Instagram's biggest user problem...

PLUS: New copper breakthrough could slash drug prices

Welcome, Tech enthusiasts.

Meta is under fire AGAIN, with a court filing showing the company ignored over 1M underage user reports while collecting data from minors.

Will another fine stop the social media giant from chasing growth over user safety? Let’s get into it…

In today’s tech rundown:

  • Instagram's underage user problem exposed

  • Copper breakthrough could slash drug costs

  • 9 new products

  • 8 New products

  • Adobe hits record-level sales

  • Meta's Andy Stone is now on Russia's wanted list

  • Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra

Read time: 3 minutes

TODAY’S HEADLINES

META

Image source: Getty Images

The Rundown: A newly unsealed legal complaint alleges that Instagram has been knowingly collecting data on millions of children under 13, violating federal privacy law.

The details:

  • 33 U.S. attorney generals claim Instagram pursued underage users —despite being aware of their ages.

  • Over 1.1 million under-13 user reports have been filed since 2019, but Meta "disabled only a fraction".

  • The suit argues Instagram prioritized growth over complying with children's data laws, and fines could total hundreds of millions.

Why it matters: This complaint (and the details trickling out) exposes Meta's history of lax protections and questionable data collection. Will a fine be enough to push the company to prioritize user safety over profits?

TOGETHER WITH BOARDROOM

⚡️ Never miss a beat in sports, music and entertainment

The Rundown: HeadlineToGo is your one-stop shop for the day’s biggest stories in the business of sports, music, and entertainment — delivered every morning, Monday-Saturday.

Get the latest updates from athletes, executives, musicians, and creators who are moving the business world forward to industry trends, tech advances, and emerging opportunities.

MEDICAL TECH

Image source: Midjourney

The Rundown: UCLA chemists just discovered a way to produce amines — a key component of many drugs by using cheap and abundant copper instead of precious metals, enabling more affordable versions of critical medicines.

The details:

  • Many vital drugs contain chemicals called amines — whose production requires expensive metals.

  • The new method snips and reforms molecules with low-cost copper and oxygen in fewer steps to generate amines.

  • The technique was used to make cancer and gene-regulating drugs for just dollars per gram instead of thousands.

The relevance: At a time when drug prices are still astronomically high, this new method could make life-saving medications more accessible to the masses. The question is — will big pharma companies actually lower prices or just pocket the profits?

NEW PRODUCTS

🚀 Show HN: Altero- Get ahead with insights on fast-growing companies (link)

🌐 LLMonitor- Open source monitoring and production toolkit for AI apps (link)

👨‍⚕️ DrLambda- AI content generation for social media (link)

🚰 Leadpipe- Everything you want to know about your website visitors (link)

🦄 Screen Story- Create video demos, tutorials, education videos, gifs, and promo videos (link)

🤓 Coachvox - Create an AI version of yourself (link)

👩🏻‍💼 Aomni- AI Sidekick for your sales team (link)

📕 DeepFiction- An AI platform for creating and sharing stories (link)

Browse the most popular tools ever featured with our tool database.

SNIPPETS

Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain chip implant startup, raised an additional $43 million in VC funding — with the company now valued at $5B.

Black Friday sales have surged this season, with Adobe Analytics reporting a record $9.8 billion in US online sales — exceeding predictions and growing 7.5% annually.

The European Space Agency declared the test of its delayed Ariane 6 rocket a success — bringing the rocket closer to its debut in 2023 after years of setbacks.

Physics suggests black holes could have vast interiors within shrinking boundaries, similar to the 'bigger inside' Tardis in 'Dr. Who'.

Meta's spokesperson Andy Stone is now on Russia's wanted list, with no public reason given, amidst tensions post-Ukraine invasion.

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is rumored to retain a slight curve on its screen edges rather than having a completely flat display.

Taste rapidly informs the brain to regulate eating, preceding slower signals from the gut and affects appetite control, according to new research from USCF.

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THAT’S A WRAP

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