Liz Kendall to launch consultation next week that will also explore alternatives such as curbs on infinite scrollingMinisters will take another step towards banning social media for under-16s next week as they launch a consultation on the policy, with government insiders increasingly certain Keir Starmer will back the idea.Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, will publish the terms of reference for the consultation, which is expected to explore options including an age limit and less hardline action such as curbs on infinite scrolling. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/26/uk-social-media-ban-under-16s-consultation-keir-starmer-backing">Continue reading...</a>

Liz Kendall to launch consultation next week that will also explore alternatives such as curbs on infinite scrolling

UK social media ban for under-16s edges closer with Starmer expected to back it

Station will no longer be working with journalist after pianist makes email publicPianist Yuja Wang today made public an email sent to her by writer, critic and Radio 3 presenter Norman LeBrecht, and her response that accuses the journalist of “derogatory misogynistic bullying”.Lebrecht had written to the musician querying her decision to withdraw from a BBC Lebrecht Interview stating: “I am surprised and disappointed. I thought you were a serious person who stood by her commitments. I may have to revise that opinion.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/feb/26/yuja-wang-accuses-radio-3-norman-lebrecht-misogynistic-bullying">Continue reading...</a>

Station will no longer be working with journalist after pianist makes email public

Yuja Wang accuses Radio 3’s Norman Lebrecht of misogynistic bullying

<ul><li>Premier League to have its own streaming service</li><li>Shock move to sell direct to viewers in place next season</li></ul>The Premier League is to launch its own streaming service, with live coverage of all 380 matches over a season available directly to fans – but only if you live in Singapore.Known as Premier League Plus, the new app will be launched before next season and will be the first time match coverage will be sold direct to consumers. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/feb/26/premflix-premier-league-matches-app-streaming-singapore-football">Continue reading...</a>

Premier League to have its own streaming service

‘Premflix’ app to screen all Premier League matches live – but only in Singapore

BBC and Financial Times among those calling for frameworks to help publishers gain control over their content being ‘scraped and copied’A coalition of UK media companies including the Guardian has urged industry peers to back global frameworks ensuring AI firms pay for the journalism they use.The news providers are calling on leaders across publishing, broadcasting, media and news to join their newly created group, with the aim of protecting “original journalism” and securing “the long-term sustainability of our industry”. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/26/guardian-joins-media-coalition-to-protect-original-journalism-from-unpaid-use-by-ai">Continue reading...</a>

BBC and Financial Times among those calling for frameworks to help publishers gain control over their content being ‘scraped and copied’

Guardian joins media coalition to protect original journalism from unpaid use by AI

Feature for supervised accounts rolls out as Meta platform faces US trials over alleged harms to childrenInstagram will start alerting parents if their kids repeatedly search for terms clearly associated with suicide or self-harm.The announcement on Thursday comes as <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/instagram">Instagram</a>’s parent company, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/meta">Meta</a>, is in the midst of two trials over harms to children. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/feb/26/instagram-meta-self-harm-searches">Continue reading...</a>

Feature for supervised accounts rolls out as Meta platform faces US trials over alleged harms to children

Instagram to alert parents if teens repeatedly search self-harm terms

‘Dynasty: The Murdochs’ will debut on the streamer on 13 MarchThe real-world drama that is said to have inspired the hit HBO show Succession is set for its own four-part series when Netflix debuts Dynasty: The Murdochs on 13 March.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4BaDLZjE2c">The docuseries</a>, based on thousands of pages of documents, emails and text messages, presents an exhaustive history of Rupert Murdoch’s rise while homing in on the tensions that have built for decades between him, his chosen heir Lachlan, and Rupert’s three other adult children: James Murdoch, Elisabeth Murdoch and Prudence MacLeod. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/feb/26/rupert-murdoch-dynasty-netflix-series">Continue reading...</a>

‘Dynasty: The Murdochs’ will debut on the streamer on 13 March

Netflix to release four-part series about Rupert Murdoch’s family drama

Move comes after 35% of sector workers surveyed described their mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’The Film and TV Charity has unveiled a landmark set of principles for safeguarding mental health in what’s been called a “watershed moment” for the UK creative sector’s duty of care to its production community.The principles are the result of a collaboration between the charity and more than 45 industry organisations, including all the public service broadcasters, studios, leading streamers, production companies and trade unions. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/feb/26/film-tv-charity-unveils-landmark-mental-health-principles-for-uk-industry">Continue reading...</a>

Move comes after 35% of sector workers surveyed described their mental health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’

Film and TV charity unveils landmark mental health principles for UK industry

Group aims to be ‘simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business’ and achieve £500m of annual savings by 2028The beleaguered UK advertising group WPP has announced a radical restructure to counter the threat posed by the growth of artificial intelligence, including plans to sell assets and job cuts.Aiming to be “a simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business”, the London-based company laid out plans to achieve £500m of annual savings by 2028, at a cost of £400m over two years. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/feb/26/wpp-merge-ad-agencies-cut-jobs-ai-threat-advertising">Continue reading...</a>

