California is becoming a critical battleground in the growing legal fight over how Meta designs and operates Facebook and Instagram, with the company facing allegations that its platforms encourage addictive behavior among children and teenagers. Opening arguments begin Tuesday in a federal trial in Oakland brought by a coalition of 29 state attorneys general, with California, Colorado, New Jersey and Kentucky presenting the case.

The lawsuit, filed in 2023, accuses Meta of violating federal and state laws, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The case comes as regulators and lawmakers across the U.S. increasingly focus on the potential impact of social media on young users.

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California Could Raise The Stakes

The trial follows a major setback for Meta in New Mexico, where the company lost a case earlier this month and was ordered to pay $567 million into an abatement fund. A jury had previously found Meta liable for $375 million under the state’s unfair practices law, although the company has said it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal.

New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez described the judgment as significant but said the consequences could be far greater if similar arguments succeed in California, Florida, Texas or New York. Julia Powles, executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law and Policy, also called California particularly important because decisions there can have influence beyond the state.

The financial stakes are especially high for Meta because about 98% of its revenue comes from online advertising. That business is also helping CEO Mark Zuckerberg fund Meta’s massive AI push, with spending potentially reaching $145 billion this year.

States Focus On Platform Design

Rather than concentrating solely on content posted by users, the lawsuits target the design of platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. This approach could help states avoid Section 230 protections, which have traditionally limited tech companies’ liability for third-party content.

New Mexico, for example, ordered Meta to strengthen age-assurance tools, develop technology to identify users under 13 and make it easier to report potentially underage accounts. Torrez said those measures could provide a blueprint for other states seeking to hold social media companies accountable.

Meta has already faced another setback in California. In March, a Los Angeles jury found Meta and Google’s YouTube negligent and ruled that the companies failed to adequately warn users about risks associated with their platforms.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has accused Meta of knowingly creating products that can harm young users and misleading children, families and the public about those risks. Meta rejects the allegations, saying the states have offered no evidence that their residents were misled and that their financial demands are disproportionate.

Paramount Skydance is seeking a $1.88 billion bond from the states attempting to block its planned merger with Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing that the legal challenge is creating significant financial losses.

The request follows a July lawsuit brought by 12 state attorneys general, led by California’s Rob Bonta, who challenged the proposed $110 billion merger. The transaction would combine two major Hollywood studios, their U.S. television networks and streaming services Paramount+ and HBO Max.

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A Costly Delay For Paramount

Paramount had originally expected to complete the deal by the end of September. Instead, the company agreed to delay the transaction until as late as June 2027 while the states’ antitrust case moves toward trial.

The company says the delay could become increasingly expensive because of a “ticking fee” included in the merger agreement. Beginning Sept. 30, Paramount will owe WBD shareholders an additional 25 cents per share every quarter until the transaction closes. That could amount to around $650 million per quarter.

Paramount estimates that ticking fees alone could reach $1.3 billion by the time the legal process is completed. The proposed $1.88 billion bond would cover those payments as well as financing costs linked to the litigation.

The company has already received approval from the U.S. Justice Department and other global regulators, but argues that some of those approvals could be jeopardized by a prolonged delay.

States Push Back

The states maintain that Paramount and WBD accepted the financial risks when they agreed to the merger terms. Bonta’s office said the companies knew the transaction would face regulatory scrutiny and voluntarily included the ticking-fee provision.

The state also pointed out that Paramount agreed to the trial timeline without requesting a bond at the time.

Paramount says the costs go beyond shareholder payments. The prolonged uncertainty could also delay investments in content, production and creative talent that would otherwise be made by the combined company.

The lawsuit was filed by California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Fenway Sports Group’s sale of a minority stake in Liverpool Football Club to a consortium including Jeff Bezos shows why investors continue to see value in English soccer despite mounting losses.

The deal valued Liverpool at more than $7 billion, giving FSG a major return after buying the club for £300 million in 2010. Since then, Liverpool has won multiple domestic and European trophies, while the value of elite football clubs has climbed sharply.

