Big tech companies tend to make a lot of enemies — but there are none more powerful than the US government. Apple, Google, Amazon, and Meta are regularly called in front of Congress to fend off monopoly accusations — and lawmakers bring up bills to rein in the companies just as often. The Federal Trade Commission has taken a particularly central role, leading a lawsuit to sever Facebook and Instagram while blocking new acquisitions for Oculus and the company’s virtual reality wing. Like it or not, these regulatory fights will play a huge role in deciding the future of tech — and neither side is playing nice.
TMZ first reported that the UK-born longtime right-wing internet personality was apprehended in Louisiana, and Mother Jones’ Anna Merlan (and The Verge) confirmed he’s listed in ICE custody records. In recent years, Yiannopoulos has fallen out of favor with MAGA world, and Trump ally Laura Loomer, for one, is gloating.
A notice published on the Department of Homeland Security’s website says the agency plans to spend up to $2 million on Boston Dynamics’ robot dog, as reported earlier by 404 Media. This comes just weeks after the Associated Press reported that ICE aims to spend up to $20 million on gloves that deliver electric shocks.
The executive order, which comes days after Canada announced retaliatory tariffs against the US, says Trump is changing the name to honor Lake Ontario’s “flourishing economic resource and its critical importance to our Nation’s economy.”
We have reached out to Google and Apple to see if they’re going to swap Lake Ontario to Lake America in their Maps apps — as they did with the Gulf of America last year.
AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
The Wall Street Journal has a rundown on the behind-the-scenes wrangling that led to the baffling settlement agreement earlier this year, and left state AGs to pursue their own case. In an unusual twist, the settlement talks happened at the White House, with the AG and the White House lawyer, before giving the states a day to decide whether to join the deal. None did.
And at the end:
The following month, Trump nominated McDonald—the Sullivan & Cromwell lawyer who had represented Live Nation in the settlement—to be Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.
The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are both reporting on politicians like Greg Abbott and Josh Shapiro suddenly bashing types of projects they once championed. The Washington Post has a chart showing how online posts about data centers from both Democrat and Republican politicians have shifted from being mostly positive in early 2025 to being mostly negative.
On Sunday, Abbott appeared on ABC’s This Week, saying that by moving too fast, the industry “…basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them, and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.”
We’ve talked about outages globally and power grid issues in the US, but the place feeling the worst of it has been northwest Indiana, ever since a derecho knocked out power for more than 300,000 people starting on August 11th.
As of today, NIPSCO says 21,816 people remain without power, and current estimates show restoration for Gary and Portage will take until the 25th.
It would have been the next bellwether in the group of cases tried in a Los Angeles state court. In the first, Meta and YouTube were ordered to pay $6 million total. After settling with TikTok, the teen’s lawyer told The New York Times, she wanted to “resume her life.”
[The New York Times]
The company’s lawyers are telling the judge in Epic Games v. Google that developers need around 10 more days to make the fixes he ordered. Judge Donato was not happy with the original way it looked, calling out Google for adding unnecessary “anticompetitive friction”.
The glasses “could unintentionally capture, record or transmit sensitive information, potentially compromising privacy and legal protections,” ICE acting director David Venturella said in a memo to staff, according to The New York Times. Staffers can’t wear the glasses in the “federal workspace.”
[The New York Times]
The company laid out its defense in the trial against a coalition of state AGs, previewing that it will call on their own public health officials to combat claims of social media addiction, and claiming that the states have pulled public statements out of context to claim it misled parents.
In an opening statement, California deputy AG Megan O’Neill accused Meta of doing “too little, too late” to curb teens’ problematic usage of Facebook and Instagram, while misleading the public. She also laid out the states allegations that Meta knew — but didn’t remove – many kids under 13 on its platforms.
Beginning at 11 AM Eastern, you can stream opening arguments in a trial where 29 attorneys general allege Meta harmed consumers through addictive design. Meta denies this, and warned damages could reach $1.4 trillion — nearing its market cap. The AGs say they’d likely be closer to $200 billion.
