A landmark case against social media giants Meta, Alphabet's YouTube and TikTok is set to begin Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court. It's the first of several high-profile legal cases kicking off in 2026 that center on allegations that the companies misled the public about the safety of their apps despite knowing that certain design choices contributed to various harms on young users.
When OpenAI announced earlier this week that it would begin testing advertisements within ChatGPT, it marked a key shift in how AI tools make money. The company promised users could opt out of personalized ads and would see clear labels distinguishing promotions from regular responses. However, widespread concerns over the use of ads in AI content has many worried. Senator Ed Markey sent a letter this week to OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and other tech leaders expressing concerns over the use of ads with AI.
An anti-trafficking campaigner has welcomed the ban on pornography featuring strangulation, known as choking, saying it will help stop young people thinking it is a normal and safe practice. Samantha Browne, who suffered exploitation as a teenager in the adult industry, said the ban would help prevent children mimicking violent sex they have seen onscreen, and she hoped it would open the door to ending other forms of abusive pornography.
The Spokane School District of Washington State recently paid $60,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging that it had failed to protect a transgender student attacked by another student on school grounds. The October 2021 attack involved Ian Ring. At the time, Ring was a 13-year-old seventh-grader at Dr. Jonas E. Salk Middle School. His bully allegedly taunted him with transphobic slurs in the past and then attacked him while he waited for the school bus.
OpenAI announced plans on Tuesday to relax restrictions on its ChatGPT chatbot, including allowing erotic content for verified adult users as part of what the company calls a treat adult users like adults principle. OpenAI's plan includes the release of an updated version of ChatGPT that will allow users to customize their AI assistant's personality, including options for more human-like responses, heavy emoji use, or friend-like behavior.
Over 200 people rescued, mostly teens, from subway surfing since the program began. This includes 52 people removed from moving trains in 2025.
A transgender girl housed in a male unit at Washington, D.C.'s Youth Services Center was hospitalized with a broken jaw after a fight last week that also injured another teen.
