Trump announced a major deal on data centers. It's still unclear what's in it.

President Trump announced a "Rate Payer Protection Pledge" during his State of the Union address, claiming major tech companies agreed to build their own power plants for data centers so consumers don't pay for AI's energy appetite. Amazon, Google, Meta, Microsoft, xAI, Oracle, and OpenAI are expected to sign the pledge on March 4. Lawmakers from both parties remain skeptical, noting the absence of enforcement mechanisms or policy specifics, and the Data Center Coalition spent nearly $1 million on lobbying in 2025.

How Chinese AI Chatbots Censor Themselves

Stanford and Princeton researchers found that Chinese AI models including DeepSeek and Alibaba's Qwen are significantly more likely than Western counterparts to dodge political questions or deliver inaccurate responses on sensitive topics. The study reveals systematic self-censorship mechanisms embedded in Chinese AI systems, with researchers finding techniques to force models to expose their hidden refusal instructions.

Met police to pilot facial recognition identity checks, mayor confirms

The Metropolitan Police will deploy 100 officers using roaming facial recognition technology for six months to conduct identity checks on citizens. London Mayor Sadiq Khan backed the pilot despite previously stating the Met would consult stakeholders and ethics panels before implementing operator-initiated facial recognition. Civil liberties groups called the expansion "alarming" as the UK already deploys facial recognition via fixed cameras and retrospective systems nationwide.

Data Broker Breaches Fueled Nearly $21 Billion in Identity-Theft Losses

Congressional Democrats released findings showing data broker breaches have cost consumers tens of billions in identity theft losses. The report follows a WIRED investigation that exposed how data brokers hid opt-out pages from search engines using "no index" codes, making it nearly impossible for consumers to remove their personal information. Four companies subsequently removed the blocking code after congressional scrutiny.

FTC declines to enforce a kids privacy law for data collected to verify users' ages

The Federal Trade Commission announced it will not enforce the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA) against companies collecting personal data solely for age verification technologies, provided strict safeguards are followed. The policy shift incentivizes age verification adoption but privacy advocates warn it creates new risks. The Electronic Frontier Foundation noted that age verification systems have already experienced data breaches, citing a Discord incident where 70,000 users had government IDs exposed through a third-party vendor.

The Media Merger You Should Actually Care About

Nexstar's proposed $6 billion acquisition of Tegna would create a broadcasting giant controlling more than 250 local TV stations across 44 states and the District of Columbia, requiring the FCC to waive or abolish ownership caps that have prevented excessive media concentration since the New Deal era. Trump-aligned FCC chair Brendan Carr supports lifting the ownership cap, while the merger faces opposition from both progressive groups and right-wing outlets including One America News and NewsMax.

Slater's departure at DOJ signals new era for antitrust under Trump

Gail Slater, the Department of Justice's top antitrust enforcer, has resigned after less than a year leading the division amid repeated tensions with top Trump officials. Her departure raises questions about the administration's approach to major anti-monopoly cases and controversial mergers, including the proposed $70 billion Netflix-Warner Bros. Discovery deal. Trump had initially nominated Slater as part of a promised crackdown on Big Tech, declaring that "Big Tech has run wild for years."

US tells diplomats to lobby against foreign data sovereignty laws

The Trump administration has ordered U.S. diplomats to lobby against foreign governments' data sovereignty laws, arguing that regulations restricting how American tech companies handle foreigners' data would disrupt global data flows, increase costs and cybersecurity risks, limit AI and cloud services, and expand government control. A February 18 State Department cable signed by Secretary Marco Rubio instructs diplomatic posts to push back against data localization requirements in Europe and other jurisdictions.

Lawmakers Ask Tech Companies What User Data They Provided to D.H.S.

US lawmakers demanded answers from Meta, Google and other technology companies following reporting that the Department of Homeland Security issued subpoenas for user information tied to accounts tracking or commenting on ICE activities. The requests come amid scrutiny over DHS cooperation with tech platforms on surveillance targeting immigration-related political content.

Jamie Dimon says society should start preparing for AI job displacement: 'Now's the time to start thinking about' it

JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon warned society must prepare for AI-driven job displacement and would support government intervention including potential bans on mass AI layoffs to prevent social destabilization. Speaking at Davos, Dimon stated AI's effect on labor "may go too fast for society" and advocated for government retraining incentives and local retraining programs. JPMorgan has already displaced workers through AI but retrained them for other roles, demonstrating corporate ability to manage transition while acknowledging broader societal risks. Dimon's position marks a notable shift among financial elites toward acknowledging AI unemployment as a systemic threat requiring policy intervention.

Destitute survivors of south-east Asia's cyberscam farms an 'international crisis'

The Guardian reports that thousands of survivors freed from forced-labor cyberscam compounds across Southeast Asia are now destitute and sleeping on streets, with aid agencies warning of an international humanitarian crisis. Victims trafficked into compounds to conduct global cryptocurrency and investment scams lack passports, money, and support from Cambodian authorities who have failed to offer victim screening or other assistance.

Teenager first in SA to be prosecuted for allegedly creating deepfake images

William Hamish Yeates, 19, became the first person in South Australia prosecuted under 2024 Commonwealth laws criminalizing non-consensual deepfake pornography. He faces eight counts of creating or altering sexual material without consent for allegedly generating explicit deepfake images of a teenage girl and distributing them on social media. The case marks an early enforcement action against AI-generated intimate image abuse under Australia's federal deepfake legislation.

