It’s been one year since New York enacted a law that barred most whole-apartment rentals for short-term stays on platforms like Airbnb. Since then, the number of stays under 30 days has plummeted in the city, but Airbnb is raising questions about whether the lawmakers’ stated goals—lowering rents and opening …
Read More »Craig Wright Faces Perjury Investigation Over Claims He Created Bitcoin
A judge in the UK High Court has directed prosecutors to consider bringing criminal charges against computer scientist Craig Wright, after ruling that he lied “extensively and repeatedly” and committed forgery “on a grand scale” in service of his quest to prove he is Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of bitcoin. In …
Read More »Trump’s Online MAGA Army Calls Guilty Verdict a Declaration of War
The words “RIP America” trended on X minutes after a jury in Manhattan found former president Donald Trump guilty on all 34 felony counts for falsifying business records in connection to a hush money payment to adult film star Stormy Daniels. Images of an upside-down American flag—a symbol of distress …
Read More »Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao Quits, Pleads Guilty, and Must Pay $200 Million in Fines
Binance and its chief executive, Changpeng Zhao, pleaded guilty to criminal charges for anti-money laundering and violations of US sanctions under a sweeping deal with the US Department of Justice. The deal, which will allow the company to continue to operate, will also see Zhao step down as CEO. Binance …
Read More »Elon Musk’s Media Matters Lawsuit Will Have a ‘Chilling Effect’
On Monday, X filed a lawsuit against Media Matters for America (MMFA), a nonprofit, alleging that a recent report showing big name advertisers appearing next to antisemitic content on X was an attempt to “destroy” the company by encouraging advertisers to pull their money. Shortly after, Texas Attorney General Ken …
Read More »New Orleans Tried to Control Vacation Rentals With a Lottery. It Was a Mess
In the fight to regulate short-term rentals, New Orleans had a novel idea—it would hold a lottery. The plan was simple: Carve up the city into blocks and use a hand-cranked lottery machine to draw numbers, allowing one rental property per residential block. For the winners, the prize was a …
Read More »Omegle Was Forced to Shut Down by a Lawsuit From a Sexual Abuse Survivor
Omegle, the video and text chat site that paired strangers together to talk, ultimately shut down as part of a legal mediation with a female user who sued the company, claiming its defective and negligent design enabled her to be sexually abused through the site. Omegle’s chatting service was shut …
Read More »‘Someone Is Using Photos of Me to Talk to Men’
Two years ago, late on a February night in Vernon, British Columbia, Melissa Trixie Watt was struggling to sleep, so she reached for her phone. She saw that she had a Facebook message. “How are you? I hope you are well,” read the DM from an unknown man. According to …
Read More »Sam Bankman-Fried Made Reasonable Business Decisions, Lawyers Claim
Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX may have lost at least $8 billion in customer money, but he “didn’t intend to defraud anyone,” his defense team said Wednesday during the opening arguments of his highly anticipated trial. Though legal experts had long speculated that Bankman-Fried, or SBF for short, would take …
Read More »