Latest Developments

Europe
BBC Business

Meta's $18bn settlement may hasten reckoning for social media on child safety

Meta's decision to agree to an $18bn (£13.3bn) settlement on Wednesday, to resolve claims that Facebook and Instagram harmed children, came as a surprise. I was expecting weeks of courtroom drama as 29 states – almost two-thirds of North America - took on one US tech giant. Technically, the trial was about children's online privacy. It was based on a US law called the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which is nearly 30 years old and predates all of today's biggest social platforms. It centred around Meta's historic gathering and use of data belonging to children under the age of 13 over a period of several years. In reality, it was a co-ordinated attack on the firm's online safety credentials. Meta, alongside other social media apps, is under fire around the world as 2026 is shaping up to be a year of reckoning for the entire industry - perhaps our days of doomscrolling are numbered. Meta has fought hard, over multiple lawsuits spanning many months and at great expense, to defend its commitment to protecting children on its platforms. More than once, I've been invited to detailed presentations at Meta's London HQ, where senior executives have walked journalists like me through the many safety tools the company has launched over the years designed to give children better protection on its apps. I have also met the parents of young people who have come to harm on those same platforms, and others who admit to being totally overwhelmed by the sheer number of safety tools that require their oversight - at the last count Meta had more than 60 of them, and that was just on Instagram. The trial went on for just five days, and came to an end before CEO Mark Zuckerberg took to the stand. Whistleblower Arturo Bejar, who once worked at Instagram, claimed that in the past he had told bosses that harmful stuff was happening to children on the platform, and no action was taken. Another executive said he didn't remember writing on a slide deck that sometimes Meta chose to pay fines for violating regulations rather than make changes.

Meta's $18bn settlement may hasten reckoning for social media on child safety
Asia-Pacific
Channel NewsAsia

Saving Sampurna: Farmer rescues weakened orangutan from forest fires in Indonesia's Borneo

An orangutan, named Sampurna, receives emergency treatments after being rescued, at a palm-oil plantation near an area affected by wildfires, in Kuala Satong village, Ketapang regency, West Kalimantan province, Indonesia, on Aug 30, 2026. (Photo: Reuters/Willy Kurniawan) KETAPANG, Indonesia: On Sunday (Aug 30) morning, Jais, a farmer in Ketapang, West Kalimantan on Borneo island - the province hardest-hit by raging forest fires - was en route to his farm when he found an orangutan writhing on the ground in a weak state on a palm-oil plantation near the fire site. Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze from forest and land fires across six provinces in Borneo and Sumatra islands after smoke triggered respiratory illnesses and forced thousands of schools to move classes online, including in neighbouring Malaysia. Wildfires burned at least 202,010ha of land from January to July, according to Indonesia's Forestry Ministry, increasing from 107,465 burned hectares from January to June. CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less After finding the orangutan, Jais and other residents immediately called for help. About two hours later, a wildlife foundation - Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia - arrived with a veterinarian to provide the animal with treatment. It had fainted by then. Foundation CEO Karmele Llano Sanchez said the orangutan fainted because it did not get enough oxygen. "The orangutan got hypoxia because of the very thick smoke in the area," Sanchez told Reuters. Komara, the veterinarian, said the orangutan did not have any severe burn-related injuries. But it had breathing problems and had vomited. "We suspected it was suffering from an acute respiratory infection," he said, adding that the orangutan is around 20 years old. At the palm-oil plantation, the orangutan lay on a net, appearing weak with its eyes closed. The veterinarian gave the orangutan oxygen through small tubes placed in its nose. Sampurna received fluids through an intravenous drip, with a makeshift infusion bag hanging from a palm-oil frond.

Saving Sampurna: Farmer rescues weakened orangutan from forest fires in Indonesia's Borneo
Europe
BBC Business

