Tech is reshaping the world — and not always for the better. Whether it’s the rules for Apple’s App Store or Facebook’s plan for fighting misinformation, tech platform policies can have enormous ripple effects on the rest of society. They’re so powerful that, increasingly, companies aren’t setting them alone but sharing the fight with government regulators, civil society groups, and internal standards bodies like Meta’s Oversight Board. The result is an ongoing political struggle over harassment, free speech, copyright, and dozens of other issues, all mediated through some of the largest and most chaotic electronic spaces the world has ever seen.
AI companies have a new threat: a wave of Democrats who campaigned against them.
Today I was on the phone with someone who suggested maybe the AI bubble was bursting and that was what was going on with AI stocks . Well, maybe! I don’t know! I’ve seen a lot of attempts to explain why the market was up yesterday and is down today and this is the best one of the bunch.
The companies filed separate lawsuits arguing that that the law violates the First Amendment and Section 230 by forcing them to present content to kids under 16 in a way that the government finds acceptable, Reuters reports. California DOJ spokesperson Elissa Perez said they’re “committed to defending California’s commonsense laws to protect kids online.”
Update: Added California DOJ statement.
From setting stricter rules for data centers to releasing funding for renewable energy projects, Democrats could reinvigorate climate action in the US after winning big in the midterms.
LA recently decided to move forward with installing hundreds of Axon’s ALPRs after it cut ties with the scandal-plagued Flock. Now Axon is facing a class action suit, suggesting people’s problem is less with Flock specifically and more with the AI-powered surveillance state in general. According to Reuters :
The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in federal court in San Francisco by law firms Hausfeld and Gibbs Mura, alleges Axon has failed to comply with a California privacy provision by not disclosing how it collects, uses and shares plate data gathered through its camera systems. “Axon has created a mass-surveillance infrastructure that is practically impossible to avoid,” the lawsuit said.
In ballot measures and exit polls, voters across the country rejected unrestrained development.
The longtime senator counted tech executives like Palantir CEO Alex Karp and venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz among her donors. Democratic challenger Troy Jackson also received some billionaire support, but no obvious tech ties. Maine almost became the first state to pause data centers, before the governor vetoed the moratorium.
NBC News projects Democrat Sherrod Brown will win back his former Senate seat from Republican Jon Husted, who Brown had labeled “the face of data centers.” The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned in a leaked August memo that if Husted loses “and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”
Both Democrats James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa are projected by NBC News to win their Senate and gubernatorial races, respectively. Hinojosa has called for a moratorium on data center development in the state, while Talarico has favored ending tax incentives and creating an “AI dividend” for Americans to share in profits.
The pro-data center Republican Byron Donalds has won the race for governor, according to the AP . He beat Democrat David Jolly with just over 50 percent of the vote — a far tighter margin than predecessor Ron DeSantis in 2022.
Democratic candidates touted their credentials taking on the tech industry far more than in prior election cycles, an analysis by public policy group Reset Tech finds. Between 2020 and 2024, only two Democratic ads used the phrase “Big Tech.” From 2025 to 2026, that number was 154.
A county election official asked the election board for approval to rescan ballots from two scanners experiencing equipment issues. One scanner seemed to wrongly display that it had a paper jam, CBS News reports , while another displayed an error after a voter accidentally rolled over its cable with a wheelchair.
The nonpartisan Election Protection Coalition says it’s received over 8,000 hotline calls today, but the reported concerns are fairly standard for large elections. Rev. Dr. Katie Sexton Wood, executive director of the Arizona Faith Network, says there’s been no verified reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) near Arizona polling spots.
It’s Election Day in the United States, and data centers have become a core issue in some of the country’s most important midterm races. The Verge ’s Adi Robertson explains why people are uniting against data centers, why they’ve become a proxy for all kinds of other fights, and how this year’s results might change the AI industry going forward.
State officials got reports that DOJ monitors asked poll workers in Dearborn for their training materials, Michigan Attorney General office spokesperson Danny Wimmer confirms . The DOJ’s team overseeing Michigan monitors told state officials such actions were not part of their training, Wimmer says, and that the team would follow up.
But in a statement to The Verge , DOJ spokesperson Kiersten Pels says the questions monitors asked were “typical questions about election official training” that are standard on forms provided to monitors and the same as those asked under the previous administration. Pels added that the DOJ has not confimed that monitors have asked for training materials, but told Michigan officials they’d remind monitors they can ask about training, but “don’t need to request training materials.”
In Florida, more than 20 polling sites are being moved due to intense flooding. Storms in the Southwest have also impacted some polling locations in Colorado, Newsweek reports , while Utah will let some voters impacted by flooding return ballots electronically , and Arizona officials are warning voters to check travel updates.
Polling sites across Westchester County are experiencing an issue with their voting machines, but officials say residents can still safely cast their ballots . Election officials have a backup protocol in place to ensure voting can continue.
The nonpartisan coalition running the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline says the calls range from asking about general information, to reporting long lines, lack of signage, or voting equipment issues. Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York account for the most calls. So far, no calls about federal agents at the polls.
Federal election monitors are a standard procedure, but this year the Trump administration has expanded it to the “largest monitoring effort in history.” States have prepared to make sure they don’t interfere, as the administration has taken several steps this year to assert more oversight of state-run elections.
It was the last defendant in a case brought by two young social media users. Meta, TikTok, and YouTube previously settled their claims, and opening arguments were set to begin this week . But the companies will be back in court soon, with the next bellwether cases scheduled for March 2027.
Bipartisan outrage has been growing for months — but Republicans’ many advantages could still help them win.
The push to build the future of AI in America.
Meta settled the latest set of claims about how its design affected a teen’s mental health, the parties confirm. YouTube and TikTok previously settled, leaving Snap the last defendant standing. Meta spokesperson Liza Crenshaw says settlements like this are common in this process. There’s plenty more left to be tried .
As tech billionaires pour record millions into Maine’s high-stakes Senate race, rural voters push back against the resource strain, rising utility costs, and phantom jobs of the AI data center boom.
“Starting 2 years from now, we will only allow for Test Labs to be based in the U.S or “Reciprocal Economies,” i.e. those places that are willing to recognize U.S.-based testing,” writes FCC chair Brendan Carr . His stated reasoning makes some sense, but it also omits important context: today’s test labs are concentrated in China because that’s where gadgets are made.
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