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That growth comes despite worsening finances across the Premier League. Deloitte found that the 20 clubs recorded combined pre-tax losses of £948 million in the 2024/25 season, more than six times the previous year’s figure. Only eight clubs reported an operating profit, compared with 13 a season earlier.

Rising player transfer fees are a major driver of costs, but profitability is only part of the equation for investors.

Why Club Values Keep Rising

Elite football clubs are increasingly seen as scarce assets with global audiences, powerful brands and multiple revenue streams. Their value can therefore rise even when day-to-day operations remain unprofitable.

“Even if you’re not making a profit day-in, day-out, the value of the asset is still going up,” Richard Haigh, global managing director at Brand Finance, told CNBC.

The Premier League’s international reach also makes its clubs attractive to sponsors and investors, while the limited number of top-tier teams adds to their appeal.

Turning Stadiums Into Year-Round Businesses

Investors are also looking beyond matchday revenue, seeking to turn stadiums and surrounding real estate into year-round businesses.

“The other thing that American sports do incredibly well, which investors are looking to do in Europe, is that the stadium and surrounding real estate is a 24/7, 365-day revenue generator,” said Lewis Gaut, a sports finance specialist at Goodwin.

Tottenham Hotspur’s £1.2 billion stadium is one example. Its commercial income rose from £117 million in 2018 to £215 million in 2022, according to UBS. The venue now hosts major concerts and NFL games.

Manchester United is pursuing a similar strategy with plans for a new 100,000-seat stadium as part of a wider regeneration project, estimated to cost around £2 billion.

The shift reflects a broader view of football clubs as scarce assets that can generate revenue from real estate, entertainment, sponsorships and other businesses.

For investors, that means operating losses do not necessarily make a club unattractive if its underlying value continues to grow and new revenue streams can make the business more sustainable.

Uber is adding Zipline’s drones to its Uber Eats network as the companies look to scale drone deliveries across the U.S. The partnership also includes an investment from Uber, although the companies did not disclose its size.

The first Zipline deliveries through Uber Eats are expected by the end of 2026 in markets where the drone company already operates. The partners eventually aim to expand the service to dozens of U.S. cities and reach as many as 1 million drone deliveries per day by the end of 2029.

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Uber Expands Its Autonomous Delivery Strategy

The deal is part of Uber’s broader strategy of partnering with multiple companies developing autonomous transportation technologies. Rather than building all of these systems itself, the company has invested in and added outside providers to its platform.

Uber has followed a similar approach with autonomous vehicles, committing billions of dollars to partnerships across the sector. The strategy allows the company to expand into emerging technologies without developing every system internally.

Drone delivery is not new territory for Uber. The company previously explored the technology through its former Uber Elevate division and returned to the market last year through a partnership and investment in Israeli startup Flytrex.

Faster Deliveries, Bigger Market

Uber expects Zipline’s drones to complete some Uber Eats orders within five to 10 minutes. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company sees rapid delivery as a potential driver of the next phase of growth for Eats.

For Zipline, the partnership provides access to Uber’s large customer and delivery network. The San Francisco-based company recently raised $800 million in an extended Series H round, bringing its valuation to $7.6 billion.

The companies now plan to combine Zipline’s drone technology with Uber Eats’ platform as they work toward making autonomous aerial delivery available to millions of customers.

Groq has raised $350 million as the AI infrastructure startup continues shifting from developing its own chips toward a neocloud model built around Nvidia hardware.

The round was led by investment firm Disruptive, with Nvidia also planning to participate. The deal values Groq at $3.5 billion, down from the $6.9 billion valuation it reached in September 2025.

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The change follows a major shift in the company’s strategy. In late 2025, Nvidia hired Groq founder and CEO Jonathan Ross and other senior employees as part of a $20 billion licensing deal. Groq says the new valuation reflects its business after that deal rather than a traditional down round.

From AI Chips to Cloud Infrastructure

Groq originally developed its own language processing units, or LPUs, for AI inference, the computing needed to run AI models in real time.

After losing much of its senior team, the company shifted toward cloud and data center services using Nvidia systems. In June, Groq raised another $650 million to support the transition.

