The Week That Was. IT and Media news week 6
Diversity ambitions are being downgraded – especially after President Donald Trump scrapping DEI policies. However, AI could help governments assess the potential gender impacts of proposed laws and help prevent gender discrimination and inequality. AI is tracking gender representation in leadership roles and can encourage the use of gender quotas to address inequalities, according to Zinnya del Villar, director at Data-Pop Alliance, a think tank created by Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, MIT Connection Science and ODI Global.
Ransomware payments fell 35% in 2024 from 2023 record-breaking $1.25 billion down to $813.55 million, marking the first revenue decline since 2022, US blockchain data platform Chainalysis reports. “Midway through 2024, ransomware payments were on pace for another record breaking year, but the environment has changed dramatically. Despite more claimed victims, a major uptick in data leak sites, and the largest ever ransomware payment, total ransomware revenues plunged by a third compared to 2023.”
The US Super Bowl is of course a focus on which team will be the NFL champion but for the advertising business, it is also one of the yearly top events. Nostalgia, artificial intelligence and social media are expected to influence ads at the Super Bowl on February 9 between Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. With the rise in female viewership in the NFL, thanks in part to Taylor Swift, brands are likely to focus more on appealing to their female audiences, predicts Nicole Greene, VP at market research firm Gartner.
Social media should invest in special programs for high-risk targets such as women human rights defenders in exile or in the diaspora. These women are targeted through digital transnational repression by states or state affiliated agents. They face not only the same digital threats as men human rights defenders, but also gender-specific forms of online harassment, abuse, and intimidation.
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