The Live Nation settlement has industry insiders baffled
Industry players say that beyond a few bright spots, the Justice Department’s settlement with Live Nation appears to do little to resolve their concerns.
Software & security
295 stories
Facebook, WhatsApp, and Messenger get new ways to protect users from scams
Meta is adding more scam detection tools to Facebook, Messenger, and WhatsApp that can help users protect their accounts.
Charter-Cox megamerger gets FCC approval.
The $34.5 billion deal to combine two of the biggest US cable providers can now go ahead after appeasing Brendan Carr by pledging to drop DEI policies. [Link: FCC Approves Charter-Cox Combination | https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-approves-charter-cox-combination | Federal Communications Commission]
Let me see some ID: age verification is spreading across the internet
A growing number of online platforms are adopting age verification measures, raising concerns from users about privacy, security, and censorship.
Social media on trial: tech giants face lawsuits over addiction, safety, and mental health
Lawsuits accusing TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube of putting teens at risk are going to trial for the first time.
The kids are offline.
Following Australia’s social media ban for children under 16 taking effect last month, Meta says it has now removed almost 550,000 Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts that it believes were run by kids under that age threshold. Despite its compliance, Meta is still voicing opposition to the law. [Image: I’m frankly shocked that so many youngsters had a Facebook account to begin with. https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/01/Screenshot-2026-01-12-110355.jpg?quality=90&strip=all]
Australia boots kids under 16 off social media: how platforms are responding
Australia’s law that bans kids under 16 from social media has officially gone into effect. Here’s what the law means, and how the world’s biggest social platforms are responding.
Facebook and Instagram will let European users see fewer personal ads
The upcoming changes follow Meta being fined $266 million in April over its ‘consent or pay’ ad model.
Texas sues Roblox for allegedly failing to protect children on its platform
Texas is the third state, following Louisiana and Kentucky, to sue Roblox over child safety allegations.
Job ad algorithms are still sexist.
So says France’s equality watchdog, ruling Meta needs to improve its job listings, where mechanic roles are mostly being shown to men, with preschool teacher ads going to women. We’ve been talking about sexism in job algorithms for a decade now, including at Facebook, but apparently some things never change. [Link: Facebook’s job ads algorithm is sexist, French equality watchdog rules | https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/05/facebook-job-ads-algorithm-is-sexist-french-equality-watchdog-rules | the Guardian]
Facebook removes ICE-tracking page after US government ‘outreach’
Meta confirmed it had removed a page used to track ICE agents in Chicago after the DOJ reached out, renewing questions about government pressure on platforms.
Google is adding a new way to personalize the news you see
Google is rolling out a new “preferred sources” feature that lets you choose which outlets you want to see the most in Search’s “top stories” section.
Why do lawyers keep using ChatGPT?
Attorneys keep getting in trouble for submitting filings with AI-generated ‘hallucinations.’
Judge slams lawyers for ‘bogus AI-generated research’
A California judge has slammed a law firm for using AI to write an outline for a brief, which contained “numerous false, inaccurate, and misleading legal citations and quotations.”
Android’s Find My Device app can now show you where people are, too
Google is rolling out a Find My Device update that includes location sharing for friends and family in one place.
AWS unveils Mithra to identify and mitigate malicious domains across its massive system | TechCrunch
When a company is the size of Amazon, a lot of bad actors will come after it and its customers, which makes defending the network a monster job. Over the
Microsoft employees exposed internal passwords in security lapse
The tech giant secured a cloud storage server that was inadvertently spilling Microsoft internal data and credentials to the open internet.
Meta will fight the EU over regulating Messenger
Meta is appealing the Digital Markets Act gatekeeper distinction for Messenger and Marketplace but won’t fight it for Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.