State attorneys general claim tech company intentionally designed addictive products that harm young peopleLawyers representing 29 US states have accused <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/meta">Meta</a> of covering up internal research showing <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/instagram">Instagram</a> was addictive for teenagers. In a packed courtroom Tuesday, on the opening day of a landmark legal challenge, they said the company knew its products harmed children but hid that information from the public.“I heard from many of you at jury selection that the health and wellbeing of kids is a shared responsibility,” said Megan O’Neill, a deputy attorney general for California, in her opening statements. “Meta didn’t do its share.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/meta-child-safety-addiction-lawsuit-states">Continue reading...</a>

State attorneys general claim tech company intentionally designed addictive products that harm young people

US states accuse Meta of covering up research on teen social media addiction in pivotal trial

<ul><li>Premier Sports secure rights with BBC not bidding</li><li>Nandy: ‘As a fan myself, I share fans’ disappointment’</li></ul>The culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has urged administrators to strike a deal to allow this autumn’s Rugby League World Cup to be shown on a free-to-air broadcast after it was announced the event would be shown in the United Kingdom exclusively on subscription TV.The BBC’s longstanding relationship with the sport has led to it consistently showing the Rugby League World Cup irrespective of where and when the tournament has been held. But that tradition will seemingly end this autumn, after it was confirmed the broadcaster would not bid for the rights to show the event, which will be held in Australia. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/aug/18/rugby-league-world-cup-could-be-on-suscription-tv-only-in-uk">Continue reading...</a>

Premier Sports secure rights with BBC not bidding

Lisa Nandy urges deal to keep Rugby League World Cup on free-to-air TV

Network alleges FCC is trying to send ‘chilling message’ in retaliation for content the administration disapproves of<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/abc">ABC</a> has sued the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), arguing that it is being retaliated against for content-based reasons in a move it warns threatens the independence of the press.The network filed the lawsuit on Tuesday after being forced to apply early to renew its license to broadcast on the eight local television stations it owns. It is waiting to hear whether the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/27/fcc-chair-brendan-carr">Brendan Carr</a>-led FCC approves its renewal requests, or, more likely, holds a hearing on their merits. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/18/abc-sues-trump-federal-communications-commission">Continue reading...</a>

Network alleges FCC is trying to send ‘chilling message’ in retaliation for content the administration disapproves of

ABC sues Trump’s media regulator over demand for TV license renewals

The director’s BBC hit opened the door to Hollywood action films including Hamburger Hill, The Dogs of War and Raw DealJohn Irvin, the British film-maker who directed the Bafta-winning BBC miniseries <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2019/sep/05/tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-40-years-on-alec-guinness">Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy</a>, as well as films including Hamburger Hill, The Dogs of War and Raw Deal, has died aged 86.Irvin died “peacefully at home” on 11 August, surrounded by his family, his producer Claire Evans confirmed to the Guardian. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/19/john-irvin-dead-british-director-tinker-tailor-soldier-spy-hamburger-hill">Continue reading...</a>

The director’s BBC hit opened the door to Hollywood action films including Hamburger Hill, The Dogs of War and Raw Deal

John Irvin, British film-maker who directed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, dies aged 86

Claire Lomas was filming content for project promoting tech company’s Vision Pro headset in Jordan, hearing toldA disability campaigner who was paralysed from the chest down died after her <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/31/bionic-suit-charity-campaigner-claire-lomas-dies-after-accident-in-jordan">microlight crashed</a> while filming a TV series for Apple, an inquest has heard.Claire Lomas, 44, who was the first person to complete a marathon with the help of a “bionic” suit, died five weeks after the adapted aircraft she was travelling in “veered off the runway” and hit a large rock while landing in Amman, Jordan. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/18/charity-campaigner-died-in-microlight-crash-while-filming-apple-tv-series">Continue reading...</a>

Claire Lomas was filming content for project promoting tech company’s Vision Pro headset in Jordan, hearing told

Charity campaigner who died after microlight crash was filming Apple TV series, inquest hears

