California Tightens Tech Rules for Kids, Plus 3 Stories
California signed 13 new child-tech laws covering social media, AI chatbots and online safety. Plus: WatchGuard ransomware, Anthropic’s AI misuse report and Clearview AI’s profiling prototype.
Children’s Online Safety
20M Children Faced Online Sexual Abuse, Plus 4 Stories
A UNICEF report estimates 20 million 12- to 17-year-olds across 21 countries experienced technology-facilitated sexual exploitation or abuse in one year. Plus active Elementor Pro attacks, GPT-6 Astra’s launch, Tesla Cybercab scrutiny, and a Plex security update.
Shopify’s Checkout Deadline Passed, Plus 4 Tech Stories
The Shopify checkout upgrade deadline for non-Plus stores has passed. Today’s brief also covers Meta’s teen-safety settlement, OpenAI’s Hugging Face incident report, Ring’s new encryption, and a Google Assistant settlement deadline.
Meta’s Child-Safety Trial, Plus 3 Tech Stories
A landmark Meta trial asks whether engagement design harmed children, while AI containment gets a reality check, OpenAI tests private safety monitoring, and WordPress 7.1 ships.