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February 19, 2026, 6:35 AM
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| Reuters: |
Sources: the US State Department is building an online portal at freedom.gov to let users in Europe and elsewhere view 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: The European Conservative, The Post Millennial, GB News, and Reclaim The Net
X: @jamestitcomb, @as400495, @florian4gamers, @ordinarygamers, @elonmusk, @g_slattery, @developerharris, @alx, and @nickadobos
Bluesky: @petertl, @marypcbuk, @carnage4life, @benfenton, @parismarx.com, @tyleraking.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/worldnews, r/politics, r/eutech, r/europe, and r/europeanunion
| Joe Miller / Financial Times: |
US OPM Director Scott Kupor says tech billionaires like Elon Musk will give talks to the US Tech Force, which aims to recruit roughly 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 awkwardly refused — 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 Insider, The Indian Express, BMI, 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 …
More: Times of India, Al Jazeera, Telegraph, NDTV, Business Standard, Bloomberg, Digit, Press Trust of India, The Hindu, and Storyboard18
X: @princearihan, @marionawfal, @marionawfal, and @priyankac19. Bluesky: @dominicervolina.com. Forums: r/news
| Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch: |
| New York Times: |
More: Reuters, Associated Press, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Guardian, Politico, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg. X: @madhavchanchani
| 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, New York Times, NBC News, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Forbes, BERNAMA, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Associated Press, Rolling Stone, Anadolu Ajansı …, Times of India, NEOS KOSMOS, CNN, Tech Times, Courthouse News Service, BMI, The Boston Globe, Moneycontrol, Newser, The Korea Herald, The Verge, Wired, Implicator.ai, Deadline, Information Age, Business Insider, The Information, Tech Oversight Project, CBS News, Washington Examiner, Engadget, Bloomberg, Livemint, Straight Arrow News, Mashable, Forbes Australia, Al Jazeera, The Free Press, Overturned, Gizmodo, NewsNation, YouTube, Semafor, One America News Network, Digital CxO, LAW.com, The American Bazaar, CNN, Breitbart, CBS News, International Business Times, 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, @barnes_law, @matthewstoller, @philthatremains, @tech_oversight, @thewarmonitor, @amy_siskind, @sachalouise, and @senblumenthal
LinkedIn: Kelly Stonelake and Nicki Petrossi
Bluesky: @karlbode.com, @alexlaughs, @theresistanceco, and @davelee.me
Forums: r/apple, r/politics, r/politics, r/NPR, r/technology, and r/LegalNews
| Gayoung Lee / Gizmodo: |
Microsoft's Project Silica team details its laser-modified glass storage tech, saying tests suggest that it can preserve information for at least 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: Microsoft Research, Nature, Help Net Security, Ars Technica, Microsoft Research, ITPro, New Scientist, PCWorld, Digital Trends, The Register, GovTech, LiveScience, Science, The Guardian, and The Independent
X: @satyanadella. LinkedIn: Satya Nadella. Mastodon: @hkrn@mstdn.social. Forums: r/technology and Ars OpenForum
| 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: Etsy, Inc., Silicon Republic, RTÉ, Barron's Online, Associated Press, City A.M., The Independent, Economic news, TheIndustry.fashion, BusinessCloud, Sky News, TheJournal.ie, SmartCompany, Dow Jones Newswires, The Information, WWD, 9News, The Business of Fashion, Vogue, Oktopost, TechCrunch, San Francisco Business Times, BBC, Value Added Resource, Wall Street Journal, Benzinga, and CNBC
X: @bjornjeffery, @jimcramer, @mikeisaac, and @mikeisaac
| 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| The Keyword: |
Google rolls out Lyria 3, a generative music model to make 30-second tracks with Nano Banana-generated cover art, in beta in the Gemini app in eight languages — The Gemini app now features our most advanced music generation model Lyria 3, empowering anyone to make 30-second tracks using text or images in beta.
More: Livemint, Ghacks, Tech Times, The Verge, GSMArena.com, Digit, The Deep View, SammyGuru, Los Angeles Times, Communicate Online, SiliconANGLE, arabnews.jp, Business Standard, Moneycontrol, The Rundown AI, Ars Technica, Digital Trends, Mashable, The Register, Engadget, MarkTechPost, SQ Magazine, Mix 1049, Campaign Middle East, Neowin, PCMag, Tom's Guide, TechCrunch, 9to5Google, and EFTM
X: @geminiapp, @googledeepmind, @slow_developer, @pyvrma, @kimmonismus, @iamemily2050, @marcelocaporale, @710_eth, @natlungfy, @rpnickson, @allan_d_clive, @ammaar, @stocksavvyshay, @jasonbaldridge, @_philschmid, @google, @google, @googleai, @officiallogank, @synthwavedd, and @joshwoodward
LinkedIn: Jeff Chang and Debbie W.