Earl says he wanted to ‘write down my own thoughts and memories’ with 30th anniversary of Diana’s death ‘on the skyline’Charles Spencer is to publish a book about his sister Diana in September.In the book – titled Swan Song: Diana, My Sister – Spencer recounts the story of Diana’s life and the week of her death. It marks “the first time that Earl Spencer has spoken openly and at length about his sister”, according to the book’s publisher, the Penguin imprint Michael Joseph. The book will be released on 22 September in the UK. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/aug/18/charles-spencer-diana-book-swan-song">Continue reading...</a>

Earl says he wanted to ‘write down my own thoughts and memories’ with 30th anniversary of Diana’s death ‘on the skyline’

‘The truth about Diana’: Charles Spencer to publish book about late sister

Staff members said Free Speech Union would ‘need to explain’ how it spent money donated by its supportersStaff at a campaign group that claims to defend free speech in Britain said it would “need to explain” how it spent roughly £60,000 that was crowdfunded for a legal case that was ultimately fought by a pro bono lawyer.The Free Speech Union (FSU), an activist group founded by Conservative life peer Toby Young, last year took up the case of Julian Foulkes, a 71-year-old retired police officer who had been arrested 18 months earlier after writing a social media post about antisemitism. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/18/toby-young-free-speech-union-60000-gbp">Continue reading...</a>

Staff members said Free Speech Union would ‘need to explain’ how it spent money donated by its supporters

Revealed: Toby Young free speech group crowdfunded over £60,000 for legal case fought by pro-bono lawyer

Actor with a long career in theatre and on television who was known for the subtle quality of her workAlthough she was perhaps best known as the mother of two outstanding actors, Emma and Sophie Thompson, Phyllida Law, who has died aged 94, was supremely gifted herself –&nbsp;as an actor, costume designer and&nbsp;writer.She was not averse to appearing with either daughter: with Emma in her scabrously funny movie <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2005/oct/21/2">Nanny McPhee</a> (2005); and with Sophie in Douglas McGrath’s fine television film of Jane Austen’s Emma in 1996, in which she played the mother of Sophie’s impoverished Miss Bates. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/phyllida-law-obituary">Continue reading...</a>

Actor with a long career in theatre and on television who was known for the subtle quality of her work

Phyllida Law obituary

Rick Baker helped define Hollywood’s creature features with his wild makeup effects skills. From Locarno, he talks Gremlins, his love of simians– and why AI will never replace expert designWhen Rick Baker was 22 years old and laying the first bricks of what would become one of the great Hollywood careers, he travelled to Hatra in Iraq with director William Friedkin to assist with Max von Sydow’s makeup on The Exorcist. “Oh, he was definitely a lunatic,” Baker recalls of Friedkin, his signature goatee and ponytail still intact, if a little more salt than pepper these days. “But he made a great movie.” Friedkin had been travelling with a fake passport, and the production was plagued by extreme heat and dust storms – but the show went on. “I did von Sydow’s hands,” Baker says. “I pretty much just held a glue bottle.”We are speaking in Locarno, Switzerland, during the film festival, where Baker has accepted a lifetime achievement award and introduced screenings of An American Werewolf in London and The Nutty Professor – the first and fourth of his seven Oscar wins. When he completed his last big production, Maleficent, in 2014, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/may/29/rick-baker-retire-monster-maker-hollywood-effects">it ended a more than 40-year career</a> in which he made some huge contributions to popular culture. The monsters in Michael Jackson’s Thriller video? They were Baker’s handiwork. The Mos Eisley cantina band in Star Wars? That was him, too. In 1999, he leaked a story to the press to stop the studio from simply painting Jim Carrey green instead of using his designs for How the Grinch Stole Christmas; he won the argument and a sixth Oscar followed. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/18/rick-baker-interview-visual-effects-makeup-gremlins-thriller">Continue reading...</a>

Rick Baker helped define Hollywood’s creature features with his wild makeup effects skills. From Locarno, he talks Gremlins, his love of simians–  and wh...

