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Meta is at the center of a class-action lawsuit stemming from an investigation into privacy concerns about the company’s Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses and their marketing. Filed on March 4, 2026, the lawsuit accuses Meta and its glasses manufacturing partner, Luxottica of America, of violating consumer protection laws, TechCrunch reports. Why Meta’s AI Glasses Are At The Center Of A Lawsuit Plaintiffs Gina Bartone of New Jersey and Mateo Canu of California allege that Meta violated privacy laws and engaged in false advertising by claiming strong security and privacy protections, per the outlet. According to the filing, Meta marketed its AI smart glasses as “responsible, safe, and engineered to address the privacy concerns that define the AI era.” However, the company’s statements — such as “designed for privacy, controlled by you” and “built for your privacy” — are misleading. Before this lawsuit, the U.K. regulator the Information Commissioner’s Office launched an investigation...
Discord has cut ties with Persona, its identity verification software, after researchers discovered that its front-end code was publicly accessible — even on U.S. government servers. On Feb. 16, 2026, researchers on X reported in a blog post that nearly 2,500 files were exposed on a government-authorized endpoint. The files revealed that Persona, an AI-driven verification platform partially funded by Palantir cofounder Peter Thiel’s venture firm Founders Fund, conducted facial recognition checks and screened users against politically sensitive watchlists, Fortune reports . Beyond verifying age, Fortune reports that Persona runs 269 different verification checks , including monitoring for negative media coverage across categories such as terrorism and espionage, then assigns risk and similarity scores to user information. “We didn’t even have to write or perform a single exploit; the entire architecture was just on the doorstep,” a researcher wrote, per Fortune. The researchers...
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) improperly shared confidential tax information belonging to thousands of individuals with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Dottie Romo, the tax agency’s chief risk and control officer, said in a sworn declaration that the IRS notified DHS of the error on Jan. 23, 2026, The Washington Post reports. She added that the agency planned to take steps to “prevent the disclosure or dissemination” of the data and to ensure the “appropriate disposal, of any data provided to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) by the IRS based on incomplete or insufficient address information.” The Controversial 2025 ICE-IRS Data-Sharing Agreement The move stems from a data-sharing agreement aimed at helping President Donald Trump fulfill his pledge to carry out mass deportations . As AFROTECH™ previously reported, ICE received unprecedented clearance in April 2025 to request confidential taxpayer information from the IRS to locate and deport undocumented...
Discord will automatically place accounts in a default “teen-appropriate” experience unless users provide proof of adulthood, a move that has put the platform’s age verification face scan at the center of controversy. In a blog post shared on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026, Discord said the rollout of the “teen-by-default” experience is “part of our broader effort to support age-appropriate experiences on Discord.” The decision has sparked criticism from users citing privacy and security concerns. According to Newsweek, many of the concerns stem from a 2025 data breach in which hackers targeted Discord’s third-party customer support vendor, 5CA, exposing approximately 70,000 government ID images used for age verification . What Is Discord’s Age Verification Face Scan? Discord, which supports over 200 million monthly users, per its website, says most users won’t need to verify their age. Instead, the platform will use a new model that estimates whether an account belongs to an adult based on...
TikTok will remain operational in the United States following an agreement by its Chinese parent company, ByteDance , to create a majority American-owned joint venture, TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC. The company announced the deal’s finalization in a news release on Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, averting a potential U.S. ban on the popular social media platform. The deal allows more than 200 million American users and 7.5 million U.S. businesses “to continue to discover, create, and thrive as part of TikTok’s vibrant global community and experience,” per the release. “The majority American-owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users,” the news release states. Under the agreement, three managing investors — including cloud computing company Oracle , private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX — will each hold a 15%...
Eightfold AI is at the center of a new lawsuit filed by job seekers who want greater transparency into how artificial intelligence evaluates job applicants. Two women with STEM backgrounds have filed the lawsuit alleging that Eightfold’s AI unfairly screened them out of roles for which they were qualified at companies such as Microsoft and PayPal , according to a news release from law firm Outten & Golden. The plaintiffs argue that AI-powered hiring systems should be regulated under the Fair Credit Reporting Act of 1970, the same law that governs credit bureaus, because these AI tools collect personal data and significantly influence employment decisions. Erin Kistler, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has decades of experience in the technology industry, The New York Times reports . Yet after applying to thousands of jobs in the past year, with several applications processed through Eightfold’s software system, only 0.3% resulted in a follow-up or interview, she shared. “I...
Google Gemini is becoming more personalized with a new feature that tailors chatbot responses using data from users’ connected apps. Josh Woodward, Google’s vice president of Google Labs, Gemini, and AI Studio, announced the opt-in feature — called Personal Intelligence — in a blog post on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. The update allows Gemini to draw on information from apps such as Gmail, YouTube , Google Search, and Google Photos to deliver more relevant and contextual responses. “Personal Intelligence has two core strengths: reasoning across complex sources and retrieving specific details from, say, an email or photo to answer your question,” per the blog post. “It often combines these, working across text, photos, and video to provide uniquely tailored answers.” How Personal Intelligence Works In the blog post, Woodward shared several examples of how his “daily life has gotten easier” since using Personal Intelligence. In one instance, he asked Gemini for help buying new tires for...
