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February 20, 2026, 7:35 AM
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Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google rejected 1.75M policy-violating Android apps and blocked 80K+ developer accounts from Google Play in 2025, down from 2.36M apps and 158K accounts in 2024  —  Fewer bad actors are targeting Google Play with malicious apps, the company says, a shift that the tech giant credits …
Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times:
Sources: Amazon's AI tools caused at least two AWS outages, including a 13-hour disruption in December after its Kiro AI deleted and recreated an environment  —  Tech giant blames ‘user error, not AI error’ for incident in December involving its Kiro tool  —  Amazon's cloud unit has suffered …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google rolls out Gemini 3.1 Pro, which it says is “a step forward in core reasoning”, for all users in the Gemini app; the .1 increment is a first for Google  —  In November, Google introduced Gemini 3 Pro in preview, with Gemini 3 Flash following a month later.
Robert Burnson / Bloomberg:
A US grand jury indicted three people, including two former Google engineers, for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to Pixel's Tensor processor  —  Two former Google engineers and one of their husbands were indicted for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to the company's Tensor processor for Pixel phones.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Meta says it is “explicitly separating” Quest VR from its Worlds platform, making Worlds “almost exclusively mobile” and setting it up to compete with Roblox  —  Horizon Worlds is now going to be a platform that's ‘almost exclusively mobile.’
Financial Times:
Sources: Nvidia nears an equity investment of up to $30B in OpenAI, replacing last year's long-term $100B commitment; the deal could be closed this weekend  —  Chipmaker swaps last year's complex framework with AI start-up in favour of equity cheque  —  Nvidia is close to finalising …
Jason Schreier / Bloomberg:
Sony shuts down Bluepoint Games, the PlayStation subsidiary behind remakes of older games like Demon's Souls and Uncharted; ~70 employees will lose their jobs  —  The PlayStation subsidiary previously made remakes of games like 'Demon's Souls'  —  Sony Group Corp. is shutting down Bluepoint Games …
Natalie Lung / Bloomberg:
New York pulls a plan that would have allowed robotaxi services outside NYC, a blow to Waymo, which aims to reach 1M paid weekly US rides by the end of 2026
Jonathan Lloyd / NBC Los Angeles:
Los Angeles County sues Roblox, alleging it engaged in deceptive business practices that exposed children to sexual content, exploitation, and online predators  —  Roblox faces a lawsuit by Los Angeles County that alleges the gaming platform engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices …
Evan Halper / Washington Post:
Tech companies are increasingly building private power plants to fuel off-grid data centers, a move some warn faces reliability challenges and climate risks  —  Tech companies are building data centers with their own private power plants, a risky bet that will increase carbon emissions and other pollution.

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 7:35 AM ET, February 20, 2026.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

CNBC:
James Cameron blasts Netflix's proposed acquisition of WBD, in a letter to Senator Mike Lee, calling it “disastrous for the theatrical motion picture business”

James Hibberd / The Hollywood Reporter:
After a backlash, AMC opts out of screening an AI short film during its pre-show, programmed by ad company Screenvision, before feature films

Hanaa' Tameez / Nieman Lab:
Substack announces new tools to help writers use Polymarket data and adds Polymarket to its sponsorship pilot, prompting questions from some journalists

More News

Makena Kelly / Wired:
Docs: DHS has signed a five-year, $1B blanket purchase agreement with Palantir, allowing agencies like ICE to skip the competitive bidding process
Reece Rogers / Wired:
Workers describe a deteriorating culture at Jack Dorsey's Block as morale plunges amid rolling layoffs and a push to use AI tools to improve productivity
More: The Hans India.  X: @rtehrani.  Bluesky: @rjrjr.com, @prietschka, and @thiccreese.  Forums: r/technews
Max A. Cherney / Reuters:
Toronto-based chip startup Taalas, which hardwires AI models into custom silicon to achieve faster inference, raised $169M, bringing its total funding to $219M
The Information:
Sources: AMD agrees to backstop a $300M loan from Goldman Sachs for Crusoe to buy AMD AI chips, the first known case of AMD chips used as debt collateral

Earlier Picks

Zoë Bernard / Wired:
Inside the “gay tech mafia” that mixes social and professional lives, as investors, entrepreneurs, and executives detail gay influence in Silicon Valley
Kalley Huang / New York Times:
West Virginia's AG sues Apple for allegedly violating consumer protection law by not implementing tools like PhotoDNA to detect CSAM stored and shared on iCloud
Gayoung Lee / Gizmodo:
Microsoft's Project Silica team details its laser-modified glass storage tech, saying tests suggest that it can preserve large amounts of data for 10,000+ years
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