News of the Cyber World

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Saudis Buying Pokemon Go?

Saudi Investment Fund pays $3.5bn to capture Pokémon Go

Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) will pay $3.5bn (£2.7bn) to buy the gaming division of developer Niantic, whose titles include the hit mobile game Pokémon Go.

The game involves players walking around in the real world to hunt the collectable creatures, which appear on their phone screens using augmented reality.

Despite launching almost a decade ago, Pokémon Go is still amongst the highest-grossing mobile games in the world, with 30 million monthly players.

The deal marks the latest step by Saudi Arabia to develop its gaming industry, which it has spent billions of pounds on in recent years.

Niantic's other games, such as Monster Hunter Now and Pikmin Bloom, are also included in the acquisition, along with the people employed to make them.

They will become part of Scopely Inc - which itself was bought by PIF subsidiary Savvy Games Group for $4.9bn in 2023.

Scopely is one of the biggest names in mobile gaming, with its most successful title, Monopoly Go, being downloaded more than 50 million times and generating more than $3bn in revenue.

Pokémon itself is jointly owned by Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures, which licensed the brand to Niantic so it could develop the game.

Ed Wu, who leads the Pokémon Go team at Niantic, said in a blog post he believed the move was "a positive step" for the game's future.

"Pokémon Go is more than just a game to me, it's my life's work," he said.

"I won't say that Pokémon Go will remain the same, because it has always been a work in progress.

"But how we create and evolve it will remain unchanged, and I hope that we can make the experience even better."

Saudi Arabia is becoming an increasingly powerful player in gaming.

Its PIF has stakes in some of the biggest publishers in the industry, such as Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Take-Two Interactive.

It has also made waves in the eSports industry, with Saudi Arabia hosting major tournaments including last year's eSports World Cup, which had a prize pool of over $60m.

Riyadh will also host 2027's planned Olympic eSports Games.

Saudi Arabia's PIF has hundreds of billions in assets due to its oil wealth, which it has been investing heavily in sports such as golf, boxing and football, including a purchase of Newcastle United in a £300m deal in 2021.

It is controlled by the country's prince Mohammed bin Salman, whose government has been accused of human rights violations.

A 2019 UN report stated that "the state of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is responsible" for the death of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist who was critical of the country's government.

Saudi Arabia has always denied this.

NINTENDO

Nintendo announces Switch 2 release date - and a new Mario Kart game

Nintendo has revealed the Switch 2, the long awaited successor to one of the best-selling consoles in history, will be released on 5 June.

Fans have been impatiently waiting to find out more since January, when the Japanese gaming giant ended months of speculation by confirming basic information about the new device.

In a Nintendo Direct online presentation, watched by more than a million people, it gave further details of the hardware, as well as confirming it would be accompanied by Mario Kart World, a new edition of Nintendo's most famous game.

It also announced a series of other new titles for the console, including Elden Ring and Street Fighter 6.

The company said the new device would have better graphics and audio than its predecessor, and a chat button allowing players to speak to each other while playing.

The price will vary in different markets but in the UK it will retail at £395, or £429 with Mario Kart.

Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa called the new console "a leap forward", eight years after the release of the original Switch.

Mario Kart, Donkey Kong and Kirby return
As well as huge interest in the device itself, fans have been keen to find out what games they will be able to play on it.

Most eye-catching was Mario Kart World - in which the franchise appears to have been given a significant refresh.

Water graphics, character tweaks, big sprawling race tracks seen from a distance with varying weather and climates - Nintendo is firmly showing fans this console has more under the hood than its predecessor.

Nintendo pulls Switch 2 pre-orders in US over Trump tariffs

Nintendo says it will no longer open pre-orders for the Switch 2 in the United States next week, following the introduction of steep tariffs on exports from Japan.

The firm unveiled the much-anticipated console on Wednesday, the same day US President Donald Trump announced his sweeping new global tariffs.

It said then that US pre-orders would open in a matter of days, but it has been now been forced to revise its plans.

"Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions," it said in a statement.

It says it still intends to launch the console on June 5, as originally planned.

Nintendo confirmed the announcement applies to the US market only, so UK pre-orders will not be affected.

