More business-friendly (de)regulation from the Financial Conduct Authority:

after lobbying the Buy-Now-Pay-Later sector will not have to reveal to prospective borrowers:

* their withdrawal & cancellation rights;

* their right to complain to the financial ombudsman; nor,

* the lender’s ability to take money from their account.

all three which BNPL lenders argued were irrelevant details not required by borrowers... yeah, right.

More regulatory capture!

#BNPL #regulation #politics
h/t FT

More business-friendly (de)regulation from the Financial Conduct Authority:

after lobbying the Buy-Now-Pay-Later sector will not have to reveal to prospective borrowers:

* their withdrawal & cancellation rights;

* their right to complain to the financial ombudsman; nor,

* the lender’s ability to take money from their account.

all three which BNPL lenders argued were irrelevant details not required by borrowers... yeah, right.

More regulatory capture!

#BNPL #regulation #politics
h/t FT

Experts say there aren’t enough state and federal inspectors to adequately vet whether labor contractors who oversee farmworkers are following the rules.

Nor is there broad political support to invest more resources to protect foreign workers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/h-2a-visa-farmworker-exploitation-regulators?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Immigration #Agriculture #Labor #Abuse #Exploitation #Regulation

More of this please

French police raided the #Paris offices of #ElonMusk’s #X Tuesday & summoned the #tech #billionaire for questioning as part of a widening probe into the #socialmedia company & its #AI chatbot #Grok.

The search was linked to an investigation opened in January 2025, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday, adding that its #cybercrime unit conducted the #raid with help from #Europol.

#law #regulation #Musk #xAI #content #moderation #safety #abuse
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/business/x-paris-prosecutor-raid-intl

More of this please

French police raided the #Paris offices of #ElonMusk’s #X Tuesday & summoned the #tech #billionaire for questioning as part of a widening probe into the #socialmedia company & its #AI chatbot #Grok.

The search was linked to an investigation opened in January 2025, the Paris prosecutor’s office said Tuesday, adding that its #cybercrime unit conducted the #raid with help from #Europol.

#law #regulation #Musk #xAI #content #moderation #safety #abuse
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/business/x-paris-prosecutor-raid-intl

Weeks before #ElonMusk officially left his perch in government last spring, employees on the #human #data team of his #ArtificialIntelligence start-up #xAI received a startling #waiver from their employer, asking them to pledge to work with profane #content, including sexual material.

#law #regulation #tech #AI #Musk #Grok #moderation #safety #abuse #pedophilia

#GiftArticle

Inside #Musk’s bet to hook users that turned #Grok into a porn generator
Under pressure to boost its popularity, Elon Musk’s #xAI loosened its guardrails & relaxed controls on sexual content, setting off internal concern.

#law #regulation #tech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #content #moderation #safety #abuse #pedophilia
https://wapo.st/45DcMMI

Since leaving his role overseeing the #US #DOGE Service in May, #Musk has become a constant presence at #xAI’s offices—at times sleeping there overnight [undoubtedly whacked out on #ketamine] —as he has pressed to increase #Grok’s popularity…. In meeting after meeting he has championed a new metric, “user active seconds,” to granularly measure how long people spent conversing with the #chatbot, acc/to 2 of the people.
#law #regulation #tech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #content #moderation #abuse

Their concerns proved prescient, the employees said. In the next few months, team members were suddenly exposed to a stream of sexually charged audio, including lewd conversations that #Tesla occupants had with the car’s #chatbot & other users’ sexual interactions with #Grok #chatbots, said one of the people, a manager. The material surfaced as the team worked to train Grok to engage in such interactions.

#law #regulation #Musk #xAI #tech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #content #moderation #abuse

The #waiver, which 2 former employees confirmed receiving & a copy of which was obtained by WaPo—was alarming to some members on the team, who had been hired to help shape how #xAI’s #chatbot #Grok responds to users. To some employees, it signaled a troubling new direction for a company launched “to accelerate human scientific discovery,” acc/to its website. Maybe now, they said they thought, it was willing to produce whatever #content might attract & keep users.
#law #regulation #Musk #tech #AI

Their jobs would require being exposed to “sensitive, violent, sexual and/or other offensive or disturbing content,” the #waiver said, emphasizing that such content “may be disturbing, traumatizing, and/or cause you psychological stress.” [JFC!]

#law #regulation #Musk #Grok #xAI #tech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #content #moderation #safety #abuse #pedophilia

Weeks before #ElonMusk officially left his perch in government last spring, employees on the #human #data team of his #ArtificialIntelligence start-up #xAI received a startling #waiver from their employer, asking them to pledge to work with profane #content, including sexual material.

#law #regulation #tech #AI #Musk #Grok #moderation #safety #abuse #pedophilia

#GiftArticle

Inside #Musk’s bet to hook users that turned #Grok into a porn generator
Under pressure to boost its popularity, Elon Musk’s #xAI loosened its guardrails & relaxed controls on sexual content, setting off internal concern.

#law #regulation #tech #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #content #moderation #safety #abuse #pedophilia
https://wapo.st/45DcMMI

Smoke and Mirrors: How Intoxicating Hemp Seeped Into the First Recreational Marijuana Market in the Country
---

Colorado, which once served as the model for marijuana regulation, generated billions of dollars in tax revenue while promising to keep consumers safe. Now it’s scrambling to keep harmful hemp off the shelves.
https://www.propublica.org/article/colorado-marijuana-thc-intoxicating-hemp-regulation?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post

#News #Colorado #Hemp #Marijuana #Safety #Regulation

RE: https://pnw.zone/@waprivacy/115937392646289125

STILL AWAKE?

This amendment to the Flock / driver surveillance bill is bad. Go message against it _right now_, before you go to bed.

#seattle #WashingtonState #flock #FuckFlock #regulation #bill #cascadia #waPol #waPolitics #politics

Germany Forces Lexus to Remotely Kill Car Heating in Dead of Winter

https://www.gadgetreview.com/germany-forces-lexus-to-remotely-kill-car-heating-in-dead-of-winter

#HackerNews #Germany #Lexus #CarHeating #Winter #Regulation

Congress Wants to Hand Your Parenting to Big Tech

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2026/01/congress-wants-hand-your-parenting-big-tech

#HackerNews #Congress #BigTech #Parenting #Privacy #Regulation

Tolerating the crushing of pedestrians, cyclists and wildlife with bull bars

" Bull bars are rigid or semi-rigid metal or composite frames mounted to the front of a vehicle.

Pedestrian deaths just reached an 18-year high. Bull bars are part of the problem
In 2025, 197 pedestrians were killed on Australian roads, the highest number since 2007. Almost every state recorded a noticeable spike in pedestrian deaths compared to last year.

Cyclist deaths also climbed to 49, up 32% from last year – the highest since 2013.
One key reason appears to be the growing size and weight of vehicles, which can increase the risk of death and injury.

Evidence shows bull bars can significantly increase the severity of pedestrian injuries, even in low-speed urban crashes.

Bull bars are not banned in Australian cities. Instead, they are regulated through design standards that are weaker than European pedestrian-protection rules. "
>>
https://theconversation.com/pedestrian-deaths-just-reached-an-18-year-high-bull-bars-are-part-of-the-problem-273362
#cars #SUVs #crashes #MobilityDesign #regulation #speeding #pedestrians #cyclists #wildlife #RoadTrauma #Bullbars #RooBars #VehicleRamming #HostileVehicleMitigation