TikTok is testing a new opt-in tool that scans for AI-generated content using a creator’s likeness and allows them to report unauthorized uses to the company. The tool was first spotted in 2026 by…
ICE plans to renew Thomson Reuters Special Services access up to $25M/yr for up to five years (from $24M total over the prior five-year deal), disclosed July 17, 2026. The filing cites “multiplied” data demand to identify unaccompanied minors and government-funds fraud, including vetting sponsors via CLEAR’s public records and license-plate reader data.
Patreon announced in July 2026 that it is moving beyond passive requests to actively block AI bots that scrape creators’ content for model training purposes. The membership platform is working with…
Federal agents arrested Zyaire Wilkins, 21, on July 14, 2026, accusing him of using eight malware-infected Steam games (May 2024–Feb 2026) to steal at least $220,000 in cryptocurrency. The scheme allegedly infected ~8,000 devices, accessed 80 wallets, and one title, BlockBlasters, accounted for over $150,000 stolen.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sent cease-and-desist letters to Apple and Google in July 2026 over 13 AI “nudify” face-swap apps, citing California law against deepfake pornography and nonconsensual nude images. Google says it removed five Android apps flagged by his office plus “hundreds” of similar apps.
A consumer ownership advocacy organization called Fulu announced in July 2026 a $10,000 bounty for anyone who can disable Sony’s proprietary software locks on the PlayStation 5, potentially allowing…
Anthropic is pressing U.S. states to adopt stricter artificial intelligence regulations in 2026, arguing that transparency laws passed just last year are no longer adequate to address the risks posed…
In 2026, X’s upgraded Grok AI flags duplicated posts at 3× its previous rate, finding 1.5M stolen posts and redirecting $1M+ in creator payouts to original uploaders. Watermarks or edits won’t help, and follow/reply begging 3+ times can remove users from the creator program.
Scattered Spider members Owen Flowers (18) and Thalha Jubair (20) were sentenced to five years and six months on July 16, 2026, for a TfL attack that cost about £29 million. In summer 2024, they disabled TfL’s ticketing and real-time arrival systems for weeks; the FBI alleged Jubair targeted 120+ companies via social engineering.
EU DMA rulings (July 16, 2026) require Google to share Android and Google Search access with competitors comparable to Google’s own systems. Android assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity must get Gemini-level features/data, and Search data sharing starts by January 2027; penalties can reach 10% of annual worldwide turnover.
1Password’s July 2026 “1Password for Claude” lets Anthropic’s Claude complete multi-step tasks using stored logins after per-task biometric approval. Its “zero-exposure” channel injects credentials Claude can’t view and it scans pages after autofill. Available now on Mac for business, family, and individual plans, with both 1Password and Claude desktop/browser extensions.
Meta will notify parents when teens discuss suicide or self-harm with Meta AI starting July 16, 2026, via Instagram Parental Supervision in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. It flags chats with a clear self-harm reference for manual review, applies Instagram’s “Limited Content” to Meta AI, and plans global rollout before year-end.
