“The Commission preliminarily considers that TikTok [..] should adjust the default settings of minors' ‘public' accounts, so that their content is, by default, visible only to TikTok users whom the minor has accepted” ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

Commission preliminary finds TikTok in breach of Digital Services Act for failing to ensure safe accounts for minors

Today, the European Commission sent TikTok preliminary findings indicating that TikTok accounts of minors do not meet the safety standards required under the Digital Services Act (DSA).

ec.europa.eu

Great to see the EU's Digital Markets Act in action 👏. But let's be honest, the fine is pocket change and the behavioural remedies are nice to haves but hardly groundbreaking. To put the fine in context, Alphabet just disclosed its going to spank *$205bn* on AI this year alone.

European Commission@ec.europa.eu · 2w ago

⚠️ We have fined Google €890 million for breaching the Digital Markets Act, by promoting their own services and restricting customer access to alternatives on Google Search and Google Play. More information: link.europa.eu/vrNJTx

Meta’s smartglasses mean any child can be covertly filmed. In the age of AI, how do we tackle that risk?

Meta’s smartglasses mean any child can be covertly filmed. In the age of AI, how do we tackle that risk?

The company argues that it’s for individuals to ensure they don’t ‘actively exploit’ this technology. That won’t keep children safe, says Guardian columnist Gaby Hinsliff

theguardian.com

New: cops are using Flock to track people, not cars. We reviewed Flock search data and found many, many cases of cops searching for people based on their appearance, race, tattoos, etc. Some searches are so vague like "tall man" that innocent people likely swept up www.404media.co/how-cops-use...

How Cops Use Flock to Track People, Not Cars

Cops have used Flock's FreeForm search feature to look for people with tattoos and wearing specific sport shirts, and searches sometimes include the target's race, according to data reviewed by 404 Me...

404media.co

I write about this in the book. Increasingly, the proposition from these companies is “let us surveil you constantly.” That’s it! That’s the deal. In return you get the (supposed) benefit of a machine that “knows” you, whatever that’s supposed to mean. finance.yahoo.com/technology/a...

"Whether it’s the cartoon super-villainy of Alex Karp, the lies of Sam Altman, or the Hitler worship of Elon Musk, the mask is off and the psychotic personalities behind these companies have been revealed for all to see." Great new guest post from Ryan Ward open.substack.com/pub/gracebla...

What you hate about AI is the capitalism

AI pulls the curtain back on the extractive logic that orders our lives

open.substack.com

"AI, like VAR, is intruding, often unnecessarily, sometimes absurdly, sometimes disastrously, into key arenas of human practice, against the will of most and for the benefit of the few." @bcmerchant.bsky.social www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/what-var-t...

What VAR tells us about AI

FIFA's semi-automated refereeing system promises neutrality but brims with bias. It's widely despised yet embraced by elites. It is, in other words, a lot like AI.

bloodinthemachine.com

🚨 BREAKING: Overnight in Brussels We sent a clear message to EU leaders: 📣”Fight for us, not for Trump's billionaires.”

France's move to drop Palantir from its intelligence services is the latest sign of European unease with the American data-mining firm. A firm that has grown from a CIA-backed startup into one of the most powerful technology players of the Trump era u.afp.com/SzWH

"an audit by Lighthouse Reports of public data on the government’s chosen AI provider shows that its tech misclassified more than a third of 16-year-olds as adults and, in some tests, was shown to give the wrong assessment in 70 per cent of cases" www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home...

Home Office knew AI age checks for migrants were flawed — but rolled it out anyway

Exclusive: Government advisors describe the tool as ‘hideously flawed’ amid concern facial age estimation has ‘baked-in racial bias’ — and can wrongly identify a 14-year-old as an adult

independent.co.uk

So Eric Trump tried to insider trade the UFC fights and I think we might have a better idea who has been front running the Iran war announcements in the oil markets

And setting a very dangerous precedent that a future Reform government will no doubt exploit to target whoever they don't like as "terrorists". Labour seems intent on welcoming in authoritarianism.

Kartik Raj@kartikraj.eurosky.social · 2mo ago

5/n "... The UK government is misusing draconian powers to suppress the right to protest on British streets and putting itself in the company of other governments that attack democratic freedoms worldwide. " /end of quote

1/n Response below from @hrw.org to today's Court of Appeal judgment that the UK Home Secretary's proscription of Palestine Action as a terrorist organization was lawful: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026... The thread also has links to the judgment, @hrw.org research, and some legal commentary.

Ban on Palestine Action was lawful, court of appeal rules

Judges overturn decision of high court that government proscription of group under Terrorism Act was wrong

theguardian.com

SCOOP from me and @mollytaft.com: As data centers become a hot-button issue in the lead up to midterms, Congress and the White House appear to be allowing a little-known regulation on how the government regulates data centers that hold federal data expire. @wired.com www.wired.com/story/the-us...

