In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’Keir Starmer has backed banning addictive social media features in his strongest intervention yet on curbs that could be placed on tech companies, saying the features “shouldn’t be permitted”.The prime minister said the government was “going to have to act” on the algorithms that hook young people and children to social media, such as scrolling or “streaks” that encourage daily usage of apps. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/mar/29/keir-starmer-social-media-curb-addictive-features">Continue reading...</a>

In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’

Keir Starmer says UK will ‘have to act’ to curb addictive features of social media

Ban on junk food adverts has cut advertising spend and prompted a debate over the policy’s impactThe UK will have its first Easter without the traditional barrage of TV ads for chocolate eggs and hot cross buns as the ban on junk food advertising makes the sweetest tradition of the year a sugar-free viewing experience.New regulations, which came into force at the beginning of the year, prohibit products high in fat, sugar and salt from appearing in TV ads before 9pm, as part of efforts to tackle rising childhood obesity. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/29/first-sugar-free-easter-tv-chocolate-ads-pushed-9pm-eggs">Continue reading...</a>

Ban on junk food adverts has cut advertising spend and prompted a debate over the policy’s impact

First sugar-free Easter on UK TV as chocolate ads are pushed past 9pm

Warner Bros-owned brand’s late arrival to British TV prompts deals for viewers as battle for subscribers heats upThe launch of HBO Max into the increasingly crowded UK television market last week has prompted deals for consumers as former rivals team up amid a slowdown in subscriber growth.The Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) streaming service hopes a competitive price for direct sign-ups and deals bundling the service through Sky will make it a must-have and not an also-ran, in a British TV ecosystem <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2012/jan/26/netflix-uk-launch">upended by Netflix 14 years ago</a>. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/29/hbo-max-pins-hopes-friends-harry-potter-uk-streaming-war">Continue reading...</a>

Warner Bros-owned brand’s late arrival to British TV prompts deals for viewers as battle for subscribers heats up

HBO Max pins hopes on Friends and Harry Potter to win UK streaming war

US release of horror novel Shy Girl cancelled and UK book discontinued after suspected AI use, as publishers feel ‘cold shiver’Recently, the literary agent Kate Nash started noticing that the submission letters she was receiving from authors were becoming more thorough – albeit also more formulaic.“I took it as a rise in diligence,” she said. “I thought it was a good thing.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/29/ai-written-books-novel-shy-girl-publishers">Continue reading...</a>

US release of horror novel Shy Girl cancelled and UK book discontinued after suspected AI use, as publishers feel ‘cold shiver’

‘Soon publishers won’t stand a chance’: literary world in struggle to detect AI-written books

Exclusive: World Service director Fiona Crack says platform pursues stories ignored by the Gulf’s state-owned mediaA senior BBC executive has defended BBC Arabic as a lone voice in the region covering the “Israeli perspective”, as she warned its critics that it pursued stories ignored by the Gulf’s state-owned media.The corporation’s Arabic service has come under sustained criticism in recent years, for its selection of coverage and for featuring some guests that had expressed antisemitic views on social media. There have even been calls for the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/bbc-no-longer-needs-to-reform-its-arabic-channel-it-needs-shutting-down/">service to be closed down</a>. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/28/bbc-arabic-defended-lone-voice-region-israeli-perspective">Continue reading...</a>

Exclusive: World Service director Fiona Crack says platform pursues stories ignored by the Gulf’s state-owned media

BBC Arabic defended as lone voice in region for giving ‘Israeli perspective’

Treasury department said Financial Times article about Scott Bessent’s views on Fed oversight was ‘manufactured’ The US treasury department demanded on Friday that the Financial Times (FT) retract a report on treasury secretary Scott Bessent’s views on the Federal Reserve, accusing the newspaper of publishing “false claims” in a formal complaint escalated to the outlet’s parent company, Nikkei Inc.The email from treasury officials, addressed to senior editors at the FT and Nikkei, disputed multiple claims in the story and criticized the headline as misrepresenting the underlying reporting. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/28/treasury-department-financial-times-federal-reserve">Continue reading...</a>

