Meta is staring down what legal experts are calling ‘astronomical’ consequences as a federal trial over child safety allegations reaches a critical juncture in California. The case, brought by state attorneys general, could force sweeping changes to how Facebook and Instagram operate while potentially hitting the social media giant with penalties that dwarf previous tech...Read More

Oakland, Calif. (AP) — Opening arguments are set to kick off Tuesday in a pivotal trial for Meta Platforms in a California federal court. Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Kentucky and New Jersey are seeking extensive financial damages plus changes to how the company operates Facebook and Instagram. Twenty-nine states sued the tech giant in...Read More

The Cap Times is an independent newsroom serving Madison and Wisconsin. Sign up for the Morning Update to receive news in your inbox each morning. Across Madison and beyond, children are spending a significant amount of time on screens and social media. While there are some benefits of devices, such as certain educational platforms, local...Read More

With digital transactions expanding rapidly, cybercrime has emerged as a growing challenge, prompting the government to strengthen its efforts to detect online fraud, identify suspicious financial networks and prevent fraudulent funds from moving through the banking system. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) has emerged as a key component of this strategy, working with banks...Read More

Cyberbullying is knocking South African teenagers’ confidence, focus and marks, and experts say schools need to start tackling it differently depending on a pupil’s age, gender and favourite app. A new study by Stellenbosch University’s Prof Daniel le Roux and Camryn Twaddle of Artefact South Africa found that nearly two-thirds (63.9%) of teenagers surveyed had...Read More

“The old adage, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, has never been more relevant,” said Ethan Godlieb, associate partner for cyber and fintech at Consilium Insurance Brokers, opening the discussion. His point wasn’t really about ransomware itself but about what happens once encryption stops being the main event. The real work now, he...Read More

GitLab Patches Critical Unauthenticated GraphQL Vulnerability Pierluigi Paganini August 18, 2026 GitLab patched a critical GraphQL flaw that let unauthenticated attackers remotely modify or delete public projects on self-managed servers. GitLab pushed out an emergency patch this week to address a critical flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-19478 (CVSS score of 9.4), that could let an attacker...Read More

It’s now even easier to find—and exploit—vulnerabilities in computer systems using AI. Last Friday, the Chinese AI company Z.ai announced a powerful open-weight model that it says is capable of automating cutting-edge coding and cybersecurity tasks almost as well as the best publicly available models from Anthropic and OpenAI. The new model, GLM 5.3, could...Read More

Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting...Read More

California kids could soon find social media less addictive under a pair of bills targeting features designed to keep them scrolling. The proposals, AB 1709 and AB 2, cleared the State Senate Appropriations Committee this week and could reach Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk before the legislative session ends Aug. 31, reported KCRA. AB 1709 would...Read More