Friday, March 20, 2026

Friday, March 20, 2026 | Back issues

Consumers

Instagram says it will notify parents if teens ‘repeatedly’ search for terms related to suicide

Associated Press / February 26, 2026

Meta said it is also working on similar notifications to parents about their kids' interactions with artificial intelligence.

EU trade surplus with US hits 5-year low as tariff truce unravels

Yuval Molina Obedman / February 26, 2026

Exports to the U.S. ended 2025 in freefall, the surplus hit a five-year low — and the deal meant to stop the bleeding is frozen.

New York accuses gaming giant Valve of getting kids hooked on gambling with ‘loot boxes’

Erik Uebelacker / February 25, 2026

State Attorney General Letitia James is demanding the company pay full restitution to consumers who lost money opening virtual cases in games like Counter-Strike and Dota.

Trump unlikely to win bid to shut down consumer financial watchdog

Ryan Knappenberger / February 24, 2026

“Why can’t Humpty Dumpty be put back together?" U.S. Circuit Judge Robert Wilkins asked the employee union's counsel, who warned there would be no adequate replacement for years.

Colorado judge blocks Durango detective from accessing bookstore records

Amanda Pampuro / February 24, 2026

The right to keep book buys private was upheld in the quashing of an attorney’s 1998 subpoena to obtain Monica Lewinsky’s purchase history from Kramers bookstore in Washington, D.C.

Reddit hit with $20 million UK data privacy fine over child safety failings

Associated Press / February 24, 2026

The watchdog took issue with Reddit's age verification measures.

Supreme Court lets postal workers off the hook for undelivered mail

Kelsey Reichmann / February 24, 2026

A Texas landlord put the Postal Service's legal immunity to the test at the high court after mail carriers intentionally withheld her deliveries.

Sidebar: Predicting the future

Sidebar Staff / February 24, 2026

Thanks to smartphones, we all have a mini casino right in our pocket. The digital public square has turned everyday folks into authorities on a range of topics, but are you willing to bet on it?

Ohio school district sues Microsoft, Roblox over video game harm to students

Rox Laird / February 23, 2026

Students face a mental health crisis caused by compulsive video game use that has consequences for school districts across the country, an Ohio school district says in a suit against three big players in the video game industry.

FDA proposes new system for approving customized drugs and therapies for rare diseases

Associated Press / February 23, 2026

The pathway would create a standardized process for authorizing experimental treatments and, importantly, offering companies the possibility of commercializing them.

From dabblers to day traders, individual investors’ impact on Wall Street grows

Associated Press / February 23, 2026

Meme stocks aside, years of mostly uninterrupted, strong stock market gains provided an attractive backdrop for more people to take up investing.