Tariffs are taxes charged on goods imported from other countries.

Japan, where the gaming company is based, has been hit with a 24% tariff - a cost which the firm must swallow or pass onto consumers.

Trump says that his global tariffs will boost the US economy and protect jobs - but Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba called them a "national crisis" on Friday according to local media.

"The government will do its utmost to respond to this crisis, involving the entire country," he said.

The decision may raise concerns amongst fans that Nintendo could be considering a change in prices in the US.

The cost of the console's games has already emerged as an area of concern.

On Wednesday, it revealed the Switch 2 would cost $449.99 in the US, with a physical copy of its big game Mario Kart World coming in at $79.99 - though it can be purchased for less if bought with the console.

It is not known whether Nintendo factored potential tariffs into its original pricing - though, even if it did, it is unlikely it would have expected the rate to be as high as the 24% announced by Trump.

The "TikTok Soap Opera" is Back

Trump extends deadline to keep TikTok running in US

US President Donald Trump has granted TikTok a second 75-day extension to comply with a law that requires the hugely popular video app to either sell its US operation or face a ban in the country.

"We do not want TikTok to 'go dark'," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal." The platform is currently owned by Chinese company ByteDance.

Trump's first extension was granted after he took office in January and was set to expire on Saturday.

The social media platform, which says it has more than 170 million users in the US, must close in the US under a law passed by Congress - unless a buyer is found.

In a statement on Friday, ByteDance said it had been in discussion with the Trump administration, but "an agreement has not been executed".

"There are key matters to be resolved. Any agreement will be subject to approval under Chinese law," a spokesperson said.

Former US President Joe Biden's administration had argued that TikTok could be used by China as a tool for spying and political manipulation.

Congress passed a bipartisan law last year that gave ByteDance six months to sell its controlling stake in TikTok or see the app blocked in the US.

Opponents of a ban have cited freedom of speech as a reason for keeping the platform open.

The new extension comes as the Trump administration tries to broker a deal to bring the social media platform under American ownership, and keep the popular app running in the US.

"The Deal requires more work to ensure all necessary approvals are signed," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

AI

Meta releases new AI model Llama 4

Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab on Saturday released the latest version of its large language model (LLM) Llama, called the Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick.

Meta said Llama is a multimodal AI system. Multimodal systems are capable of processing and integrating various types of data including text, video, images and audio, and can convert content across these formats.

Meta said in a statement that the Llama 4 Scout and Llama 4 Maverick are its "most advanced models yet" and "the best in their class for multimodality."

Meta added that Llama 4 Maverick and Llama 4 Scout will be open source software. It also said it was previewing Llama 4 Behemoth, which it called "one of the smartest LLMs in the world and our most powerful yet to serve as a teacher for our new models."

Big technology firms have been investing aggressively in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure following the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT, which altered the tech landscape and drove investment into machine learning.

The Information reported on Friday that Meta had delayed the launch of its LLM's latest version because during development, Llama 4 did not meet Meta's expectations on technical benchmarks, particularly in reasoning and math tasks.

The company was also concerned that Llama 4 was less capable than OpenAI's models in conducting humanlike voice conversations, the report added.

Meta plans to spend as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure, amid investor pressure on big tech firms to show returns on their investments.

Meta plans nearly $1 billion data center project in Wisconsin, Bloomberg News reports

Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab is planning on spending nearly $1 billion on setting up a data center project in central Wisconsin as part of its investment in artificial intelligence technology, Bloomberg News reported on Friday.

Wisconsin in February reached an agreement with an unnamed company using an alias to develop a data center in the state with an expected multiyear investment of $837 million, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

The company behind the project is Meta, the report said.

Both Meta and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp declined to comment on the report when contacted by Reuters.

Investment in data centers has seen an uptick as technology giants have ramped up capex to meet the computing power needed to run generative AI applications such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google Gemini.

Meta has earmarked as much as $65 billion this year to expand its AI infrastructure amid investor pressure on big tech firms to show returns on their investments.

U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping reciprocal tariffs could hamstring Big Tech's billion-dollar efforts to build AI infrastructure in the country, likely undermining a key goal of the administration, analysts said on Thursday.

