Author: TechBrunch

Social networks have strengthened terms of use for scrapers and bots that crave websites to train AI models. A few days after X, owned by Elon Musk, updated its term and explicitly banned AI model training, today's decentralized social network Mastodon has updated its own rules banning all kinds of model training. “We explicitly prohibit user data scraping for fraudulent purposes, such as archival models or large-scale language model (LLM) training. We want to make it clear that LLM for mastodon users' data is not permitted.” New terms that will be applied to social networks starting July 1 include legal…

Food distribution giant United Natural Food (UNFI) said it is making “great progress” in recovering from cyberattacks that occurred almost two weeks ago as North American grocery stores rely on distributors continue to report food shortages. In its Sunday update, UNFI said it is restoring the electronic ordering system that customers use to place orders for grocery stores and supermarkets. The company, which offers more than 30,000 stores across the US and Canada with fresh ingredients and other products, was hit by a cyber attack on June 5th, and the company disclosed it a few days later. UNFI has yet…

The UK Data Protection Watchdog has fined 23andme £2.31 million ($3.1 million) for failing to protect the individual and genetic data of UK residents prior to the 2023 data breaches. The Information Committee (ICO) said Tuesday it fined the genetic testing company for “there were no additional verification procedures for users to access and download raw genetic data” during the cyberattack. In 2023, hackers stole private data about their campaigns of over 6.9 million users' by accessing thousands of accounts using stolen credentials. 23AndMe did not require users to use multifactor authentication. The ICO said it has violated UK data…

Amazon has announced that Prime Day 2025 will be held from July 8th to 11th, extending its annual sales event to four days this year. Amazon says consumers can shop “pantry staples and snacks for summer gatherings, home improvement essentials, back to school supplies, health and personal care discoveries, family favorite toys, bestselling books, pet essentials, and even premium and gorgeous splurges.” Amazon is introducing “Today's Biggest” for the first time. It is based on the theme of daily drops, featuring limited time trading. Prime Day was a success last year as U.S. consumers spent $14.2 billion on sales events,…

Adobe is taking part in the quest to attract users to the platform for AI needs. In April, the company launched a redesigned Firefly web app that allows users to use Adobe's own Firefly image and video generation models, as well as third-party models. Currently, you can release the Firefly app on both iOS and Android, and use all models and OpenAI (GPT Image Generation), Google (Imagen 3 and Veo 2), and Flux (Flux 1.1 Pro) models. Like web apps, the new smartphone app allows you to use the prompts to generate images and videos, as well as convert images…

The California District Court on Monday rejected Apple's request to abandon a class action lawsuit claiming iPhone makers are violating competition laws by forcing devices to back up important files and device settings from iCloud, a cloud storage service. The complaint also accused Apple of not allowing third-party cloud services to access certain files and preventing them from providing “full-service” storage that competes with iCloud. US District Judge Eumi Lee previously dismissed the case, but said the plaintiffs had not fully stated the claim. The plaintiffs then filed their second amended complaint earlier this year, with the judge finding that…

Coralogix, an Israeli startup that provides full-stack observability and security platforms, has nearly doubled in three years since its final round of 2022, raising $115 million with a pre-valuation of more than $1 billion. With the inflow of cash, startups are expanding their engineering foundations in India and developing AI agents. The All-Equity and All-Primary Series E Round was led by California-based venture growth company Newview Capital and was founded by former Apple executives Avie Tevanian and Fred Anderson with participation from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Nextequity. Data observability is becoming increasingly important as more companies store…

Endeavor Catalyst, a co-investment fund belonging to the global entrepreneur network Endeavor Global, is garnering its fifth largest fund, a new $300 million fund, as it seeks to deepen its bets on high-growth startups in Africa, Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Sources say the new fund is still in its early funding stage. Previous funds had $292 million Fund IV closed in 2022. The company has already begun early conversations with limited partners, including offices around the world, development finance institutions and high-tech founders across the global network. If successful, the fund will make the total assets…

Google has announced its safety charter in India. This will expand the development of AIRE LEDs on the fight against fraud and struggle across the country, the company's largest market outside the US. Digital fraud in India is on the rise. Scams related to the Indian government's immediate payment system increased 85% year-on-year to nearly Indian rupee ($127 million) last year, according to government data. India has also seen several instances of digital arrest fraud. There, scammers were raised as officials to force money through video calls and predatory loan apps. Google aims to address some of these areas with…

When Daniel Ek is not busy running Spotify or building a new AI-driven health technology enterprise, he appears to be making a big bet on the future of European wars. The billionaire, who lives primarily in Stockholm, has just led an investment of 600 million euros in the four-year-old Helsing, now valued at 12 billion euros, as first reported by the Financial Times and individually confirmed by TechCrunch. The agreement makes it one of Europe's most valuable private companies. It also highlights European scramblings to build European military muscle as the world becomes more troubling and the US becomes inwards.…