Treasury department said Financial Times article about Scott Bessent’s views on Fed oversight was ‘manufactured’

US treasury department demands retraction of story on increased oversight of Federal Reserve

Lebanese government calls the killings a ‘blatant war crime’ while Israel says primary target was a Hezbollah ‘terrorist’<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/29/middle-east-crisis-live-explosions-tehran-yemen-houthis-iran-war-updates-trump-us-israel-strikes-lebanon">Middle East crisis – live updates</a></li></ul>A funeral has taken place in Lebanon for three journalists killed by an Israeli strike on Saturday, after the Lebanese government called the killings a “blatant war crime”.Ali Shoeib, of the Hezbollah-owned al-Manar television station, and Fatima Ftouni and her brother and cameraman Mohammed Ftouni, of the pro-Hezbollah outlet al-Mayadeen, were killed in the strike targeting their car. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/28/lebanon-condemns-blatant-war-crime-israel-kills-three-journalists">Continue reading...</a>

Lebanese government calls the killings a ‘blatant war crime’ while Israel says primary target was a Hezbollah ‘terrorist’

Funeral held for three journalists killed by Israeli strike in Lebanon

CNN team detained while reporting on aftermath of attack by settlers in West Bank, Foreign Press Association says<ul><li><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/mar/29/middle-east-crisis-live-explosions-tehran-yemen-houthis-iran-war-updates-trump-us-israel-strikes-lebanon">Middle East crisis – live updates</a></li></ul>An international media association has condemned what it described as a “violent assault” by Israeli soldiers who detained a CNN crew in the occupied West Bank this week.A CNN team was reporting on the aftermath of an assault by Israeli settlers and the establishment of an illegal outpost near the Palestinian village of Tayasir on Thursday when it was detained by Israeli soldiers, the Foreign Press Association said on Saturday. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/28/israeli-soldiers-cnn-crew-west-bank-foreign-press-association">Continue reading...</a>

CNN team detained while reporting on aftermath of attack by settlers in West Bank, Foreign Press Association says

Media association condemns ‘violent assault’ on CNN crew by Israeli soldiers

Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social mediaThe young woman at the heart of what has been called the tech industry’s “big tobacco” moment was on YouTube at six and Instagram by nine. More than a decade later, she says, she still can’t live without the social media she became addicted to.“I can’t, it’s too hard to be without it,” Kaley, now 20, told a jury at Los Angeles’ superior court. This week, five men and seven women <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-us-first-social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube">handed down a verdict</a> on the design of two of the world’s most popular apps that vindicated Kaley’s position. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/ng-interactive/2026/mar/28/week-that-brought-big-tech-to-heel-meta-youtube-google-instagram-facebook">Continue reading...</a>

Ruling that Meta and YouTube deliberately designed addictive products marks possible watershed moment for social media

‘The era of invincibility is over’: the week big tech was brought to heel

Aggressive strategy and loss in the trial highlight a problem for tech firms: a widespread distrust of social media companiesWhen <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/meta">Meta</a>, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, sought to defend itself in the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-us-first-social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube">landmark social media addiction lawsuit</a> alleging its products caused personal injury to a young user, it went on the offensive. The mental health problems that the 20-year-old known as KGM suffered since she was a child were not the result of exposure to harm on Instagram, Meta’s lawyers and public relations team argued, but instead linked to her mother’s parenting and her offline social problems.In a bench memo filed before the trial began, lawyers for Meta quoted excerpts from KGM’s teenage text messages, personal writings and social media posts complaining about her mother. They combed through therapy notes and called on doctors to testify to examples of personal conflict. Throughout the proceedings, Meta’s communications team sent reporters repeated updates from the trial and quotes from testimony that highlighted her familial issues. Far from causing harm, they alleged that Instagram offered a helpful respite from the real world. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/29/meta-loss-social-media-addiction-trial">Continue reading...</a>