Forums: r/singularity and Slashdot
| 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, Silicon Republic, Bloomberg, Financial Times, GOV.UK, Ofcom, The Indian Express, The Times, Sky News, Telegraph, Mirror, Reuters, and The Sun
X: @leicesterliz, @keir_starmer, and @scitechgovuk. LinkedIn: Dame Nicole Jacobs. Bluesky: @pqpolitics
Forums: r/unitedkingdom and r/europe
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of its $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 … | 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 Forbes
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
| 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, Digital Trends, Ghacks, Moneycontrol, CNET, NERDBOT, Car and Driver, Mashable, iDrop News, AppleInsider, iClarified, iPhone in Canada, 9to5Mac, and BGR
| The Record: |
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues TP-Link, alleging it deceptively markets its products as secure while allowing the CCP to hack into consumers' devices — Texas is suing networking equipment company TP-Link Systems for allegedly allowing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to hack into consumers' devices … | New York Times: |
Meta plans to spend $65M in 2026 to boost AI-friendly state politicians; filings show Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats — Meta's biggest election investment aims to prevent state legislation that it fears could inhibit artificial intelligence development.
More: Wall Street Journal, Originally Reported …, Tech Oversight Project, The Verge, and Political Wire
X: @melatkirosco, @likebutterfield, @nathantbernard, @mattplatkin, @rhymewithocean, @jdcocchiarella, @hbendaas, @reed_showalter, @cernovich, @thegreenebj, @ryangrim, @leehepner, @teddyschleifer, and @teddyschleifer
Bluesky: @vortexegg.com, @mattheweadie, and @sachalouise
Forums: r/BetterOffline, r/politics, r/technology, and Slashdot
| OpenAI: |
OpenAI and Paradigm announce EVMbench, a benchmark that measures how well AI agents can detect, exploit, and patch high-severity smart contract vulnerabilities — Making smart contracts safer by evaluating AI agents' ability to detect, patch, and exploit vulnerabilities in blockchain environments.
More: Help Net Security, The Block, crypto.news, Cyber Security News, Blockonomi, DL News, Cointelegraph, Rohan's Bytes, Decrypt, CoinGape, The Crypto Times, and Paradigm
X: @0xalpo, @openai, @scaling01, @antoniogm, and @gdb
Forums: r/singularity and r/OpenAI
| 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: Reuters, Economic news, and The War Zone
| Emily Steel / New York Times: |
Sources: Uber is moving to bar drivers with convictions for violent felonies, sexual offenses, and child or elder abuse, after an NYT report in December 2025 — The New York Times revealed in December that the ride-hailing giant approved drivers with many types of criminal convictions, including violent felonies.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Bluesky integrates Germ DM, an E2E encrypted messaging app built on AT Protocol, making it the first private messenger natively available in the Bluesky app — Here's something that you've never seen on Big Tech social platforms: The decentralized open social network Bluesky has integrated …
Bluesky: @alexbenzer.com, @evacide, @germnetwork.com, and @germnetwork.com
| 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.
Bluesky: @metacurity.com
| 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: The Economic Times and Tech in Asia
| 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.| 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: Cointelegraph, CoinDesk, BeInCrypto, Bitcoin Magazine, and The Block
| 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.| Hazel Gandhi / Rest of World: |
Nonprofit What To Fix says Facebook's content monetization program grew from under 3M to over 12M participants in just over a year; 8M+ accounts are in English — And Indonesian creators are leading the charge. — Facebook's new content monetization program is booming …
X: @restofworld
| Jeremy White / Wired: |
How Lego's Creative Play Lab built the Smart Brick, its custom chip, sensors, and proprietary communication system to seamlessly integrate with existing sets — Lego's next release is a digital brick loaded with sensors that add new layers of interactivity to its play sets.Sponsor Posts
Command Line:
Azure Content Understanding: Building on lessons from a decade of Document Intelligence — What a decade of teaching machines to read real-world documents taught us about what LLMs can and can't do.
Azure Content Understanding: Building on lessons from a decade of Document Intelligence — What a decade of teaching machines to read real-world documents taught us about what LLMs can and can't do.
Will Reed:
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
The best sales leaders aren't job hunting. Here's how to reach them without months of cold outreach. — Our team came from Box, Square, and Brex, so we already know the GTM leaders worth meeting.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: Profit.co for Zoho CRM — App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools. Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
App Spotlight: Profit.co for Zoho CRM — App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools. Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
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.
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.Featured Podcasts
Cheeky Pint:
Muse Wonder: Zuckerberg and Wang's $100B AI
Stripe cofounder John Collison interviews founders, builders, and leaders over a pint.
Subscribe to Cheeky Pint.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio)
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Meta & Microsoft's Claude Slowdown, His Agent Leaked His Banking Info, Don't Bully Your AI
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
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