Big Tech sues to save the feed

PLUS: Cybertruck out, Cybercab in

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. Meta, Google, and TikTok have found a rare point of agreement: California shouldn’t get to mess with the machinery that keeps young users scrolling.

All three sued this week to kill AB 1709, which strips autoplay and personalized recommendations for users under 16. Now they’re making it a First Amendment fight, arguing the state can’t dictate how platforms curate and deliver speech.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Meta, Google, TikTok sue California

  • Musk clears Cybertruck off Giga Texas

  • Google drops $17B on Wyoming data center

  • Sony revives its Walkman headphones

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

Image source: Nick Fancher / Unsplash

The Rundown: Meta, Google, and TikTok filed separate federal lawsuits this week to block AB 1709, California’s new law that strips autoplay and algorithmic feeds for anyone under 16, before it takes effect in the new year.

The details:

  • AB 1709 bars platforms from serving under-16s “psychologically exploitative” features, including personalized recommendation feeds and autoplay. The law kicks in Jan. 1, 2027.

  • Platforms that fail to comply could face penalties of up to $50K per affected child for knowing violations, or $25K for negligent violations.

  • It’s a First Amendment fight. Meta says California cannot override its editorial judgments about how to curate and display billions of posts; TikTok’s spokesperson called it “a blatantly unconstitutional restriction on free expression.”

  • The Electronic Frontier Foundation warns that checking who’s under 16 means collecting more data, so the law swaps one safety problem for a privacy one.

Why it matters: Meta agreed to limit teen use of Facebook and Instagram in an up-to-$18B deal with nearly every U.S. state, and this week a family sued Google, alleging their 13-year-old used AI Mode to plan a suicide attempt. From feeds to AI, the fight is over how far governments can go in dictating the safeguards Big Tech builds for kids.

TOGETHER WITH GRANOLA

The Rundown: Granola, the AI notepad for people with back-to-back meetings, just launched Voice Typing, so you can dictate words in any app. Because Granola has been in your meetings, it already knows your colleagues’ names and your jargon, so the spelling is right the first time.

Granola now lets you:

  • Dictate into any app on your Mac

  • Get names and jargon spelled right

  • Use unlimited words on every plan

TESLA

Image source: Tesla

The Rundown: Tesla will wind down Cybertruck production at Giga Texas around mid-2027 to free up space for Cybercab robotaxis, Elon Musk said on X. That ends the run of a stainless-steel pickup that reportedly shipped just 16K units so far this year.

The details:

  • Musk once forecast at least 250K Cybertrucks a year; Tesla sold just 20,237 in the U.S. in 2025, down 48% from 2024.

  • Musk’s SpaceX bought $131M worth of Cybertrucks last year for support vehicles, according to Business Insider.

  • Cybertruck is built only at Giga Texas, so unless Tesla moves its specialized production elsewhere, the mid-2027 wind-down could end the model’s run.

  • Cybercab paid rides began in Austin in Sept., but the robotaxi is under an NHTSA audit over whether Tesla properly certified it to federal safety standards.

Why it matters: The $80K+ Cybertruck was meant to reinvent America’s pickup, but its short run at Giga Texas shows how far sales fell short of Musk’s original ambitions. Still, Tesla says much of the tech developed for the truck “lives on through Cybercab,” giving some of Cybertruck’s engineering a second act in the company’s robotaxi push.

GOOGLE

Image source: Pawel Czerwinski / Unsplash

The Rundown: Google announced a long-term $17B investment in its first Wyoming data center, near Cheyenne, on Thursday. That came two days after U.S. voters sided against AI data centers in all but one of 41 local ballot measures.

The details:

  • Project Tembo covers 716 acres and calls for four data halls, with project filings and power plans putting capacity at 2.7 GW and full buildout targeted for 2031.

  • The Cheyenne area has 10 operating data centers and more than a dozen proposed, while a recent University of Wyoming poll found just 30% support more AI facilities.

  • In this week’s elections, voters overwhelmingly backed tighter data-center restrictions or rejected measures supporting development.

  • The backlash goes beyond ballots: packed hearings and protests from Utah to Amsterdam over power, water, pollution, and land.

Why it matters: The AI boom is hitting a constraint money can’t easily solve: local consent. Goldman Sachs estimates recent political shifts could affect about 45% of planned capacity expansion. Google’s pledge to pay for 100% of its Wyoming power use shows hyperscalers are trying to get ahead of the backlash.

SONY

Image source: Sony

The Rundown: Sony is selling the headphones that came with the original Walkman cassette player again: the 1979 look is unchanged, there’s now a USB-C plug, and they cost $60.

The details:

  • Sony rebuilt the MDR-3R around the original MDR-3 design, right down to its skinny headband and interchangeable orange and blue foam pads.

  • Instead of a 3.5mm plug, the MDR-3R terminates in USB-C and adds an inline remote and microphone for calls, playback, volume, and voice-assistant controls.

  • The standard model costs $59.99 in the U.S., and €59 in Europe; a $79.99 (€69) Stranger Things edition comes with black-and-red pads and branded hardware.

Why it matters: Younger buyers are making cables cool again, pushing wired sales back up and prompting Bose to return to the category too. At $60, Sony can turn one of its most recognizable old-school designs into an affordable fashion accessory, and sell nostalgia to a generation that never owned a Walkman.

QUICK HITS

Amazon struck a partnership with Uber Eats, a move that deepens Amazon’s push into food delivery while giving Uber access to Amazon’s massive customer base.

TikTok launched a standalone TikTok Shop app in parts of Southeast Asia, offering personalized shopping, livestream purchases, exclusive deals, and secure checkout.

Airbnb plans to roll out an AI travel agent in the first half of 2027 that dynamically builds itineraries, comparisons, and booking options around a traveler’s questions.

Jack Dorsey’s Block is reportedly cutting jobs for the second time this year, after slashing more than 40% of its workforce as it pushes deeper into AI-driven efficiency.

Snapchat surpassed 30M paid subscribers across Snapchat+, Memories Storage, and Lens+, driven partly by premium AI-powered features.

Democrats’ midterm sweep could complicate SpaceX’s push into mobile service, putting Elon Musk’s telecom ambitions in the path of tougher congressional scrutiny, Fast Company reports.

A new stem-cell therapy for Parkinson’s is showing early promise, using lab-grown dopamine-producing neurons to replace the brain cells destroyed by the disease.

Apple reportedly suppresses about 100K terms — including “Dictator Trump” and “Sleepy Joe” — from iPhone predictive text.

Hackers breached refrigeration controls at three French blood-storage sites, raising temperatures, but alarms let staff intervene before any blood products were damaged.

Samphire Neuroscience expanded European clearance for its brain-stimulation headband to treat PMDD-related anxiety symptoms.

AI data centers are converting retired jet engines to generate electricity because grid connections and new power turbines can take years to secure, the NYT reports.

The New York Times is reportedly in exclusive talks to acquire movie-focused social platform Letterboxd for about $330M.

Blue Origin reportedly pushed New Glenn’s return to flight to Jan. 2027, as repairs continue at its Cape Canaveral launchpad following a major explosion in May.

Salon is shutting down after 31 years, saying the economics of independent digital journalism have changed so much that its publishing model is no longer sustainable.

That's it for today's tech rundown!

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Rowan, Zach, Shubham, Jennifer, and Nate — The Rundown’s editorial team

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