Musk and OpenAI jury trial to begin in spring next year

Billionaire Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will go to a jury trial in spring 2026, the federal judge presiding over the case decided on Friday.

Last month, OpenAI and Musk agreed to fast-track a trial over OpenAI's for-profit shift, the latest turn in a grudge match between the world's richest person and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman playing out publicly in court.

The judge, Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, had denied Musk's request to pause the ChatGPT maker's transition to a for-profit model and instead proposed an expedited trial.

Musk cofounded OpenAI with Altman in 2015 but left before the company took off and subsequently founded the competing startup xAI in 2023. xAI last month acquired Musk's social media company X in a deal that values X at $33 billion and allows the value of his artificial intelligence firm to be shared with co-investors in X.

Last year, Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab, sued OpenAI and Altman, accusing OpenAI of straying from its founding mission — to develop AI for the good of humanity, not corporate profit.

OpenAI and Altman have denied the allegations, while Altman alleges that Musk has been trying to slow down a competitor.

META

Meta's content moderation contractor to cut 2,000 jobs in Barcelona

Canadian-based tech company Telus (TIXT.TO), opens new tab sent home as many as 2,000 people from its content moderation centre in Barcelona after Facebook owner Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab severed its contract, local unions CCOO and UGT said.

The company - operating locally as CCC Barcelona Digital Services - emailed its workers on Thursday placing them on gardening leave saying a client warned on April 1 it would suspended services.

The email, which Reuters had access to, did not specify who the client was, but UGT and CCOO said Telus' client was Meta.

One former and one current employee, who requested anonymity as they signed non-disclosure agreements, said the team was moderating content for Meta.

"Our clients are diversifying their presence and transferring their services to other locations," Telus said, adding the contract continued. The company will provide support to all the affected team members during negotiations with the unions.

A Meta spokesperson said the company has moved the services that were being performed from Barcelona to other locations and the company is not reducing its content review efforts.

Meta invested billions and hired thousands of content moderators globally over the years to police sensitive content, but in January it scrapped its U.S. fact-checking programme, following the election of President Donald Trump.

It also said it will stop proactively scanning for hate speech and other types of rule-breaking, reviewing such posts only in response to user reports.

Employees were placed on leave, with full salaries but no work to carry out, while Telus negotiates severance with unions, the email sent to workers said.

The company suspended its operations at noon on Thursday and asked employees at work to leave the office, located in Barcelona's landmark Glories tower downtown.

The team in Barcelona included content moderation services in Catalan, Dutch, French, Hebrew, Portuguese and Spanish, according to the former employee.

Other content moderation centres in countries such as Bulgaria, Colombia and Portugal that used to collaborate with the staff in Barcelona, the current employee said, although a Telus spokesperson said some of these centres are run by other companies.

Meta can be sued in Kenya over posts related to Ethiopia violence, court rules

A Kenyan court has ruled that Facebook's parent company Meta (META.O), opens new tab can be sued in the East African country over its alleged role in promoting content that led to ethnic violence in neighbouring Ethiopia, a plaintiff in the case said.

The landmark case, which stems from alleged hate speech on the platform during the 2020-2022 civil war in northern Ethiopia's Tigray region, could have implications for how Meta works with content moderators globally.

The company has argued that local courts do not have the power to hear cases against it where it is not registered as a company.

Kenya's High Court rejected that argument in its ruling on Thursday, said the Katiba Institute, which is a plaintiff in the case alongside two Ethiopian researchers.

"The court here has refused to shy away from determining an important global matter, recognising that homegrown issues must be addressed directly in our courts," said Nora Mbagathi, the institute's executive director.

A Meta spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The plaintiffs allege that Facebook's recommendation systems amplified violent posts in Ethiopia during the Tigray war.

Plaintiff Abrham Meareg alleges that his father, Meareg Amare, was killed in 2021 following threatening posts on Facebook. Fisseha Tekle, an Amnesty International researcher, says he faced online hate for human rights work in Ethiopia.

They are demanding that Meta create a restitution fund for victims of hate and violence and alter Facebook's algorithm to stop promoting hate speech.