Today, Groq operates 13 data centers across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific, serving more than 6 million developers, enterprises and AI companies. It plans to increase capacity from 54 megawatts to more than 200 megawatts in 2027.

The latest funding will help Groq provide customers with access to larger Nvidia computing clusters for AI training and inference.

Can Neoclouds Become Profitable?

Groq is betting on rising demand for AI inference as businesses expand their use of AI. Yet the neocloud model faces questions over whether companies can generate sufficient returns from the huge cost of building and operating AI infrastructure.

CoreWeave has reported strong revenue growth and secured major contracts with Meta and Anthropic, but investors remain concerned about its capital spending, debt and the rapid depreciation of AI hardware.

Groq does not publicly disclose its financial results. Its new strategy also places it within Nvidia’s broader AI infrastructure ecosystem, alongside neocloud providers such as CoreWeave, Lambda and Nebius.

Reddit is testing new ways to consume its most popular posts, including video and audio formats inspired by how Reddit stories are already shared on platforms such as TikTok and Meta’s Reels.

The experiment began Monday across selected communities. Reddit says the early test will help determine which formats users prefer and whether they can eventually be expanded more widely.

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From Reddit Threads To Narrated Videos

The idea was first discussed during Reddit’s second-quarter earnings call in July. CEO Steve Huffman noted that popular Reddit stories are already being turned into narrated videos on other platforms, often using text-to-speech or creators reading posts aloud alongside unrelated footage.

Reddit now wants to bring that experience directly to its own platform. Users participating in the test can choose whether to “read” or “play” eligible posts.

Audio could allow people to listen to Reddit while exercising, walking or doing other activities, while video could make written conversations more engaging.

Original Posts Will Remain

The initial test is limited to selected English-language posts and is available through Reddit’s iOS and Android apps. The original posts and their comments will remain available, meaning the new formats will complement rather than replace Reddit’s traditional experience.

The company is also evaluating whether these formats can be introduced without losing the character of Reddit’s text-based communities.

Reddit Has Tested Video Before

The latest experiment builds on Reddit’s earlier attempts to expand beyond text. The company introduced native video hosting in 2017 and later tested a TikTok-style video feed.

More recently, Reddit introduced video in comments, which the company says now accounts for more than 10% of video posts on the platform.

The new test is another step in Reddit’s effort to make its content more accessible in different formats while competing for attention in an increasingly video-focused social media market.

Users And Spotify Editors Can Now Explain The Stories Behind Their Picks

Spotify is making playlists more personal with a new feature called “Playlist Notes,” which lets users add explanations and memories to songs, podcast episodes and audiobooks.

The feature builds on User Notes, introduced last month for individual tracks. With Playlist Notes, users can explain why a particular song is included, whether it reminds them of someone, brings back a memory or is simply worth sharing.

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Notes Come To Spotify’s Editorial Playlists

Adding a note is available through Spotify’s mobile app. Users can open a playlist they own or collaborate on, tap the three dots next to a track, podcast or audiobook, select “add note” and save it. Anyone with access to the playlist can view the note.

Spotify is also giving its editorial teams the ability to explain their selections. Notes will initially appear on major playlists including Today’s Top Hits, RapCaviar, Hot Country, All New Pop and Fresh Finds Hip-Hop.

The company is introducing Editor Profiles as well, showing an editor’s top tracks and albums alongside the playlists they curate. The feature offers listeners more insight into the people behind Spotify’s recommendations.

A More Social Spotify

User-created notes are rolling out on iOS and Android in more than 100 markets. Editor Notes and Profiles are initially available to free and Premium users aged 16 and older in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

The update is relatively small, but it supports Spotify’s broader effort to make the platform more social and personal while differentiating it from Apple Music and YouTube Music.

The move comes as Spotify continues to expand its audience. The company recently reported more than 300 million subscribers for the first time, alongside 777 million monthly active users.

New Wave Of Warnings Triggers Unusually High Demand For Help

An unusually large number of Apple users have reported receiving notifications warning that their devices may have been targeted by sophisticated spyware.

Apple recently sent alerts to customers in 110 countries, warning that they may have been targeted by “mercenary spyware”, a term the company uses for sophisticated surveillance malware often associated with government-linked attacks. Apple says it has notified users in more than 150 countries in recent years.

