Determining whether online content is real is increasingly complex in this age of deepfakes and AI, Microsoft reports in its new study: Media Integrity and Authentication, according to The GIP Digital Watch. No single solution can prevent deception, although techniques such as provenance tracking, watermarking, and digital fingerprinting can provide useful context, the study states. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta team was admonished for wearing Ray Ban-Meta AI glasses, which are equipped with a camera, in court during the landmark trial in California over the impact of social media on underage users. The court warned the Meta team to dispose of anything they had recorded or they would be held in contempt. Jacob Ward, a technology journalist, told CBS News that the episode was "an extraordinary misstep" by Meta.”

Gray Media, a broadcast television company, is projected by analysts to report a revenue decline of 25.55% to $778 million in its quarterly earnings report on Feb.26,Yahoo/Finance writes.. in addition, Gray is projected to post a 117.61% decrease in earnings per share YoY to $0/28. In addition, full-year estimates call for a 15.45% drop in revenue to $3.08 billion.

Apple TV’s sports programming will be streamed to bars, restaurants, hotels, gyms and other such businesses thanks to a  distribution agreement with EverPass Media, Reuters reports. Apple hopes the expanded visibility will drive subscriptions, customer traffic and brand loya

Commerce media through advertising in connected vehicles is projected to hit $625 billion in in-vehicle value by 2030,  Ptolemus Consulting Group projects, according to Autoweek. Drivers would be served location-based ads for food, parking and entertainment. “Connected vehicles and in-car platforms are opening up entirely new media surfaces, transforming infotainment systems, navigation, and driver services into monetizeable environments,” Forrester said in a recent study.  

Illinois Governor JB Pritzker has proposed a statewide fee on social media companies to fund education in the state, CBS News reports. Pritzker, facing a $2 billion budget shortfall, seeks to raise $200 million per year for education. Social media platforms would pay a monthly fee based on the number of users in the state, and larger firms would pay higher fees. 

Meta CEO Zuckerberg took the stand on Wednesday in the to defend his company in the unprecedented social media trial in Los Angeles, Associated Press reports.  Opposing attorney Mark Lanier asked Zuckerberg whether people use something more if it’s addictive. Zuckerberg responded, “I’m not sure what to say to that. I don’t think that applies here.” Later, Zuckerberg said that “if something is valuable, people will use it more because it’s useful to them.” He was also quizzed on children’s Instagram use.   

Lawmakers on Tuesday unanimously advanced a bill that would criminalize creating artificial intelligence-generated content using someone’s likeness without permission, Oklahoma Voice reports. Such an action would be a misdemeanor, but would become a felony if it caused $25,000 worth of financial harm.

As Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was to start testifying on Wednesday in the California trial of social media giants, a study found that 86% of Americans want Meta and Google held accountable for the social media addiction crisis affecting kids. The study by The Tech Oversight Project also determined that 67% would vote for lawmakers who support crack downs on social media features like infinite scroll and predatory algorithms, The New York Post reports. 

Perplexity is not seeking deals to place ads in chatbot answers, Business Insider reports. Instead, the AI search firm is moving ahead with subscriptions and business sales and plans, while focusing more on monetization than it did before, executives said during a roundtable discussion.