Free Republic

President Trump suggested Friday that he may once again extend the deadline for TikTok’s parent company to divest from the popular video-sharing app or face a U.S. ban. For months, Trump has sought to strike a deal to keep TikTok available in the U.S., pushing back the deadline three separate times. The latest extension is set to expire Sept. 17. “We have American buyers,” he told reporters Friday. “And I haven’t spoken to [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping] about it. At the right time, when we’re set, I’ll do it. In the meantime, until the complexity of things work out, we...

Experts have warned hackers recently used a generative AI tool to replicate several web pages belonging to the Brazilian government in an effort to steal sensitive personal information and money. The fake websites were examined by Zscaler ThreatLabz researchers, who discovered multiple indicators of the use of AI to generate code. The websites look almost identical to the official sites, with the hackers using SEO poisoning to make the websites appear higher in search results, and therefore seem more legitimate. AI generated government websites In the campaign examined by ThreatLabz, two websites were spotted mimicking important government portals. The first...

Starting August 13, 2025, YouTube will introduce an age estimation model for U.S.-based users to identify those under 18, regardless of the birthdate provided during account creation. The initiative aims to enhance protections and deliver age-appropriate experiences for teenage users, including enabling digital wellbeing tools and displaying only non-personalized ads. This move builds on YouTube’s existing safeguards for teens and leverages advanced technology already in use in other markets. The age estimation model will analyze various signals, such as a user’s YouTube activity and account longevity, to determine if they are under 18. Users identified as minors will receive a...

What if the internet as you know it—teeming with human creativity, genuine conversations, and authentic connections—was already gone? Bold as it sounds, the Dead Internet Theory suggests that much of the web has been overtaken by bots, algorithms, and now, generative AI. Imagine scrolling through your favorite platform, only to realize that the content you’re consuming, the comments you’re reading, and even the conversations you’re having might not be from real people at all. As generative AI continues to evolve, this once-fringe theory is gaining unsettling credibility. Could it be that the internet has quietly transformed into a machine-driven echo...

At the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley, the exhibits chart how technology got to where it is today. And there could be no better guide to this history than Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple. In 1976, Wozniak built the Apple 1, and from that he and Steve Jobs built a company. "Incredible times," said Wozniak. "Just came on down wanting to build a neat product." Wozniak was the inventor, Jobs was the master salesman; and when Wozniak created the Apple II, Jobs had something new to sell: the first personal computer to display color. "That was the machine that...

AOL, once a dominant force in the early days of the Internet, has announced the end of its dial-up Internet service, marking the closure of a significant chapter in the history of online connectivity. Apple Inside reports that after more than four decades of providing dial-up Internet access to millions of users worldwide, American Online has decided to discontinue its iconic service. The company, which started as a very early Apple service in the 1980s, played a crucial role in ushering in the Internet age for countless individuals. Although many readers will be surprised to learn that dial-up internet was...

Democrats are planning to spend tens of millions of dollars to spin narratives on social media as part of a $110.5 million fundraising effort, according to images of slides from a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) donor event obtained by Breitbart News. Under a heading “Urgent Off-Year Funding Needs” on one slide, it states the DCCC looks to raise $10 million for social media and content creation, $20 million for “Accountability work,” $15 million for “Voter Registration,” $5 million for “Recruitment” and “Primary Engagement,” and $2 million for “Research” and a “Rapid Response Infrastructure.” One goal is to enlist at...

Police are investigating the death of a 20-year-old Brazilian woman who died on a bus with 26 iPhones glued to her skin. The woman, who has not been publicly identified, died of cardiac arrest on July 29, according to multiple outlets, including the Daily Mail. Cops suspect the young woman was likely smuggling the iPhones, the Mirror reported. Passengers on the bus told police the woman, who was traveling solo, had become ill during the trip from Foz do Iguaçu to São Paulo, according to the reports. She complained she was having trouble breathing. Emergency responders tried to revive the...

Google has for years been harnessing the power of its Android smartphones to detect and measure tens of thousands of earthquakes. In a new paper published in the journal Science, researchers from the search giant described how they used motion sensors from its two billion-strong network of phones running Android between the years 2021 and 2024 to detect and alert quakes to users in almost 100 countries around the world. Known as "Android Earthquake Alerts" (AEA), this early warning system has uses the smartphones' accelerometers to detect telltale vibrations as they happen and inform residents of quakes in their areas....

Orwell's Big Brother is definitely peering into every aspect of one's life in the United Kingdom.The latest step into dystopian hell is the so-called Online Safety Act, and it was enacted into law in the name of, again, as you might imagine, FOR THE CHILDREN.As these sorts of things tend to be.The way people in the UK might navigate the internet is changing.Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must take action - such as carrying out age checks - to stop children seeing illegal and harmful material from July.Services face large fines if they fail to comply with UK's sweeping...

