TAG · Politics & Power
The online prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket will prohibit paid content creators and affiliates from denying election results or questioning election integrity, the companies said, in moves aimed at curbing misinformation that has…
3 MIN READFormer reality television star Spencer Pratt fell to third place in the Los Angeles mayoral primary Sunday, overtaken by Democratic socialist Nithya Raman as late vote counts shifted the race’s trajectory.
3 MIN READA remark by India's Supreme Court Chief Justice calling many young people "parasites" and "cockroaches" has ignited a satirical political movement that is giving voice to millions of frustrated Indian youth. The Cockroach Janta Party, born…
4 MIN READGraham Platner, the presumed Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Maine, is facing mounting scrutiny over sexually explicit text messages, an accusation of past abuse from a former girlfriend, and social media posts that have…
4 MIN READA study published in Science in November 2025 found that reducing exposure to posts expressing antidemocratic attitudes and partisan animosity on X improved users' feelings toward the opposing party by about two points on a 100-point scale…
3 MIN READCardinal Robert McElroy, the Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., on Wednesday removed a well-known priest from his role as an exorcist of the archdiocese after the priest publicly suggested that UFO sightings were the work of demons.
3 MIN READA Rutgers University graduation speaker was disinvited for pro-Palestinian social media posts, as campus free speech advocates warned that the move reflects a broader trend of universities canceling commencement speakers over controversial…
3 MIN READHackers tricked Instagram's AI-powered customer support tool into changing email addresses and passwords on other users' accounts, Meta confirmed Tuesday, in a security incident that coincided with the reported takeover of former President…
3 MIN READDowning Street has confirmed that UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer uses an auto-delete function on his phone, meaning his WhatsApp messages with and about Lord Peter Mandelson, the UK’s ambassador to the US, may have been lost. The…
3 MIN READReform UK's candidate in the Makerfield by-election, Robert Kenyon, has acknowledged making "crass" comments online in the past, including a response to a sexually graphic post about TV presenter Carol Vorderman)Skip that emerged from…
3 MIN READUSMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino used a mandatory mid-half water break during Sunday's 3-2 friendly win over Senegal to huddle players around a laptop for an impromptu video session, creating a viral moment that highlighted the…
3 MIN READElon Musk's social media platform X has committed to restricting access in the United Kingdom to accounts linked to banned terrorist groups and to reviewing flagged hate and terrorist content within 24 hours on average, the UK media…
3 MIN READElon Musk has been summoned to Paris for Monday by French prosecutors investigating allegations of child sexual abuse material and deepfakes on the social media platform X, the Paris prosecutor's office said. Linda Yaccarino, X's former…
3 MIN READThe Senate Judiciary Committee has summoned the chief executives of Meta, Alphabet, TikTok, and Snap to testify at a June 23 hearing on the platforms’ effects on children, as a wave of court rulings and public advocacy sharpens…
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X has pledged to crack down on hate and terrorist content in Britain, the country’s media regulator said. Ofcom said the platform will restrict access in the U.K. to accounts operated by or on behalf of terrorist groups banned in the…
3 MIN READSocial media executives from Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and Snap have been invited to testify next month before the Senate Judiciary Committee as lawmakers and advocates push for protections for children and teens. The June 23 hearing was set…
3 MIN READMeta Platforms is rolling out an “incognito” mode for its WhatsApp AI chatbot, allowing users to hold private conversations that the company says even it cannot access. The feature, announced Wednesday, is designed to ease growing privacy…
3 MIN READMeta Platforms said Wednesday it is rolling out an “incognito” mode for WhatsApp users to have private, temporary conversations with its Meta AI chatbot. The company said messages in the mode will be processed in a secure environment that…
