America’s T-Mobile has revealed its takeover of Sprint Mobile, and confirmed the shutdown of the Sprint LTE network

T Mobile has committed to a June 30, 20-22 shutdown date of Sprint’s LTE network.

It’s an expected move as T-Mobile continues to absorb Sprint’s network and customers into its own base.

T-Mobile says that “most” Sprint LTE and 5G devices can work with its LTE or 5G network. It adds that those devices “will continue to operate on T-Mobile’s LTE and 5G networks,” so long as those Sprint users upgrade from Sprint-issued SIM cards to ones from T-Mobile. You will also need to make sure that Voice over LTE (also known as VoLTE) is enabled for voice calls. 

The carrier adds that it will be contacting those who might be impacted by the switch, stating that it already “began sending notifications late last year.”  

A third of Sprint customers have already been moved onto the T-Mobile network.

Free TikTok has arrived on flights operated by American Airlines

Passengers will be able to use the app for up to 30 minutes for free, which gives them time to watch at least ten of the new, longer TikToks.

The move to make TikTok available to travelers comes as airlines are trying to reignite the sector which has been hit hard by COVID.

Customers will be able to log into their TikTok accounts by enabling airplane mode, connecting to the “AA-Inflight” signal, and selecting the TikTok ad for the free access in the Wi-Fi portal. For those who do not have an account on the platform, American Airlines is also allowing travelers to download the app inflight, free of charge.

At this time, it’s unknown whether TikTok will remain a permanent inflight option, as the addition is “promotional” in nature.

A new study has revealed that China is using a network of fake social media profiles to push pro-China rhetoric and discredit opponents

Researchers have uncovered a sprawling network of over 350 fake social media profiles China’s using to push a pro-China rhetoric.

According to the Centre for Information Resilience (CIR) report, the network’s goal is to delegitimise the West and improve China’s international perception.

Fake users in the network shared large amounts of content about issues like gun laws and race politics. The fake users also used the accounts to criticise opponents to the regime.

The study found a network of fake profiles circulating political cartoons

The cartoons negatively depict critics such as exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui, whistleblower scientist Li-Meng Yang, and Steve Bannon, former political strategist for Donald Trump.

China has accused all of them for spreading disinformation including incorrect information about Covid-19.

The network also used the accounts to highlight human rights concerns in the US. Some of the posts cited the murder of George Floyd and hate crimes against Asians.

China’s multi-platform fake social network

The accounts are across Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Youtube.

Some of the accounts use entirely fake AI-generated profile pictures, whereas bots appear to have hijacked some other accounts.

There’s not concrete evidence that links the network to the Chinese government other than speculation from experts. The CIR says the network resembles other networks Twitter and Facebook have taken down previously.

Who are the fake users?

The researchers found most of the fake profiles use AI-generated faces. A reverse image source cannot search for these images.

The CIR says fake profile pictures in disinformation campaigns are becoming more common. It was able to identify fake images by lining up the position of their eyes.

They say that fake images always tend to put eyes in the same location of an image. Other signs of a synthetic image include blurred hair edges, strangely-angled teeth, and blurred objects around the face.

China responds with campaign against misinformation

This comes as China launches a campaign against fake news to ‘cleanse the cyberspace’ of ‘fake or harmful’ information and unlicensed citizen journalists.

The campaign is a joint effort with ten regulatory agencies, which plan on hitting Chinese social media platforms like WeChat and Douyin.

Some of the accounts denied human right abuses in Xinjiang

Some of the fake profiles also denied any human rights abuses against Muslim people in the Xinjiang region. One post called the allegations, “lies fabricated by the United States and the West”.

Many of the Facebook accounts appear to have Turkish names. The researchers believe these accounts once belonged to real people before being hijacked or sold.

The network also appears to have hijacked some dormant accounts on Youtube which previously posted in English or German. After being dormant for years, these accounts suddenly started posting Chinese content from official state broadcasters.