The US Government Is Letting a Key Data Center Regulation Expire

The federal government is planning to let a rule regulating federal data center operations sunset in September with no replacement.

wired.com

If you have a Bluesky account, you can use mu.social with the same account, with all your connections and content the same. Mu has additional functions like post editing and a configurable news section - and we'll be adding new features all the time.

FIFA Peace Prize winner on World Cup opening day:

George Pearkes@peark.es · 2mo ago

Trump announces the US is planning to invade Iran.

Most polluting World Cup ever, nine million tonnes of CO2 emissions. I love football, but it does seem humanity has our priorities out of whack. But its ok, FIFA is going to "reduce food waste" at the stadiums. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/footba...

World Cup 2026: The numbers behind 'the most polluting World Cup'

BBC Sport analyses the environmental cost of a 48-team World Cup held across North America.

bbc.co.uk

NEW: on the eve of SpaceX's IPO, i spoke to folks in the memphis area still fighting the company's polluting data centers there, which are now also being leased by Anthropic "We’re the extracted and exploited colony of what is going to be one of the most highly valued entities in the world"

People Living Near xAI’s Dirty Data Centers Are Pissed About the SpaceX IPO

Elon Musk is set to make hundreds of billions even as communities in Mississippi and Tennessee are fighting to stop the gas turbines powering xAI's supercomputers.

wired.com

V interesting legal precedent. Big Tech can (and should!) be held liable for AI generated text. Google's response? People know AI is not accurate and should check for themselves! the-decoder.com/landmark-ger...

Landmark German ruling declares Google's AI Overviews are Google's own words and makes it liable for false answers

A German regional court has ruled that Google is directly liable for the content of its AI search overviews. According to the court, previous limited liability protections for search engine operators ...

the-decoder.com

Another day of far-right violence and pogroms in the UK. A country that still labels these thugs “protesters”, that claims “this isn’t Britain”, that fails to take responsibility for empowering and enabling these thugs, where the media is too afraid to call the forces behind this “far right”

I am absolutely appalled by the POGROMS in Belfast. But it is lazy to just blame social media. POGROMS have been around for centuries. They are rooted in racism, which is fueled by elites. Look at Reform, Tories, and, yes, Labour. Look at GB News, Times, and BBC, before starting about Tik Tok.

How Belfast knife attack became the latest far-right ‘trigger event’

The rapid spread of footage shows how social media is pivotal in enabling far-right agitators to mobilise internationally

theguardian.com

X owner Elon Musk has reposted his Sept 2025 call that pre-emptive inter-ethnic violence (civil war) is necessary for 'self-defence "Elon Musk was always right "You either fight back, or you die."

Our statement on the UK gov't's demand that all content on all devices sold or used in the UK be scanned, on the presumption of nudity, using a dystopian combination of age verification & content scanning. This proposal will not safeguard children. It endangers us all. signal.org/blog/pdfs/20...

Google calls it the biggest Search overhaul in 25+ years. AI Mode now has 1B+ monthly users—many defaulted in. Elise Silva asks what this shift means not just for competitors, but for billions of users, our shared information environment, and democracy.

Google’s ‘New Era for AI Search’ May Threaten Democracy

The rise of AI in search raises pressing questions about its impact on people and democracy, writes Elise Silva.

techpolicy.press

I spent more time on this piece than almost anything else I've written in the last year. Building a better, more decentralized internet is an inherent necessity if you want a functioning democracy. I hope people find it a useful encapsulation of where we're at. www.liberalism.org/p/enshittifi...

Enshittification, Despotification, and the Open Internet

It’s not about whether technology is inherently good or bad, liberating or oppressive. Architecture shapes incentives; incentives shape outcomes.

liberalism.org

"Tech billionaire spends $16m to fight billionaire tax" ... proves exactly why we need to tax billionaires.

Dara Kerr@darakerr.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Welp, I missed this filing that came in at 6:55pm on Friday night. Brin shells out another $16M to fight the billionaire tax, making his contributions to this Super PAC total $82M.

yet another tech bro determined to destroy public media. but this one was invited in through the front door by the board and ok'ed by a Labour government. sometimes I truly despair for the UK. how deep will it go in its US tech obeisance? English ruling class seems to truly hate its own country.

pickwick@pickwick.bsky.social · 3mo ago

lol rip bbc www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Men are using Meta AI glasses to secretly film women at beaches, shops, on the street & on nights out. They then post these clips online where they receive a barrage of misogynistic abuse. I’m campaigning to make this behaviour an offence. Women deserve to feel safe in public spaces.

Smart glasses are 'an invasion of privacy' - Meta's are selling better than ever

The biggest tech firms are set to sell millions of smart glasses despite growing privacy concerns.

bbc.co.uk

Everyone is rightly interested in Harborne’s monetary support for Nigel Farage. But GB News provides him with an annualised salary of over a million pounds a year, 500,000 shares and unaccounted for millions in terms of free political advertising for Farage’s Party