Apple has been accused of breaking the law by failing to comply with US sanctions after the App Store was found to have contain dozens of apps from sanctioned companies. The same was true of Google, though at a smaller scale.

The banned apps were identified by the Tech Transparency Project, which says it demonstrates that Apple failed to live up to its promises that the App Store represents a safe and trusted source …

Porn has taken a hit in the UK in the wake of the introduction of compulsory age verification this year, according to communications regulator Ofcom.

VPN usage more than doubled, while porn viewership plummeted following the enforcement of age checks, per Ofcom’s Online Nation report, released Wednesday.

Prior to July 25, when age verification became mandatory in the UK, VPNs had around 650K daily users. By mid-August, 1.5 million users were accessing VPNs, and by November that number had declined to 900K.

McDonald’s has taken down a Christmas advert made with Artificial Intelligence (AI) following online backlash.

The 45-second advert was produced with generative AI clips and released publicly on McDonald’s Netherlands YouTube channel on 6 December.

Viewers on social media denounced the use of AI in the film, with one commenter calling it ”the most god-awful ad I’ve seen this year”.

On 9 December McDonald’s Netherlands removed the video, adding in a statement to BBC News that the moment served as ”an important learning” as the company explored ”the effective use of AI”.

A Virginia startup calling itself “Operation Bluebird” announced this week that it has filed a formal petition with the US Patent and Trademark Office, asking the federal agency to cancel X Corporation’s trademarks of the words “Twitter” and “tweet” since X has allegedly abandoned them.

“The TWITTER and TWEET brands have been eradicated from X Corp.’s products, services, and marketing, effectively abandoning the storied brand, with no intention to resume use of the mark,” the petition states. “The TWITTER bird was grounded.”

If successful, two leaders of the group tell Ars, Operation Bluebird would launch a social network under the name Twitter.new, possibly as early as late next year. (Twitter.new has created a working prototype and is already inviting users to reserve handles.)