AliExpress fined almost $630 million over illegal product sales
AliExpress fined almost $630 million over illegal product sales

AliExpress has been hit with a €550 million (about $629 million) fine for violating Europe’s Digital Services Act (DSA) rules by failing to prevent illegal, unsafe, or counterfeit products from being sold on the e-commerce platform. The European Commission ruled that AliExpress didn’t take effective measures to reduce the dissemination of illegal products, noting the […]

US Marshals arrest the Tate brothers in Miami
US Marshals arrest the Tate brothers in Miami

The manosphere influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate were arrested Saturday in Miami by US Marshals in relation to new rape and sex trafficking charges in England. According to the Associated Press, British authorities are seeking the brothers’ extradition. The new charges facing Andrew Tate include seven counts of rape, three of sex trafficking, three counts […]

Message Screenshots Are Terrible Evidence—Courts Accept Them Anyway

A digital forensics expert on why screenshots of text messages prove almost nothing, what carrier records and backups miss and when only the smartphone can answer.

5 Reasons Metadata Can’t Prove Your Photo—Or Any File—Is Real

Metadata was never proof. It is an envelope written in pencil, and every new app and upload pipeline hands someone else an eraser.

Suno snatched millions of songs from YouTube, Genius, and Deezer
Suno snatched millions of songs from YouTube, Genius, and Deezer

Suno data obtained in a hacking incident has exposed that the AI music generator was trained by scraping millions of songs and lyrics from online audio platforms, including YouTube Music, Deezer, and Genius, 404 Media reports. Given that Suno has avoided revealing what’s in its training datasets and how they were acquired, this a rare […]

‘My AI Did It’ Is The Next Courtroom Excuse—And It Might Actually Work

‘It wasn’t me. The agent did it.’ AI agents can use a computer like a ghost or just like you. A digital forensics expert on proving whether you or the AI touched the file.

Meet the lawyer who beat Elon Musk — twice
Meet the lawyer who beat Elon Musk — twice

Watching Elon Musk fulminate at Bill Savitt during Musk v. Altman – the case in which Musk sued Sam Altman and OpenAI instead of seeing a therapist about his AI failures – was a bit like watching a toddler have a temper tantrum at his nursery school teacher. Savitt’s questions were “designed to trick me,” […]

Prosecutors used ChatGPT logs as evidence in the Palisades fire trial
Prosecutors used ChatGPT logs as evidence in the Palisades fire trial

Jonathan Rinderknecht was facing arson charges for setting a fire on New Year’s Day in 2025, which became one of the deadliest wildfires in LA history. To make their case, prosecutors turned to location data from his iPhone, security camera footage, and witness testimony. But they also turned to his ChatGPT logs. Prosecutors said that […]

Electric air taxis are stuck in the courtroom
Electric air taxis are stuck in the courtroom

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on aviation, air taxis, and Wi-Fi speeds at 30,000 feet, follow Andrew J. Hawkins. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Last year, […]

The Onion’s rebooted InfoWars is coming July 2nd
The Onion’s rebooted InfoWars is coming July 2nd

The Onion’s InfoWars officially has a launch date: On July 2nd, the conspiracy network previously run by Alex Jones will return as a comedy and media platform. The reboot comes more than a year and a half after news broke that the satirical news site was working to acquire the property owned by Jones, a […]