AI checks the box...Literally

China's AI ambition, Google Trends API, a new perspective on SEO, and Daily Mail's bold aspirations - all in this week's bumper edition of Content Aware.

Published: 15:04, 31 July 2025

Corbidge comments on...verifications, regulations, and restrictions
As the UK's Online Safety Act is shaking up the internet and demanding strict age checks, savvy users are jumping through hoops to dodge restrictions with a surge in VPN use, turning the whole situation into a full-blown sport. Can the wild, global web be tamed? Our resident regulations sheriff Rob shares his thoughts.
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Me? A robot? 
ChatGPT, a bot? Not anymore, apparently. OpenAI's latest AI assistant can now breeze through Cloudflare's anti-bot checks without any issues. It didn't even get hit with a full CAPTCHA, just ticked the box and went on with its task like a seasoned internet user, and on top of it, narrated the whole process. Although beating CAPTCHA isn't exactly new, watching a bot talk you through it adds a whole new layer of irony and finesse. It seems that the line between human and bot just got blurrier.
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AI Action Plan: Control, compliance, and controversy
Trump's new shiny AI Action Plan is basically a love letter to Big Tech, offering them more or less everything they want, except a few exemptions. The plan is trying to tame the states' own legislative urges by tying federal funding to their willingness to play nice and avoid passing any pesky AI laws. The Federal Communications Commission is also going to become some sort of AI overlord. Another stated aim is that government AIs need to be "neutral" and "truth-seeking".
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SEO without clicks is still SEO
Once upon a time, it was much easier to achieve a decent ranking on Google, but now, with AI Overviews, Reddit threads, map packs, and whatever else Google throws into the search results mix, you could do everything right and still end up invisible. Search Engine Land spills the beans on how to stay seen (and relevant) with a little help from organic search visibility.
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Cool tech, uncertain impact
Google's new AI Mode is shaking up the search in the UK, serving us chatty, AI-crafted answers instead of the trusty blue links we've all come to know and love. It almost sounds neat, but then you realise that means less traffic for websites and publishers who rely on those visits. Google says it's just a helpful extra for tackling complex questions while critics are side-eyeing accuracy and the hefty environmental costs that come with these helpful extra steps.
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Google lets a few peek behind the API curtain
Google just dropped the first glimpse of its Google Trends API for digging deep into what the world is actually searching for. After years of requests, finally the data goldmine is getting a proper API, which promises to make content creators and website owners' lives a lot easier. It is only available to a few select alpha testers, so if you want to dig in early, better apply fast.
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News without borders
The Kyiv Independent is bringing a new meaning to the phrase reader-powered. Born in 2021 from a newsroom shake-up, the outlet said bye-bye to the paywall and leaned into their community, and it's paying off. Over 20,000 global members (and increasing) are funding fearless journalism as well as helping efforts and grassroots campaigns. With things such as Discord chats, behind-the-scenes peeks, and IRL impact, it's seems less as a subscription and more as a movement. Nieman Lab shares more info.
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One Daily Mail for one goal
The Daily Mail is going all in on global brand strategy, and aiming high while they're at it, with a bold target of one million digital subscribers by October 2028. The plan? Consolidating its many faces (Mail Online, Dailymail.com, etc) under one name: Daily Mail. The goal? A serious push for global digital dominance with more cohesion and less confusion. Press Gazette has the scoop.
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Spilling the tea
The anonymous dating review app, Tea, had a rapid rise to the top of the App Store but now it hit a major snag. A data breach was confirmed and hackers ran for the hills with 72,000 images, including 13,000 selfies and photo IDs from verification, and another 59,000 from posts, comments and DMs. Now it has emerged that another database was hacked, exposing over one million private messages. So much for staying anonymous. The platform has promised to identify affected users and offer them free identity protection services, but it's still a case of a security lapse turning into a full-blown privacy circus.
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Unlocking SEO with CSS
Even wondered how CSS affects SEO and your topic pages? Fear not, Search Off The Record has your back with their new podcast.
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China's global AI ambitions take centre stage
China's latest move to create a global AI cooperation group is giving the tech world a shake up and sending a very clear message to the US. The idea is to break down the fragmented AI rules and share the tech wealth, it's basically China's way of saying "We're ready to play nice, but it's going to be under our terms". Will this new AI alliance tip the scales, or just add another (expected) player to the global tech tug-of-war? Stay tuned.
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A browser battle in Brazil
In a bold move, Opera has taken Microsoft to task in Brazil, accusing the tech giant of stacking the deck by pre-installing Edge as the default browser and making it really hard for users to give anything else a try. Opera claims that these sneaky incentives and tricks are designed to keep rivals down. Fair play, who?
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Lessons from 22,000 AI pages
Tailride is a startup that went from an SEO rocket to a search engine ghost town when Google pulled the plug after noticing their 22,000+ AI-generated pages. It sounds like a doomsday scenario, but a lesson was learned and now they rely on thoughtful, human-reviewed pages, focused on actual users and real value. Slow growth, but Google seems to like them again.
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Google Zero is here, and it's coming for your clicks
We have entered a new era, or as they call it "Google Zero", where searchers get answers without visiting your site. The results? Some affiliate-heavy publishers report losing up to 50% of their income, as AI Overviews and algorithms rewrite the rules of web traffic. Some adapted, such as The New York Times and Dotdash Meredith, who are thriving with authority-rich content, personal tone, and high-value products. INMA shares more info.
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Meta halts EU political ads over red tape
Meta is pulling the plug on political and social issue ads in Europe starting October, all thanks to the EU's new TTPA rules demanding strict transparency and user consent. According to the tech giant, the new rules are a headache of legal complexity that'll kill personalised ads, while the EU states it's all about cutting manipulation and foreign interference.
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Charity theme, hacker's dream
It would appear that another WordPress theme just got a spot at the "most exploited" list. The Alone - Charity multipurpose Non-profit theme scored a 9.8 on the "oh no" scale, as it got ripped open by cybercriminals thanks to a critical bug. The flaw is a cheeky missing security check that basically rolls out the red carpet for unauthorised attackers to upload whatever they want. There is a fix out as of June the 16th, but the damage is already done and any site still running the 7.8.3 version is still vulnerable.
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