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The latest wave appears to be its largest yet, according to Access Now, a digital rights organisation that investigates spyware cases.

Investigators See Surge In Reports

Mohammed Al-Maskati, who leads Access Now’s spyware investigations, told TechCrunch that requests for help were 30% to 40% higher than usual following an Apple alert campaign. Cybersecurity firm iVerify also reported an influx of Apple threat notifications.

The warnings have drawn attention in Ukraine as well. A Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier told TechCrunch that he received an alert and later learned that other military personnel had received similar notifications.

John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at The Citizen Lab, said the scale and geographic spread of public reports were “pretty unprecedented”. He added that public posts likely represent only a fraction of the people who received warnings.

Apple Expands Its Warning System

The increase may partly reflect changes in how Apple delivers the alerts. The company now notifies users through their iPhone lock screen, Settings, email and Apple Account website.

Anyone receiving one of these warnings should take it seriously. Apple and security experts recommend enabling Lockdown Mode, which is designed to make iPhones, iPads and Macs harder to compromise.

AI workflow automation startup Relay is shutting down, with founder and CEO Jacob Bank returning to Google as vice president of product for Chrome. Some other Relay employees are also joining Google’s Chrome team.

Relay launched in 2021 with ambitions to challenge automation platforms such as Zapier. Its platform helped businesses automate repetitive work, including document creation, copyediting and project management.

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According to Relay’s announcement, free users lost access on August 15, while paying customers will be able to use the service until September 14. The shutdown was first announced in July.

Relay Founder Returns To Google

Bank previously spent more than six years at Google. He joined the company in 2015 after Google acquired his scheduling startup Timeful, later working on products including Gmail, Google Calendar and Google Chat.

Now back at Google, Bank will lead Chrome’s product and developer relations teams. He said the role will focus on helping people use AI in Chrome while preserving their creativity and decision-making.

Bank described Chrome as a strong platform for working with AI agents and said he would share more about Google’s plans in the future.

Chrome Becomes A Bigger AI Platform

Bank’s return comes as Google continues expanding AI across its consumer products. Gemini is already integrated into Search and Chrome, where it can act as an in-browser assistant and support more agentic tasks.

The company’s AI push is also reaching a growing user base. Google recently said the Gemini app had surpassed 1 billion users.

For Relay, the shutdown marks the end of an attempt to build an AI-powered alternative to established workflow automation platforms. For Google, bringing Bank and members of his team into Chrome could strengthen its efforts to make AI agents a more central part of the browser experience.

Hundreds Of Properties Still Need Action Across The District

Nicosia’s District Local Government Organisation (DLGO) is seeking access to around €2 million to deal with dangerous buildings across the district.

DLGO president Konstantinos Giorkatzis said the organisation is waiting for the Interior Ministry to provide instructions on how to apply for the funding. The money was initially approved for Nicosia Municipality through the Fund for the Revitalisation of Border Areas, but responsibility transferred to the DLGO following the local government reform.

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Authorities have already begun inspecting properties together. Nicosia Mayor Charalambos Prountzos said the municipality’s existing register is helping accelerate the process. The municipality is responsible for nuisance-related issues, while the DLGO handles buildings classified as dangerous.

656 Buildings Classified As Dangerous

A key challenge arises when a property is both dangerous and a public nuisance. In such cases, municipal staff cannot intervene because of the potential risks, including health and fire hazards.

The DLGO has sent notices to owners of dangerous or poorly maintained buildings, asking them to carry out the necessary repairs. Further action will depend on how owners respond.

The latest register lists 656 dangerous buildings and 55 properties requiring repairs across the district. Of these, 171 dangerous buildings and 28 buildings needing repairs are located within Nicosia’s municipal district.

ETEK Sets Up Advisory Committee

The Cyprus Scientific and Technical Chamber (ETEK) has established a three-member committee to advise on cases involving disputed assessments of dangerous buildings.

According to ETEK president Konstantinos Konstanti, the committee will help DLGOs deal with disagreements over engineers’ findings and potentially resolve cases without resorting to court proceedings.