The US has one of the most advanced “smart” surveillance apparatuses in the world. So why does this administration insist on building environmentally destructive, physical walls?
Andy Burnham exchanged messages with somebody posing as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles (whose phone was hacked last year) before becoming suspicious that the contact was an impersonation, Politico reports. The incident has since been reported to the White House, and the undisclosed message contents are reportedly “of no significance.”
“Roblox appears to prioritize revenue and engagement metrics over the safety and well-being of our children, and the alleged criminal activity on Roblox warrants congressional scrutiny,” Senators Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Dick Durbin (D-IL) wrote in a letter to Roblox CEO David Baszucki.
The online gaming platform has also been subject to state lawsuits regarding alleged child safety issues. Roblox has settled some of those lawsuits, and it recently launched dedicated accounts for younger users.
[Josh Hawley, U.S. Senator for Missouri]
The New York Times reports that Mangione, who is accused of murdering healthcare executive Brian Thompson, may plead guilty on Friday in the federal case against him. Mangione is also facing New York state charges in a trial that is scheduled to start in just a few weeks. His legal team could argue that the New York charges amount to double jeopardy if Mangione takes a plea in the federal case.
[NYTimes.com]
The end of USAID, which Elon Musk fed “into the wood chipper”, will cause an extra 14 million deaths through 2030, including 4.5 million in children under the age of 5. SpaceX shares are $141.10 as of this writing, above their IPO price of $135.
Correction: A previous version of this post referred to the journal article’s estimates as “new.” It was published in 2025.
The group says that while changes like more limited data retention is welcomed, the devil is in the details. “Transforming an exceptionally dangerous mass surveillance system into one that is fully protective of civil rights and civil liberties is a difficult, if not impossible task,” it writes.
[American Civil Liberties Union]
AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
In a lawsuit filed on Wednesday, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and The Intercept Media claim Truth Social’s up to $100,000 /month subscription is “profoundly corrupt” and “unconstitutional,” alleging Trump is illegally “profiting by selling government information.” The Intercept and FPT are asking the court to block the Truth Social subscription.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has come out in support of The Delivery Protection Act, a union-backed proposal that would force companies like Amazon, FedEx, and others to hire the workers who deliver packages wearing their logos. As it is, those workers are often contractors, which the backers of Intro 518 say serves as a smokescreen allowing the big companies to avoid responsibility and minimum pay regulations.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an appeal filed by the tech companies, allowing more than 3,000 child safety lawsuits to proceed, according to Reuters.
Separately, the court also rejected Meta’s request to push back a trial linked to social media addiction allegations from dozens of state AGs. The trial kicks off on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump tapped Danielle Thumann Severs to join the Federal Communications Commission. If confirmed, it would bring the agency’s makeup to three Republicans and one Democrat, with room for one more non-Republican commissioner. Chair Brendan Carr praised the nomination, though he already has enough votes to pass his agenda.
The Federal Trade Commission issued a policy statement Friday formalizing its stance against bringing claims based on “unfair discrimination.” One example where the FTC already abandoned such claims was when it dropped allegations that salespeople charged Black and Latino buyers more than white buyers for add-on car products, per Reuters.
[Federal Trade Commission]
Despite the preferences of some, Moderna announced that after years of work, mFLUSIVA (mRNA-1010) has been approved for use in adults aged 50 to 64, with an accelerated approval for adults 65 and up as they wait for the results of a follow-up study.
While Moderna plans to roll it out by this fall, the WSJ notes it’s still unclear what RFK Jr.‘s vaccine recommendation panel will say about this use of the Nobel Prize-winning approach.
[The New York Times]
Data center bans in states like Florida reveal how the anti-AI movement is channeling bipartisan backlash.
Mostly because I find it hilarious to watch people say out-of-pocket shit to under their own government names to people they are going to see at the farmer’s market and everywhere else. (The problem of people being mean online is not, it turns out, anonymity.) Here’s one woman’s story of the local consequences of a post.
[Oakland Review of Books]
AI data center projects are continuing to pop up across the US, with frequent opposition from locals concerned about their impact. Here are a few recent articles about the projects:
