4 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Policy Archive

Archives for October 2026

Trump says Google kisses his assTrump says Google kisses his ass
Terrence O'Brien
Cities want to put the boot on robotaxis

Frustrated by federal gridlock, cities and states across the political spectrum are taking matters into their own hands to rein in autonomous vehicles.

Andrew J. Hawkins
Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
No Kings Coalition’s official Instagram briefly went dark.

A spokesperson told MS Now that Meta pulled the organization’s account and locked out its admins during today’s protests. The profile page is back up, but the organization says it still doesn’t have access to the account. Neither Meta nor No Kings immediately responded to a request for comment.

Update October 18th: Meta’s Andy Stone posted on X that the suspension was part of an automated response that sometimes happens when accounts post at “very high frequencies.” He continued to say that the “automated action was clearly taken in error. Everything is now working as it should and we sincerely apologize.”

Terrence O'Brien
Terrence O'Brien
Keep up with the latest No Kings news on the States Newsroom live blog.

The midterms edition of No Kings is underway, primarily focused on boosting early voting turnout rather than flooding the streets. If you want to keep up with all the news about the latest day of action as it’s happening, follow along at the States Newsroom live blog.

Adi Robertson
Adi Robertson
No Kings, midterms edition.

The latest day of action for the protest movement is today, but unlike previous rallies, this one is focused on increasing early voting turnout ahead of the November elections. Thousands of events are planned or already underway; as usual, there’s a map available on the site.

An estimated 30,000 people joined the third No Kings protest in downtown Portland in March.
An estimated 30,000 people joined the third No Kings protest in downtown Portland in March.
Photo by Sarah Jeong / The Verge
Sean Hollister
Sean Hollister
Another ‘DJI front company’ bites the dust.

In July, we told you how the FCC — and its subcontractor TÜV Rheinland — didn’t bother to do basic Google searches before legally approving banned DJI technology for import and sale. But a new game of whack-a-drone was more successful. Public records show TÜV Rheinland asked the FCC to block applications from another “DJI front company,” Jovistar. The FCC agreed, and Jovistar is now on notice.

The Jovistar drone.
The Jovistar drone.
Image: FCC
Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
Tech billionaires have reportedly donated over $340 million to fight a wealth tax in California.

According to The Guardian, the campaign they’re funding is spending over $1 million per day trying to defeat Proposition 40, which would enact a one-time 5 percent tax on California’s billionaires. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is reportedly the biggest donor, contributing at least $102 million, alongside other tech executives:

The donors to the no campaign are a who’s who of Silicon Valley, including the Palantir co-founder Peter Thiel, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu, Stripe CEO Patrick Collison, crypto magnate Chris Larsen and several prominent venture capitalists.

Richard Lawler
Richard Lawler
That was quick.

According to the NYT’s sources, White House press secretary Katie Zacharia is out after just five days in the role, or, by our count, less than half of a Scaramucci. Her time in the role included prediction market intrigue and claims she may have misrepresented herself as an attorney despite failing the bar exam.

The first vibe-coded gun is here

Cody Wilson says his AI model can generate new gun designs for 3D printing. We saw him fire the first one.

Mack DeGeurin
Robert Hart
Robert Hart
China is weighing export controls on AI.

Beijing is reportedly considering adding 23 AI technologies to its export-control list, including chip designs, agents, model weights, and source code. China has been steadily gaining on the US with recent releases like Kimi K3, and has been the target of Western AI-related export controls amid growing competition to maintain control over the strategic technology.

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
Florida can enforce social media ban for kids, appeals court rules.

The law prevents kids under 14 from creating an account on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, while requiring parental permission for teens aged 14 or 15. The tech trade group NetChoice won an injunction blocking the law in 2025, but a judge later paused the injunction during the appeals process, as reported by NBC 6 South Florida.