Hike, once a unicorn, shuts down as India cracks down on real-money gaming
Hike, which started as a WhatsApp rival before pivoting to real-money gaming, is now sunsetting after India’s sweeping ban.
Government & Policy
Pilot union urges FAA to reject Rainmaker’s drone cloud-seeding plan
Rainmaker wants to use flares to seed clouds – the airline pilots’ union says it won’t be safe.
Microsoft slips unscathed through EU competition probe after promising to unbundle Teams
Microsoft will escape largely unscathed from a major antitrust investigation by the European Commission that could have resulted in billion-dollar fines for the tech giant.
A California bill that would regulate AI companion chatbots is close to becoming law
SB 243 passed the California Senate on Thursday and heads to Gov. Newsom’s desk. If SB 243 is enacted, California would become the first state to require operators to implement safety protocols for AI companions and hold companies legally accountable if their chatbots fail to meet those standards.
FTC launches inquiry into AI chatbot companions from Meta, OpenAI, and others
The federal consumer regulator seeks to learn about how AI companies evaluate the safety of their chatbots.
A California bill that would regulate AI companion chatbots is close to becoming law
If SB 243 is enacted, California would become the first state to require operators to implement safety protocols for AI companions and hold companies legally accountable if their chatbots fail to meet those standards.
Nepal reverses social media ban as protests turn deadly
Nepal has reversed its social media ban following nationwide “Gen Z” protests and public backlash.
Meta suppressed children’s safety research, four whistleblowers claim
Four whistleblowers share documents with Congress alleging that the company may have suppressed research on children’s safety.
Anthropic endorses California’s AI safety bill, SB 53
As Anthropic endorses SB 53, much of Silicon Valley and the federal government are pushing back on AI safety efforts.
Adtech company PubMatic sues Google over monopoly violations
The lawsuit marks the second time that an advertising exchange has sued Google since a federal judge ruled in April that the search giant had illegally monopolized ad exchanges and ad servers.