Aggressive strategy and loss in the trial highlight a problem for tech firms: a widespread distrust of social media companies

How Meta’s victim-blaming failed to sway jurors in landmark social media addiction trial

Leonid Radvinsky’s widow has been left with a crucial role in deciding what happens to the business that made her husband a billionaireYekaterina Chudnovsky, online biographies say, is a mother-of-four who “enjoys spending time with her family and teaching them the importance of giving back and helping others”. They add that Ukrainian-born Chudnovsky, known as Katie, finds sanctuary in walks on the beach.In interviews, Chudnovsky has spoken warmly about her commitment to philanthropy, her dedication to supporting cancer research and her work as a lawyer for an unnamed global technology firm. Pornography is never mentioned. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/mar/29/onlyfans-owners-leonid-radvinsky-death-porn-money-making-machine">Continue reading...</a>

Leonid Radvinsky’s widow has been left with a crucial role in deciding what happens to the business that made her husband a billionaire

The OnlyFans inheritance: how its owner’s death could reshape the porn money-making machine

Two court cases have shown how companies can be forced to take responsibility for their impact on public healthDebate about online harms has tended to focus on abusive and hateful content. But the form in which content is delivered is at least as important. That point is central to this week’s <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/mar/25/jury-verdict-us-first-social-media-addiction-trial-meta-youtube">momentous decisions against Meta and YouTube</a>, by two US juries. It will take more than these cases to loosen big tech’s tight grip on much of the world’s attention. But the fact that both companies were found liable in California, for deliberately designing addictive products that harmed a child, is a massive win for the coalition of campaigners aiming to use the US courts to force the platforms to change their products.The second case against Meta, in New Mexico, found it liable over the use of Facebook and Instagram for <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/mar/24/meta-new-mexico-jury">child sex trafficking</a>, with a <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2023/apr/27/how-facebook-and-instagram-became-marketplaces-for-child-sex-trafficking">Guardian investigation</a> cited in the complaint. The jury ordered it to pay $375m in civil liabilities; the state’s attorney general is seeking platform changes and financial penalties.Do 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/mar/27/the-guardian-view-on-social-media-in-the-dock-tech-bros-move-fast-society-is-trying-to-catch-up">Continue reading...</a>

Two court cases have shown how companies can be forced to take responsibility for their impact on public health

The Guardian view on social media in the dock: tech bros move fast – society is trying to catch up | Editorial

This HBO series about Italy’s top TV host (and his feathered friend) getting embroiled with the mob sounds genius … and yet it’s troublingly tediousHad a little wager with myself this week, regarding whether HBO Max’s new series is about the west London vintage market, a mushroom, or a coastal suburb of Edinburgh. Even spread-betting, I got cleaned out. Portobello is actually the true story of Enzo Tortora, former host of Italy’s top TV show, who was falsely accused of being a member of the Camorra. How was I supposed to guess that?At its height, Portobello the variety show had a staggering audience of 28 million, a national cross section from nuns to prison inmates. Among the latter, Giovanni Pandico: a froggy-looking Camorrist and clinical paranoid who becomes fixated, Stan-like, on Tortora. He believes he communicates with the presenter via telepathy, as well as mind control of a parrot which guest-stars on the show. Bizarrely, the mob criminal posts Tortora 20 lace doilies to sell on his show (in a segment actually called Portobello Market, which really spun me out). <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/mar/28/portobello-how-can-this-tv-show-about-the-mafia-and-a-mind-controlled-parrot-be-so-wildly-dull">Continue reading...</a>

This HBO series about Italy’s top TV host (and his feathered friend) getting embroiled with the mob sounds genius … and yet it’s troublingly tedious

Portobello: how can this TV show about the mafia and a mind-controlled parrot be so wildly dull?

