Tech is reshaping the world — and not always for the better. Whether it’s the rules for Apple’s App Store or Facebook’s plan for fighting misinformation, tech platform policies can have enormous ripple effects on the rest of society. They’re so powerful that, increasingly, companies aren’t setting them alone but sharing the fight with government regulators, civil society groups, and internal standards bodies like Meta’s Oversight Board. The result is an ongoing political struggle over harassment, free speech, copyright, and dozens of other issues, all mediated through some of the largest and most chaotic electronic spaces the world has ever seen.
They continue seeking broader changes and damages than the DOJ settlement secured.
Meet the MVNOs that make Trump Mobile look subtle.
MS NOW reports that content creators were offered $1,500 to make videos attacking Kat Abughazaleh, a former journalist now running for office in Illinois’s 9th Congressional District. The offer came from a group called Democracy Unmuted, which has since updated its website to attack the MS NOW reporter who broke the story.
Search-and-rescue operations lacked access to pinpoint data on where tornadoes touched down, because Kristi Noem’s DHS spending policies are holding up approval of a $200k contract, reports CNN:
As the storms spread, officials from several states started contacting FEMA, asking why they couldn’t access the tornado tracking data… As of earlier this week, the tornado mapping contract still had not been renewed, the two sources said.
Minnesotans who are active in anti-ICE organizing say they’ve spotted drones in their neighborhoods — and in at least one instance, hovering right outside their houses — in recent weeks. The Department of Homeland Security won’t confirm whether the drones are theirs, but ICE has reportedly used license-plate readers and facial recognition technology to surveil activists in Minneapolis.
The decision reverses a 2024 order for TikTok to shut down its operations in the country, and comes after an agreement that TikTok will implement “enhanced protection” for Canadians’ personal information.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which previously warned against using TikTok, said Canadians should “proceed cautiously” when joining new platforms and “conduct their own research on the type of data being collected,” CTV News reports.
In a court filing, US Customs and Border Protection official Brandon Lord says parts of the agency’s new refund processing system are currently 40 to 80 percent complete. According to Lord, the CBP will begin “performance testing in the next few weeks.”
The CBP previously estimated that the system would be done in April, as its existing tech wasn’t equipped to handle $166 billion in refunds.
IDC, Omdia, and Gartner agree: the PC market will shrink because of RAMaggedon. Respectively, they’re forecasting 11 percent, 12 percent, and 10 percent declines in 2026, far bigger than previously predicted.
“The sub-$500 entry-level PC segment will disappear by 2028,” Gartner said in late February. Phones will drop similarly. And these forecasts don’t include the impacts of Trump’s war on Iran.
Parent advocates were determined to make their presence known to Meta’s CEO.
Techdirt’s Mike Masnick on the history of the NSA and mass surveillance in America, and why Anthropic’s fight with the Pentagon should worry us.
Epic and Google are settling, but the US version of the plan still rests in Judge Donato’s hands. He’s asking for “friend of the court” briefs in early April, meaning it’ll be longer before he makes a decision.
The judge just scheduled a 3 PM hearing ordering “principal decisionmakers” for the states and Live Nation to attend. I expect we’ll hear about the status of their settlement talks, and whether at least some portion of the 27 states plus DC pushing ahead will go back to trial Monday.
You can find more details on the tech billionaire-backed plan to build a new 400,000-resident city in Northern California in this episode of the Volts podcast. Host David Roberts is interviewing its leader, former Goldman Sachs trader Jan Sramek, and in this first segment, starts to dive into things like water, urban design, and wildfires.
”The hacker expressed disgust at the presence of child abuse images on the device and left a message threatening to turn its owner over to the FBI, the person said.” Apparently they didn’t realize they were on an FBI server.
The attacks have led to thousands of flight cancellations, stranding travelers in Dubai and elsewhere.
It follows a similar suit filed two weeks ago by New York. Both allege that the loot boxes in games like Counter-Strike 2 are essentially gambling, and the class action accuses Valve of “deceptive, casino-style psychological tactics.”
During an interview with Bloomberg, Emil Michael, the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, says Anthropic’s move to sue the Pentagon was an “expected reaction” to its designation as a supply-chain risk.
“I don’t think there’s a scenario where this gets resolved in that way,” Michael says, Bloomberg reports.
An empty tome listing nearly 10,000 authors — including Kazuo Ishiguro — calls out “theft” by AI companies as the UK government weighs sweeping changes to copyright law. It follows last year’s “silent album” stunt.
Organizers are handing out copies at today’s London Book Fair. Just don’t let Anthropic shred them.
We have no reason to believe that Live Nation is about to bankroll a Broadway spectacular based on the First Lady just because it managed to settle with the DoJ. We’re just saying, it feels like there’s a precedent.
Bebopper:
In unrelated news. “Melania: The Musical” will start a nationwide tour in April. The BBC reports that Ticketmaster has invested $100 million in the venture, with shows scheduled at some of the nation’s biggest venues.
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Bloomberg reports Apple manufactured 55 million iPhones in India in 2025, up from 36 million a year before, following a concerted effort to move production after Trump’s tariffs. Its aim is reportedly to build the 60 million annual US iPhone sales to India by the end of this year.
The FAA just announced its picks for the Advanced Air Mobility and Electric Vertical Takeoff and Landing (eVTOL) Integration Pilot Program (eIPP). Out of over 30 applicants, eight projects were selected to serve as the blueprint for how these aircraft will eventually fit into daily lives. The key focus areas are: urban air taxis; regional connectivity; medical and cargo; and autonomous flight. But the clock is ticking. Under the program’s guidelines, we can expect to see the first test flights beginning as early as summer 2026.
The events giant is reportedly close to settling its federal antitrust lawsuit without having to sell Ticketmaster, though some state attorneys general may decide to push ahead with the case regardless. The settlement plan would require the Ticketmaster subsidiary to make concessions around exclusive venue contracts and amphitheater usage.
Cookie’s Bustle is an extremely weird PC game released in 1999. And for reasons no one understands, a person by the name Brandon White, through their company Graceware, has been trying to erase all trace of it through non-stop copyright claims. But the VGHF got its lawyers involved and has finally put an end to Graceware’s shenanigans.
We are happy to report that after bringing these facts to Ukie’s attention, Ukie has suspended takedowns for Cookie’s Bustle on behalf of Graceware, SL. This is a big victory for the gaming community, hopefully bringing an end to a rights-squatting campaign that has dragged on for years.
[Video Game History Foundation]
