Law
Musk labels Spain PM 'tyrant' after Madrid proposes social media curbs
Musk labels Spain PM'tyrant' after Madrid proposes social media curbs Tech billionaire and owner of X, Elon Musk, has dubbed socialist Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a "tyrant and traitor to the people" of Spain for introducing new social media curbs for children under the age of 16. Musk's comments on Tuesday came in response to an announcement by the Spanish prime minister that Madrid would introduce new changes to the country's social media laws. Sanchez also confirmed that the government would work with the public prosecutor to investigate alleged legal infringements by platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, and Musk's own AI chatbot, Grok. "Dirty Sanchez is a tyrant and traitor to the people of Spain," Musk wrote in response to the Spanish prime minister's X post, in which he detailed the upcoming measures. Grok has come under fire for allowing users to create sexually explicit fake images of women and minors, triggering an investigation by the European Commission.
Court system on 'brink of collapse', former senior judge warns
Court system on'brink of collapse', former senior judge warns The court system is on the brink of collapse as the backlogs for trials reach unprecedented levels, the head of a major review has said. Sir Brian Leveson, a senior retired judge, warned ministers, the police and others that there could not be a pick and mix response to solving the crisis. Last year, in the first stage of the review, Sir Brian called for the right to a jury trial to be scaled back and many intermediate crimes to be dealt with by a judge alone. His second and final report has recommended 130 efficiency changes, from technical measures to allowing prison vans to use bus lanes to hit court appearance deadlines. Sir Brian's two reports were commissioned by ministers as part of an attempt to reverse the backlogs that had reached record levels before Labour came into power, but have continued to worsen since then.
Police told to reinvestigate man's death after suspected blackmail on Grindr
Police told to reinvestigate man's death after suspected blackmail on Grindr Police have been told to reopen their investigation into the death of Scott Gough, who allegedly took his own life after being targeted by a gang of men on the gay dating app Grindr. A police Professional Standards Department (PSD) report found failures in the investigation into the 56-year-old's death, which happened the day after a group of men turned up at his home demanding his car keys. His partner, Cameron Tewson accused the police of marking their own homework after his complaint of homophobia was not upheld. Hertfordshire Police, the investigating force, said it remains committed to ensuring members of the LGBTQ+ community feel supported when approaching the force. The report into the police's actions comes after a BBC investigation found multiple cases of suspected blackmail involving victims targeted on Grindr in Gough's local area, with at least four connected to the same gang, which remains at large.
Paris cybercrime unit searches X office; Musk summoned
Elon Musk attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 22. PARIS - French police raided the offices of Elon Musk's social media network X on Tuesday, and prosecutors ordered the tech billionaire to face questions in a widening investigation, amid growing scrutiny of the platform by authorities across Europe. The raid by the Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit and Musk's summoning -- which could further increase tensions between Europe and the U.S. over Big Tech and free speech -- are linked to a yearlong investigation into suspected abuse of algorithms and fraudulent data extraction by X or its executives. Britain's privacy watchdog, meanwhile, also kicked off a formal investigation into Musk's artificial-intelligence chatbot Grok over the processing of personal data and its potential to produce harmful sexual images and video content. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
An 'Intimacy Crisis' Is Driving the Dating Divide
An'Intimacy Crisis' Is Driving the Dating Divide In his book, sex and relationships researcher Justin Garcia says people have miscalculated their need for human intimacy, which is the real issue at root of the loneliness epidemic. In the US, nearly half of adults are single. A quarter of men suffer from loneliness. Rates of depression are on the rise . And one in four Gen Z adults--the so-called kinkiest generation, according to one study --have never had partnered sex. In an age of endless connection, where hooking up happens with the ease of a swipe and nontraditional relationship structures like polyamory are celebrated, why are people seemingly so disconnected and alone?
Who is in the Epstein files?
Who is in the Epstein files? The list of some of the world's most rich and powerful people with ties to late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has lengthened with the latest US government release of millions of new files from its investigation into the disgraced financier. The 30 January drop of new material - dubbed the Epstein files - included three million pages, 180,000 images, 2,000 videos, and a number of household names like Richard Branson, Bill Gates and Elon Musk. There is no suggestion that appearing in the documents implies any wrongdoing, and many people who have featured in previous releases have denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. The release came weeks after the deadline set by the Epstein Files Transparency Act which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump in November and required a full release of all Epstein-related documents.