The United Kingdom recently started enforcing the Online Safety Act’s age-check rules, and The Washington Post reports that it’s already having a significant effect on web traffic. U.K. law now requires pornography websites to verify their users’ ages through means such as face scans and driver’s licenses; it also requires that online platforms prevent children … Read more
Andrew Ferguson, the Trump-appointed chair of the Federal Trade Commission, recently expressed concern that “Alphabet’s administration of Gmail is designed to have partisan effects.” In a letter addressed to Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Ferguson pointed to a recent story in the New York Post describing complaints by Targeted Victory (a consulting and PR firm that’s … Read more
I recently moved to a new apartment, and unfortunately, the television didn’t make the cut during the amicable roommate split. While my studio isn’t as cramped as my previous living situations, fitting a bulky TV into the living area still felt impractical to me. In my search for a suitable alternative, a startup called Lumi … Read more
Henrik Fisker once envisioned a burgeoning EV empire at the startup he named after himself, which was to be led by the Ocean SUV. But cracks started showing in that vision almost as soon as the Ocean hit the road in 2023. Fisker cut production targets multiple times, failed to meet sales goals and laid … Read more
Nearly 40% of Nvidia’s second quarter revenue came from just two customers, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. On Wednesday, the chipmaker reported record revenue of $46.7 billion during the quarter that ended on July 27 — a 56% year-over-year increase largely driven by the AI data center boom. However, subsequent … Read more
Taco Bell’s chief digital officer says the company is having an “active conversation” about when to use and not to use AI. The company has apparently rolled out voice AI-powered ordering at more than 500 drive-throughs, leading to unflattering viral moments like someone ordering 18,000 water cups in order to “bypass” the AI and get … Read more
TikTok is giving users new ways to interact with others via direct messages (DMs), the company told TechCrunch on Friday. Users will now be able to send voice notes and share up to nine images or videos in one-to-one and group chats on the platform. With these new features, TikTok is positioning itself as more … Read more
It’s only been since June that Meta invested $14.3 billion in the data-labeling vendor Scale AI, bringing on CEO Alexandr Wang and several of the startup’s top executives to run Meta Superintelligence Labs (MSL). But the relationship between the two companies is already showing signs of fraying. At least one of the executives Wang brought … Read more
TechCrunch Disrupt isn’t just about showcasing the startups of tomorrow — it’s also about surfacing the boldest ideas shaping technology today. Thanks to the support of our partners JetBrains and Greenfield, the TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 program, happening October 27–29 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, brings two must-see sessions that put AI front and center. Monday, … Read more
WhatsApp said on Friday that it fixed a security bug in its iOS and Mac apps that was being used to stealthily hack into the Apple devices of “specific targeted users.” The Meta-owned messaging app giant said in its security advisory that it fixed the vulnerability, known officially as CVE-2025-55177, which was used alongside a … Read more