4 MIN READAbout 4 in 10 U.S. adults — and roughly half of those under 50 — now get health and wellness information from social media or podcasts, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Yet the study also found that only about 4 in 10…
3 MIN READHealth and wellness advice is widespread on social media and podcasts, and a Pew Research Center survey found many Americans rely on it for information about their health. In a review of thousands of influencer profiles, researchers found…
3 MIN READNew Mexico state prosecutors opened the second phase of a three-week bench trial Monday, asking a judge to order fundamental changes to Meta’s apps and algorithms to better protect children. The case stems from allegations that platforms…
3 MIN READNew Mexico state prosecutors began a second phase of a landmark bench trial Monday, asking a judge to impose broad changes on Meta’s social media apps and algorithms to protect children. The trial follows a first-phase civil verdict that…
3 MIN READA TikTok trend in which groups of young people, often in costume, rush into Church of Scientology properties in Hollywood has drawn law enforcement attention and prompted the church to remove exterior door handles and increase security.…
3 MIN READA viral TikTok trend dubbed “Scientology speedruns” has prompted security concerns for the Church of Scientology in Hollywood, where participants have entered properties in attempts to quickly map out the organization’s buildings and…
3 MIN READMeta is raising the prospect of shutting down its social media services in New Mexico, including Instagram, as New Mexico prosecutors seek court-ordered changes aimed at protecting children. The filing came as the state prepares for a…
3 MIN READMeta is raising the prospect of shutting down Facebook and Instagram in New Mexico if a state court imposes sweeping new requirements aimed at protecting children, a move that would silence the platforms for 2.1 million residents.
3 MIN READTeenagers are nearly twice as likely as adults to get news from social media platforms and influencers, according to a new national survey, even as they express deep skepticism about the reliability of those sources.
3 MIN READTeenagers are more likely than adults to get news at least once a day from social media and from search engines, according to a national poll. The Media Insight Project study found that 57% of teens ages 13 to 17 get news from social media…
3 MIN READThe European Union accused Meta of failing to stop children younger than 13 from accessing Facebook and Instagram, alleging the company violated the bloc’s digital rules meant to protect minors. The European Commission said Meta lacked…
3 MIN READIn the minutes after a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner on Saturday night, reporters snapped into action to provide real-time, scene-based accounts — yet conspiracy theories still flooded the internet. An Associated Press…
3 MIN READThe European Union accused Meta on Wednesday of failing to keep children under 13 off Facebook and Instagram, saying the company did not have effective measures to stop underage signups and did not do enough to identify and remove children…
3 MIN READIndonesia is urging social media companies and digital platforms to report how many accounts have been suspended for users under 16 as it implements regulations restricting children’s access, authorities said Wednesday. Communication and…
4 MIN READRama Duwaji, the wife of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, apologized Wednesday for "harmful" social media posts she made as a teenager, responding after a conservative news outlet published her years of online activity. In an interview…
4 MIN READRoblox will implement increased protections for minors and pay more than $12 million to Nevada under a settlement announced April 15, resolving potential litigation over child safety on the gaming platform. Nevada Attorney General Aaron…
3 MIN READQVC Group, the West Chester, Pennsylvania, company that owns home shopping networks QVC and HSN, disclosed plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in an annual report filed this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission.…
4 MIN READVice President JD Vance traveled to Athens, Georgia on Wednesday for a Turning Point USA campus forum intended to showcase conservative youth energy, but found a mostly empty arena and pointed questions from attendees who said President…
5 MIN READMassachusetts’ highest court heard arguments in a lawsuit that says Meta designed Facebook and Instagram features to be addictive for young users, a case brought by state Attorney General Andrea Campbell.
