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February 19, 2026, 11:05 AM
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| Reuters: |
Sources: the US State Department is building an online portal at freedom.gov that will let users in Europe and elsewhere see content banned by their governments — The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned …
More: TechRadar, Benzinga, The European Conservative, Reclaim The Net, and The Post Millennial
X: @as400495, @florian4gamers, @jamestitcomb, @ordinarygamers, @elonmusk, @g_slattery, @developerharris, @alx, and @nickadobos
Bluesky: @petertl, @emptywheel, @benfenton, @marypcbuk, @tyleraking.com, @carnage4life, @parismarx.com, @bcmerchant, @kendrawrites.com, @abeardedpanda, @realjuicyjay.blacksky.app, @noupside, @alexanotherone, @caseynewton, @originalsp.in, @markjacob, @lottelydia, @davidcorn, @lepetitereboot, @brainnotonyet, @5-2blue, @ndrew, @explaintrade.com, @froomkin, @davidakaye, @tjmcintyre.com, @mbkplus, @waldo.net, @fritzbischoff, @paleofuture, and @lukesteuber.com
Mastodon: @evacide@hachyderm.io and @kevinrothrock@infosec …
Forums: r/privacy, r/politics, r/worldnews, r/eutech, r/europeanunion, and r/europe
| Aisha Down / The Guardian: |
Sources and docs: the US “effectively gutted” the Internet Freedom program that dispensed $500M+ since 2016 to help build tech to evade state internet controls — Programme that funds groups building tech to evade oppressive government controls under serious threat| Joe Miller / Financial Times: |
US OPM Director Scott Kupor says tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Sam Altman will give talks to the US Tech Force, which is hiring ~1,000 software engineers — Programme aims to modernise digital infrastructure of US federal agencies — Tech billionaires such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman …
Bluesky: @metacurity.com
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
India's AI Summit: Modi orchestrated a photo op with tech and business leaders holding hands in a line, but Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to clasp hands — Once a rival, always a rival. — As Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the busiest day of India's AI Summit in New Delhi …
More: CNBC, Business Standard, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, Business Today, Digit, Forbes, Business Insider, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, Livemint, and BMI
X: @siddharthb_, @prathamgrv, @ns123abc, @pitdesi, @indianidle, @hopes_revenge, @autismcapital, @trendulkar, @ani, @sidhant, @himanshustwts, and @yuchenj_uw. Bluesky: @shona
| New York Times: |
Inside India's AI Impact Summit: 300+ exhibitors, 500 sessions, 250K visitors, billions in investment, and entrepreneurs touting solutions to real-world issues — The event promised to be a global coming-out party for India's artificial intelligence aspirations.
More: Associated Press, Bloomberg, Reuters, Bloomberg, The American Bazaar, Bloomberg, Politico, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Reuters, Bloomberg, The Hindu, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg. X: @madhavchanchani
| Cherylann Mollan / BBC: |
The Gates Foundation says Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote at India's AI Summit after “careful consideration”, amid controversy over his Epstein ties — Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organisation … | Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
| CNBC: |
Social media addiction trial: Mark Zuckerberg says increasing engagement on Instagram is not a company goal and that Meta removes underage users it identifies — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back against the notion that the social media company made increasing time spent on Instagram a company goal.
More: The Guardian, Business Insider, SFGATE, AppleInsider, Fast Company, Quartz, New York Times, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, BBC, Benzinga, Anadolu Ajansı …, CNN, Tech Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Moneycontrol, The Verge, Times of India, NPR, BMI, The Korea Herald, Information Age, Deadline, BERNAMA, The Information, Wired, Tech Oversight Project, Courthouse News Service, Business Insider, The Boston Globe, NewsNation, Newser, Associated Press, NEOS KOSMOS, Implicator.ai, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Engadget, Bloomberg, Livemint, Straight Arrow News, Mashable, Forbes Australia, Al Jazeera, The Free Press, Overturned, Gizmodo, YouTube, LAW.com, CNN, Breitbart, CBS News, ABC, Fox News, Axios, New York Post, The National, New York Post, The Wrap, Sydney Morning Herald, Deseret News, and Bloomberg
X: @kyle_a_morse, @tech_oversight, @tech_oversight, @thewarmonitor, @philthatremains, @amy_siskind, @barnes_law, @matthewstoller, @sachalouise, and @senblumenthal. LinkedIn: Kelly Stonelake
Bluesky: @karlbode.com, @alexlaughs, @theresistanceco, and @davelee.me
Forums: r/apple, r/politics, r/politics, r/NPR, r/technology, and r/LegalNews
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of its record $100B+ round; its overall valuation, including the eventual funding, could exceed $850B — OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of a new funding round that is likely to bring in more than $100 billion … | Financial Times: |
Sources: Accenture told executives that promotions would require “regular adoption” of AI and it is starting to track some senior staff's weekly AI tool logins — Consulting firms use ‘carrot and stick’ with some senior staff less willing to use technology than junior colleagues
More: CNBC, Bloomberg, TechRadar, Implicator.ai, The Decoder, and The Guardian
| 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 — “This will change the way we think about keeping data and archival preservation.” — Our knowledge of the past comes from stone tablets and old parchment.
