Technology

Open Letter.

• Fears that content covering Palestine protests could be incorrectly removed as platforms are incentivised to censor content not protect freedom of expression
• Clarification needed over how platforms define ‘support’ for Palestine Action
• British public have no independent mechanism to challenge wrongful takedowns

The study shows that gaming-adjacent platforms, which allow users to chat and live stream while playing, are being used as “digital playgrounds” for extremist activity and that video game players are being deliberately “funnelled” by extremists from mainstream social media platforms to these sites, in part because of the challenges faced in moderating them.

When Jennifer Meissner’s small pipe welding business landed a multimillion-dollar contract to help build a sprawling new Texas headquarters for Tesla, she was convinced it was her company’s big break.

Instead, she says the deal led her into personal and professional bankruptcy – unable to pay dozens of her workers at Christmastime. Meissner said that was her last resort after Tesla, which is owned by the world’s richest man, stopped paying her company for work they’d already done.

Google has sharply reduced its support for nonprofit groups devoted to diversity, equity, and inclusion, in what appears to be another sign the company is falling in line with President Trump’s anti-DEI crusade, the Tech Transparency Project (TTP) has found.

Google publishes a list of organizations that receive the “most substantial contributions” from the company. In early 2025, Google removed more than 200 groups from the list, its biggest purge in at least five years. The largest category of removals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), a concept that has come under sustained attack by the Trump administration. A total of 58 DEI-related groups disappeared from the list.

It is unclear if Google stopped funding these organizations or is simply seeking to hide its support for them. However, either scenario suggests Google is taking further steps to distance itself from DEI programs.

After Trump took office and began rolling back DEI efforts, Google removes references to diversity, equity, and inclusion from its annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and ended diversity-related hiring goals. Like other Big Tech companies and executives, Google donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Google and most of the groups removed from Google's list did not respond to questions. One of the groups, the ACLU of Illinois, declined to comment and directed questions to Google.

In a statement to CNBC, which covered this report, Google said, “We contribute to hundreds of groups from across the political spectrum that advocate for pro-innovation policies, and those groups change from year to year based on where our contributions will have the most impact.”

TTP identified Google’s disappearing DEI groups while updating its Tech Funding Database. The searchable database, which is linked on TTP’s website, provides information on whether organizations have received funding from Big Tech firms, based on company disclosures. The latest update adds disclosures from 2021 to the most recent available.

A Florida jury on Friday found Tesla liable in the 2019 fatal crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S, and ordered Elon Musk’s automaker to pay $329 million to the family of a deceased woman and an injured survivor.

Jurors in Miami federal court ordered Tesla to pay $129 million in compensatory damages and $200 million in punitive damages to the estate of Naibel Benavides Leon and to her former boyfriend Dillon Angulo.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said the trial was the first involving the wrongful death of a third party resulting from Autopilot. The plaintiffs had sought $345 million.

Thousands of South Dakotans have been publicly labeled as applicants for government assistance and thousands more have had their email address and phone number exposed, due to a new state law and the way the state’s election office is implementing it.

Although the legislation creating the law received some Democratic votes, it’s a product of the Republican-dominated Legislature. Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden signed it into law and Republican Secretary of State Monae Johnson is carrying out its provisions.

Several legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, are now telling South Dakota Searchlight they did not intend for the law to expose sensitive information — especially the identity of public assistance applicants.

“This is what happens when you put the wrong people in charge,” said state House Minority Leader Erin Healy, D-Sioux Falls, who voted against the bill. “We talk a lot about freedom and privacy in this state, so it’s a shame that this legislation led to this type of breach.”

Dozens and perhaps hundreds of individuals who applied to visit inmates at Everglades Correctional Institution (ECI) in Miami-Dade County last weekend had their personal contact information shared with every inmate at that facility, according to five different individuals who have spoken to the Phoenix over the past four days.

The Florida Department of Corrections has not commented publicly about the incident since it occurred last week.

That data breach has frightened and infuriated some of the women who had their names, email addresses, and telephone numbers released to those incarcerated at the prison located near the Florida Everglades.

Inmates received that information via an email sent out by a staff member of the facility on Thursday. Florida inmates have access to emails through both interactive kiosks as well as secure tablets.

“It’s kind of disturbing when you think about it,” said Madeline Donate, who regularly visits her husband at the prison. “The privacy aspect of this is concerning. This is how other inmates get information and can sometimes extort family members and things like that. It’s concerning.”

Jan Thompson said she fears extortion.

“What if there’s some inmate that doesn’t like another inmate?” she said. “And he tells his family, ‘Okay, here’s his wife’s phone number. Call her and tell her if she doesn’t pay and put $500 on my book, I’m going to have her husband stabbed and killed.’ What’s stopping them from doing that?”

(Inmates can receive funds for deposit into their “inmate trust accounts” from individuals already identified on the inmate’s automated visiting record).

“I’m very worried. This is not okay,” added a woman who wanted to be identified only as Dakota, her middle name. “Someone needs to be held accountable for this. They need to take the necessary precautions to ensure that this does not happen. And what about this information that’s out there? There’s what, 1,600 [inmates] there? They all have information. God knows what they could do with it.”

The Business Court in Brussels, Belgium, has issued a broad site-blocking order that aims to restrict access to shadow libraries including Anna's Archive, Libgen, OceanofPDF, Z-Library, and the Internet Archive's Open Library. In addition to ISP blocks, the order also directs search engines, DNS resolvers, advertisers, domain name services, CDNs and hosting companies to take action. For now, Open Library doesn't appear to be actively blocked.