These days, some of tech’s most important decisions are being made inside courtrooms. Google and Facebook are fending off antitrust accusations, while patent suits determine how much control of their own products they can have. The slow fight over Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act threatens platforms like Twitter and YouTube with untold liability suits for the content they host. Gig economy companies like Uber and Airbnb are fighting for their very existence as their workers push for the protections of full-time employees. In each case, judges and juries are setting the rules about exactly how far tech companies can push the envelope and exactly how much protection everyday people have. This is where we keep track of those legal fights and the broader principles behind them. When you move fast and break things, it shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when you end up in court.
US District Judge Margaret Garnett dismissed two of the charges Mangione faced in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year, and doing so, removed the death penalty as a punishment for a potential jury to consider when the case goes to trial.
With less than two days before a partial government shutdown over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, Republican leadership is trying to dodge the hard work.
“I think right now the conversation should be between the White House and Democrats,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said. “The White House obviously is open to negotiation.” Democratic leaders, meanwhile, repeatedly put the onus on Thune for getting a deal. “We have to pass the bill here,” Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), the top Democratic appropriator, told reporters. “He’s the majority leader.”
Today’s reports from Hunterbrook Media and Pablo Torre Finds Out claim the company’s hardware is seemingly easily obtained and popularly used in Russia’s war effort through already-sanctioned distributors and other middlemen.
Ubiquiti, which was fined $500k in 2014 over “reckless disregard” for Iran sanctions, did not respond to a request for comment.
As reported by NBC News, FBI director Kash Patel said the probe was inspired by conservative journalist Cam Higby, who claims to have “infiltrated” Signal groups from around Minneapolis that were allegedly obstructing law enforcement and tracking ICE agents’ movements.
“We immediately opened up that investigation, because that sort of Signal chat — being coordinated with individuals not just locally in Minnesota, but maybe even around the country — if that leads to a break in the federal statute or a violation of some law, then we are going to arrest people.”
Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander known for getting into social media fights with people criticizing ICE’s presence in Minnesota, has reportedly been removed from his job as “Commander at large” and will return to his former job in California, where he is expected to retire. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson denied that Bovino had been “relieved of his duties”, but nothing rules out the possibility that he’s being Mike Waltz’ed.
[The Atlantic]
Some plurals are just more fun than others to say — this commenter gets it.
The Schpongler:
Must feel so good to use the plural “attorneys general” at a scale like this. It’s like “senators elect”, “notaries public”, or “Bigs Mac”.
Get the day’s best comment and more in my free newsletter, The Verge Daily.
A pair of bipartisan lawmakers introduced the Transparency and Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence Networks (TRAIN) Act in the House, letting copyright holders see if AI models were trained on their work. It’s already been introduced in the Senate, and counts the Recording Industry Association of America and SAG-AFTRA among its endorsers.
[Congresswoman Madeleine Dean]
The Democratic state AGs think they’re the only officials standing up to Trump. They are probably right.
The governor’s call to film ICE is part of an attempt to protect states’ rights — but not like that.
Two individuals who were driving dump trucks to the construction site in Richland Parish, Louisiana, were arrested on Wednesday. Local law enforcement says ICE “did not enter the Meta site at any time,” but told Bloomberg that agents were sweeping for identification of workers en route to the site.
Powell’s statement says the Fed received grand jury subpoenas “threatening a criminal indictment related to my testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last June,” about historic building renovations. But, he said, it’s actually retaliation for setting interest rates based on “what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”
Real people died while Trump treated war like a meme stock.
In June, the New York state legislature passed a bill requiring social media companies to display warnings about the potential mental health harms of using their products. Now the governor has officially signed the bill into law. The announcement of the signing says that:
To combat the mental health risks of using harmful features of social media platforms that prolong use, this legislation will require social media companies to display warning labels on their platforms when a young user initially uses the predatory feature and periodically thereafter, based on continued use.
[Governor Kathy Hochul]
The CEO of the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) is suing Trump administration officials after they targeted him for deportation from the US because of his online content moderation work.
On Thursday morning, he announced that US District Judge Vernon Broderick granted a TRO and preliminary injunction blocking his arrest or detainment. A hearing has been scheduled for Monday.
[DocumentCloud]
The Trump administration just sanctioned five people, including Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) founder Imran Ahmed, over their work in content moderation and anti-disinformation. On Wednesday he filed a lawsuit (pdf) to stop their “unconstitutional attempt to arrest and expel him.”
Ahmed:
My life’s work is to protect children from the dangers of unregulated social media and AI and fight the spread of antisemitism online. That mission has pitted me against big tech executives – and Elon Musk in particular – multiple times. I am proud to call the United States my home. My wife and daughter are American, and instead of spending Christmas with them, I am fighting to prevent my unlawful deportation from my home country.
In the middle of threatening funding for hospitals that provide gender-related care to minors and trying to tack his name onto the Kennedy Center, the president also signed another executive order.
This one directs the Attorney General to take steps to move marijuana from Schedule I classification under federal law, along with heroin, to Schedule III, which includes ketamine and anabolic steroids. It’s something Biden had said he would pursue.
This report from New York magazine follows up after a few months of the state’s bell-to-bell ban:
At one high school, an entrepreneurial senior even bought a pouch-unlocking magnet on Amazon and tried to charge classmates a dollar per jailbreak. But generally, with phones off-limits, the atmosphere feels different. There’s a pleasant buzz in the lunchroom, chatter in the hallways, and an alphabet of new analog hobbies popping up just about everywhere.
In 2025, the company staved off monopoly charges and AI upstarts to set revenue records.
President Donald Trump, who was reelected despite the events of January 6th, 2021, has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BBC in his home state of Florida. He’s seeking $10 billion to repair reputational harm allegedly suffered after a misleading edit of his actions prior to the attack on the US Capitol building was broadcast to people living 4,000 miles away.
In a blog post, the nonprofit says it has “significant reservations” about systems that require AI companies to pay to train on their content, stating that they “could become new concentrations of power, with the ability to dictate how we experience the web.”
Despite its concerns, the Creative Commons recently partnered with the RSL Collective to allow creators to collect “contributions” from AI companies, as it aims to “infuse concepts of reciprocity in standards that are ready for adoption.”
In addition to complying with the under-16 social media ban that begins December 10th in Australia, Reddit is making changes globally for under-18s:
Teen account holders under 18 everywhere will get a version of Reddit with more protective safety features built in, including stricter chat settings, no ads personalization or sensitive ads, and no access to NSFW or mature content.