Tech Companies Shouldn't Be Bullied Into Doing Surveillance

The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the Secretary of Defense has issued an ultimatum to AI company Anthropic, threatening to terminate government contracts if the company does not make its technology available to the U.S. military without use restrictions. The EFF is urging Anthropic to refuse the demands and maintain its principles against surveillance applications.

AP report: Hegseth warns Anthropic to let the military use company's AI tech as it sees fit

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei a Friday deadline to allow unrestricted military use of the company's AI technology or risk losing its Pentagon contract. The ultimatum applies to a $200 million defense contract awarded last summer alongside Google, OpenAI, and xAI. Pentagon officials threatened to designate Anthropic a supply chain risk or invoke the Defense Production Act to compel compliance. The pressure campaign follows months of tension between Anthropic's state-level AI regulation advocacy and the administration's deregulation agenda.

Facial recognition error prompts police to arrest Asian man for burglary 100 miles away

Thames Valley Police arrested Alvi Choudhury after automated facial recognition software falsely matched him with footage of a burglary suspect in Milton Keynes, 100 miles away. The match was made despite the suspect appearing "10 years younger" with clear physical differences. Choudhury, who was held for 17 hours before being cleared, is claiming damages and calling for transparency about wrongful arrests involving facial recognition technology. The case adds to documented concerns about demographic bias in automated facial recognition systems.

Ministers urged to impose temporary ban on crypto political donations

UK Parliament's Joint Committee on National Security Strategy demanded a moratorium on cryptocurrency political donations until safeguards against foreign interference are implemented. The warning comes after the Representation of the People bill omitted crypto donation restrictions despite concerns that digital assets enable malign actors to conceal funding sources, complicating Electoral Commission and law enforcement oversight capabilities.

US antitrust enforcers to revamp guidelines on rivals collaborating

The Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission launched a public inquiry to develop updated antitrust guidance for businesses on competitor collaborations, including data sharing and pricing information exchange. The agencies seek input by April 24 on how new technologies have changed competitive dynamics, building on 2000-era guidelines that predate modern data aggregation and AI-driven business alliances.

I.R.S. Tactics Against Meta Open a New Front in the Corporate Tax Fight

The Internal Revenue Service is using real-world profit data to challenge how Meta and other large technology companies value intellectual property moved offshore, opening a new front in the government's battle against corporate tax avoidance. The agency is scrutinizing the "Double Irish" arrangement and transfer pricing mechanisms that allowed Meta to relocate IP rights to Ireland while its U.S. parent maintained control of core technologies, questioning whether offshore subsidiaries paid adequate consideration for assets that generate billions in global revenue.

Will Trump's DOJ actually take on Ticketmaster?

Gail Slater, who led the Justice Department's Antitrust Division, departed just weeks before the agency is set to face trial against Live Nation, creating uncertainty around federal enforcement in one of the year's most significant antitrust cases. At least 40 states joined the DOJ lawsuit, and state attorneys general have signaled they will continue the litigation regardless of federal participation, with California's top antitrust enforcer Paula Blizzard affirming trial will proceed March 2.

Employers are winning the gig worker messaging war

A poll shows 76% of Americans support keeping app-based workers as independent contractors if employers provide portable benefits. The Trump administration is rolling back a Biden-era labor rule that had steered companies toward classifying workers as employees. Labor advocates argue the independent contractor model inhibits union formation.

The FDA creates a quicker path for gene therapies

The FDA announced draft guidance for a "plausible mechanism pathway" that would allow gene-editing treatments for ultra-rare diseases to proceed without traditional clinical trials when biological understanding is strong. The policy builds on the successful treatment of "Baby KJ," an infant who received a bespoke CRISPR therapy for a fatal metabolic disorder. The framework specifically targets diseases too rare to attract pharmaceutical investment, potentially opening treatment paths for thousands of conditions affecting 30 million Americans.

Building the backbone for Europe's biodiversity monitoring

Researchers from University of Amsterdam and German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) have published a roadmap in Nature Reviews Biodiversity proposing a European Biodiversity Observation Network (BON) to unify fragmented national monitoring systems. The plan combines environmental DNA sampling, satellite remote sensing, and citizen science data through a proposed European Biodiversity Observation Coordination Centre (EBOCC). The initiative aims to standardize data workflows around Essential Biodiversity Variables to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and European Green Deal commitments.

Voters know what the next big issue is. They don't know how they feel about it.

New polling by POLITICO reveals data centers are emerging as a potent but undefined political issue ahead of 2026 elections, with Democrats seeing traction from candidates who campaigned on regulating data center energy consumption and water usage. Republican Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt noted data centers shifted from unknown to omnipresent in political discourse within months. The survey found only 25% of Americans believe data centers won't play a role in their local elections, while bipartisan momentum builds to accelerate permitting and energy infrastructure to support AI growth despite environmentalist warnings of conflict with net-zero goals.

Is Age Verification a Trap?

Age verification mandates force platforms to store biometric data, ID images, and verification logs for regulatory defense, creating persistent privacy risks. Facial age estimation systems produce false positives that lock accounts for days while platforms must retain sensitive data long enough to prove compliance decisions to regulators, transforming child safety infrastructure into permanent identity surveillance architecture.

Live facial recognition to be used ahead of Everton v Man Utd

Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing: regulating the use of AI

Bipartisan consensus has emerged across US state legislatures regarding the need for AI and data center regulation despite historical partisan gridlock on technology policy. Republican and Democratic lawmakers at state capitols nationwide are advancing regulatory frameworks addressing artificial intelligence deployment and data center infrastructure expansion. The rare bipartisan agreement signals growing institutional recognition that algorithmic systems have outpaced existing regulatory frameworks governing their deployment and social impact.