California’s Newsom accuses TikTok of suppressing Trump criticism

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California Governor Gavin Newsom has accused TikTok of suppressing content critical of President Donald Trump, launching a review to determine whether the platform’s moderation practices violate California law. Newsom’s office said it had received and independently confirmed reports that posts criticizing Trump were being limited following recent structural changes at TikTok.

The allegations emerged shortly after TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, finalized a deal to create a majority U.S.-owned joint venture designed to secure American user data and avoid a nationwide ban. The arrangement, which was praised by Trump, places U.S. and global investors in control of more than 80% of the venture, with ByteDance retaining a minority stake.

TikTok rejected the accusations, saying the issues stemmed from a technical failure caused by a data center power outage that led to broader system disruptions. The company said the outage resulted in bugs, slower performance and delayed posting for some users, and denied any intentional suppression of political content.

The dispute adds to long-standing political tensions surrounding TikTok in the United States, where the app has faced years of scrutiny over national security, data privacy and influence concerns. Newsom, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, have frequently clashed, underscoring the political sensitivity of the platform’s role in public discourse.

Google settles Google Assistant privacy lawsuit for $68 million

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Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its Google Assistant voice service improperly recorded private conversations, violating users’ privacy. The proposed class action settlement was filed in federal court in San Jose, California, and awaits approval from a U.S. district judge.

The lawsuit accused Google, a unit of Alphabet, of recording and sharing conversations when Google Assistant was unintentionally activated, a phenomenon known as “false accepts.” Plaintiffs said these recordings were later used to deliver targeted advertising, even though users had not deliberately triggered the assistant with hot words such as “Hey Google” or “Okay Google.”

Google denied any wrongdoing but chose to settle to avoid prolonged litigation and associated costs, according to court documents. The settlement applies to users who purchased Google devices or experienced false activations dating back to May 18, 2016. Attorneys for the plaintiffs may seek up to one-third of the settlement amount for legal fees.

Nike says it is investigating possible data breach

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Nike said it is investigating a potential data breach after a cybercrime group claimed to have leaked a large volume of data linked to the company’s business operations. The sportswear giant said consumer privacy and data security remain a priority as it assesses the situation and works to understand the scope of the incident.

The ransomware group World Leaks alleged it had published around 1.4 terabytes of Nike-related data. The claim could not be independently verified, and the company declined to comment on whether any ransom demand had been made or paid. It was also unclear whether the incident affected data connected to Nike’s wholesale partners.

The investigation comes at a sensitive time for Nike, which has been working to regain market share lost to smaller rivals. Data breaches have increasingly disrupted major corporations in recent years, often leading to heavy financial losses and operational damage.