Author: TechBrunch

The 50% off Plus One Pass is almost sold out. The clock is really ticking now. In just three days, the best deals on TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 tickets are gone. With demand already surging and early stock moving quickly, this is your last window to lock in record low prices and secure a Plus One at half price while passes are limited. If Disrupt is on your must-attend list, now's your chance to save up to $680 on passes and get 50% off your Plus 1. This price ends on January 30th at 11:59pm PT or when remaining Plus One…

According to Politico, the acting head of the US cybersecurity agency CISA uploaded confidential contract documents marked “for official use only” to ChatGPT. Citing officials, the outlet reported on Tuesday that Madhu Gotumkara, the Trump-appointed acting director of CISA, had triggered multiple automated security alerts to prevent theft or inadvertent disclosure of government files from federal networks. Early in his tenure as CISA Director, Gottumukkala was reportedly granted an exception to use ChatGPT at a time when other employees were prohibited. Officials at the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over CISA, sought to determine whether there was any…

Founders don't scale alone. They scale by learning from their peers, building at the same pace, connecting with people who have already been there, and meeting investors who are aligned with what they are building. TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 in Boston on June 23 will bring together 1,100 founders and investors for a day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Tickets are currently on sale at this year's lowest price. This is TechCrunch's flagship founder conference, built with founders first. The focus is on peer connections, honest conversations, and expert-led, practical insights, with opportunities to connect with investors aligned…

Imagine a world where credit cards are no longer accepted, Amazon accounts are closed, and working with American technology companies is no longer an option. It's nearly impossible to shop online, send wire transfers to family overseas, or rely on anything related to the United States, including U.S. dollars. For some Canadians, this is the reality right now. Last year, the Trump administration added International Criminal Court judge Kimberly Prost to its economic sanctions list. She served as an appellate judge who in 2020 unanimously authorized the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged war crimes committed in Afghanistan since 2003, including…

Aylo, the parent company of some of the most popular tube sites like Pornhub, announced on Tuesday that it will restrict access to its platform in the UK from February 2nd. Since last year, Pornhub and other Aylo sites have been complying with Britain's Online Safety Act (OSA), which requires websites with pornographic content to verify the age of visitors before displaying content inappropriate for minors, among other provisions. Instead of complying with the OSA by verifying users' ages, Aylo completely blocks access to platforms like Pornhub in the UK. However, UK users who have already verified their identity will…

Look no further than Keith Lavoie, a partner at Khosla Ventures, to understand the position of unwavering Trump supporters in the wake of last weekend's fatal shooting of an American by a federal Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis that shocked the nation. Mr. Lavoie's public support for the Border Patrol's actions in the murder of Alex Preti, made through his posts on X, was such that both Khosla Ventures partner Ethan Choi and company founder Vinod Khosla publicly denied it. Mr. Lavoie blamed Mr. Preti and wrote that the protesters were committing a “serious crime.” One of Lavoie's posts said,…

President Donald Trump said he would make countering immigration one of his flagship policies during his second term in The White House, promising an unprecedented number of deportations.  A year in, data shows that deportations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection have surpassed at least 350,000 people.  ICE has taken center stage in Trump’s mass removal campaign, raiding homes, workplaces, and public parks in search of undocumented people, prompting widespread protests and resistance from communities across the United States.  ICE uses several technologies to identify and surveil individuals. Homeland Security has also used the shadow…

Obvious Ventures, co-founded by Twitter's Evan Williams, has raised its fifth fund, and like its predecessor, this one comes with a “fun” number of $360,360,360. “We invest at the forefront of math, science and physics, and we want to celebrate math in our fund numbers,” James Joaquin (pictured far right), co-founder and managing director of the firm, told TechCrunch. The company's first funding was $123,456,789 and its second funding was $191,919,191 (palindromic numbers are the same whether read from the front or back). The third fund was $271,828,182 (mathematicians and engineers immediately recognize this as e (Euler's number)), and the…

If you want to solve climate change, there are few better places to start than in cities. “This city is like a beautiful vampire squid sucking up all the resources,” Jacob Bro, co-founder and partner at 2150, told TechCrunch. “They basically aggregate all the prosperity in the world, 80% of GDP, but also 70% of emissions and all other resources, all waste, and all the negative aspects of the good life.” In recent years, many investors have raised large sums of money to tackle climate change, and many are measuring success by profits and carbon reductions. 2150 is similar, but…

London's High Court on Monday awarded a Saudi satirist and human rights activist more than £3 million (US$4.1 million) in damages after finding “compelling evidence” that his mobile phone had been hacked with government-grade spyware. London-based cartoonist Ghanem Al Masalir had attracted millions of viewers on his popular YouTube channel, featuring videos critical of Saudi Arabia. He sued the Saudi government in 2019, claiming that his phone was targeted a year ago by Pegasus, a mobile spyware sold exclusively to governments by NSO Group. Al Masari was also physically assaulted in London in 2018, when his mobile phone was targeted.…