The Download: failed social media bans, and extending pets’ lives
This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Kids are outsmarting social media bans.
Several countries are implementing age restrictions on social media to protect minors. France passed a law in July 2024 banning children under 15 from major platforms, but it was blocked by the country’s top court on human rights grounds. The UK plans to forbid access for under-16s starting in early 2027, while the EU aims to prohibit social media for kids under 15. These bans are part of a broader effort to address concerns about children’s mental health and online safety. However, early evidence from Australia, which introduced a similar ban in 2024, suggests that such restrictions are easily bypassed by minors using simple workarounds like VPNs (virtual private networks) or creating multiple accounts. The authors argue that age restrictions alone are not an effective solution and that alternative approaches are needed to genuinely protect children online.
Advances in biotechnology are offering new ways to extend the lives of pets, providing hope for owners who wish to spend more time with their animals. Options include medications, cloning, and even cryonics (preserving pets at extremely low temperatures in hopes of future revival). For example, drugs can slow aging processes, while cloning could recreate a lost pet genetically. Cryonics, though highly experimental, involves freezing a pet’s body or brain with the intention of reviving it later using future technology. These innovations come with ethical questions: while they may ease grief for owners, critics argue they could prioritize profit over animal welfare or distract from broader issues like pet overpopulation and shelter conditions. The technology is still developing, and its long-term impact remains uncertain.
Form Energy, a climate tech company, is developing a new type of battery designed to store renewable energy for up to 100 hours, addressing a key challenge in the transition to clean energy. Traditional lithium-ion batteries, commonly used today, are expensive and can only store energy for a few hours. Form Energy’s innovation uses iron, a much cheaper and more abundant metal, in a process it calls “reversible rusting.” During discharge, the iron turns to rust, and during charging, the rust converts back to iron, releasing energy. This technology aims to make renewable energy more reliable by storing excess energy generated from wind and solar for longer periods, reducing reliance on fossil fuels. The company is one of MIT Technology Review’s 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch 2026.
AI companies are facing growing legal and financial risks as their products cause unintended harm. For instance, AI systems have been linked to lawsuits totaling billions of dollars, with companies like OpenAI and Anthropic receiving subpoenas from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over consumer harms. Issues include AI-generated misinformation, biased algorithms, and security vulnerabilities that enable hacks. Despite these problems, many AI firms have not established clear protocols for addressing damage caused by their products. This raises questions about liability: who is responsible when AI systems malfunction or cause harm? Governments and regulators are increasingly scrutinizing these challenges, as the financial stakes for AI-related incidents continue to rise.
Tensions around AI are escalating globally, with 22 nations calling for a new international body to oversee AI development and safety. This push reflects concerns about the rapid advancement of AI technologies and their potential risks, including job displacement, misinformation, and autonomous weapons. Meanwhile, AI’s economic impact is being closely watched: global markets have reacted to an AI sell-off, where investor confidence in AI-driven growth has waned. Companies like Anthropic reported slowing growth in their latest quarter, and tech giants like Accenture have imposed spending limits on AI tools such as Claude, restricting employees to $29 per month. These developments highlight the uncertainties surrounding AI’s long-term economic viability and the need for coordinated global governance.
Deepfakes—hyper-realistic AI-generated videos or images—are becoming increasingly common and are being used for both commercial and malicious purposes. Celebrities’ likenesses are being exploited to sell products without their consent, while weaponized deepfakes are being used to spread disinformation or manipulate public opinion. Governments are also facing new cybersecurity threats, with reports of “zero-click” spyware being delivered through online advertisements. These attacks can infect devices without any user interaction, posing serious risks to national security and personal privacy. Criminals have also stolen $90 million from crypto wallets in a sophisticated hack, underscoring the growing sophistication of digital crimes.
AI-powered apps and tools are being marketed as solutions to help parents manage their mental load, such as organizing schedules or providing educational support. However, these tools often require users to share vast amounts of personal data, raising significant privacy concerns. Critics argue that the trade-off between convenience and data exposure is not always justified, as the long-term risks of data misuse or breaches remain unclear. While AI may offer practical benefits, the lack of transparency and potential for exploitation highlight the need for stronger privacy protections and ethical guidelines in AI development, especially when it involves vulnerable users like children.
The world’s official timekeepers have agreed to eliminate the leap second, a rare adjustment made to keep atomic clocks in sync with Earth’s rotation. Leap seconds are added periodically to account for the planet’s slowing rotation, but they can cause technical issues, including glitches in computer systems and financial networks. The decision to remove leap seconds by 2035 aims to reduce these risks and simplify timekeeping. This change reflects the growing importance of precision in global infrastructure, where even minor discrepancies can have significant consequences. The adjustment will not affect daily life but is a technical update to modernize timekeeping systems.
After a decade of development, Tesla has unveiled its first flying car, a long-awaited innovation in personal transportation. The vehicle, which combines features of a car and an aircraft, represents a significant step toward the future of mobility. However, Tesla has stated that the flying car will not be available for purchase until at least next year, indicating that the technology is still in the testing phase. This delay suggests that regulatory, safety, and practical challenges remain before such vehicles can become widely accessible. The announcement highlights the ongoing race among companies to revolutionize transportation, though real-world adoption may take years.
In the mid-2000s, residents of Ede, Netherlands, built underground tunnels to help toads safely cross roads and reach breeding ponds. Initially, the crossings were seen as a success, but researchers later found that the local toad population had plummeted from over 10,000 to fewer than 1,000. This case illustrates the complexities of *animal infrastructure*—human-made structures designed to help wildlife, such as bridges, tunnels, or wildlife corridors. While these solutions aim to mitigate habitat fragmentation caused by roads and urbanization, their effectiveness varies. Some projects may inadvertently harm ecosystems or fail to address underlying issues like pollution or climate change, which can also threaten animal populations.