3 MIN READDozens of millennials and members of Generation Z gathered in Brooklyn apartments and converted office spaces this spring to set their phones aside for evenings of reading, drawing, and face-to-face conversation — part of a small but…
4 MIN READCoachella is now a content machine as creators map outfits, partnerships and filming schedules weeks ahead, turning the festival into streams of short-form and shopping-linked videos. For content creators like Sam Mintesnot, getting a…
3 MIN READGreece plans a ban on social media for children age 15 and under, the government said, as Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis urged European Union leaders to adopt an EU-wide framework. The proposal would require platforms to reverify…
3 MIN READTurkish lawmakers on Tuesday kicked off debate on a draft law package that would restrict children under 15 from accessing social media platforms, with requirements for age verification and parental control tools. The bill would also…
3 MIN READLOS ANGELES—“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” and a wider wave of Latter-day Saint social media creators have helped turn Mormonism into a recurring topic across U.S. pop culture, while also drawing criticism from church leaders and from…
3 MIN READAdvocacy groups and experts are urging YouTube and its parent companies to better protect children from low-quality artificial-intelligence-generated videos, including on YouTube Kids, in a letter delivered to executives Neal Mohan and…
3 MIN READMayor Zohran Mamdani said the city will allow agencies to post on TikTok again after ending a ban that he said was imposed over security concerns. In a Tuesday memo, NYC Cyber Command laid out rules for using the app on separate devices…
4 MIN READIndonesia began implementing a government regulation on Saturday that bans children younger than 16 from accessing major digital platforms, including YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram. The rule targets exposure to pornography,…
3 MIN READIn the wake of U.S. jury verdicts finding social media companies liable for harms to children, AP takes a look at how other countries are limiting young people’s online activities. The U.S. has no federal regulation that, critics say,…
3 MIN READA Colorado woman whose son died after buying drugs through social media said two verdicts against Meta and YouTube this week show a path to holding companies responsible for harms to children. Kimberly Osterman, speaking Thursday in her…
3 MIN READA jury in Los Angeles found Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube liable in a landmark social media addiction lawsuit, ordering a $375 million penalty. The verdict, delivered after more than 40 hours of deliberations, awarded $3 million in…
3 MIN READA jury in Los Angeles found Meta and YouTube liable for harms to children who used their services, and a jury in New Mexico found Meta knowingly harmed children’s mental health and concealed what it knew about child sexual exploitation.…
4 MIN READTwo landmark jury verdicts in New Mexico and California have found Meta and YouTube liable in lawsuits brought by officials and individuals who say popular social media and video platforms harm children’s mental health. The awards total…
3 MIN READA California jury found both Meta and YouTube liable for mental health harms tied to children using their platforms, in what the Associated Press described as the first-of-its-kind lawsuit centered on social media addiction. Pediatric and…
3 MIN READA Colorado mother whose son died after buying fentanyl-laced pills through social media said this week’s jury verdicts against Meta and YouTube open the door for companies to be held responsible for harms to children. Kimberly Osterman…
3 MIN READA New Mexico jury found Meta platforms harmful to children’s mental health and imposed a $375 million penalty, while other social media child-safety cases move through trial and pretrial phases. The New Mexico Attorney General said the…
3 MIN READA jury in New Mexico found Meta platforms harmful to children’s mental health and imposed a $375 million penalty, the first verdict in this year’s wave of child safety lawsuits targeting social media companies. The decision came after a…
3 MIN READSAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A New Mexico jury on Tuesday found Meta’s social media platforms violate state consumer protection law and imposed a $375 million penalty tied to harms alleged to children’s mental health. The decision is the first…
4 MIN READJurors in Santa Fe, New Mexico are weighing allegations that Meta Platforms Inc. violated the state’s consumer protection laws by allegedly failing to disclose risks its platforms pose for children, including mental health harms and sexual…
3 MIN READA Brazilian law designed to protect minors from addictive, violent and pornographic online content took effect this week, requiring children under 16 to link social media accounts to a legal guardian and placing limits on platform…
3 MIN READThe World Happiness Report 2026, released Thursday, says heavy social media use is linked to lower well-being among young people, with the biggest concerns in teenage girls in English-speaking countries and Western Europe. The report also…
