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Arguments are set to begin today in a landmark U.S. trial that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to lead to addiction in children. Instagram's parent company Meta and Google's YouTube will face claims; TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed sums. Executives, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, are expected to testify at the trial, which will last six to eight weeks. Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the claims against YouTube are “simply not true.” He said: “Providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.”

 

U.S. News

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An estimated 26.2m U.S. employees will miss work the day after the Super Bowl and about 4.9m workers plan to arrive late to work without giving their managers advance notice, according to UKG's annual Super Bowl Absenteeism Survey. The absences could cost upwards of $5.2bn in lost work and productivity, UKG said. "We are not advocating for it to be a holiday but a lot of people treat it as such," said Julie Develin, Senior Partner, Human Insights at UKG, a global AI platform for HR, pay, and workforce management.

 

Reuters

Amazon sharply reduced its U.S. corporate tax bill in 2025 after benefiting from tax breaks in President Trump’s new tax law, even as its domestic profits surged. The company’s current U.S. tax expense fell to $1.2bn from $9bn a year earlier, while pretax U.S. profit jumped 44.5% to $89.5bn. On a cash basis, Amazon paid $2.8bn in federal income taxes, down from more than $7bn in each of the prior two years. The savings stem largely from two changes in the law: immediate deductions for certain capital investments, including data-center equipment, and the restoration of full, upfront deductions for domestic research spending. Amazon, which spent about $340bn in the U.S. last year, said the provisions were designed to encourage investment and innovation and reflected its heavy domestic spending. While Amazon’s current U.S. taxes fell, its global effective tax rate rose to 19.6% as profits increased and research credits declined. The company said the law mainly shifts the timing of tax payments rather than reducing them permanently and expects similar effects in 2026 as it ramps up capital spending, particularly on artificial intelligence.

 

Wall Street Journal

The U.K.'s Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has launched an investigation into the Grok AI system, owned by Elon Musk's Internet Unlimited Company and X.AI, amid concerns over its generation of explicit sexualized content, including images of children. William Malcolm, the ICO's executive director of regulatory risk and innovation, said reports about Grok "raise deeply troubling questions about how people's personal data has been used." The ICO can impose fines of up to £17.5m ($24m) or 4% of an organization's annual worldwide turnover. U.K. media regulator Ofcom last month opened a formal investigation into X - the social media platform into which Grok is integrated - to determine whether the firm is complying with its duties to protect people from illegal content under the U.K.'s Online Safety Act.

 

Sky News

The Guardian

The EU has told TikTok it must change its "addictive design" or face heavy fines. The warning follows an investigation which began in February 2024 into the Chinese-owned video sharing platform by the European Commission. In preliminary findings, the Commission said TikTok did not "adequately assess" how features such as autoplay could harm the wellbeing of its users, including children, and said it failed to implement measures to mitigate the risks. EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen told reporters that if TikTok wanted to avoid being fined, it would have to "change the design of their service in Europe." A TikTok spokesperson told the BBC the findings presented a "categorically false and entirely meritless depiction of our platform" and it planned to challenge them.

 

BBC News

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is investigating Nike for alleged discrimination against white employees through its diversity policies. The inquiry, revealed in a court motion, seeks information on Nike's layoff criteria and race-based mentoring programs. Nike said it has cooperated with the EEOC, calling the subpoena "a surprising and unusual escalation." The investigation follows a complaint filed by EEOC Chair Andrea Lucas, and not from any employee grievance. "When there are compelling indications, including corporate admissions in extensive public materials, that an employer's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion-related programs may violate federal prohibitions against race discrimination or other forms of unlawful discrimination, the EEOC will take all necessary steps  including subpoena actions - to ensure the opportunity to fully and comprehensively investigate," Lucas said. 

 

U.S. News

Republican Senator Tim Scott has said he does not believe Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell broke the law when he testified to Congress last summer. In a Fox Business interview, Scott, chair of the Senate banking committee, at first criticized Powell, saying: “I believe that it’s time for a new [Fed] Chair, and thank God Almighty, we’re getting ready to get one,” observing “I have found him to be inept at doing his job . . . But ineptness or being incompetent is not a criminal act.” Scott's remarks are a blow to Donald Trump, who is facing criticism in the DOJ’s probe of Powell over whether Powell misled the committee about a $2.5bn renovation of the Federal Reserve’s headquarters, which is $700mn over budget.

 

CNBC

Financial Times

Politico

Reuters

Michael Fiddelke, Target's new chief executive, has acknowledged that the retailer has lost trust with both shoppers and employees, and is pledging to rebuild those relationships after a difficult period marked by weak sales, political controversy and a pullback from diversity initiatives. In his first town hall address, Fiddelke said Target’s unclear identity hurt its connection with consumers, particularly Black shoppers, and morale internally. He outlined plans for the biggest inventory overhaul in a decade, narrowing focus to key categories, improving in-store experiences and making products easier to find online, while using data and customer feedback to guide decisions. Fiddelke also addressed criticism over Target’s cautious stance on U.S. immigration enforcement, saying the company is prioritising employee safety and pursuing constructive engagement. Overall, he emphasised that restoring growth will require sustained, deliberate change rather than quick fixes.

 

Bloomberg

Reuters

Alphabet plans to dramatically expand its presence in India, and could take millions of square feet in new office space in Bengaluru, the country's tech hub. The company has leased one office tower and purchased options on two others in Alembic City, a development in the city's Whitefield tech corridor, totaling 2.4m square feet. If Alphabet takes all of the space, the complex could accommodate as many as 20,000 additional staff - more than doubling the company’s footprint in India. Alphabet currently employs around 14,000 people in India. Bloomberg notes that President Trump’s visa restrictions have made it harder to bring foreign talent to America; as such, some companies are recruiting more staff overseas

 

Bloomberg

Jon Gray, President and COO of investment management firm Blackstone, has said that the potential disruption caused by artificial intelligence is "top of the page" for the company as it manages assets worth $1.27trn across various sectors. While some of Blackstone's investments - like sandwich shops - face less risk, others could be significantly affected, such as insurance firms adjusting rates due to autonomous vehicles. Gray emphasised the importance of investing in AI-related infrastructure, believing that focusing on "picks and shovels" will be the safest strategy amidst this evolving landscape.

 

Reuters

Maria Luís Albuquerque, the European Union's Financial Services Commissioner, has said Europe must retain control of key technologies that underpin the region's economies. At the same event, a financial technology regulatory conference in Brussels, Steven Maijoor, Chair of Supervision at De Nederlandsche Bank, said that Europe should be less reliant on technology firms based outside the region. “It is undeniable that the faultlines on our European financial system have become far more prone to cracking in recent years," Maijoor observed.

 

Reuters

Cambodia has seen a "mass exodus" from the country's online scam operations in recent weeks amid growing international pressure and the recent extradition of Chen Zhi, the chairman of Cambodia's Prince Group, who the U.S. Department of Justice had accused in an indictment of masterminding a multi-billion-dollar "cyber fraud empire." Reports indicate that many workers, some of whom are trafficking victims, have fled scamming compounds, leaving behind their belongings. Amnesty International said many of those who had left the compounds had no passports, money, medical care or any pathway to safety. "This mass exodus from scamming compounds has created a humanitarian crisis on the streets that is being ignored by the Cambodian government," said regional research director Montse Ferrer.

 

ABC Online