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The new profanity rules YouTube introduced late last year are being relaxed — with an update outlining a less restrictive policy that will allow the use of moderate and strong profanity to be used without risking demonetization. The original policy, first introduced in November, would flag any video that used rude language in the first several seconds as ineligible for advertising, with little delineation between "strong" or "moderate" swearing. The policy also seemed to apply retroactively, with many creators claiming that videos they published before the updated policy had lost their monetization status. Now, YouTube is reversing course with a tweaked set of rules that allows some swearing.

Now, creators who use colorful language in the first seven seconds of a video are still eligible for advertising, with some conditions. If the profanity is "moderate," the video won't face any restrictions — but strong profanity in those opening seconds could result in a video only receiving "limited ads." Under the original rules, the update notes, both of these scenarios would have caused a video to be completely demonetized. Creators will be able swear more frequently after the first seven seconds without fear of losing advertising revenue, though YouTube notes that excessive swearing will still put content at risk of being demonetized or limited.

The update also clarifies that strong language in background, outro or intro music should not affect monetization status.

The new language policy goes into effect starting on March 7th — and while it doesn't address every concern creators had about the November ruleset, it should make it easier for most YouTubers to continue to monetize their videos without significantly changing their content or style.

It's not just House representatives that want the federal government to ban TikTok. A bipartisan alliance of senators has introduced a bill that would give the Commerce Secretary the authority to ban TikTok and other foreign technology perceived as a national security threat. The would-be law would be limited to tech emerging from China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela.

The group is led by senators Mark Warner and John Thune. It includes high-profile politicians from both parties, including Joe Manchin and Mitt Romney.

The move comes just days after the House Foreign Affairs Committee advanced a bill, the Deterring America's Technological Adversaries (DATA) Act, in a partisan vote. A House vote is expected later in March. That measure is more targeted and meant to prevent Americans' data from falling into the hands of the Chinese government. In December, a section of an omnibus spending bill banned TikTok on federal government devices following similar restrictions in multiple states.

In all cases, the concern remains the same. Critics are concerned the Chinese government might use TikTok to collect data on Americans and spread propaganda. TikTok has repeatedly denied cooperation with Chinese officials, and has tried to assuage fears by moving data and traffic to US-based servers. Oracle, which runs the US servers, has been reviewing TikTok's algorithms and moderation systems.

There's no certainty the Senate will pass its bill and reconcile it with a House equivalent. The Commerce Secretary also isn't guaranteed to exercise the power if granted. However, the introduction of the bill adds pressure to TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew as he testifies before the House on March 23rd. He'll be fighting a Congress that's even more determined to limit his company's business.

Gigi Sohn, President Biden's pick to serve as the critical fifth vote on the Federal Communications Commission, is withdrawing from her nomination to the telecom regulator. On Tuesday, Sohn said she recently asked President Biden to appoint someone else to the FCC. The Biden administration originally announced Sohn's nomination in October 2021, only for her to go on to face intense resistance from Republicans and moderate Democrats like Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia. Per The Washington Post, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that, as of Tuesday, the Biden administration did not have news to share on a new nominee.       

"Unfortunately, the American people are the real losers here," Sohn said in a statement. " The FCC deadlock, now over two years long, will remain so for a long time. As someone who has advocated for my entire career for affordable, accessible broadband for every American, it is ironic that the 2-2 FCC will remain sidelined at the most consequential opportunity for broadband in our lifetimes."

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Biometric technology may make it easy to unlock your phone, but democratic lawmakers have long cautioned against the use of facial recognition and biometrics by law enforcement. Not only have researchers documented instances of racial and gender bias in such systems, false positives have even led to real instances of wrongful arrest. That's why lawmakers have re-introduced the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Act. This actually marks the third time the bill was introduced to the Senate — despite being introduced in 2020 and 2021, the act was never advanced to a vote.

If passed, the Facial Recognition and Biometric Technology Act would outright ban any use of facial recognition or biometric surveillance by the federal government unless that use is explicitly approved by an Act of Congress. That approval itself would be pretty limited: It would need to define who was allowed to use biometric surveillance, the exact type of biometric surveillance they would be using and the specific purpose it would be used for. Approval would also have the burden of further restrictions, such as adhering to minimum accuracy rates that would hopefully avoid false positives in the rare instances when use of the technology is approved.

The bill also hopes to encourage local and state governments to follow its lead, including a clause that would tie some federal funding for local law enforcement to complying with a "substantially similar" ban on facial recognition and biometrics.

