☕️ Oracle will control TikTok's US algorithm

Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Techpresso.

In today's Techpresso:

🔒 Oracle will control TikTok's US algorithm

🍪 EU wants to free the internet of cookie pop-ups

🛡️ Google DeepMind updates its rules to stop harmful AI

📱 Foldable iPhone might look like two iPhone Airs stuck together

⚖️ FTC alleges Amazon tricked millions of customers into Prime subscriptions

💰 Coinbase aims to become a financial super app

🎁 + 8 other news you might like

🔮 + 5 handpicked research papers and tools

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• Oracle will retrain the recommendation software from scratch inside the United States using a leased version from ByteDance and store all American user data in its own secure cloud systems.
• The national security deal hands Oracle full control over reviewing TikTok’s source code and managing all future application development to monitor for any improper manipulation or government surveillance.
• ByteDance will no longer be allowed to access its U.S. algorithm or software operations, while its ownership of the new TikTok venture is being reduced to below 20 percent.

• The European Commission wants to simplify its "outdated" rules on cookies to ease the regulatory burden on businesses and reduce the widespread consent fatigue that frustrates many internet users.
• This initiative aims to cut costs by reducing cases where user consent is needed and may introduce a central cookie management mechanism to give people more control over their privacy.
• As part of a wider ‘Digital Omnibus’ package, authorities have opened a request for feedback to help modernize the current cookie regulations established by the original ePrivacy Directive.

• Google's updated Frontier Safety Framework now includes a risk class for “harmful manipulation,” addressing persuasive models that could be misused to systematically change people’s beliefs during high-stakes events.
• The safety rules also formally address “misalignment risks,” with protocols for a future where an AI could actively resist human attempts to shut it down or alter its core operations.
• The company plans to build an automated system to monitor for illicit reasoning in an agent's chain-of-thought, a method to spot when it might hide its dangerous intentions.

• Apple's foldable iPhone will reportedly have a super thin design, featuring a form that looks like two of the company's titanium iPhone Airs that have been placed directly side-by-side.
• To save internal space, the phone will replace Face ID with Touch ID integrated into its side button, and will have a 7.8-inch inner display with a 5.5-inch outer screen.
• Currently scheduled for a 2026 release and manufactured by Foxconn in China, the new device is expected to carry a price tag that begins at $2,000, potentially reaching $2,500.

• The FTC alleges Amazon tricked millions of customers into Prime subscriptions and created a cancellation process so difficult that the company’s own employees internally nicknamed the confusing system the “Iliad.”
• The agency is trying to hold two senior executives, Neil Lindsay and Jamil Ghani, personally liable for allegedly ignoring internal warnings and reversing changes that would reduce nonconsensual enrollment.
• Amazon denies the claims, arguing people join its Prime program because it is useful and valuable, pointing to high renewal rates and customer satisfaction as proof of its genuine appeal.

• Coinbase's CEO plans to build a financial “super app” that acts as a bank replacement, handling customer spending, savings, payments, and all investing on one single unified platform.
• The company will deliver these services on “crypto rails,” a system Armstrong argues provides faster and cheaper settlement than the 2–3% swipe fees charged by traditional card networks.
• Armstrong sees regulatory clarity from Congress as the essential first step, but noted that intense lobbying by big banks against crypto rewards programs on stablecoins remains a significant hurdle.

Other news & articles you might like

• Trump says Michael Dell and Larry Ellison will be involved in US-TikTok deal LINK

• Silicon Valley wants to escape the ‘Nvidia tax’ LINK

• GSA approves Meta's Llama for use across U.S. government agencies LINK

• Palantir Wants to Be a Lifestyle Brand LINK

• Notorious software bug was killing people 40 years ago — at least three people died after radiation doses that were 100x too strong from the buggy Therac-25 radiation therapy machine LINK

• Intel’s foundry business keeps losing billions with no turnaround in sight LINK

• Huawei used its own silicon to re-educate DeepSeek so its output won’t bother Beijing LINK

• Google faces court battle over breakup of ad tech business LINK

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