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Policy Archive

Archives for May 2026

Emma Roth
Emma Roth
California sues over 23andMe breach that exposed millions of people’s data.

Attorney General Rob Bonta filed a lawsuit against Chrome Holding Co. — formerly 23AndMe — claiming that the company failed to protect user information, leading to the massive 2023 breach that included data belonging to 6.9 million users. In 2024, 23andMe agreed to pay $30 million to settle a class action lawsuit related to the breach.

Gaby Del Valle
Gaby Del Valle
The White House is UFOposting.

After teasing some kind of alien-related disclosure, the White House rolled out… a map of ICE arrests touting 3.1 million encounters. It’s the same great replacement talking points as always — they’re being imported, elites facilitated the “invasion,” etc. etc. — with some X-Files-esque music playing in the background. And the numbers aren’t even right. I can only imagine the glee with which some groyper vibecoded this.

Stevie Bonifield
Stevie Bonifield
ABC says FCC’s early review of its broadcast licenses is “a threat to the First Amendment.”

As Deadline reports, ABC filed early renewal applications for its broadcast licenses “under protest” on Thursday, along with a letter condemning the FCC’s demand for the premature license renewal. ABC called it “unlawful, arbitrary, and unconstitutional,” stating:

Simultaneously forcing every station in a media company’s portfolio to file premature license renewal applications is not a regulatory tool. It is an extraordinary demonstration of power and coercion directed at disfavored editorial voices, which sends a clear warning to every broadcaster in America. This is a threat to the First Amendment that this Commission and this proceeding must not be permitted to normalize.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Court lets Texas’ app store age verification law take effect, for now.

In a brief order, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals allowed Texas to move forward with implementing its App Store Accountability Act while the case seeking to block it plays out. It’s an early test of a method that is being considered across several states, and in Congress.

Lauren Feiner
Lauren Feiner
Illinois is close to enacting an AI safety law with broader mandates than other states’.

Governor JB Pritzker says he plans to sign a bill passed Wednesday by the state legislature, which would require independent audits and whistleblower protections at AI companies. Those features go beyond recently passed AI safety laws in New York and California, according to NBC News, while also including similar protections.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
The DOJ has subpoenaed Reddit and X to try to unmask ICE critics.

The US Justice Department wants names, addresses, and banking information of at least two anonymous users, and is subpoenaing Reddit and X as part of criminal investigations, according to Bloomberg. The users have hired lawyers to push back.

Jay Peters
Jay Peters
This week in the big AI data center buildout.

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:

Thomas Ricker
Thomas Ricker
Samsung’s largest unions approve bonus scheme.

The deal will pay some workers in Samsung’s highly profitable memory chip unit around $416,000 this year, while employees in other chip units will receive less, and those in its consumer electronics divisions are ‌set ⁠to receive very little by comparison. Payouts are pegged to Samsung hitting profit milestones through 2028.