Battle lines drawn as US states take on big tech with online child safety bills Nine states are hashing out bills to protect minors online. Tech companies are fighting the laws with everything they’ve got
My Place groups worry about 5G and chemtrails. Some are also taking an interest in Queensland’s council elections Network founded in Victoria writes about setting up a parallel system of governance and promotes a range of conspiracy theories
How Facebook Messenger and Meta Pay are used to buy child sexual abuse material Court documents and interviews detail the products’ role in alleged exploitation – and how some payments go undetected
‘Social media is like driving with no speed limits’: the US surgeon general fighting for youngsters’ happiness Dr Vivek Murthy is urging governments to regulate social media as study shows screen use and isolation has caused widespread discontent
US supreme court to hear case about government requests to social media companies The case will determine if the White House violated free speech protections when requesting social networks to remove Covid misinformation
Violent online content ‘unavoidable’ for UK children, Ofcom finds Every child interviewed by media watchdog had watched violent material on the internet
EU calls on tech firms to outline plans to tackle deepfakes amid election fears Move involving companies such as Google, Facebook and X comes after evidence of Russian online interference in polls
‘New text, same problems’: inside the fight over child online safety laws Even after an overhaul of the Kids Online Safety Act brings it closer to passing, lawmakers, backers and critics are still at odds
Facebook and Instagram: Meta services hit by widespread outages Services refuse login attempts and feeds stall as Google’s platform also experiences login problems
‘Musk needs to be adored … Zuckerberg is out of his depth’: Kara Swisher on the toxic giants of Big Tech The journalist and podcaster has been scrutinising Silicon Valley for decades, knows all the big players – and once believed that tech could save the world. But that was before greed and ego got in the way
‘Our kids are suffering’: calls for ban on social media to protect under-16s Debate gains traction as evidence grows on negative impact of social media use on mental health of young people
Instagram and Facebook delete the accounts of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supported Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, which Meta said violated its policies
When dead children are just the price of doing business, Zuckerberg’s apology is empty The Facebook boss faced the parents of victims in Senate hearings, but until legislators finally stand up to social media giants, nothing will change
Meta revenue soars as it pivots to AI and announces dividends for investors Cash flow beat investor expectations and shares rose as the tech giant authorized a $50bn share buyback program
Instagram to scan under-18s’ messages to protect against ‘inappropriate images’ Feature will work even on encrypted messages, suggesting platform plans to implement client-side scanning