USA Update

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INSTAGRAM’S top boss has hit back at long-running claims that the app spies on you through your microphone.

Both Facebook and Instagram have been repeatedly blasted by users over the years who say secret snooping allows the Meta apps to show you relevant ads.

Picture Credit: Meta / Instagram / Adam Mosseri

Often gadget owners will say that they had a conversation with a friend in real life, only to see online ads for what they talked about later on.

Now Instagram’s head Adam Mosseri has published a Reel video where he calls the claims a “myth”.

“This is a myth-busting video about something I’ve had a lot of passionate conversations about. Maybe at least a few, two or three, with my wife as well,” Mosseri said.

“Which is we do not listen to you. We do not use the phone’s microphone to eavesdrop on you.”

He described how it would be a “gross violation of privacy”.

And he said that you could very easily tell if Instagram was actually spying on you.

He noted that your phone’s battery would drain very quickly due to the increased power usage.

And he said that you’d be able to spot the little light at the top of the screen that signals when the microphone is active.

On an iPhone, this is an orange light. And on Android phones, you’d see a little microphone icon in the corner.

So what’s actually going on?

Well Mosseri says that there are plenty of reasons why you might think Instagram spies on you.

But it turns out that the real reason is: Instagram doesn’t need to use your microphone, because it can already target you with ads so well.

“One, maybe you actually tapped on something that was related or even searched for that product online on a website, maybe before you had that conversation,” Mosseri said.

He said the second cause could be that Meta simply thinks you’re interested in the product.

Picture Credit: Meta / Instagram / Adam Mosseri

That could be because you’re interested in the same things as similar people to you – or because your friends have shown interest in a product.

“So it could be that you were talking to someone about a product and they before had actually looked for or search for that product,” Mosseri explained.

“Or that in general people with similar interests were doing the exact same thing.

The third reason is that you had seen the ad before the conversation without realising.

Apple

This orange dot appears at the top of your iPhone screen when the microphone is active[/caption]

And then you were actually influenced to talk about the product because of the ad.

“We scroll quickly, we scroll by ads quickly, and sometimes you internalise some of that, and that actually affects what you talk about later,” the Instagram boss noted.

And lastly, Mosseri said that it could just be pure random chance, noting that coincidences happen all the time.

He concluded: “So I want to reiterate: we do not listen to your microphone.

“I know some of you are just not gonna believe me, no matter how much I try to explain it.

“But I wanted to set the record straight.”

This isn’t the first time that Meta execs have had to respond to claims of microphone snooping.

Way back in 2016, Facebook issued a statement saying it didn’t “use your phone’s microphone to inform ads”.

Meta / Instagram

Instagram shows you ads – but you can now pay to remove them in the UK[/caption]

And Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg denied the claims again in a 2018 US Senate hearing.

This latest news comes after Meta announced that both Facebook and Instagram users could pay to stop seeing ads in the UK.

Brits can pay £3.99 a month in the Facebook or Instagram apps to stop Meta from using their personal data for advertising – or £2.99 if they sign up via the web.

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TRUMP has opened the doors to his underground nuclear war bunker, revealing an underground city built to protect him and government officials.

Buried deep beneath the Colorado Rockies, the top secret fortress has been designed to protect America’s military and political leaders in the event of a nuclear war.

AP:Associated Press

The opening to Trump’s top secret fortress[/caption]

EPA

Behind the thick steel doors lies the functioning underground city[/caption]

EPA

Staff still rotate through the facility, ready to shut out the world at any moment[/caption]

For just the second time in recent history, the bunker’s doors were opened to Newsnation for a tour inside the Armageddon stronghold.

The Cheyenne Mountain Complex is a sprawling underground city, molded within nearly 70,000 tonnes of granite.

Designed to withstand direct nuclear strikes, the mega-bunker has been waiting to house US defenses.

Locked behind three-foot-thick steel doors and multiple checkpoints, the fortress is said to be able to withstand a nuclear explosion “one thousand times stronger than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima”, even from close range.

The functioning underground city has its own power plants, underground lakes for drinking water and stockpiles of food to sustain crews for “a very long time”.

The complex even has its own functioning Subway store, which is referred to as “the most secure Subway” in the world.

General Gregory Guillot, commander of US Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD), said the facility remained as vital today as it was when it was first opened in 1966.

“It was truly worth whatever they paid for it back in the early 60s,” he said.

“We are using it today just as they did decades before.”

Guillot said he was not concerned about modern threats, including Russian jets probing US airspace, Chinese surveillance balloons or cyber attacks.

“I don’t worry, we got the greatest military members working it,” he said.

“We are ready.”

Spanning across 5.1 acres, 15 buildings have been suspended on massive springs to absorb the shock of a nuclear blast.

Known as the “battle deck”, the complex would function as the command headquarters for the US and Canadian forces if disaster struck.

Finished in 1966 with a build cost of $142 million, the fortress would cost more than $1 billion if it was built today.

Labelled “the most secure place on Earth” at the height of the Cold War, the labyrinth of tunnels and blast chambers was designed to protect against Soviet missiles.

Trump previously opened the doors to media in 2018, where Steve Rose, the base’s deputy director, said it was “the most secure facility in the world”.

Getty

The US military would run from the bunker in case of an emergency[/caption]

EPA

The bunker is protected by 70,000 tonnes of granite[/caption]

Reuters

The doors can be sealed within 45 seconds, or by hand in an emergency[/caption]

AFP - Getty

The road map for America to get out of a nuclear war has already been planned out[/caption]

The fortress is shielded by granite and steel from electronics from electromagnetic pulses from nuclear explosions

The blast doors can be sealed with hydraulic machinery, protecting the inside within just 45 seconds, or in an emergency, can be sealed by hand.

The doors were sealed shut on 9/11, the only time the bunker has been closed off from the world since the Cold War.

Previously the NORAD headquarters, the facility shifted to an alternate command role in 2008.

Staff are still rotating through the complex, however, ensuring its readiness, should the time come.

Officials have insisted the mountain fortress is not a relic of the past.

“Couldn’t be further from the truth,” Rose said in 2018.

The bunker has become a pop culture icon, even featuring in 1983 film WarGames and the Stargate TV series.

America’s roadmap out of a nuclear war has already been planned out, basing itself in the fortress.

The President would be rushed directly into the White House underground shelter, before boarding one of the Air Force’s ‘Doomsday’ jets.

A tight circle of officials would travel with the President, while the Defense Secretary, cabinet officials and congressional leaders would be moved to hardened continuity site, including Mount Weather in Virginia or Raven Rock in Pennsylvania.