‘It’s really sad’: US TikTok users rethink app over concerns about privacy and censorship
Some users are stepping away from the app after it made a deal to create a US entity and updated terms and conditions
How the left can win back the internet – and rise again
In the final part of this series, we look at how infighting has ripped the left apart online while the right has flourished – and how some progressives are turning the tide, says digital media academic Robert Topinka
The AI bubble will pop. It’s up to us to replace it responsibly
When bubbles burst, what comes next can be better, if we build it differently
How liberals lost the internet
In the first part of our series on digital politics, we look at how centrists have lost ground fighting disinformation – when the real battle is over emotion and attention, says digital media academic Robert Topinka
‘Chilling’ hacking network is targeting vulnerable children, charity warns
Ecosystem known as the Com is carrying out extreme exploitation, violence and sexual abuse, says report
‘It’s not too late to fix it’: web inventor Tim Berners-Lee says he is in a ‘battle for the soul’ of the internet
Founder of the world wide web says commercialisation means the net has been ‘optimised for nastiness’, but collaboration and compassion can prevail
Copyrighted art, mobile phones, Greenland: welcome to our age of shameless theft
The human impulse to steal has been accelerated by AI, inequality and our political leaders – with profound consequences, says Guardian columnist Jonathan Liew
Rejection spreadsheets: would 1,000 knockbacks make you a better person?
Online, people are documenting their attempts to clock up as many ‘nos’ as they can this year. Is this actually the best possible route to more ‘yeses’ than you’re used to?
‘Wake up to the risks of AI, they are almost here,’ Anthropic boss warns
Dario Amodei questions if human systems are ready to handle the ‘almost unimaginable power’ that is ‘potentially imminent’
Anti-pop and an alien sigil: how Aphex Twin overtook Taylor Swift to become the soundtrack to gen Z life online
The mysterious Cornish electronic music pioneer has gained an extraordinary second life in the TikTok era. Writers and musicians explain why his glitchy slipperiness is so in tune with life today
EU launches inquiry into X over sexually explicit images made by Grok AI
Investigation comes after Elon Musk’s firm sparked outrage by allowing users to ‘strip’ photos of women and children
Life after Molly: Ian Russell on big tech, his daughter’s death – and why a social media ban won’t work
Molly Russell was just 14 when she took her own life in 2017, and an inquest later found negative online content was a significant factor. With many people now pushing for teenagers to be kept off tech platforms, her father explains why he backs a different approach
Iran president’s son urges authorities to restore internet after protests blackout
Yousef Pezeshkian says nothing will be solved by trying to postpone moment images of violent crackdown circulate
Blurry rats and coyotes with mange: the oddly thrilling subreddit dedicated to identifying wildlife
The most popular posts on r/animalid are exotic lizards and rare birds – but it’s the haziest trail cam screenshots that feel the most dangerous, the most spectacular
Google AI Overviews cite YouTube more than any medical site for health queries, study suggests
Exclusive: German research into responses to health queries raises fresh questions about summaries seen by 2bn people a month