xAI’s last-minute scramble to stop Minnesota’s anti-nudification app law
xAI’s last-minute scramble to stop Minnesota’s anti-nudification app law

xAI is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison over a law passed back in May that broadly targets “nudification” apps, claiming that the statute’s punitive provisions leave the company with “no practical choice but to restrict Grok Imagine’s image-editing features in various ways.” The law, the company argues, violates the First Amendment. Back in January, […]

New Yorkers will soon need to verify their age to access algorithmic feeds
New Yorkers will soon need to verify their age to access algorithmic feeds

New Yorkers who want to see their Instagram or TikTok feed curated by an algorithm, or receive notification after midnight, will soon have to verify their ages to access those features. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) released a set of final rules on how to implement the SAFE for Kids Act, signed into […]

Brendan Carr plans to let broadcast giants dominate the airwaves
Brendan Carr plans to let broadcast giants dominate the airwaves

The Federal Communications Commission will vote next month on whether a single company can own broadcast stations that reach more than 39 percent of US TV households. In a Breitbart op-ed on Wednesday, Republican Chair Brendan Carr announced an August 6th vote to end the national ownership cap rule, which was intended to prevent one […]

ICE agents are making house calls for online critics
ICE agents are making house calls for online critics

A few hours after checking into a hotel in New York City, David Streever woke up to a call from the front desk saying someone was looking for him. Streever had just landed on a return trip from Finland, where he’d vacationed with his daughter. Though Streever didn’t know it yet, while he’d been away, […]

ABC tells the government to get out of its newsrooms
ABC tells the government to get out of its newsrooms

ABC is firing back at the Federal Communications Commission after the agency opened an investigation into The View’s airtime of political candidates. In a letter to the FCC on Tuesday, ABC argues that the agency’s actions pose a risk to editorial independence by targeting programs “perceived as unfriendly to the current administration,” as reported earlier […]

The midterms are going to be a data security nightmare
The midterms are going to be a data security nightmare

One messy database is threatening to disenfranchise thousands or even millions of registered voters, while leaving even more at risk of intimidation or data breaches, in the name of solving a problem that barely exists. As the 2026 midterm elections approach, election and privacy experts are sounding alarms about the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic […]

The bill that would let Jimmy Kimmel sue Brendan Carr is here
The bill that would let Jimmy Kimmel sue Brendan Carr is here

Under a new bipartisan bill, Americans could sue for damages if a government official illegally tries to coerce a social media, AI, or broadcasting company to remove their post – regardless of whether the platform actually does it. Senate Commerce Committee Chair Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the JAWBONE Act on […]

Apple’s new parental controls are for keeping Apple out of trouble
Apple’s new parental controls are for keeping Apple out of trouble

When Apple put child safety front and center at WWDC on Monday, its stated goal was helping parents fine-tune their kids’ online experiences and avoid excessive screen time. But amid a global debate over internet regulation, its latest updates also looked like a defensive move in a brewing fight against Meta and other app developers. […]

One of Meta’s big legal reckonings just ended in a settlement
One of Meta’s big legal reckonings just ended in a settlement

After back-to-back losses in trials grappling with its impact on teens’ mental health, Meta just settled what was supposed to be its next legal battle with Kentucky’s Breathitt County School District. Google’s YouTube, Snap, and TikTok all recently settled similar claims brought by the school district, which was seeking payment from the companies to cover […]

America’s dangerous, messy deepfakes crackdown is here
America’s dangerous, messy deepfakes crackdown is here

A law requiring social networks to quickly remove sexual deepfakes and other nonconsensual imagery is now fully in force. But experts warn the policy could do little to help victims – and at worst could facilitate censorship online. Last May, President Donald Trump signed the Take It Down Act, a law addressing nonconsensual intimate imagery […]