GM. This is Take Off, the playlist of tech news. We curate the greatest hits, chart-toppers, and hidden gems of the tech world to keep you grooving all day long.

Here's what we're serving up today:

• Bogus Bloomberg Blows up Pentagon💥

• Meta wins the Europe Trophy …. For Fines! 🏆

• Asteroids ☄️

• ToolBox Tuesdays ⚒️

Bogus Bloomberg Blows up Pentagon 💥

Well, well, well, it seems the Twitterverse has been bamboozled! A seemingly AI-generated image of an explosion at the Pentagon made the rounds on the internet, causing quite a stir.

The only problem? The event didn't actually happen.

This episode of "fake news" was brought to you by a verified Twitter account called “Bloomberg Feed”, which is not affiliated to the real Bloomberg account.

• The tweet caught virality as it was picked up by some big accounts such as Delatone (with 650,000 followers) and very unsurprisingly, a Russian State-Media account, Russia Today (with 3M followers). Real subtle, Russia!

• The stock market, apparently not in on the joke, caused the Dow Jones to drop 85 points within 4 minutes before rebounding back.

Twitter has fortunately suspended the “Bloomberg Feed” account and authorities were quick to debunk the false rumor.

Fake news has always been a hot problem in social media, however, this incident is a prime example of the dangers of Twitter’s pay-to-verify system.

If a blue check no longer indicates legitimacy, what does it really mean?

Meta wins the Europe Trophy …. For Fines! 🏆

Which company doesn't goes along with these 2 words: Data Privacy. If you guessed Meta, you guessed right.

It seems they have landed themselves in hot water AGAIN! This time, they've been slapped with a record-breaking $1.3 billion fine. Time to pay up Meta!

And what's the crime, you ask? Violating European Union data protection rules.

• The European Data Protection Board (EDPB) has demanded Meta to stop exporting European Union user data to the U.S. for processing.

• Not only does Meta have to cough up the cash, but they also have to stop sending data from Europe to the US within five months.

• And within six months, they have to stop handling data they've previously collected. That could mean deleting photos, videos, and Facebook posts, or moving them back to Europe.

Meta's response? They're appealing the decision, calling the fine "unjustified and unnecessary".

1. Meta argues that it's being unfairly singled out for data-sharing practices used by thousands of companies.

2. They also pointed fingers at a conflict between EU and U.S. law, rather than their own privacy practices.

The €1.2 billion means that Meta has successfully de-throned Amazon, who had been fined €746 million in 2021 for similar privacy violations.

We’re pretty sure that the “Highest Fine Levied on any company by EDPB” trophy is not something that Meta wants to win!

☄️ Asteroids ☄️

TikTok sues Montana after app is banned in state. They claim it messes with free speech and commerce rights. Meanwhile, Montana's governor insists it's all to protect folks' data from the Chinese government. 🕵️‍♂️🇨🇳 

OpenAI leaders propose international regulatory body for AI. They believe AI’s rapid development needs oversight, but don’t worry, they're not hitting the brakes just yet.🚦🚀

Artifact now lets you mark articles as clickbait. The news app from Instagram's founders now lets you flag those sneaky clickbait articles. 🤔🌐

⚒️ ToolBox Tuesdays ⚒️

Gasby -  Your personal AI assistant

Zbrain - Build a ChatGPT like App With Private Data in Minutes

Exemplary - Transform Video & Audio Into Engaging Content

Seodity - One Tool to Unlock SEO Success in Minutes

Marketing Mega prompts - Supercharge your Marketing with ChatGPT

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