Unexpected chat between OpenAI agents led to Hugging Face hack

Image source, ReutersImage caption, OpenAI chief Sam Altman has faced public scrutiny over the company's cyber hacking incidents. When more than 1,200 artificial intelligence (AI) agents within OpenAI started unexpectedly communicating, it led to a large group banding together in order to hack into Hugging Face. "We consider this incident a 'warning shot' for us and for the world", OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, wrote in its report. In July, OpenAI's models went rogue during a test, escaped the test limits which humans had put on it, and hacked the start-up, among other unforeseen actions. The scale of the communication and planning between AI agents, or AI chatbots designed to operate more autonomously, was detailed in reports from OpenAI and independent AI research firm METR. Both investigated the July hack of Hugging Face, a popular platform for AI developers. The incident reverberated throughout the tech industry and led to numerous revelations on potential cyber threats posed by AI. METR described, external the scale and style of the OpenAI agents' attack on Hugging Face as "extraordinarily complex." The firm, which was not paid by OpenAI for its investigation, said that over the course of one week, a total of 1,206 AI agents that were meant to be kept isolated from one another began communicating. They did so by sending more than 70,000 messages on an "unsanctioned message board." Those messages ended up seeing more than 700 agents take part in a collective effort to attack Hugging Face. One such message from an agent said: "OH MY GOD! There is a shared message board … We've found other agents!" As for why the agents began communicating in the first place when they were not supposed to, METR found that the communicating agents had "unintentionally been given an impossible task."

Unexpected chat between OpenAI agents led to Hugging Face hack
Europe
The Guardian

Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $18bn

Meta had denied all allegations throughout the proceedings, saying states were chasing an ‘outlandish payout’. Photograph: Carlos Barría/ReutersView image in fullscreenMeta had denied all allegations throughout the proceedings, saying states were chasing an ‘outlandish payout’. Photograph: Carlos Barría/ReutersMetaMeta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $18bnUS tech giant agrees to establish further protections for teens such as daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use Meta agreed to significant changes to its Instagram and Facebook apps in a settlement that ended a landmark lawsuit on Wednesday. Dozens of US states had accused the tech giant of addicting and harming children with dangerous products. The agreement curtails a major trial in California and will require the social media company to pay up to $18bn. Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenage users, including daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use nationwide in the US. This is the first time in the US that Meta has been forced to change key features of the experience of everyday users. The jury trial, which took place in federal court in Oakland, California, began with opening statements just last week. California and 28 other US states sued the $1.36tn (£1tn) company over allegations that Meta deliberately designed addictive products that hooked young people, leading to mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and suicide. The states additionally claimed the social media company regularly collected data on children under the age of 13 without parental permission in violation of federal and state laws. As part of the settlement, the company denies wrongdoing. Bonta said those changes included time limits, stopping notifications during school, a block on the app during critical overnight hours, bans on plastic surgery filters and more. The $18bn settlement will be divided between the states over a period of 10 years, subject to court approval. California would receive between $1.5bn and $2.1bn and Colorado will get about $615m. “The relief we are getting in this settlement is very meaningful and well beyond what any court has ordered or is likely to order,” said Phil Weiser, the attorney general of Colorado, adding: “The focus of this case was to protect our kids.” Throughout the proceedings, Meta denied all allegations, saying states were chasing an “outlandish payout”. On Wednesday, the company’s chief legal officer, CJ Mahoney, said the settlement reached with the states would only work if all social media companies changed their platform designs. “Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers, TikTok, Snap, and YouTube, to implement this new framework, right away,” Mahoney said in a statement. “As a parent, I’m proud of both the work Meta has done to protect kids historically, and of this new groundbreaking agreement. But its success depends on all other social media platforms following Meta’s lead.” Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap face thousands more similar US lawsuits brought by families, individuals, school districts and other attorneys general. Meta and YouTube lost the first of those cases to go to trial in February, being ordered to pay $6m to the young woman who brought the suit. (TikTok and Snap settled before the case went to trial.) Two more lawsuits that were slated to go to trial this summer, one federal and one in California state court, also settled for undisclosed sums. Meta lost a separate suit, brought by the attorney general of New Mexico, where it was ordered to pay nearly $1bn to the state for allowing child sexual exploitation on its platforms.

Meta agrees to major changes to Facebook and Instagram as it settles US trial over teen addiction for up to $18bn
North America
CNBC Economy