While the bill hasn't had much luck making it to the floor of either chamber of congress, some states and local governments have been banning facial recognition technology on their own. In 2020, Portland Oregon put strict guardrails on the use of facial recognition technology. New York State and Massachusetts have also put restrictions on the use of biometrics. Even the IRS walked back plans to use facial recognition for identity verification purposes.

That sounds encouraging for the re-introduced bill, but that momentum isn't universal: Law enforcement still sees biometrics as a useful tool for investigating crime, and the TSA has been testing systems that compare travelers to the photo on their passport or driver's license.

Since Panic’s Playdate began shipping last spring, the handheld has offered two ways for players to install games. To start, the device comes with a seasonal lineup of free titles. These are automatically added to your Playdate’s library at a cadence of two every week for 12 weeks, for a total of 24 games during its first season. It’s also possible to sideload games purchased through marketplaces like Itch.io. Today, Panic is adding a third way to download software for your Playdate in the form of Catalog, a curated storefront of Playdate content.

At launch, there are 16 games to be found on Catalog. You can browse the storefront on your Playdate and the web. Eleven of the titles are brand new, and it looks like there are some promising gems on the list. Specifically, Grand Tour Legends looks like a standout. It’s an arcade racing game where your only job is to turn the pedals on your bike by spinning the Playdate’s signature crank. There’s more strategy involved than you might think, as you need to manage your rider’s energy levels. Another intriguing title comes in the form Carve Jr, a game where you use the Playdate’s crank to perform snowboarding tricks. At most, you can expect to pay up to $15 for a game from the storefront.

Separately, Panic is increasing the price of Playdate. Effective April 7th, the handheld will cost $199, a $20 increase from its current $179 price. The company blamed the price increase on increasing production costs. “Our manufacturing partner recently gave us the news that the cost of building a Playdate is going up,” Panic said. “And given our already tight margins, we’re at a point when we need to adjust Playdate’s price.” Panic adds it’s giving customers a month’s notice on the price increase to soften the blow caused by the move. “We don’t take this lightly: we’ve always wanted Playdate to be as affordable as possible.”

It's been so long since Meta cut Messenger out of the Facebook mobile app that Windows Phone was still somewhat of a thing at the time. Almost nine years later, Meta is ready to bring them back together. "We are testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app and you’ll see us expand this testing soon," Facebook head Tom Alison wrote. "Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook."

When Meta removed Messenger from the Facebook app in 2014, it said that "our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences." It's unclear whether Meta has any plans to bring messaging back to the mobile browser version of Facebook. It started pushing mobile web users toward the Messenger app in 2016. In any case, having one fewer app to juggle on your phone is probably not a bad thing. You might be able to send messages to Instagram users from the Facebook app too.

Meta made the announcement in a bizarrely framed blog post about Facebook's focus areas for 2023. The post seeks to assure people that "Facebook is not dead nor dying," as it now has more than 2 billion users.

In an effort to become more competitive with TikTok, Meta is attempting to shift Facebook away from an app where you keep up with friends and family to more of an entertainment and discovery platform. It's trying to "make Facebook the best place for social discovery and sharing," as Alison put it in the blog post. 

A key reason why Meta is bringing messaging back to the Facebook app is to "make it easier for people to share what they discover on Facebook via messaging, when, where and how it suits their needs, without needing to switch to another app," Alison wrote. TikTok enables users to share videos that they stumble upon with their friends through built-in direct messaging. So, on one hand Meta is reversing course and going back to an older way of doing things, but on the other it is, once again, aping a competitor.

Twitch already forbids explicit deepfake images and videos, but it's taking a tougher position against them today. The livestreaming service is updating its policy on adult nudity to include a ban on synthetic NCEI (non-consensual exploitative images), even if it's only shown briefly or to criticize its existence. It's also revising ts sexual violence and exploitation policies to make clear that intentionally making and sharing non-consensual deepfakes can lead to a ban with the first offense.

The policy changes should take effect within the next month. The company hopes the added clarity and modernized language will deter potential offenders. The company is holding a virtual Creator Camp with NCEI expert Zara Ward on March 14th to help spot and deal with malicious deepfakes. We've asked the company if it has any plans to detect deepfakes as they appear, and will let you know if we hear back.

The update comes after an incident in which well-known streamer Atrioc briefly showed a browser tab with a website selling access to deepfakes of female Twitch streamers, including some high-profile creators. Atrioc has since apologized and says he was only "morbidly curious," but that still left broadcasters and viewers angry. None of the women consented to these images.

