Apple’s long, bitter App Store antitrust war
Apple's long, bitter App Store antitrust war This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the legal travails of Big Tech, follow Adi Robertson. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started The […]
The White House has an app now, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it
The White House has an app now, and Trump wants you to report people to ICE on it A new official White House app on Android and iOS takes the content from the White House website and copies it into app format. A tweet announcing the app on Friday morning appeared alongside a video joking […]
Wait, the Trump phone might actually exist
Wait, the Trump phone might actually exist The Trumpometer is just beginning to shift. | Image: The Verge / Shutterstock Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone’s whereabouts. This week I think I’ve found an FCC listing for […]
Meta’s court losses could be just the beginning
Meta's court losses could be just the beginning Social media companies have long seemed impervious to legal threats. Meta, YouTube, Snap, and the rest have long waved off criticism of their platforms on free speech and Section 230 grounds. But twice this week, juries rendered verdicts against the platforms, not because of some bad videos […]
David Sacks is no longer the White House AI and Crypto Czar
David Sacks is no longer the White House AI and Crypto Czar David Sacks, the venture capitalist and tech billionaire who’d become Silicon Valley’s primary advocate inside the White House and a key architect of its aggressive AI policy initiatives, revealed on Thursday that he was no longer a special government employee – and therefore […]
Cox Communications not liable for pirated music, Supreme Court rules
Cox Communications not liable for pirated music, Supreme Court rules The Supreme Court has issued its ruling in a lengthy copyright battle between Cox Communications and major record labels, determining that the cable and internet service provider isn’t responsible for illegally downloaded music, as reported earlier by the Associated Press. The unanimous decision says Cox […]
Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang are part of Trump’s new ‘tech panel’
Mark Zuckerberg and Jensen Huang are part of Trump's new 'tech panel' Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Google co-founder Sergey Brin will be the first four members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and […]
Apple’s iOS 26.4 update adds age verification in the UK
Apple's iOS 26.4 update adds age verification in the UK Apple now requires users in the UK to verify their age with the launch of iOS 26.4. In a support page on Apple’s website, the company says users must confirm that they’re over 18 to “use certain services or features, or take certain actions on […]
Meta misled users about its products’ safety, jury decides
Meta misled users about its products' safety, jury decides Meta willfully violated New Mexico law by misleading users about the safety of its products and engaging in an unconscionable trade practice, a jury found. The company will face a $375 million penalty for the violations, awarding the maximum penalty of $5,000 per violation for 37,500 […]
Meta’s reckoning over kids safety is in the hands of two juries
Meta's reckoning over kids safety is in the hands of two juries Mark Zuckerberg. | Image: The Verge | Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images Two juries are currently deliberating a series of cases that could either usher in a legal reckoning for Meta, or maintain the status quo in an uphill battle to impose changes […]