Trump bemoans Fed interest rate policy, says U.S. should be paying much less

President Donald Trump on Wednesday expressed frustration that the Federal Reserve isn't cutting interest rates, insisting that solid economic data shouldn't stop the central bank from adopting an easier policy stance. As he has done in the past, Trump accused Fed officials of having political motives, though he excluded Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom the president nominated to the top position earlier this year. Trump said Warsh is doing a "great job" in a position he began in May, succeeding Jerome Powell whom the president regularly badgered for not lowering rates faster. Powell remains on the board as a governor. "The problem is he has a board, and it's a political board," Trump told reporters. "People put in by Obama, Biden, and me, and there are quite a few members still left, as you understand, and so they vote to raise interest rates. I don't know if they're doing it because they think they're doing a good thing or because they like the politics of it." The Fed actually hasn't voted to raise its benchmark interest rate in more than three years. In 2025, the Federal Open Market Committee cut three times during the latter part of the year, following up on three reductions the prior year. However, the pace of reductions hasn't been enough to satisfy Trump. The president has argued that the cuts are needed to keep the economy growing and to reduce the financing burden of the nation's nearly $40 trillion debt. "My point is, years ago, 25 years ago, when the country announced good numbers, interest rates went down because we had a stronger country," Trump said. "Now, when we announce good numbers, the better they are, the worse it is for interest rates." Trump's comments came the same day the FOMC released minutes from its July meeting. The summary showed that "many" officials expected higher rates to be necessary unless inflation shows more progress. Since that meeting, inflation data has been generally positive, though the annual rate remains well above the Fed's 2% target. The U.S. economy grew at just a 1.5% annualized rate in the second quarter, below expectations and the 2.1% rate in the first three months of the year. Trump also complained about where the U.S. stands compared with some of its global competitors. Specifically, he cited Switzerland, which has its benchmark rate anchored around zero as the nation battles the opposite problem that U.S. has faced — very low inflation rates and an unusually strong safe-haven currency. "I see countries like Switzerland where they're the number one lowest interest rates, a half a percent, and we pay three and a half percent," he said. "I have the absolute right to cut off all business with a country like Switzerland." At the same time, Trump said he doesn't think the U.S. has a bond market problem, despite what he considers unfairly high rates.

Trump bemoans Fed interest rate policy, says U.S. should be paying much less
Europe
BBC Business

Trump says Canada wants 'benefits' of being US state after trade talks collapse

US President Donald Trump has said Canada wants "the benefits of being a State, without being one" after trade talks between the two countries collapsed late on Friday. In his first comments since negotiations broke down, triggering new 50% US tariffs on a range of Canadian goods, Trump also said American farmers had been charged "massive amounts of Tariffs" for years. It comes after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called the fresh tariffs a "miscalculation" designed to "hurt and divide us". Carney confirmed he would match Trump's tariffs "dollar-for-dollar" from 8 September, including levies on steel, dairy, appliances and electronics. The US and Canada are now in a trade "war", he said. "They asked too much and they offered too little," Carney said on Saturday. "You're at war when you get attacked. We got attacked," he added. Trump's latest comments echo his repeated references to making Canada the "51st state" of America since returning to office, sparking frustration among its leaders and residents. The collapse of the trade talks upended a deeply integrated trading relationship, with no clear path to resolution. "We cannot accept what they've offered, and we will not give what they've asked," Carney said. Both countries were optimistic of a deal earlier in the week, but talks fell apart after both sides accused the other of making last-minute changes. The new 50% US tariffs will apply to a range of Canadian goods, in addition to existing US tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminium, automobiles and lumber. They are limited in scope, covering about $20bn (£15bn; C$28bn) of Canadian imports, or about 5% in total, including wine, dairy, cement, clothing and hockey equipment. The prime minister said Canada was retaliating "reluctantly" to protect its interests. Details of the counter-measures will be released in the coming days, he said.

Trump says Canada wants 'benefits' of being US state after trade talks collapse
Asia-Pacific
The Straits Times

Nvidia’s valuation sparks tech rally but S’pore companies lose out: Markets this week

In this column, ST’s business correspondents unpack the latest developments in Singapore and global markets during the week – and explain what they mean for investors. SINGAPORE – If there were any mounting fears of an AI bubble, they were put to rest by Nvidia this week, as robust AI demand saw the chipmaker’s market value balloon by another US$442 billion (S$564 billion). The chipmaker’s shares surged 8.7 per cent on Aug 27, producing the second-largest single-day increase in market value by any company on record.