End of News Feed

Is this just normal corporate strategy, or are we about to see a broader pullback on AI-generated video?

Sora’s shutdown could be a reality check moment for AI video

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. 

TechCrunch Mobility: When a robotaxi has to call 911

SXSW made some changes this year, but some founders loved it all the same. 

SXSW rebounds as a top networking, ideas festival for founders and VCs

Bluesky’s new app Attie uses AI to help people build custom feeds the open social networking protocol atproto.

Bluesky leans into AI with Attie, an app for building custom feeds

While the relationship was once thorny enough that Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cagefight, things seem to have warmed up by the early days of the second Trump administration.

While the relationship was once thorny enough that Musk challenged Zuckerberg to a cagefight, things seem to have warmed up by the early days of the seco...

Mark Zuckerberg texted Elon Musk to offer help with DOGE

While there’s been plenty of debate about AI sycophancy, a new study by Stanford computer scientists attempts to measure how harmful that tendency might be.

Stanford study outlines dangers of asking AI chatbots for personal advice

All but two of Musk's 11 xAI co-founders departed before this week.

Elon Musk’s last co-founder reportedly leaves xAI

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best iPad apps for creativity that are available on the App Store. 

These iPad apps will make you wish you had more free time

Estimates for total Claude consumer users are all over the map (we've seen figures ranging from 18 million to 30 million). Anthropic hasn't disclosed this data, but a spokesperson did tell TechCrunch that Claude paid subscriptions have more than doubled this year.

Estimates for total Claude consumer users are all over the map (we've seen figures ranging from 18 million to 30 million). Anthropic hasn't disclosed thi...

Anthropic’s Claude popularity with paying consumers is skyrocketing

Fusion, fission, and even natural gas are appeared tied in the race to deliver new power to the grid in the early 2030s.

What will power the grid in 2035? The race is wide open

Boomboxes, instant cameras, and even landlines are making a comeback. Here are the coolest retro-inspired devices available. 

Let’s take a look at the retro tech making a comeback

We polled nearly a dozen VCs to find out which W26 startups are the sought after in the batch.

From Moon hotels to cattle herding: 8 startups investors chased at YC Demo Day

Whoop founder Will Ahmed has spent 14 years building a health wearable beloved by elite athletes, and is now racing Oura — and the FDA, and the limits of consumer medicine — to turn it into something that could one day save your life.

Whoop founder Will Ahmed has spent 14 years building a health wearable beloved by elite athletes, and is now racing Oura — and the FDA, and the limits of...

Whoop’s fitness band is cool. Can it stay cool as the company grows?

The deal would effectively double the company's $5.6 billion valuation in just four months.

Physical Intelligence is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion, again

Wall Street giants JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are extending a 12-month, unsecured loan to the Japanese conglomerate. 

Why SoftBank’s new $40B loan points to a 2026 OpenAI IPO

SK hynix’s potential U.S. listing could raise $10-$14 billion to help it build more capacity, encourage others to follow, and end the 'RAMmageddon' memory shortage.  

SK hynix’s potential U.S. listing could raise $10-$14 billion to help it build more capacity, encourage others to follow, and end the 'RAMmageddon' memor...

Memory chip giant SK hynix could help end ‘RAMmageddon’ with blockbuster US IPO

Waymo's weekly paid robotaxi trips have increased tenfold in less than two years. 

Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart

The European Union's top executive body has confirmed a cyberattack after hackers reportedly stole reams of data from the European Commission's cloud storage.

The European Union's top executive body has confirmed a cyberattack after hackers reportedly stole reams of data from the European Commission's cloud sto...

European Commission confirms cyberattack after hackers claim data breach 

Index Ventures is said to be leading a $250 million to $350 million round. 

Aetherflux reportedly raising Series B at $2 billion valuation

The two companies have been collaborating on a joint venture that would see Rivian tech go in VW's EVs.

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