Women on Twitch are no strangers to harassment, including brigaders who try to get them banned for allegedly violating policies forbidding sexually suggestive content. Twitch has added more tools to discourage harassment and trolling, but critics have also accused it of implementing confusing guidelines that enable abuse and force women to dress conservatively.

Deepfakes can be used for positive purposes, such as clever music videos. However, the non-consensual versions remain a problem and have prompted government crackdowns. Both states and countries like the UK are either enacting or drafting laws that criminialize sharing such deepfakes. In that regard, Twitch is just adding another mechanism to help limit the spread of this content.

Peridot, the next game from Pokémon Go developer Niantic, will arrive on May 9th, the studio announced today. First revealed last spring, Peridot is the first original release from Niantic since it relaunched Ingress in 2018. Gameplay involves players breeding and caring for virtual pets named Dots. According to Niantic, each Dot will feature a unique appearance thanks to a system that allows them to inherit a mix of “genes” from their parents.

Pre-registrations for Peridot are now open on the App Store and Google Play Store. Players who pre-register and play the game within its first two weeks of availability will get a special party hat cosmetic for their Dots. It’s obvious Niantic has high hopes for Peridot and hopes to recapture some of the success it saw following the release of Pokémon Go in the summer of 2016. The last few years have seen the studio experience multiple setbacks. In 2021, for instance, it announced the shutdowns of both Harry Potter: Wizards Unite and Catan: World Explorers. More recently, Niantic laid off approximately 90 employees and canceled four more projects.

You won't have to buy a HomePod to listen to Apple Music spatial audio in your living room. Sonos has confirmed that its speakers will support Apple Music's Dolby Atmos playback from March 28th. You won't need the new Era 300 to experience the more immersive format, either. Sonos also says the Arc and second-gen Beam soundbars will also handle spatial audio tracks.

Play-series speakers and older Sonos soundbars unsurprisingly won't support spatial audio as they were built around conventional stereo and surround output. You'll need to upgrade if you want the grander audio experience, unfortunately.

The news makes the Era 300 considerably more appealing. Before today, Sonos was only committed to supporting spatial audio through Amazon Music Unlimited. This effectively doubles the potential audience. Statista notes that Amazon had 13.3 percent market share in the second quarter of last year, while Apple Music had 13.7 percent. Unless you're a Spotify die-hard (where spatial audio isn't really an option as we write this), there's a real chance you can try this feature yourself.

It's not certain if other speaker brands will support Apple Music spatial audio. We've asked Apple for comment. For now, though, this gives Sonos an edge over competitors that might not offer Atmos music at any price point. Whether or not it fares well against Apple's own hardware is another matter. If you're looking for spatial audio support at the lowest price possible, the $299 HomePod is decidedly more affordable than the $450 Era 300. We won't be surprised if the Sonos model sounds better, but it also represents a larger investment.

If you love technology as much as we do and have writing chops to boot, we want to hear from you. Engadget is looking for freelance news writers in the US! Interested applicants should send a cover letter, resume and links to three writing samples to jobs at engadget dot com. Here’s the deal:

Contributing writer

Engadget is looking for ambitious and enthusiastic freelance writers capable of telling compelling stories about technology, science and the future of everything. The ideal candidate will put important news in proper context with minimal fluff, find an interesting and original angle from which to tackle a story, explain complicated subjects simply and clearly, and do this all reasonably quickly.

As a writer at Engadget you'll be an essential part of our dedicated and passionate news team. Our ideal candidates will have some solid professional media experience under their belt, but we're also open to early-career writers who are ready to hustle. You'll gain valuable experience and exposure in a fast-paced, online newsroom. Plus, you'll have access to some of the finest writers and reporters in the business who can offer invaluable lessons on how to thrive in the modern media landscape.

Freelance contributing writers will take on between three and five assignments per day (we're looking for coverage on East Coast hours, with shifts such as 8AM-1PM ET and 1PM-5PM ET available). We are currently looking for writers located in the US, or anyone willing to work during US business hours. Shifts will be a minimum of four hours, paid hourly at $28.

We're looking for:

• Preferably someone who already has some professional tech/science/auto bylines under their belt.

• A familiarity with and sincere interest in consumer technology.

• A writer with a strong, lively voice who can turn in clean copy quickly.

• Works well with others, and is receptive to feedback.

• Experience with Photoshop or other photo editing software is a plus.