3 MIN READIranian American social media creators say Iran’s government-imposed internet blackout has curtailed reliable reporting from inside the country, shifting how the war is understood by many Americans. The Associated Press spoke with creators…
3 MIN READGroup chats have become part of everyday communication, but etiquette experts say the rules are often implicit and easy to miss. Rupert Wesson, a director at Debrett’s, said people should think about how messages affect recipients, keep…
3 MIN READClosing arguments began Thursday in a landmark Los Angeles trial over whether Meta and YouTube should be liable for harms that a plaintiff says were caused by early social media use. After a month of testimony from addiction experts,…
3 MIN READLawyers for a 20-year-old woman and social media giants Meta and YouTube made final appeals to a Los Angeles jury Thursday, arguing over whether platforms should be liable for harms to children. The bellwether trial could impact thousands…
3 MIN READEileen Gu, 22, a freestyle skier born in San Francisco, competed for China at last month's 2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics and won gold. Alysa Liu, 20, a figure skater born in California, competed for the United States and became the…
4 MIN READThe U.S. military said Tuesday it had destroyed 16 Iranian vessels used for mine-laying in Gulf waters, releasing declassified images as evidence, even as President Donald Trump claimed on social media that there were no reports of Iran…
5 MIN READMeta said Tuesday it will acquire Moltbook, a social network built exclusively for artificial intelligence agents to post messages and interact with each other. The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, will bring Moltbook…
3 MIN READThe FBI flew a Bangladeshi man to Anchorage on Thursday to face federal charges that he used social media to coerce hundreds of teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit images, threatening to distribute the material to their…
3 MIN READMore than 5,000 spiritual seekers gathered at the LAX Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles from Feb. 20–23 for the 24th annual Conscious Life Expo, where speakers described city-sized spacecraft, channeled alien wisdom and claimed to be incarnate…
4 MIN READIndonesia will ban children under 16 from having social media accounts, Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said March 6. Hafid said the rule—applied to high-risk digital platforms such as YouTube, TikTok, Facebook,…
3 MIN READMeta CEO Mark Zuckerberg faced questions in New Mexico’s civil trial about what the company learned from internal research and how it responded to concerns about young users’ experiences on Facebook and Instagram. Prosecutors played…
3 MIN READElon Musk took the witness stand for a second day in a San Francisco federal courtroom Thursday, defending his assertions about fake accounts on Twitter as a civil trial advances over allegations that his public statements drove down the…
3 MIN READA 20-year-old Wisconsin man was sentenced Thursday to seven years in prison for setting fire to Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman's district office in Fond du Lac, after telling police he acted because the federal government was shutting…
4 MIN READWorkers in recovery from alcohol addiction face persistent pressure in American workplaces where after-work happy hours, corporate parties, and client meetings at bars remain expected in many industries, treatment professionals and workers…
3 MIN READAs headlines over the weekend about U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran and fears of a wider conflict spread, psychiatrists and psychologists say many people experience heightened stress and anxiety. Experts speaking to The Associated Press said…
3 MIN READTampa International Airport sparked debate online after it posted that it wanted to ban travelers from wearing pajamas at the airport in Florida. The airport later clarified the post was “another playful nod” to day-of-travel fashion…
3 MIN READInstagram said Thursday it will begin notifying parents through its parental supervision program if teens “repeatedly” search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm. The company said it already blocks that content from…
3 MIN READMany adults say social media can be hard to put down, and some researchers and clinicians are studying whether that pattern fits “addiction.” In testimony tied to a social media harms trial in Los Angeles, psychiatrist Dr. Anna Lembke…
3 MIN READDiscord is postponing its global rollout of age verification after backlash from users who raised concerns about privacy and how biometric and ID data would be handled. In a Tuesday blog post, Chief Technology Officer and co-founder…
3 MIN READDiscord is delaying its global age-verification rollout to the second half of 2026 after criticism from users who said the policy could expose personal data, the company said. Chief Technology Officer and co-founder Stanislav Vishnevskiy…
3 MIN READInstagram said Thursday it will begin alerting parents in cases where teens “repeatedly” search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm. The alerts will go only to parents enrolled in the company’s parental supervision…
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