Techmeme
January 12, 2026, 11:00 AM

Top News

Samantha Subin / CNBC:
Financial Times:
Ofcom opens an investigation under the OSA into Grok over the sexualized deepfakes of women and kids being generated on X and threatens X with a ban or a fine  —  Media regulator threatens chatbot with ban or multimillion-pound fine  —  Ofcom, Britain's media regulator …
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Meta appoints Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, as president and vice chair, reporting to Mark Zuckerberg  —  Dina Powell McCormick, a prominent banking executive and former Republican official, is joining Meta full-time as president and vice chairman …
Rachael Levy / Reuters:
President Trump says “we may speak to Elon” about using Starlink to restore the internet in Iran, which has blocked the internet since January 8 amid protests  —  U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday he plans to speak with billionaire Elon Musk about restoring internet in Iran …
Counterpoint Research:
Global smartphone shipments rose 2% YoY in 2025; Apple led with 20% market share and 10% YoY growth, followed by Samsung's 19% market share and 5% YoY growth  —  - Global smartphone shipments grew 2% YoY in 2025, driven by increasing premium demand and improving momentum in key emerging markets.
Eugene Kim / Business Insider:
Nasteho Said / Bloomberg:
Meta says it shut down nearly 550K accounts in Australia to comply with its under-16 social media ban, including 330,639 Instagram and 173,497 Facebook accounts  —  Meta Platforms Inc. said it has shut down almost 550,000 accounts in Australia to comply with the country's landmark social media ban for children.
New York Times:
Sources and filings: Peter Thiel donated $3M to a group to beat California's wealth tax proposal, the first of several expected tech leader donations in 2026  —  More large donations from wealthy Silicon Valley figures are expected as they try to marshal opposition to a proposed ballot measure …
Financial Times:
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:
Despite projections of memory shortages for PCs and phones, producers like Micron will proceed cautiously in adding new capacity, mindful of past downcycles  —  Sandisk, Western Digital, Seagate and Micron need to keep undershooting demand  —  The world needs a lot more memory chips and hard drives.
Andrew Gregory / The Guardian:
Investigation: Google removed AI Overviews for two liver health queries after experts warned about inaccuracy, but slight tweaks still trigger AI responses  —  Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds AI Overviews provided inaccurate and false information when queried over blood tests
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Instagram denies a breach and says it fixed an issue that let an “external party” send password reset emails, after a report that 17.5M users' data was exposed  —  If you're one of the many, many people who received a password reset email from Instagram the other day, the company says it fixed the issue.
James Hunt / The Block:
Michael Saylor's Strategy bought 13,627 bitcoin for ~$1.25B between January 5 and 11, taking its total holdings to 687,410, and boosts its USD reserve to $2.25B  —  Partner offers  —  Quick Take  — Strategy has purchased another 13,627 BTC for approximately $1.25 billion at an average price …

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Featured Podcasts

Acquired:
Ferrari
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Lenny's Podcast:
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Big Technology Podcast:
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Hard Fork:
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The Upstarts Podcast:
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Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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More News

Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: