(This article is part of Today’s Cache, The Hindu’s newsletter on emerging themes at the intersection of technology, innovation and policy. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.)

How AI was used to influence U.S. elections

OpenAI banned ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian influence operation that used to generate content to influence the U.S. presidential elections. Dubbed Storm-2035, the operation was found to be using four websites that acted as news organisations. The news sites exploited issues like LGBTQ rights and Israel-Hamas conflict, to target U.S. voters using AI tools to plagiarise stories and capture web traffic.

While OpenAI has downplayed the severity of the incident, claiming that audiences did not engage with the uploaded content on social media. The company said it had shared the threat information with “government, campaign, and industry stakeholders.”

X combats censorship in Brazil with shutdown

Media platform X said it would close its operations in Brazil “effective immediately” due to what it called “censorship orders” by Brazilian judge Alexandre de Moraes. X claimed that Moraes secretly threatened one of the company’s legal representatives in the South American country with arrest if it did not comply with legal orders to take down some content from its platform.

The social media platform published pictures of a document allegedly signed by Moraes which says a daily fine of 20,000 reais ($3,653) and an arrest decree would be imposed against X representative Rachel Nova Conceicao if the platform did not fully comply to Moraes’ orders.

Google tries to influence Pixel reviews

Google is facing criticism for allegedly trying to secure favourable reviews for its recently launched Pixel 9 series devices. The company reportedly informed tech influencers attending its launch event that they must favour the new Pixel phones over competitors when creating content, or else their relationship with the brand would be terminated.

Multiple content creators took screenshots of these stipulations and posted them on X and Threads. Kayla Geier, Google’s communications manager, spoke about the criticism, saying that they had poorly worded the language in the form and it had been removed. Any influencers and journalists who are a part of the program are often briefed and given products under embargo before or during an event before the public gets their hands on it, in exchange for coverage on social media.