Day: June 19, 2026

Reuters   Meta Platforms has lobbied the U.S. Congress for legal immunity from child-harm claims tied to ‌social media products such as Instagram, as it faces thousands of lawsuits from young users and their families, according to a source familiar with the matter and proposed legislative language reviewed by Reuters. If adopted by lawmakers and passed into law as part of the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) under consideration in the U.S. Senate, such a provision could ​undermine thousands of lawsuits against Meta and other online platforms over harms to children. Meta and Google’s YouTube face a combined $6 million ​in damages after they lost the first case at trial early this year. While legislators have given no indication of ⁠adopting the language, the lobbying effort shows the kind of legal protections Meta is seeking amid the biggest attempt to regulate online platforms in the ​U.S. since the 1990s. READ THE FULL STORY   

Mediate   An Israeli newspaper owned and published by Donald Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson attacked the president on Friday in open letter about his Iran peace agreement, accusing him of “betraying” Israel and declaring he has “failed.” With the scathing headline, “You could have been the greatest president of all, but you failed,” Danny Zaken wrote directly to Trump in a letter published in Israel Hayom — Israel’s most widely distributed paper. Zaken argued to Trump that he “may be remembered forever as the president who brought about America’s humiliation.” He wrote: And from where I sit, near Jerusalem, the eternal capital of the people of Israel since the days of the kingdoms of David and Solomon, I say to you: You made a colossal mistake. You failed by signing a surrender agreement with a murderous and cruel terror regime. You severely harmed American interests and the democratic and human values of the enlightened world, and you turned over the hourglass toward the next war, which your successors will have to deal with in the years to come. READ THE FULL STORY   

CBS News   The Trump administration on Friday declined to submit a declaration in court from Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent reiterating that the government is not continuing with a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund, calling a judge’s demand for such a filing “unnecessary.” In a notice to the federal district court in Alexandria, Virginia, senior Justice Department lawyers rebuffed U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema’s request for the declaration from Blanche, Bessent and Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward. Brinkema said last week that “to avoid any further litigation,” the senior officials should file the declaration under penalty of perjury that the “anti-weaponization” program wouldn’t proceed “in any manner, or under any name.” She also granted a preliminary injunction that blocks the Justice Department from taking any action to create or operate the program, which remains in place. READ THE FULL STORY