Starting in December 2025, Roblox will block children from chatting with adults or much older teen strangers, using facial age estimation to ensure kids can only talk with others in a similar age group. According to The Guardian, the move follows lawsuits claiming the online gaming platform — now reaching 150 million daily players — has been exploited by predators to groom children as young as 7, alleging its design made them “easy prey for paedophiles.” Roblox’s new system will sort users into age bands: under 9, 9 to 12, 13 to 15, 16 to 17, 18 to 20, and 21 and over. Children will be allowed to chat only with users in their own or adjacent groups — for instance, a 12-year-old will only be able to communicate with those under 16. Roblox says it will not store images and videos used for age checks. Roblox will first introduce the change in Australia, New Zealand, and the Netherlands, with a global rollout scheduled for early January 2026. “We see it as a way for our users to have...
AT&T will pay out $177 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over two customer data breaches revealed last year — and the deadline to file a claim is approaching, according to CNET. In one breach, which occurred in 2019 but wasn’t reported until March 30, 2024, hackers released sensitive information, including “a combination of names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, account passcodes, billing account numbers, and Social Security numbers,” on the dark web, according to the court-authorized settlement website managed by the Kroll Settlement Administration LLC. Another breach, disclosed on July 12, 2024, involved the illegal download of limited data on April 14, 2024, including customer details and phone numbers linked to affected accounts. The exposed information may have included call data of current and former AT&T customers, such as “the telephone numbers with which those customers interacted, counts of those interactions, aggregate call durations...
Stacey Abrams wears many hats. The first Black woman nominated for governor in U.S. history, she is a national leader, voting rights advocate, romance and thriller novelist, and serial entrepreneur with her own media and podcast ventures. At AFROTECH™ Conference 2025 in Houston, Abrams joined Dr. Rachel Gillum, vice president of ethical and humane use of technology at Salesforce, for a session titled “Democracy in the World of AI,” highlighting AI’s rapid spread, its impact on every sector from health care to the economy, and its connection to democracy. Abrams explained that her commitment to democracy is driven by her experience with poverty, which she called immoral, economically inefficient, and solvable — a reality she is determined never to return to. “Democracy is how we have always advanced the cause of more voices being involved in the answer,” Abrams shared from the stage. “I create companies because I was poor, and I don’t like it, and don’t ever want to do it again. My...
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, have joined others in signing a statement calling for “a prohibition on the development of superintelligence” AI systems for the time being. Future of Life Institute (FLI), an AI safety group based in the United States that called for a pause on advanced AI development in 2023, organized the statement, according to The Guardian. It is aimed at tech companies , governments, and lawmakers, and includes signatures from AI pioneers and Nobel laureates. While artificial intelligence (AI) refers to systems that can match human intelligence in most cognitive tasks, artificial superintelligence (ASI) describes hypothetical systems that would exceed human intelligence. “The future of AI should serve humanity, not replace it. The true test of progress will be not how fast we move, but how wisely we steer,” Harry wrote in a comment alongside his signature. The statement urges that the ban on ASI development remain in place until...
Apple officially launched iOS 26 on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, bringing new features to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro — all powered by Apple Intelligence and designed with privacy and data protection at every step, according to a news release. Developers can take advantage of iOS 26’s new features at no cost. The operating system also introduces Liquid Glass, Apple’s latest software material that unifies user interfaces with a sleek, glass-like aesthetic. “At Apple , we’ve always believed in the deep integration of hardware and software that makes interacting with technology intuitive, beautiful, and delightful,” Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, said in a statement. “This is our broadest software design update ever,” he added. “…[Liquid Glass] combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. It lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and,...
TikTok appears set to remain operational in the United States following a trade meeting between Trump administration officials and Chinese representatives. On Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, President Donald Trump hinted at a deal in a Truth Social post , saying that trade talks had gone “VERY WELL.” “A deal was also reached on a “certain” company that young people in our Country very much wanted to save,” Trump wrote. “They will be very happy! I will be speaking to President Xi [Jinping] on Friday. The relationship remains a very strong one!!!” What’s Happening With TikTok In The US? AFROTECH™ has closely followed the ongoing TikTok saga, which began on April 24, 2024, when former President Joe Biden signed a bill requiring TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. assets to an American company within a year or face a nationwide ban. The legislation cited national security concerns , particularly the potential for China to access the private data of an estimated 170...
Facebook users are finally seeing payments from a $725 million privacy case. The Facebook user privacy settlement payout comes after years of lawsuits alleging the company allowed third parties to access user data without permission, USA Today reports. It is reportedly the largest class-action settlement in U.S. history based on number of class members, according to Money. Over 19 million claims have been validated. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, has already started sending out payments tied to the settlement. Notifications began in September 2025, and payments will continue over the coming weeks. The case covers Facebook’s data-sharing practices over 15 years, including the infamous Cambridge Analytica scandal that broke in 2018, where the consulting firm accessed data from as many as 87 million users without consent, AFROTECH™ previously reported. While Meta has denied wrongdoing, the company agreed to settle to avoid trial. This is not the first privacy-related action against...
Recent reports suggested that Google issued a broad warning to all 2.5 billion Gmail users following a hack of Salesforce by the group ShinyHunters (also tracked as UNC6040). Those reports, however, were inaccurate. Google clarified in a statement that no widespread Gmail security breach has occurred, and its protections remain highly effective, blocking more than 99.9% of phishing and malware attempts. While attackers continue to look for ways to infiltrate inboxes, including exploiting publicly available or leaked business information, Gmail’s security measures remain strong, the company states. “Security is such an important item for all companies, all customers, all users — we take this work incredibly seriously,” Google said in a statement. “Our teams invest heavily, innovate constantly, and communicate clearly about the risks and protections we have in place. It’s crucial that conversation in this space is accurate and factual,” the statement continued. The Salesforce breach,...