‘I’ve always been fond of hairy creatures!’ Visual effects maestro Rick Baker on a monstrously good career

Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truthEven now it is very difficult to process the scale of tragedy that engulfed Jason Arday and those who loved him. The unbearable sadness at his death; the wretched knowledge that the very public onslaught against him began with the malign machinations of a self-defined “race realist” – who believes that, in an ideal world, black people would “disappear from almost all high-profile positions outside of sports and entertainment”. The horror that a rightwing and far-right campaign seeking a victim to fuel its nativist prejudices can now crow that it found one.There is wide and profound grief and of course there is rage, focused and unfocused. Both were on display as thousands <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/17/tens-of-thousands-pay-tribute-jason-arday-trafalgar-square-vigil">joined a protest vigil in Trafalgar Square</a> on Monday evening.Hugh Muir is executive editor, OpinionIn the UK, the charity Mind is available on 0300 123 3393 and Childline on 0800 1111. In the US, call or text Mental Health America at 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. In Australia, support is available at Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14, and at MensLine on 1300 789 978Do 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/aug/19/rightwing-witch-hunt-jason-arday-legitimate-journalism">Continue reading...</a>

Amid the grief and rage at a tragic loss, it’s right to differentiate between those who fought a culture war and others who just sought the truth

A rightwing witch-hunt focused on Jason Arday – but so did legitimate journalism | Hugh Muir

Director Joe Pearlman says he expected Real Madrid manager to ‘try to manipulate us’ in making of Netflix seriesEven in the hyperreal world of football, there are few characters more compelling, more polarising, or more everything than José Mourinho, the best and worst of public him on full display in <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/aug/11/mourinho-review-if-he-didnt-want-to-open-up-maybe-he-shouldnt-have-starred-in-a-docuseries">a new three-part Netflix series</a>. “It reminded me how good he was,” says Joe Pearlman, who directed Mourinho, and the actual Mourinho is, believe it or not, keen to communicate the same. As he puts it in the show: “I look, you look, I see more than you.”Making documentaries, though, is often about taking people to the places they’re most skilled at avoiding. “I knew the interviews were going to be very intense,” says Pearlman, “and he was going to try and control the narrative and manipulate us. Everything bad is everyone else’s fault and everything he’s done is validated by winning. Because that’s all that’s important.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/18/jose-mourinho-netflix-series-director-interview-joe-pearlman">Continue reading...</a>

Director Joe Pearlman says he expected Real Madrid manager to ‘try to manipulate us’ in making of Netflix series

Interviewing José Mourinho: ego, charisma, talent and his ‘rucksack of pain’

The Vampire Lestat has seduced fans around the world with his eye-popping antics. But this obsession with hot vamps goes way beyond forbidden love, bare chests and a taste for LSD-laced bloodIf you want TV audiences to forgive a fictional man for absolutely anything, just sharpen his fangs and stick him in velvet. Case in point? The horny musical drama The Vampire Lestat, which became a cult hit in the US earlier this year. The show has now arrived in the UK and Sam Reid’s searing performance as Lestat has fans on their knees.The first two seasons, which went by the title Interview With the Vampire, were about the “interview” in which Louis (Jacob Anderson) tells a journalist about his toxic relationship with Lestat. Now, the focus has shifted to Lestat – hence the new title and new narrator – as the golden-locked prince of darkness swaps centuries of secrecy for glam-rock stardom. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/aug/18/why-tv-vampires-are-so-intoxicating-vampire-lestat-lsd-blood">Continue reading...</a>

The Vampire Lestat has seduced fans around the world with his eye-popping antics. But this obsession with hot vamps goes way beyond forbidden love, bare ...

Brain-breaking sex, bad boys in leather and queer glory: why TV vampires are so intoxicating

Commercial networks ‘effectively stopped commissioning’ kids TV after government quota dropped, Screen Australia report findsBluey has been the most streamed show in the United States <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/jan/29/bluey-tops-us-streaming-charts-in-2025-for-second-year-in-a-row-with-45bn-minutes-watched">for the past two years</a>, but this homegrown success story has overshadowed a stark decline in Australian-made children’s television, according to new research.Screen Australia’s Screen Currency 2026 report, published on Wednesday, found that the average screen time dedicated to children’s TV broadcasting was 65 hours per year between 2021 and 2024 – a 42% drop on the average between 2000 and 2020. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/aug/19/australian-childrens-tv-drama-plummets-research-finds">Continue reading...</a>

Commercial networks ‘effectively stopped commissioning’ kids TV after government quota dropped, Screen Australia report finds

Why Australia has lost almost half its children’s TV as drama disappears behind paywalls

End of News Feed

Cursor, known for its AI Code Editor, is launching a new code-hosting platform to rival developers' long preferred favorite, GitHub. 

