France's highest court just killed the under-15 social media ban. The problem was never the kids. It was that to prove a user isn't 15, every adult in France has to prove they aren't. The Constitutional Council called that a disproportionate hit to free expression with no safeguards for private life. It was blocked three weeks before it took effect. Macron has already ordered a rewrite. https://reclaimthenet.org/frances-top-court-kills-the-under-15-social-media-ban

From late August, adults in Australia must hand over a face scan or a passport to buy an 18+ game on Xbox. Refuse and your account is locked out. Australia's under-16 social media ban left 85% of 12 to 15 year olds still logged on. It doesn't stop savvy kids. It just collects data on adults. https://reclaimthenet.org/xbox-age-checks-hit-australian-adults-buying-18-games

Brazil just signed a law that treats using a VPN as an aggravating factor in some crimes, and lets police pull your connection data with no warrant, just a judge notified 48 hours later. At the signing ceremony, the First Lady demanded Discord be taken offline. She holds no office. https://reclaimthenet.org/brazil-law-makes-vpn-use-an-aggravating-factor

South Korea's amended Network Act lets courts punish "false or manipulated information." The law doesn't define what that phrase means. Publishers cannot tell in advance which post is legal, so the safe move is to delete on suspicion. US lawmakers have questions about what that means for American platforms... https://reclaimthenet.org/america-presses-south-korea-false-info-law

Texas Locked a Foreign Company's Domain Over Missing Digital ID Checks https://reclaimthenet.org/texas-locked-a-foreign-companys-domain-over-missing-digital-id-checks

Italy's Draft AI Decree Lets Police Take the Biometrics of Everyone at a Protest https://reclaimthenet.org/italys-draft-ai-decree-lets-police-take-the-biometrics-of-everyone-at-a-protest

Wichita Machinist Sues City to Shut Down Flock License Plate Camera Network https://reclaimthenet.org/wichita-machinist-sues-city-to-shut-down-flock-license-plate-camera-network

Edmonton Police Review Hate Reports on Lawful Speech https://reclaimthenet.org/edmonton-police-review-hate-reports-on-lawful-speech

Tower Dumps Are Unconstitutional, Federal Judge Rules https://reclaimthenet.org/tower-dumps-are-unconstitutional-federal-judge-rules

Meta Fined $567M in Ruling That Points to Digital ID https://reclaimthenet.org/meta-fined-567m-in-ruling-that-points-to-digital-id