More: Nature, Microsoft Research, Windows Central, Ars Technica, Computerworld, Microsoft Research, DatacenterDynamics, PC Gamer, Blocks and Files, New Scientist, PCWorld, ITPro, Hackster, Help Net Security, Digital Trends, The Register, GovTech, LiveScience, Science, The Guardian, and The Independent
X: @msftresearch, @rohanpaul_ai, @wretchardthecat, and @satyanadella. Mastodon: @hkrn@mstdn.social. Forums: r/technology
| Spencer Soper / Bloomberg: |
Amazon dethrones Walmart as the world's largest company by revenue, reporting $717B in 2025 sales, compared to Walmart's $713.2B for the 12 months to January 31 — Amazon.com Inc. has officially dethroned Walmart Inc. as the biggest global company by revenue, a milestone attesting …
More: Fortune, Investor's Business Daily, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, Yahoo Finance, CNN, Blockonomi, Cord Cutters News, New York Times, Modern Retail, and Sherwood News. Forums: Slashdot
| Niko Gallogly / New York Times: |
eBay agrees to acquire secondhand clothing app Depop from Etsy for ~$1.2B in cash; Etsy bought Depop, popular with Gen Z, in 2021 for $1.6B; ETSY jumps 5%+ — The $1.2 billion deal comes as eBay looks to expand its appeal among younger users. — Secondhand clothing apps hit a stride during …
More: Etsy, Inc., Proactive, CNBC, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Entrepreneur, RTÉ, Silicon Republic, Blockonomi, Associated Press, The Independent, Tech in Asia, TheIndustry.fashion, The Information, Oktopost, TechCrunch, Barron's Online, BBC, and Wall Street Journal
X: @bjornjeffery, @mikeisaac, @mikeisaac, and @jimcramer
| Spencer Soper / Bloomberg: |
| Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: |
Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts accelerates the podcast industry's shift from an audio-centric medium to a decidedly video-focused one — Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts refocuses the audio medium on visuals — Welcome back to Soundbite.| Michael Lynton / Wall Street Journal: |
Book extract: ex-Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton recounts his role in sparking North Korea's 2014 hack, one of the worst cyberattacks in corporate history — In an exclusive book excerpt, the former CEO of Sony Entertainment opens up about his role in unleashing one of the worst cyberattacks in corporate history.| Jordyn Holman / New York Times: |
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is on an apology tour to quell an outcry over privacy concerns after a Super Bowl “Search Party” ad, calling it a “perfect storm” — Since the commercial aired, Jamie Siminoff has been trying to quell an outcry over privacy concerns with his doorbell cameras.
More: 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, Mashable, The Independent, WinBuzzer, and The Verge
| Ece Yildirim / Gizmodo: |
Study: X's feed algorithm favors conservative content, and switching to For You for seven weeks shifted users' views toward more conservative political opinions — The algorithm also doesn't like posts by traditional news media, the researchers found. — In case you had any doubt …
More: Nature, Ben Werdmuller, and The Debrief
Mastodon: @johnnyryan@eupolicy.social, @leavex@mastodon.social, @metin@graphics.social, and @Doug_Bostrom@scicomm.xyz
Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/technology, and r/NoShitSherlock
| The Guardian: |
The UK proposes requiring tech companies to remove nonconsensual abusive content within 48 hours, or risk being blocked and fined up to 10% of global revenue — PM says measure, also applied to deepfake nudes, is needed owing to a ‘national emergency’ of online misogyny
More: BBC, The Register, The Economic Times, Bloomberg, Financial Times, GOV.UK, Ofcom, The Indian Express, Silicon Republic, City A.M., UKTN, The Times, Sky News, Telegraph, Mirror, The Sun, and Reuters
Bluesky: @pqpolitics and @tristangrayford.scot
Forums: r/unitedkingdom and r/europe
| Kalley Huang / New York Times: |
West Virginia's AG sues Apple for allegedly violating consumer protection laws by failing to implement tools like PhotoDNA to detect CSAM stored on iCloud — The state's attorney general said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday that the company declined to use tools that recognize the material stored on iCloud.