Cursor capitalizes on GitHub frustration, launches rival hosting platform

Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms.

DOJ’s probe into Andreessen Horowitz over board seats baffles VCs

If rolled out, the feature would use the social media service’s TikTok Pay offering, which is already available in Southeast Asia for TikTok Shop purchases.

TikTok explores peer-to-peer payments via DMs, report says

The new safeguards include more detailed monitoring of models during the development process, as well as greater emphasis on alignment and security during the post-training process.

The new safeguards include more detailed monitoring of models during the development process, as well as greater emphasis on alignment and security durin...

OpenAI institutes new safeguards after Hugging Face breach

If you’ve been circling around Disrupt, then now’s the best time to lock in your pass and start getting ready to join the rest of the startup community gathering in San Francisco from October 13-15 at Moscone West!   

If you’ve been circling around Disrupt, then now’s the best time to lock in your pass and start getting ready to join the rest of the startup community g...

Save up to $300 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 pass until August 21 

Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says.

Etched’s valuation doubles to $21B in a month

Apple is simplifying its EU App Store fees, replacing its per-install fee with a 5% commission for apps distributed outside the App Store and making it easier for developers to operate alternative app marketplaces.

Apple is simplifying its EU App Store fees, replacing its per-install fee with a 5% commission for apps distributed outside the App Store and making it e...

Apple overhauls its EU App Store fees, loosens rules for alternative app stores

A new feature added to Comcast's newest routers can detect if there is motion inside your home without needing traditional motion sensors.

Comcast adds motion sensing to millions of its newer routers, with a privacy catch

Apple’s leaked camera-equipped AirPods might avoid the privacy pitfalls of other AI wearables by preventing users from recording photos and videos.

Why Apple’s camera-equipped AirPods may not be the ‘pervert pods’ consumers fear

This is the latest large-scale DDoS attack to hit the social networking site this year.

Bluesky says its recent outage was caused by another DDoS attack

"These price changes allow Peacock to continue to create the best experience for its viewers, remain competitive in the marketplace, and deliver unique content across all genres," the company wrote on a support page.

"These price changes allow Peacock to continue to create the best experience for its viewers, remain competitive in the marketplace, and deliver unique c...

Peacock is raising prices across all of its streaming plans

Battery materials startup Anthro Energy has broken ground on a Louisville factory to make electrolytes, including those for solid-state batteries.

Anthro Energy breaks ground on factory that could pave the road to solid-state batteries

On Tuesday, Warp introduced Warp Factories, a new infrastructure system designed to make building AI software factories as easy as possible.

Warp’s new system is an out-of-the-box software factory for AI development

ChatGPT for Teens adds age-appropriate safety measures, parental controls, and learning tools designed to steer teens away from harmful content — and from using AI to cheat on their homework.

ChatGPT for Teens adds age-appropriate safety measures, parental controls, and learning tools designed to steer teens away from harmful content — and fro...

OpenAI launches a safer ChatGPT for teens — years after teens started using it

Perplexity's India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined.

Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India

A video in a macOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri.

Apple’s new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera

The scanning and bloodwork health startup founded by Spotify's founder will officially launch in New York in about a month. 

Daniel Ek’s body-scanning startup Neko Health opens first US office, in New York

Reach Capital announced Tuesday an oversubscribed $265 million Fund V. 

Reach Capital raises $265M Fund V to back AI founders building to ‘expand human potential’

The Fairphone 6+ is a midrange Android offering, but given the increasing prices of consumer gadgets amid the ongoing component shortages, a repairable device that can be made to last for years may prove a good proposition.

The Fairphone 6+ is a midrange Android offering, but given the increasing prices of consumer gadgets amid the ongoing component shortages, a repairable d...

Fairphone is launching its latest repairable phone in the US too

The deal will triple the size of Einride's fleet while sweetening the company's sales pitch for its Saga AI software. The Tesla Semis will be available to customers across North America.

The deal will triple the size of Einride's fleet while sweetening the company's sales pitch for its Saga AI software. The Tesla Semis will be available t...

Malcolm Wall Media

Malcolm Wall Media

MEDIA FEED

GUARDIAN MEDIA NEWS

TECHCRUNCH.COM NEWS