Group aims to be ‘simpler, lower-cost, AI-enabled business’ and achieve £500m of annual savings by 2028

WPP to sell assets and cut jobs in radical shake-up to counter AI threat

Appellate court quashes convictions linked to lease violations but Lai may still spend rest of his life in prisonA Hong Kong appellate court on Thursday overturned fraud convictions against the media mogul Jimmy Lai, a rare victory in the prominent pro-democracy activist’s legal battles.Lai, 78, an outspoken critic of China’s ruling Communist party who founded the now defunct Apple Daily, will stay in prison because weeks ago he was <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/09/jimmy-lai-sentencing-china-hong-kong-pro-democracy-businessman">sentenced to 20 years</a> after being convicted in another case brought under a China-imposed national security law. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/feb/26/jimmy-lai-conviction-wins-appeal-hong-kong-court">Continue reading...</a>

Appellate court quashes convictions linked to lease violations but Lai may still spend rest of his life in prison

Jimmy Lai’s fraud conviction overturned by Hong Kong court in rare legal win for activist

Murderous governments and armed groups always considered reporters like Marie Colvin a nuisance – now they see them as legitimate targetsA friend wrote to me last week to tell me that my name appeared in the Epstein files. “But it’s for a good cause,” he wrote. “Nothing sinister.”In 2012, shortly after my friend and colleague Marie Colvin was killed in Homs, Syria, I <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/11/jeffrey-epstein-files-norway-illusions-far-right">met with the now-disgraced</a> Norwegian diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen. Rød-Larsen was a renowned fixer who had negotiated the 1993 Oslo accords.Janine di Giovanni is a war correspondent and the executive director of The Reckoning Project, a war crimes unit in Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza. She is the author of The Morning They Came for Us: Dispatches from SyriaDo you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tone/letters"> letters</a> section, please <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="mailto:guardian.letters@theguardian.com?body=Please%20include%20your%20name,%20full%20postal%20address%20and%20phone%20number%20with%20your%20letter%20below.%20Letters%20are%20usually%20published%20with%20the%20author%27s%20name%20and%20city/town/village.%20The%20rest%20of%20the%20information%20is%20for%20verification%20only%20and%20to%20contact%20you%20where%20necessary.">click here</a>. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/26/friend-killed-reporting-marie-colvin">Continue reading...</a>

Murderous governments and armed groups always considered reporters like Marie Colvin a nuisance – now they see them as legitimate targets

My friend was killed for telling you the truth. Now the powerful are even more desperate to silence us | Janine di Giovanni

The ongoing battle over for the iconic film studio is set to have a major impact on what we, the viewers, get to watchIt’s not unusual for a corporate merger to take months and months to actually finalize, but even by those standards, the bidding for ownership of Warner Bros Discovery has been drawn out. Netflix made a deal to buy the Warner Bros side of the company – its studio and streaming businesses – late last year, but Paramount Skydance has been undeterred, aggressively pursuing what it claims to be a better offer for the entire WBD operation. After several failed attempts at a hostile takeover, WBD is considering a final Paramount offer, to which Netflix will have the opportunity to counter. What we have is what learned cinema scholars might refer to as an Alien v Predator situation, in honor of Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox: whoever wins, we lose.That is to say that for cinema devotees, casual viewers and people working in the film industry, the ideal outcome would be for Warner Bros to continue as its own entity: an entertainment company making movies and TV series. But that’s clearly not going to happen – nor are any number of relatively superior options floated last year, like the idea of Apple, who worked with the studio on the global smash and Best Picture nominee F1, buying Warner instead. They are still a massive corporation, but they have shown a willingness to spend on major (and theatrically released!) projects like Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon, and have such a thriving business in other areas that they could afford to run Warner as a real studio, trying to continue the company’s recent hot streak. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/feb/26/netflix-paramount-best-new-owner-warner-bros">Continue reading...</a>

The ongoing battle over for the iconic film studio is set to have a major impact on what we, the viewers, get to watch

Netflix or Paramount: who would be the best new owner of Warner Bros?

Readers respond to an article by an anonymous 15-year-old girl about hateful comments against women and girls on social mediaThe disturbing account from a 15‑year‑old girl describing the misogyny she faces online (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/23/15-year-old-girl-misogyny-social-media-online-abuse">I am a 15-year-old girl. Let me show you the vile misogyny that confronts me on social media every day, 23 February</a>) will come as no surprise to those of us working to safeguard young people’s mental health. The scale of harmful content in online worlds is deeply concerning. The author has been brave in shining a light on her experiences, and many young people today are exposed to misogyny and hatred in ways that are difficult for those who are not digital natives to fully understand.Yet it is also important to recognise that the online world is not wholly negative, since for many young people it offers connection, solidarity, creativity and meaningful support. Any policy response must protect access to these positive spaces, not cut young people off from them. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/feb/26/we-must-protect-young-people-from-online-harms">Continue reading...</a>