More: Reuters, CNBC, 9to5Mac, Politico, and AppleInsider
| Katie Roof / The Information: |
ZaiNar, a developer of a GPS alternative that uses Wi-Fi and 5G to provide location data, raised $10M at a $1B valuation, bringing its total funding to $100M — Over the last two years, investors and researchers have flocked to startups helping bring AI into the physical world … | Bloomberg: |
Russian forces in Ukraine face communications issues as SpaceX restricts Starlink access and Telegram faces a crackdown, per pro-Russian military channels — Russian forces fighting in Ukraine are facing communications problems from the dual blow of restricted access to Elon Musk's Starlink …
More: Engadget, Economic news, and The War Zone
| Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: |
Ownwell, which uses AI to let homeowners appeal property taxes, raised a $30M Series B, bringing its total funding to $54M; it also raised $20M in debt — Ownwell, an AI-powered startup that appeals property taxes on behalf of homeowners, has secured $50 million in financing …
More: FinSMEs
| Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg: |
Apple's 40-day correlation to the Nasdaq 100 fell to 0.21 last week, the lowest since 2006, making it an appealing alternative to the AI-fueled volatility — It's been nearly 20 years since Apple Inc. was this untethered from its tech peers, giving investors an appealing alternative … | Laith Al-Khalaf / Financial Times: |
Klarna reports Q4 revenue up 38% YoY to $1.08B and a $26M net loss, down from a $40M net profit in Q4 2024; KLAR is down 66%+ since its September 2025 NYSE IPO — Swedish fintech's share price has plummeted by two-thirds since September IPO — Klarna shares collapsed by a quarter on Thursday …
More: Bloomberg, Reuters, Benzinga, City A.M., Barron's Online, and Business Wire
| Bloomberg: |
Atlassian's founders lost ~$7.2B in wealth in 2026, behind AppLovin's three founders, amid a SaaS rout; TEAM is down 45%+ YTD, the Nasdaq 100's worst performer — Michael Cannon-Brookes became a billionaire in his 30s and one of Australia's richest tech executives with the initial public offering … | Ryan Lawler / Axios: |
Amsterdam-based Stacks, which builds AI software to automate accounting workflows, raised a $23M Series A led by Lightspeed, after a €10M seed in 2025 — Stacks, which builds AI software to automate accounting workflows, raised $23 million in Series A funding, CEO Albert Malikov tells Axios exclusively.
More: FinSMEs, Tech.eu, UKTN, and EU-Startups
| CEPR: |
A study of 12K+ EU companies finds AI adoption increases labor productivity by 4% on average in the EU, with no evidence of reduced employment in the short run — Artificial intelligence promises to reshape economies worldwide, but firm-level evidence on its effects in Europe remains scarce.| Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
Indian digital payments company Pine Labs plans to embed OpenAI APIs into its infrastructure to enable AI-assisted settlement, reconciliation, and invoicing — As India pitches itself as a global hub for applied artificial intelligence, OpenAI has partnered with Pine Labs to integrate AI-driven reasoning …
More: Moneycontrol, Tech in Asia, and The Economic Times
| Jyoti Mann / The Information: |
Sources: Meta has revived a previously shelved smartwatch project, now code-named Malibu 2, and plans to release it in 2026 with health features and Meta AI — Meta Platforms plans to release its first smartwatch in 2026, according to two people familiar with the matter.Sponsor Posts
Airtable:
The central nervous system of your business — Used by 80% of Fortune 100 companies, Airtable combines AI with the scale of an infinitely flexible, no-code system. With all your data in one place, it's like mission control for your company.
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Intel:
5G's most deployed platform — Powering live networks with built-in Inference across Core and RAN. That's the power of Intel Inside®
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Zoho:
AI that actually helps: Practical intelligence in Zoho Workplace — Lately, most AI assistants feel like that one over-eager intern who interrupts every five minutes with a suggestion you didn't ask for.At Zoho …
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IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
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The Social Radars:
Peter Reinhardt, CEO & co-founder, Charm Industrial; CEO & co-founder, Segment
Come be a fly on the wall as Y Combinator's Jessica Livingston and Carolynn Levy talk to some of the most successful founders in Silicon Valley about how they did it.
Subscribe to The Social Radars.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Garry Tan, Harj Taggar, and Jared Friedman from YC
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Acquired:
Formula 1
Learn the playbooks that built the world's greatest companies - and how you can apply them as a founder, operator, or investor.
Subscribe to Acquired.
Big Technology Podcast:
Dario's Choice and Anthropic's Future, Apple's AI Devices, Netflix Loses WBD
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The design process is dead. Here's what's replacing it. | Jenny Wen (head of design at Claude)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
His Excellency Khaldoon Al Mubarak: Investing in an AI-Driven World
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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X: @openai, @scaling01, @antoniogm, @gdb, and @0xalpo
Forums: r/singularity and r/OpenAI
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