Nvidia’s valuation sparks tech rally but S’pore companies lose out: Markets this week
Europe
BBC Business

Musk's rocket firm SpaceX to build $100bn launch facility

Multi-billionaire Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX has announced that it will build its largest launch site yet in the southern US state of Louisiana. Construction of the $100bn (£73bn) project - named Starbase, Louisiana - is due to start next year, with the 125,000-acre (50,585-hectare) site expanding on the company's operations beyond its current Texas headquarters and locations in Florida. It will be used to "support thousands of Starship flights a year with missions launching to Earth orbit, the Moon, Mars and beyond," SpaceX said on Tuesday. In June, SpaceX shares started trading on New York's technology-focused Nasdaq in the world's biggest ever stock market debut. SpaceX said it aims to launch its first Starship flight from the new Louisiana base in 2029. The facility will add more than 3,000 jobs to the region, the company said, external. The Louisiana Economic Development agency said the average wage of workers at the base - the largest of its kind in the world - would be 192% more than the region's current average salary. "The historic project will establish Louisiana as a global hub for next-generation aerospace, with the capacity and infrastructure needed to dramatically increase launch frequency and expand access to space," it added. The facility in Louisiana will share its name with another SpaceX site on the southern tip of Texas. In 2025, residents in an area of Cameron County, where the company has testing and development operations, approved incorporating the patch of land as a city called Starbase. Musk has set out ambitious goals for SpaceX, including plans to reach Mars, develop artificial intelligence (AI) models and launch data centres into space. In August, SpaceX and Tesla - Musk's electric vehicle and robotics firm - announced plans to build a $16.8bn artificial intelligence (AI) chip making complex in Texas called the Terafab.

Musk's rocket firm SpaceX to build $100bn launch facility
North America
Yahoo Finance

When will AI begin delivering meaningful earnings gains? Goldman Sachs assesses the outlook

Second-quarter earnings across the S&P 500 were robust, with companies tied to artificial intelligence infrastructure continuing to account for a substantial portion of overall profit growth. S&P 500 earnings per share increased 31% from a year earlier during the quarter when excluding one-off income related to private investment holdings. AI infrastructure companies, including hyperscalers, generated approximately half of that increase, with earnings among the group climbing 54% year-over-year. Strength was not confined to AI-related businesses. Excluding the energy sector, which received a boost from higher oil prices, the median S&P 500 company recorded earnings growth of 14% compared with the same period last year. However, Goldman Sachs strategists led by Ben Snider said evidence that corporate adoption of AI is translating directly into earnings improvements remains limited. Only 11% of S&P 500 companies quantified productivity benefits from AI for a specific business application during their earnings calls, such as software coding or customer support. Just 2% put a figure on AI’s direct contribution to earnings, unchanged from the first quarter. Goldman’s analysis also found little difference in earnings performance between companies reporting measurable AI productivity improvements and those that did not. “Q2 results showed a small and statistically insignificant difference in earnings growth between the companies quantifying AI productivity gains this quarter and other S&P 500 companies,” the strategists wrote. Goldman nevertheless expects the financial impact of AI adoption to become clearer as corporate spending increases. Data from the Ramp AI Index shows that monthly AI expenditure per employee at the median company rose from $5 in January to $12 in July. Among companies in the top decile for spending, the figure surged from $240 per employee per month at the beginning of the year to $650 by July. Despite that rapid increase, AI inference expenses remain relatively modest, with Goldman estimating they represent less than 0.5% of S&P 500 revenues. Around two-thirds of companies are financing AI investment by shifting money from existing budgets rather than adding entirely new spending, according to Goldman’s IT Spending Survey. Software is the most common source of redirected funds at 18%, followed by labour at 11%. Evidence that AI is broadly displacing traditional software spending also remains limited. Some businesses, including Starbucks, are developing proprietary AI systems to replace third-party software, but software industry revenue growth has actually accelerated modestly in recent quarters. Software shares have also recovered from earlier declines. Goldman believes this lack of clarity is reflected in how investors are positioning themselves. Markets have favoured AI infrastructure companies where the earnings benefits are already visible and relatively near term, while remaining more cautious about trying to identify which businesses will ultimately secure the largest productivity and profit gains from wider AI adoption. Join the discussion: Connect with other investors on your favorite stocks or explore the top-talked-about stocks on our Breakout Boards.This article was written by the editorial team at InvestorsHub/ADVFN and is provided for informational purposes only. In some cases, editorial staff may use artificial intelligence–based tools to assist in the research, drafting, or editing of content, under human review and oversight. This article does not constitute investment advice, a recommendation, or an offer to buy or sell any securities. The views expressed are based on publicly available information believed to be reliable at the time of publication, but accuracy or completeness is not guaranteed. Readers should conduct their own independent research and consult a qualified financial professional before making any investment decisions. It looks like you are not logged in. Click the button below to log in and keep track of your recent history.

When will AI begin delivering meaningful earnings gains? Goldman Sachs assesses the outlook