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.
The video, posted by Inner City Press, was shown during the DOJ’s trial against Huawei, which kicked off last week and follows the 2018 arrest of Huawei’s CFO and an indictment in 2020.
The September 2025 agreement said that Amazon would pay up to $1.5 billion over “deceptive” Prime signup practices. But after a court approved a joint motion, more people now qualify for refunds, there is now a maximum payment cap of $200 (up from $51), and Amazon will distribute refunds automatically, according to a press release.
[Federal Trade Commission]
Mustafa Suleyman on the AI safety debate, why AI isn’t consciousness, and how the industry pushes toward alignment.
US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema said in her unsealed ruling on Google’s ad tech trial that measures to break it up were “neither realistic nor needed,” the New York Times reports. Brinkema also called for Google to appoint a monitor to make sure it complies with the order.
They’ll be joining Nvidia’s Jensen Huang next week at a White House state dinner for Xi Jinping. It’s the first chance for Tim Cook to earn that $47 million pay package in his new role as Apple’s dedicated Trump whisperer: You is smart, you is strong, you is important.
The bill would require all new cars, including electric vehicles like Tesla, to be capable of receiving AM radio broadcasts. It now advances to the Senate, where a companion bill has already racked up 60 cosponsors. The bill’s main sponsor Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) celebrated the House passage in a statement:
This vote sends a clear message to car manufacturers that AM Radio is a lifeline that must be protected in new vehicles. From emergency response to sports, entertainment, and news, AM radio is an essential communication tool for tens of millions of Americans.
Some automakers have dropped AM radio in recent years, citing dwindling audiences and possible interference with electric powertains.
Update September 16th: Cars would be required to receive AM broadcast, not send broadcasts.
Apparently that’s what Flock cameras are silently telling themselves about every two minutes. 404 Media and Wired collaborated on reporting about hackers who broke inside the surveillance cameras and picked through their custom Android apps, data collection habits, and machine vision methods. Flock doesn’t seem happy, and the hackers are trying to “keep a low profile.”
Nvidia’s CEO has been taking calls from the president recently, including two days ago when he put Trump on speakerphone on a conference stage. Now CNBC reports Huang is expected to attend Trump’s state dinner next week with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Someone may be getting pretty nervous about AI and data center regulation!
The industry is in a panic, but it’s been claiming to want legal guardrails for years — with few meaningful results.
The EU Kids Act will be formally unveiled tomorrow where it will eventually be put to a vote by the 27-nation bloc. Parent-chaperoned “mini accounts” are proposed for children 13 to 15.
“I am aware that many perceive the power of Big Tech as overwhelming and impossible to roll back. I disagree,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We do not have to accept addictive features. We do not have to accept children being drawn into ever more extreme content. We do not have to accept that girls have their photos used for AI-generated sexualized images.”
OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Elon Musk have tentatively agreed to slow their roll, but Meta seemingly isn’t aligned. Mark Zuckerberg just tweeted each company has its own individual responsibility “to move at the pace required to train its models safely,” and claims Meta is already doing so.
He also prominently links to his manifesto from August, which contains this quote: “Any policy that slows American model releases -- even by a month -- could add significant risk to American leadership while letting foreign models race ahead.”
AI commentary is frothy this week! Obama chimed in with a series of posts on X saying he’s neither an AI “accelerationist” nor a “doomer.” In a familiar tone from the former president, he cautioned that choices we make about technology “should not be made just by the companies involved, but by all of us.”
“We need government — and specifically our leaders in Washington — to get proactive in coming up with concrete proposals, laws, and regulations that deal with serious safety concerns,” Obama said.
I was dismayed to discover only 9% of US adults answered all eight questions correctly in the Pew Research Center’s basic quiz on the First Amendment. How well can you do? Hint: it’s a leash on government restriction of speech. With that, I’m sure you’ll score better than Brendan Carr.
[Pew Research Center]
It’s the first official confirmation, delivered by Air Force Secretary Troy E. Meink:
“We are increasing readiness against existing threats, and the United States has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the Joint Force against hostile adversary action.”
It’s like the race to build self-improving superintelligence before the other guy does, only with space guns. Meink apparently never saw Gravity.
Major AI companies want to ‘pace the frontier’ — but their proposed solutions need real teeth.
Trump may have lost the aggression of David Sacks as AI czar, but he’s now picking up the baton. In another all-timer posted to Truth Social, Trump says the only guardrails AI needs can be provided by his “high IQ.” This comes right on the heels of AI leaders, including Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who Trump maligns in his post, stating they want to slow down AI development for safety reasons.
Opposing AI and data centers? That could now make you look “treasonous” in Trump’s warped world.
When asked about the flurry of weekend blog posts and tweets from the CEOs of Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft, SpaceX, (and Alphabet’s Hassabis) calling for a coordinated slowdown on the development of advanced AI models, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry said, “Fear mongering, confrontation, competition will just disrupt [the] process of global AI governance.”
That partially aligns with Trump’s view that the execs are overreacting and “bringing up things that won’t happen,” but at least Beijing supports international regulation.
According to The Washington Post, the spy agency is set to undergo its largest restructuring in over a decade. Army general and NSA director Joshua M. Rudd is leading the effort. According to the Post:
Rudd’s initiative calls for the creation at NSA’s Fort Meade, Maryland, headquarters of five new organizations inside the agency, in artificial intelligence, China, cybersecurity, combat support or warfighting, and global intelligence. Each will be led by a newly elevated “mission director” …
[The Washington Post]
The ban, announced in July, has caused chaos for many manufacturers of robot vacuums, pool cleaners, lawn mowers, and more. Swedish company Husqvarna has secured the first exception to the rule for its 305v IQ, 310v IQ, 420v IQ, and 440v IQ after the Defense Department decided they don’t pose a national security risk.
The New York Times reported Thursday that federal prosecutors are in the “early stages” of a criminal investigation into the Clippers’ shady sponsorship arrangements for Kawhi Leonard, using companies like Aspiration, Daktronics (which already revealed an ongoing SEC investigation), and Boingo Wireless.
Pablo Torre obviously chimed in with his take on the proceedings, saying “there is, in fact, more.”
On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the former president, who became a painter in his retirement, just shared a self-portrait from his most fateful day. (He also has a new collection of paintings related to 9/11.) The original image depicts Bush receiving news of the attack from his chief of staff, as the president was reading a book to Florida schoolchildren. The “whisper” image has become a potent meme over the years.
Kimmel said he couldn’t air his interview with the Democratic Texas Senate candidate on TV after the FCC “threatened” him. Instead, you can watch it on the the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel:
A 2025 lawsuit claiming TikTok violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act will now go to trial after Judge Cory Liu granted the state’s request for a partial summary judgment on Thursday.
The state had argued that TikTok said it would remove content with drugs, gambling, or graphic injuries but instead designated it “hard to find,” and said a Restricted Mode setting filtered out content that was inappropriate for minors while employees internally acknowledged it didn’t work as well as advertised.
Water from the Colorado River is getting scarce — and more expensive for everyone.
Under AB1709, social platforms can’t provide algorithmic recommendations, infinite scroll, or autoplay features to users under 16 unless they receive parental consent.
Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of other online safety-focused bills into law as well, including new rules requiring chatbot makers to notify young users that they’re not talking to a human.
[The New York Times]
Posts from the official DHS account on X marked “Made with AI” show Optimus Prime with “ICE” and a DHS logo on him, along with the Transformers logo above “Age of Deportation.” Hasbro’s response says they were “done without permission” but didn’t mention any specific action to take them down.
