Techmeme
January 12, 2026, 11:30 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.
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.
Eugene Kim / Business Insider:
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 …
Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:
Despite dire projections of PC and phone memory shortages, producers like Micron will proceed cautiously in adding new capacity, ever 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.
Financial Times:
Andrew Gregory / The Guardian:
Investigation: Google removed AI Overviews for two liver health queries after experts warned of “alarming” results, but slight tweaks still trigger AI responses  —  Exclusive: Guardian investigation finds AI Overviews provided inaccurate and false information when queried over blood tests
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

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Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
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The Upstarts Podcast:
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
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More News

Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Jarrett Renshaw / Reuters:
Terrence O'Brien / The Verge:
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: