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February 19, 2026, 9:35 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: Benzinga, Reclaim The Net, The European Conservative, and The Post Millennial
X: @as400495, @florian4gamers, @jamestitcomb, @ordinarygamers, @elonmusk, @g_slattery, @developerharris, @alx, and @nickadobos
Bluesky: @emptywheel, @petertl, @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| 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: Business Standard, CNBC, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, Business Today, Digit, Forbes, BMI, Business Insider, The Indian Express, Hindustan Times, and Livemint
X: @siddharthb_, @prathamgrv, @ns123abc, @pitdesi, @indianidle, @hopes_revenge, @autismcapital, @trendulkar, @ani, @sidhant, @himanshustwts, and @yuchenj_uw. Bluesky: @shona
| 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 … | 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: The Guardian, Associated Press, Bloomberg, The American Bazaar, Reuters, Reuters, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Politico, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg. X: @madhavchanchani
| 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, AppleInsider, SFGATE, New York Times, Fast Company, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, Benzinga, BBC, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, NPR, Anadolu Ajansı …, Times of India, CNN, Tech Times, BMI, Moneycontrol, The Korea Herald, The Verge, Information Age, Deadline, The Information, Wired, Associated Press, Tech Oversight Project, Courthouse News Service, Business Insider, The Boston Globe, Newser, NewsNation, BERNAMA, 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, Bloomberg, and Quartz
X: @tech_oversight, @kyle_a_morse, @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 … | 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 17%+ — The $1.2 billion deal comes as eBay looks to expand its appeal among younger users. — Secondhand clothing apps hit a stride during …
More: Investor's Business Daily, Etsy, Inc., Reuters, Barron's Online, Yahoo Finance, MarketWatch, Blockonomi, Mirror, ChannelX, RTÉ, Silicon Republic, Associated Press, The Independent, Economic news, Tech in Asia, 9News, TheIndustry.fashion, SmartCompany, City A.M., Sky News, BusinessCloud, The Information, TheJournal.ie, WWD, The Business of Fashion, Vogue, Oktopost, TechCrunch, San Francisco Business Times, BBC, and Wall Street Journal
X: @bjornjeffery, @jimcramer, @mikeisaac, and @mikeisaac
| 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.| Spencer Soper / Bloomberg: |
Amazon overtakes 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 … | Financial Times: |
Sources: Accenture told executives that promotions would require “regular” AI adoption and it is tracking individual weekly AI tool logins for some senior staff — Consulting firms use ‘carrot and stick’ with some senior staff less willing to use technology than junior colleagues
More: Bloomberg, The Decoder, Beyond Search, and The Guardian
| 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.| The Guardian: |
The UK proposes new rules requiring tech firms to remove nonconsensual abusive content within 48 hours or risk blocking and fines of 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, Bloomberg, Financial Times, GOV.UK, Ofcom, The Indian Express, The Times, Sky News, Telegraph, Mirror, The Sun, and Reuters
Bluesky: @pqpolitics and @tristangrayford.scot
Forums: r/unitedkingdom and r/europe
| Ece Yildirim / Gizmodo: |
An experiment finds X's feed algorithm favored conservative content, and switching to the For You feed shifted users' views toward more conservative positions — 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
| 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 … | Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple adds support for third-party voice-based conversational apps in CarPlay starting with iOS 26.4, letting CarPlay users access apps like AI chatbots — With iOS 26.4, CarPlay users will be able to use third-party chatbots with CarPlay. AI services like Claude, Gemini …
More: Apple, Macworld, T3, TechRadar, BGR, Ghacks, Moneycontrol, iThinkDifferent, Digital Trends, NERDBOT, Car and Driver, Mashable, iDrop News, and 9to5Mac
| 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
| 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.| Georg Szalai / The Hollywood Reporter: |
Mobile gaming company Scopely buys a majority stake in Istanbul-based studio Loom, maker of puzzle game Pixel Flow!; a source says the deal values Loom at $1B+ — “It's been a privilege to have a front row seat to the team's rapid growth and success and see them become the latest Turkish startup … | Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg: |
ByteDance is currently hiring for nearly 100 US-based roles within its Seed AI team across San Jose, LA, and Seattle to develop LLMs, drug discovery, and more — Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd. is hiring in the US for nearly 100 open roles within its artificial intelligence division … | Bloomberg: |
Atlassian's founders lost ~$7.2B in wealth in 2026, behind AppLovin's three founders, amid an SaaS rout; TEAM dropped ~48% 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 … | Laith Al-Khalaf / Financial Times: |
Klarna reports Q4 revenue up 38% YoY to $1.08B and a $26M net loss, down from a $40M profit in Q4 2024; KLAR is down 50%+ since its September 2025 NYSE IPO — Swedish fintech's shares have sunk since September's IPO — Klarna swung to a $26mn net loss in the last three months of 2025 …
More: Bloomberg, Reuters, City A.M., Barron's Online, Business Wire, and Associated Press
| 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
| Bloomberg: |
Crypto lending firm Ledn sold $188M in securitized bonds backed by bitcoin loans, making it the first deal of its kind in the market for asset-backed debt — Crypto lending firm Ledn Inc. has sold $188 million of securitized bonds backed by Bitcoin, making it the first ever deal of its kind in the market for asset-backed debt.
More: Cryptonews, Cointelegraph, BeInCrypto, CoinDesk, and Bitcoin Magazine
| 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, The Economic Times, and Tech in Asia
| 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, WinBuzzer, The Independent, Mashable, and The Verge
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