomous HGVs operating in real-word scenarios.

The completed P-CAL project represents the next logical step towards commercial operations by integrating the autonomous HGVs with existing terminal systems, real-time coordinating with live cranes, deploying a mesh communication network, and implementing security protocols to enable secure remote and autonomous operations.

“Delivering autonomous logistics in a live port environment has been a major step forward for the sector,” said Graeme Hardie, operations director at the Port of Tyne. “P-CAL has shown what’s possible when innovation is applied to real operational challenges, improving safety, efficiency and sustainability.”

“Through the project, we’ve demonstrated that existing work vehicles can be turned into a digital workforce – successfully completing autonomous container movements in a dynamic quayside environment, while providing worksite intelligence necessary for real-time industrial optimisation,” added Oxa founder and CEO Paul Newman. “P-CAL provides a blueprint for how ports and industrial hubs worldwide can deploy autonomous technology to drive productivity, efficiency and safety.”

The next phase of the project will involve multiple vehicles working simultaneously in a live environment.

Autonomous vehicle operations have long been a goal for ports and other large scale industrial operations, potentially providing improved operational efficiency and reducing staff exposure to dangerous working conditions.

In the most advanced markets, these projects are already being launched commercially. In China, for example, the world’s largest autonomous mining fleet has been operational for almost a year.

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Contributed Article

By Martha Galley, Chief Sustainability Officer, Calix 

In the race to show sustainability progress, companies often spotlight renewable energy, carbon offsets, or high-profile product launches. These are important, but one of the most effective and measurable ways to deliver both financial and environmental results often goes unnoticed: durability. 

Durability happens when sustainability is built into the design itself. It changes how a business operates, influencing materials, maintenance, and customer trust. When products and systems are built to last, they cut waste, reduce operating costs, and show that a company is thinking for the long term. 

In broadband, this principle has transformed how networks are built and maintained. For years, competition focused on speed, reliability, and upfront cost. Hardware was replaced frequently, and short product cycles were considered standard. But as broadband became essential for education, healthcare, remote work, and community connection, this short-term model began to show its limits. 

Every replacement cycle adds expense to equipment, labor, and training while creating more electronic waste. Providers have begun to realize that acquisition cost, or what you pay on day one, tells only part of the story. The real measure is the total cost of ownership and what it takes to run, maintain, and replace a system over its lifetime. 

Durability looks different across the broadband ecosystem. In the core and access network, systems are designed to operate for decades, but upgrades can require large infrastructure investments. At the premises level, the gateways, routers, and Wi-Fi systems inside homes and businesses turn over much faster, creating a greater environmental impact. That is where design innovation matters most. Software-enabled platforms extend product life and functionality through continuous updates instead of full hardware replacement. This is an evergreen innovation approach that keeps systems capable and efficient while reducing energy use and electronic waste. 

Research supports the importance of designing for longevity. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found that increasing a product’s lifespan by 50 percent can reduce replacement needs and environmental impact by about one third. The Fiber Broadband Association reports that retiring copper networks in favor of fiber reduces both costs and emissions because copper requires far more energy to operate and maintain. 

The total cost of ownership perspective makes the value clear. When businesses account for energy use, maintenance, and replacement, durable systems often prove to be the smarter financial choice. Broadband providers discovered this when comparing copper and fiber, and the same holds true across industries, from automotive to consumer electronics. 

Durability may not grab headlines, but it makes sustainability real. It connects environmental responsibility with financial performance and builds long-term confidence among customers, communities, and investors. As more industries adopt sustainable design principles, durability will remain one of the strongest measures of both performance and resilience.

This Industry Viewpoint was authored by Fady Masoud, Senior Director, Solutions Marketing at Nokia

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