UK Bans Social Media for Under-16s

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has introduced landmark legislation to ban children under 16 from platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and X, effective early 2027. The law targets tech companies rather than children, imposing multimillion-dollar fines for non-compliance and restricting AI romantic chatbots to adults. Critics argue the ban is unenforceable and may push teens toward unregulated, less-safe corners of the internet.

Fox Acquires Roku for $22 Billion

Fox Corp. is acquiring Roku in a $22 billion cash-and-stock deal to merge its live news and sports content with Roku’s streaming platform. The combined entity will become the third-largest player in U.S. television by viewing share. Fox intends to keep Roku as an open platform for third-party streamers while leveraging the acquisition to expand its digital video ecosystem and international reach.

Meta Sued for Scraping Adult Content for AI

A federal judge ruled that Meta can be sued by Strike 3 Holdings for scraping thousands of pornographic videos to train its AI. The judge rejected Meta’s claim that the rogue employees were responsible, noting a coordinated effort across company IP addresses to download files based on keywords like ’teen,’ proving systemic data gathering for AI training.

AI Search Easily Manipulated via Reddit

Cornell University research reveals that AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Search can be manipulated by as few as 13 words of poisoned text on sites like Reddit or Wikipedia. Brands are using ‘AI-engine optimization’ (AEO) to seed inauthentic content that mirrors common user queries, tricking AI agents into citing spam or scams as factual recommendations.

US Government Blocks Anthropic’s Fable 5

The Trump administration suspended access to Anthropic’s Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models for foreign nationals, citing national security. However, cybersecurity experts argue the ‘jailbreak’ that triggered the ban was simply a ‘Fix this code’ prompt, which is a standard defensive security function. Critics warn that blocking these tools hinders defenders more than attackers.

Data Center Backlash Hits Critical Mass

Opposition to AI data centers has surged, with projects worth $130 billion blocked or delayed in early 2026. Local conflicts are peaking in New Mexico over water rights and in Arizona, where tax breaks for data centers were paused. Simultaneously, the US government is letting key federal data center efficiency regulations expire, signaling a shift toward rapid AI build-out over sustainability.

Shadow AI Becomes Enterprise Liability

A PagerDuty study found that two-thirds of office professionals use unauthorized AI tools at work despite company policies. Approximately 88% of these workers have shared sensitive work-related information—including customer data and financial documents—with public AI systems, highlighting a massive security gap as employees favor personal AI tools over restricted enterprise versions.