X Finds Itself in More Hot Water

Top News

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission has opened a “large-scale inquiry” into X over Grok’s creation of non-consensual sexualized AI images using EU user data, adding to parallel EU, UK, and French investigations. Financial Times has more here.

California's DMV has dropped its years-long threat to suspend Tesla's licenses after it agreed to stop using "Autopilot" in its state marketing, a big deal for the automaker given that California is its largest U.S. market. TechCrunch has more here.

Shares of UK computer maker Raspberry Pi jumped as much as 42% in a record two-day rally amid social media chatter that its low-cost single-board computers could see renewed demand from hobbyists running AI agents such as OpenClaw. Reuters has more here.

The European Commission has opened a full-scale Digital Services Act probe into Shein over alleged sales of child-like sex dolls and potentially addictive platform design, exposing the fast-growing retailer to fines of up to 6% of global annual revenue. Bloomberg has more here.

Meta’s Own Research Found Parental Supervision Doesn’t Really Help Curb Teens’ Compulsive Social Media Use

Image Credits: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images

By Sarah Perez

An internal research study at Meta dubbed “Project MYST” created in partnership with the University of Chicago, found that parental supervision and controls — such as time limits and restricted access — had little impact on kids’ compulsive use of social media. The study also found that kids who experienced stressful life events were more likely to lack the ability to moderate their social media use appropriately.

This was one of the notable claims revealed during testimony at the social media addiction trial that began last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court. The plaintiff in the lawsuit is identified by her initials “KGM” or her first name, “Kaley.” She, along with her mother and others joining the case, is accusing social media companies of creating “addictive and dangerous” products that led the young users to suffer anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, eating disorders, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and more.

The case is now one of several landmark trials that will take place this year, which accuse social media companies of harming children. The results of these lawsuits will impact these companies’ approach to their younger users and could prompt regulators to take further action.

In this case, the plaintiff sued Meta, YouTube, ByteDance (TikTok), and Snap, but the latter two companies had settled their claims before the trial’s start.

In the jury trial now underway in L.A., Kaley’s lawyer, Mark Lanier, brought up an internal study at Meta, which he said found evidence that Meta knew of, yet didn’t publicize, these specific harms.

In Project MYST, which stands for the Meta and Youth Social Emotional Trends survey, Meta’s research concluded that “parental and household factors have little association with teens’ reported levels of attentiveness to their social media use.”

In other words, even when parents try to control their children’s social media use, either by using parental controls or even just household rules and supervision, it doesn’t impact whether or not the child will overuse social media or use it compulsively. The study was based on a survey of 1,000 teens and their parents about their social media use.

Massive Fundings

Braintrust, a seven-year-old San Francisco startup whose platform monitors and evaluates AI behavior in production to help teams track and improve model quality, raised an $80 million Series B round led by Iconiq, with Andreessen Horowitz, basecase, and Greylock also chiming in. Axios has more here.

Kavak, a 10-year-old Mexico City company that operates online and in-person marketplaces for buying, selling, and financing used cars, raised a $300 million round co-led by Andreessen Horowitz and WCM Investment Management, with Foxhaven Asset Management also anteing up. Bloomberg has more here.

Legora, a three-year-old Stockholm startup that provides AI tools to help lawyers review documents and draft contracts, is reportedly in talks to raise a $400 million round at a $5+ billion valuation, with Accel potentially participating. Forbes has more here.

Mesh Optical, a two-year-old Los Angeles startup founded by former SpaceX engineers that manufactures optical transceivers for data centers, raised a $50 million round led by Thrive Capital and including Also Capital and Banner VC. TechCrunch has more here.

Moonshot, a Beijing startup that operates the Kimi chatbot and sells AI model access to consumers and enterprises, is targeting a $10 billion valuation after raising a $500 million round at a $4.3 billion valuation just last month. Bloomberg has more here.

Render, an eight-year-old San Francisco startup that offers cloud infrastructure tools for deploying and running applications, raised a $100 million round at a $1.5 billion valuation. Investors included 01A, Addition, Bessemer Venture Partners, General Catalyst, and Georgian Partners. CNBC has more here.

Temporal, a seven-year-old startup based in Bellevue, WA, that operates an open-source platform and cloud service that orchestrates durable workflows for microservices and AI applications, raised a $300 million round. Andreessen Horowitz led the transaction, with Lightspeed and Sapphire Ventures as well as previous investor Sequoia Capital also opting in. More here.

Big-But-Not-Crazy-Big Fundings

C2i Semiconductors, a two-year-old Bangalore startup that provides integrated power conversion systems that step down and manage electricity from the data-center grid to GPUs, raised a $15 million Series A round. Peak XV Partners was the deal lead, with Yali Deeptech and TDK Ventures also taking part. TechCrunch has more here.

FYLD, a six-year-old London startup that offers an AI platform that helps infrastructure and utility field crews capture site data and manage risk in real-time, raised a $41 million round led by Energy Impact Partners, with Partech also investing. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Onshore, a New York startup that automates corporate tax credit and incentive claims using an AI platform that replaces manual CPA workflows, raised a $31 million Series B round led by FPV Ventures, with Vertex Ventures, ADP Ventures, Y Combinator, and Restive Ventures also taking stakes. More here.

SurrealDB, a four-year-old London startup that is developing a cloud-native multi-model database for real-time and AI-native applications, raised a $22.5 million Series A round. Investors included Chalfen Ventures, Begin Capital, insiders FirstMark, and Georgian. EU-Startups has more here.

Terra Industries, a two-year-old Nigerian startup that designs autonomous defense systems and surveillance infrastructure to help governments monitor and respond to security threats, raised a $22 million round led by Lux Capital, with 8VC, Nova Global, and Resilience17 Capital also stepping up. TechCrunch has more here.

Zero Homes, a four-year-old Denver startup that operates a digital platform that lets homeowners assess, design, price, and schedule residential upgrades with local contractors, raised a $16.8 million Series A round led by Prelude Ventures, with SJF Ventures, Watsco Ventures, VoLo Earth Ventures, Overture VC, and FJ Labs also participating. More here.

Smaller Fundings

Autosana, a one-year-old San Francisco startup whose agentic AI platform automates quality assurance testing for iOS, Android and web applications, raised a $3.2 million round. Investors included Y Combinator, Pioneer Fund, Phosphor Capital, DeVC, and 468 Capital. More here.

Certivo, a one-year-old Seattle startup that has built an AI platform to automate supply chain compliance management and regulatory monitoring, raised a $4 million seed round led by Suffolk Technologies, with Pioneer Square Ventures also participating. More here.

Sitegeist, a one-year-old Munich startup that manufactures robots that remove deteriorated concrete from infrastructure renovation sites, raised a $4.75 million pre-seed round co-led by b2venture and OpenOcean, with UnternehmerTUM Funding for Innovators also pitching in. SiliconANGLE has more here.

Toyo, a two-year-old Irish startup that runs AI agents modeled on OpenClaw in a dedicated secure cloud environment to handle business tasks for small companies, raised a $4.3 million seed round led by Frontline Ventures, with iNovia Capital and Tiny Supercomputer also anteing up. Silicon Republic has more here.

Tozaro, an 11-year-old UK company that develops synthetic polymer reagents that improve the manufacturing yields of viral vectors for gene therapies, raised an $8.2 million round led by Mercia Ventures. The company has raised a total of $32.7 million. Tech Funding News has more here.