Tech is reshaping the world — and not always for the better. Whether it’s the rules for Apple’s App Store or Facebook’s plan for fighting misinformation, tech platform policies can have enormous ripple effects on the rest of society. They’re so powerful that, increasingly, companies aren’t setting them alone but sharing the fight with government regulators, civil society groups, and internal standards bodies like Meta’s Oversight Board. The result is an ongoing political struggle over harassment, free speech, copyright, and dozens of other issues, all mediated through some of the largest and most chaotic electronic spaces the world has ever seen.
Bart Butler on encryption, child safety, and why there’s no such thing as a backdoor for only the good guys.
The EU says Google must let rival search engines and AI assistants have comparable access to Android and some Search data to comply with the DMA.
Here’s the Financial Times citing an official report published by the UK’s media watchdog:
The research shows a sustained higher level of VPN use, with an estimated number of daily UK VPN users of 2.2mn, compared with 1.2mn before the July 2025 rules.
About a quarter of children have used VPNs to circumvent restrictions designed to protect them.
UK communications regulator Ofcom has opened an investigation to assess whether TikTok is complying with Online Safety Act duties to prevent children from seeing harmful content. The probe will also examine the effectiveness of TikTok’s age assurance systems. An update is expected in October 2026.
The EU is excluding wearable devices, including smartwatches, fitness trackers, and smart glasses, from an incoming rule that will require a wide range of electronics to have user-replaceable batteries. The Nintendo Switch 2 isn’t exempt, though, and will come with a replaceable battery in the EU by the time the law goes into effect in February 2027.
Budget cuts are blowing up US health infrastructure — and your toilet.
Apple’s on-device generative AI service has officially been registered with China’s cyberspace regulator, clearing a major hurdle for device rollout. To navigate local regulations, Apple is tapping domestic tech giants, integrating Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s AI models to power the experience for Chinese users, as reported last year.
Meanwhile, Apple and the EU are waiting to see who blinks first.
The largest US electrical grid operator, PJM, will add $6.3 billion in electricity costs for consumers across 13 states due to the booming energy demands of data centers. The rate hikes will hit millions of households and businesses over the next two years, adding to the $29 billion in costs that data centers have added to PJM regions since 2024.
Judge James Boasberg temporarily blocked a State Department policy restricting visas to foreign officials who “demand that American tech platforms adopt global content moderation policies.” Boasberg wrote that a group representing tech researchers could likely prove it violates the First Amendment by categorizing research as “foreign censorship” based on viewpoint.
[CourtListener]
OpenAI and the prediction market have a deal, The New York Times reports, that pulls in Kalshi data for World Cup-related queries. A prompt for “France and Spain,” for example, included a win forecast attributed to Kalshi.
Prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are everywhere right now, and that’s by design. The companies have inked deals with news outlets, newsletter writers, and random X accounts — and now Kalshi will reach potential customers via chatbots.
In May, the Office of Management and Budget proposed a budget change which would require all research grants to align with “the President’s policy priorities” and give political appointees the ability to veto grants they don’t like — with potentially catastrophic effects. While the OMB is required to review almost half a million comments submitted by the public, you can call Congress to keep up the fight.
Federal immigration agents shot a 26-year-old Colombian man in Biddeford, Maine, on Monday morning, the Portland Press-Herald reports.
Nationally, it’s the second fatal shooting involving immigration agents in less than a week — and just like last time, agents weren’t wearing body cameras.
ICE claims that the unnamed victim “attempted to flee in a vehicle in the direction of the officer,” but an eyewitness told NBC News that he heard the man, who was bleeding from his head, say “I tried to stop.”
Over the weekend, the three-year deal for Flock Safety’s 138 pole-mounted surveillance cameras came to an end, as the LA Times reports the LAPD CIO says it ended the arrangement while working on a new contract that has “very clear terms” about who owns the data collected and what happens to it.
An unnamed spokesperson for Flock told media outlets that unspecified “misconceptions” led to the pause.
[Los Angeles Times]
Community pushback from across the US and beyond is making some companies reconsider their data center buildout plans.
Earlier this week, the president flew on the old Air Force One, according to the Times, because it lacked some security features, including anti-missile defenses. Now, the DOJ has issued subpoenas to the reporters involved in the story. The Times quickly denounced the intimidation tactics:
“The appearance of federal law enforcement agents on the doorstep of news reporters should shock the conscience of any American who believes in the Constitution and the press freedom it protects.” - David McCraw, Lawyer for the New York Times
Beginning in October, subscription companies will have to give New Yorkers an easy way to cancel recurring charges. The move seeks to revive a Lina Khan-era Federal Trade Commission rule that was struck down by the courts. Khan’s consumer protection chief, Samuel Levine, now works for NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
[The official website of the City of New York]
My Trump phone review is here. And with that, it’s time to wrap up the weekly coverage. I’m not entirely done with the T1 yet — I’m still trying to find out how many buyers have one, and how and where it’s made — but I’ll give the execs at Trump Mobile a break for a bit.
3
Verge Score
The T1 is a marketing stunt, not a serious phone.
The Xbox CEO, who announced mass layoffs at Xbox this week, will assess “the economic impact of new general-purpose technologies, including artificial intelligence, to inform the Federal Reserve’s policy judgments.”
She’ll work alongside Marc Andreessen, cofounder of Andreessen Horowitz, and Charles I. Jones, a Stanford professor who is “on leave” at Anthropic.
[Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System]
That’s according to a report from Wired, which viewed a leaked database from the surveillance-heavy New York City venue that tracked celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The list also assigned some stars a low to high “risk” level, with some labeled as “DO NOT HOST.”
DHS is accusing people of ‘doxing’ federal agents — and, a new lawsuit claims, trying to chill dissenting speech.
Block has reached a $45 million settlement with 46 US states over allegations of inadequate fraud protection for its mobile payment service. The platform was accused of misleading users about its safety, and for expanding marketing when fraud claims recently spiked instead of strengthening protections. It must now provide 24-hour customer support and cease deceptive marketing.
Judge Sparkle Sooknanan approved the $1.5 million pocket-change settlement with the Fed over his violation of disclosure rules in connection with the purchase of Twitter. She said she had limited authority:
“Whether the Executive Branch (through the SEC) has done enough to hold Mr. Musk to account for his alleged violation is, like many other issues, for our citizenry to decide at the ballot box.”
Following its $99 million class action agreement earlier this year, the company struck another settlement with the Federal Trade Commission and several states that sued it on antitrust grounds. Similar to the earlier agreement, the proposed settlement has a ten-year term requiring it to make repair resources available to farmers.
[Federal Trade Commission]
Apple added a bit more insight into that Broadcom deal announced a few days ago. It’s expected to “exceed $30 billion” and “lead to the production of more than 15 billion US-made chips” and “hundreds of American jobs.” The announcement comes with a line of obligatory flattery from CEO Tim Cook:
“We’re grateful to the president and his administration for supporting important projects like this one.”
New York state is the latest place to prohibit smart glasses and other recording tech in courtrooms. Says Syracuse.com:
Beginning on July 20, all eyewear or headwear that contains cameras, microphones or other recording technology will not be allowed inside any Unified Court System facilities, according to a memo from the Office of Court Administration.
[syracuse.com]
