Discord postpones age verification rollout amid criticism, promises transparency

Discord is postponing its controversial age verification policy after users of the popular platform for gamers to communicate online expressed strong objections and privacy concerns. The company announced earlier this month it would roll out an age verification policy in March that would include face scanning or requests for an ID upload for users it could not determine were adults. When it rolls out the revised age verification system in the second half of 2026, Discord will now offer more options to verify users' ages. The company also promised users it would be transparent about its internal age determination methods and the vendors it partners with going forward.

Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use the company’s AI tech as it sees fit, AP sources say

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pressuring Anthropic to give the military broader access to its artificial intelligence technology or lose its Pentagon contract. Defense officials warned Tuesday that they could designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or use the Defense Production Act to essentially give the military more authority to use its products even if it doesn’t approve of how they are used. That’s according to a person familiar with the meeting and a senior Pentagon official who spoke on condition of anonymity. Anthropic makes the chatbot Claude and is the last of its peers to not supply its technology to a new U.S. military internal network.

Waymo's robotaxis now being dispatched in 10 major U.S. markets with expansion in Texas and Florida

Waymo will begin dispatching its robotaxis in four more cities in Texas and Florida, expanding the territory covered by its fleet of self-driving cars to 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets. The move into Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando, Florida, announced Tuesday widens Waymo’s early lead in autonomous driving while rival services from Tesla and the Amazon-owned Zoox are still testing their robotaxis in a few cities. In contrast, Waymo’s robotaxis already have been providing more than 400,000 weekly trips in the six metropolitan areas where they already have been picking up passengers. Those inroads prompted investors to value Waymo at $126 billion in a recent fundraising.

Facebook owner Meta to buy AI chips from AMD in deal worth up to $100 billion

Facebook owner Meta Platforms will buy artificial intelligence chips from Advanced Micro Devices in a deal that will also give it the opportunity to buy up to a 10% stake of the chip company. Meta will buy AMD’s latest chips, the MI450, to help power data centers. The 6-gigawatt agreement will see shipments supporting the first gigawatt deployment set to start during the second half of this year. The agreement could potentially be worth more than $100 billion.

Russia opens criminal investigation against Telegram app founder Pavel Durov

MOSCOW (AP) — Pavel Durov, the founder of the Telegram messaging app, said he is facing a Russian criminal investigation on charges of “aiding terrorism.” Speaking on Tuesday, Durov accused Moscow of fabricating pretexts to restrict access by Russians to Telegram as part of a government crackdown on privacy and free speech. Earlier this month, Russia’s communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it was restricting the Telegram app, accusing the company of refusing to abide by Russian law. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Federal Security Service had gathered information on a “large number of violations” by Telegram.

Reddit hit with $20 million UK data privacy fine over child safety failings

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s privacy watchdog fines Reddit nearly $20 million for unlawfully collecting and using children’s personal data. The Information Commissioner’s Office said on Tuesday that children under 13 faced risks and could see content they should not see. The regulator says Reddit bans under-13 users but did not verify ages before July 2025. Reddit later added age checks for mature content. It asks users to declare their age at sign-up. The watchdog says self-declaration is easy to bypass. Regulators say platforms must use effective age assurance. Reddit says it plans to appeal the fine.

Spiro secures $50 million from Afreximbank, others to expand Africa battery-swapping network

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Financing for Africa's electric mobility sector is surging and reflects growing investor confidence in battery swapping, fast charging and local assembly. Spiro is the continent's largest e-mobility operator. It secured a $50 million in debt financing from Afreximbank, Nithio and the Africa Go Green Fund to expand its battery-swapping network across multiple countries. The deal follows Arc Ride's recent $5 million equity commitment from IFC and Uganda's Gogo Electrics' $1 million fundraising. It highlights a trend of climate-focused capital backing commercially viable African clean transport solutions while driving sustainable industrial growth. Development financiers see electric mobility as both a climate solution and an industrialization opportunity in Africa.

Police are finding suspects based on their online searches as courts weigh privacy concerns

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Criminal investigators hoping to develop a suspect are turning to a powerful cyber tool by asking Google to disclose who had been searching for relevant information. It's a practice that critics warn threatens the privacy of innocent people. The legal tension between the need to solve crimes quickly and the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protections against overly broad searches was at the heart of a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that upheld what is known as a reverse keyword warrant in a rape investigation.

Social media can be addictive even for adults, but there are ways to cut back

Social media addiction has been compared to casinos, opioids and cigarettes. While there’s some debate among experts about the line between overuse and addiction, and whether social media can cause the latter, there's no doubt many people feel like they can’t escape the pull of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat and other platforms. Social media addiction is not recognized as an official disorder in the standard reference manual that psychiatrists and other mental health practitioners use to assess and treat patients. Some psychiatrists say the lack of professional agreement on the issue doesn’t mean excessive social media use can’t be harmful to children and adults.

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI safety representatives summoned to Canada after school shooting

TORONTO (AP) — The Canadian government has called representatives of ChatGPT-maker OpenAI to Ottawa. The company says it considered but did not alert Canadian police about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history. Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon said Monday that he expects the company’s top safety representatives to explain its protocols and how it decides to forward cases to law enforcement when he meets with them on Tuesday. OpenAI said last June that the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts. The 18-year-old killed eight people in a remote part of British Columbia this month and died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.