Readers respond to an article by an anonymous 15-year-old girl about hateful comments against women and girls on social media

We must protect young people from online harms | Letters

Some on the right portray this TikTok phenomenon as tantamount to treason. That says more about them than the fans of Chinese cultureAs it’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://chinesenewyear.net/">Chinese lunar new year</a>, it would not be surprising if you’ve found yourself scrolling through some China-inspired content. But before you click the heart on a TikTok of paper lanterns or mouthwatering noodles, think twice. As an unsuspecting citizen, you may well be participating in a geopolitical battle where western civilisation itself is on the line.This isn’t the plot of a mediocre action thriller on Amazon Prime – this is “Chinamaxxing”, an internet trend that has got some commentators worrying that gen Z are about to topple the west from the inside.Coco Khan is a writer and co-host of the politics podcast Pod Save the UK <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/26/tiktok-gen-z-chinamaxxers-culture-china">Continue reading...</a>

Some on the right portray this TikTok phenomenon as tantamount to treason. That says more about them than the fans of Chinese culture

Britain and the US, calm down. The gen Z Chinamaxxers will do you no harm | Coco Khan

End of News Feed

The deal paves the way for Form Energy to raise a new funding round before potentially going public next year.

Google paid startup Form Energy $1B for its massive 100-hour battery

Mark Zuckerberg was at Prada's fashion week event in Milan, leaving everyone to wonder if we're getting Meta AI glasses under the Prada brand.

So, we’re getting Prada Meta AI glasses, right?

The company's modular computer tiles offer a new vision for space data centers. 

Sophia Space raises $10M seed to demo novel space computers

IDC says phone makers will ship only 1.12 billion smartphones as compared to 1.26 billion last year.

Memory shortage could cause the biggest dip in smartphone shipments in over a decade

Mistral AI lands a partnership with Accenture, the consultant that has also recently announced partnerships with rivals OpenAI and Anthropic. 

Mistral AI inks a deal with global consulting giant Accenture

Users who are part of the test can type "DM me" or "Message me" in a post or reply to automatically generate a hyperlink that invites others to start a private conversation with them.

Users who are part of the test can type "DM me" or "Message me" in a post or reply to automatically generate a hyperlink that invites others to start a p...

Threads is testing a shortcut to quickly start DM conversations

Read AI is launching Ada, which can reply with your availability and extract answers from the company knowledge base and the web.

Read AI launches an email-based ‘digital twin’ to help you with schedules and answers

Bumble and other popular dating apps, like Match Group's Tinder and Hinge, have all embraced AI-powered features.

Bumble adds AI-powered photo feedback and profile guidance tools

The suit said Walmart would mislead drivers about their possible tips and would reduce their base pay, among other things. 

Walmart agrees to $100M settlement over deceptive pay practices in Spark Driver program

The proceeds will support Einride’s technology roadmap, global expansion, and autonomous deployments in North America, Europe, and the Middle East. 

Self-driving truck startup Einride raises $113M PIPE ahead of public debut

The U.S. government and its allies said hackers have been exploiting the newly identified bug in Cisco networking gear around the world for years, and urged organizations to patch.

The U.S. government and its allies said hackers have been exploiting the newly identified bug in Cisco networking gear around the world for years, and ur...

Cisco says hackers have been exploiting a critical bug to break into big customer networks since 2023

A group of well-known open source programmers and a VC have launched the Open Source Endowment. They hope this new method will provide funding for good.

A VC and some big-name programmers are trying to solve open source’s funding problem, permanently

Google is making Nano Banana 2 a default model in Gemini app and in AI mode.

Google launches Nano Banana 2 model with faster image generation

Tal Dilian and three other Intellexa executives were tried for their role in a scandal dubbed "Greek Watergate," which dates back to 2022.

Spyware makers sentenced to prison in Greece for wiretapping politicians and journalists

X has launched an expanded set of aspect ratio support for both image and video ads, so advertisers can now reuse assets they've created for other platforms.

X has launched an expanded set of aspect ratio support for both image and video ads, so advertisers can now reuse assets they've created for other platfo...

X tries wooing advertisers by letting them reuse creatives made for other platforms

The latest round of layoffs marks eBay’s third workforce reduction in the past three years. 

eBay to lay off 800 staff

Register now to secure discounts of up to $680 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass. Offer ends tomorrow, February 27, at 11:59 p.m. PT.

2 days left: Lock in the best discounts for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Jest, a marketplace for messaging games, emerged from stealth with $7 million in seed funding.

Jest, a marketplace for messaging games, is challenging the app store status quo

On June 9, over 1,000 founders, investors, and decision-makers will gather for TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026. This isn’t just foot traffic. It’s a full day of concentrated deal flow.

On June 9, over 1,000 founders, investors, and decision-makers will gather for TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026. This isn’t just foot traffic. It’s a full ...

Exhibit in Boston’s startup ecosystem at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026

Figma is integrating OpenAI's coding assistant Codex a week after it announced a similar integration with Anthropic's Claude Code.

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