Officials from the first Trump administration are alleging they received notices from Google shortly before they returned to office that they were being probed by the FBI under the Biden administration and the web giant was unable to tell them because of a court order. Dan Scavino, who is now White House Deputy Chief of Staff and assistant to the president, described the matter as "Biden lawfare" kicking in after he "patriotically and proudly" served during Trump’s first term. "Google received and responded to a legal process issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation compelling the release of information related...

The White House has warned Sir Keir Starmer to stop threatening American tech companies amid mounting backlash over Britain’s online safety law. Members of Donald Trump’s administration are monitoring the Online Safety Act with “great interest and concern” after key allies said it was censoring free speech and imposing unfair burdens on US businesses. The law, which regulates online speech, allows the British government to levy massive fines on companies like Apple, Truth Social, and X if it finds that rules on hate speech have been broken. Those in the president’s inner circle see the potential penalties as an unwarranted...

The British government has reportedly tasked a specialist police unit to surveil social media for anti-mass migration opinions as it braces for another potential summer of unrest. Rather than address the concerns of the public, such as removing the mostly young male illegal migrants from the taxpayer-funded hotel accommodations in communities across the country, the UK Home Office has formed the National Internet Intelligence Investigations to “maximise social media intelligence” about anti-mass migration sentiment on social media, according to The Telegraph. The team will work out of the Covid lockdown-enforcing National Police Coordination Centre (NPoCC) in London. It comes amid...

When FBI agents arrived outside William Spearman's home in the quiet suburb of Madison, Alabama, in November 2022, they were prepared for danger. Their search warrant was so important to the bureau that it was approved by the FBI director himself. When the agents breached Spearman's door with tactical explosives, Spearman fought back, tussling with the agents as three of his handguns remained barely out of reach. The FBI managed to handcuff and arrest Spearman, a high-value arrest, in what a top Justice Department official called "one of the most successful" prosecutions of its kind.

Remember during Trump's first term when he used Twitter as a tool to communicate to the people? This was done to avoid having his words manipulated and filtered by corrupt big media and their pro-big government propaganda machine. Genius! Remember when a certain segment of the country protested and mocked Trump using the Internet in this manner? They told us Tweets were not presidential! They told us it was an undignified...A juvenile way to speak to the people! Trump was an embarrassment according to these people! The reality is most of those people did not want Trump speaking directly to...

A federal appeals court has struck down a sweeping gag order that prevented X from notifying users when their data was sought by the US government, declaring that the order failed to meet legal standards under federal privacy law. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled in favor of X, finding that the lower court authorized nondisclosure orders without providing the specific findings required by the Stored Communications Act. [link to order] The ruling addressed a case where X had been barred from revealing to users that their personal data had been subpoenaed. The conflict began when the federal...

Choose wisely. Your PC could end up vulnerable to online threats otherwise. This fall, Windows 10 will reach its end of life—at least, as defined by Microsoft. On October 14, the company ends feature updates to the operating system. Security and stability updates also become restricted—a potential liability, depending on the choices you make now. To help users successfully navigate Windows 10’s extinction event, Adam Patrick Murray sat down with ethical hacker Mike Danseglio to talk options. The goal: To find the best option for your PC to stay current with security updates and patches, no matter the age of...

Shop security guards have complained of a 'massive' rise in antisocial behaviour by teenage tearaways harassing staff and customers for social media views. Supermarkets have started turning off their WiFi to stop mobs gathering at in-store cafes to use the Internet while passing time filming themselves 'trying to get a rise' out of employees. They also face the scourge of influencers carrying out 'pranks' with the aim of going viral on TikTok, as well as other platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

Department of Government Efficiency @DOGE Unused website update! DOGE continues to partner with agencies to delete unused/obsolete websites. In the last few weeks, 69 sites have been deleted, including: -@NASA: deleted 26 sites for total savings of $500k/yr -@NSF: deleted 8 sites for total savings of $868k/yr -@Interior: deleted 5 sites for total savings of $4.1M/year See before/after images for a recently cut@Energy: site which, until a few weeks ago, was advertising a science workshop that took place in 2004, over 20 years ago! Jul 7, 2025

WILLIAMSPORT - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that eight Chinese nationals who obtained student visas to attend college in the United States were indicted by a federal grand jury for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Those indicated include: Yankun Jiang, 24, of State College, PA, Hanlin Yang, 24, of State College; Chenhao Chen, 25, of California; Xiaoqing Tu, 24, of California; Dongjie Lu, 35, of California; Lei Bao, 22, of New York; Kuo Zhang, 31, of New Jersey; and Jiacheng Zhang, 25, of Florida.According to Acting United States Attorney John Gurganus, the indictment...